Blog #22

Please read “The Church of Sports.” Today we raise the question as to whether sports (particularly in our world of mass media) can be considered a “religion” or as at least a quasi-religious experience. I would like you to address this question. As you blog about it, respond to the list (the 11 items) at the end of our reading. Do you agree or disagree? Why? Respond to individual items on the list. What other characteristics or factors might you consider? In what ways might the sports experience parallel the religious experience?

Blog #21

Please complete today’s reading assignments. Please answer the questions from the “Religion in Cyberspace” reading and share your thoughts and feelings about what you have learned. Next I would like you to spend some time checking out religious blogs. Specifically, select a religious blog from the list at the end of “Religion in Cyberspace” (today’s reading) and spend some time checking it out. I would like you to describe its content by addressing the themes of the blog messages and your perceptions of the blog’s intended objectives. How does it match (or not match) the criteria identified in our readings for today? How does it compare with your experience with LDS blogs and LDS Church Internet sites?

Blog #20

Please read “Mormon Campaigns” and view the links to the ads that our provided. Our goal today is to compare and contrast the ads produced by a variety of different religious organizations. Focus on the following issues: 1) production quality, 2) messages and themes, 3) the audience take away, and 4) overall impressions. Once you’ve viewed the ads listed in the reading assignment, I want you to blog about your impressions. Compare and contrast the ads from the different faiths (using the criteria above). Finally, address what you think the role of advertising and public relations is, and should be, in the modern Church and religious world.

Blog #19

Please read "Advertising and PR."

Let’s go back to the quote from point #4 from the reading assignment:

“Offensiveness arises from (1) the manner in which religion is used executionally; (2) the cultural context of timing, that is, when the messages ran or aired; (3) the specific religious images, icons, or representatives used; and (4) whether those images are indeed religious (derived from an established religion), or merely ‘spiritual’ in nature.”

Let’s try and define the idea of “offensiveness” here. Where do we draw the line on the use of religious imagery in advertising? What is acceptable? Note that the author even mentions a recent local campaign that affected the LDS Church. A Taylorsville coffee shop used the symbol of the Angel Moroni to promote it product (it printed T-shirts showing coffee flowing into his trumpet). Where is the line? I want you to think deeply about this. I would like you to attempt to respond to these questions.

Finally, I’d like you to do a little research on your own (on line) to find other examples that would either illustrate ads that are OK or are not OK, in your opinion (and explain why).

Blog #18

Please read “Religious Holidays.” I would love to hear your thoughts on today’s readings and the line of thinking presented in the reading assignment. Do you agree or disagree that TV has contributed to the over-commercialization and commodification of religious holidays? Please answer the questions in the reading assignment. Finally, I’m interested in your thoughts on the social media version of the last supper and crucifixion.

Blog #17

Please read today's assigned reading. You will recall that last class session we discussed religion as a marketplace that appeals, at the expense of traditional religious values and practices, to market-driven consumer desires and demands. This seems to be a recurring theme. 

For you blog today, I want you to reflect on and write about your feelings regarding two quotes I have extracted from the reading. Here’s the first:

By adopting both rock music and the ethos of the popular culture industries, contemporary Christian music thrust evangelical youth into the new consumer-oriented youth culture, or at least into an evangelical version of it.

Here’s the second (related to the first):

Consequently, the Christian music industry promoted an evangelical culture based on the rules of commercialism and not those of churches, elevating consumer values and taste at the expense of doctrine and tradition. In that sense, contemporary Christian music made a place in which the confluence of religion and the marketplace could shape both personal and communal identity for baby-boom evangelicals and their children. The merchandising of contemporary Christian music shifted “ministry” from collective spiritual matters to personal consumer habits, concentrating the practice of faith on the individual instead of the larger religious community. Contemporary Christian music thereby subordinated a church affiliation and denominational creeds to a highly individualistic and personal faith centered in the popular “born again” experience that was perhaps the hallmark of the popular evangelicalism that grew out of the Jesus Movement.

Blog #16

Complete the reading assignments for today. Now, here’s something to think about. We often consider the impact of the “Work and the Glory” series on LDS audiences. We even occasionally joke about Church talks and testimonies that make references to the fictional Steed family in the series. Obviously, there is a parallel here regarding the impact of the “Left Behind” series on evangelical cultural life. When we consider that some estimates suggest that evangelicals make up 27 percent of the US population, should we be surprised by the impact it has, and particularly how that impact might spill over into real life and real belief. While the Steeds helped LDS better relate to Church history, is it possible that the “Left Behind” series almost becomes “scriptural” for the evangelical community. More broadly, what are the implications of this for other “products” produced for the religious marketplace? Respond to this question and share your thoughts about what you have learned from your readings.