Super Bowl Stirs Controversy

Congratulations to the victorious Kansas City Chiefs and the defeated San Francisco 49ers. That was an amazing game, particularly the second half.

The Super Bowl is a big deal culturally in America. It has an incredible audience, estimated to be at least 100 million viewers. That’s a big reason why Super Bowl ads are so expensive. This year, a 30-second commercial cost $7 million!

There were high points and low points last night. As far as I know, no one took a knee during the national anthem. But that brings me to what did happen.

For the fourth year in a row, the NFL insisted on playing what some call the Black National Anthem. Why? The Star-Spangled Banner is the national anthem of every American.

Actors Mark Wahlberg and Jonathan Roumie appeared in an ad for the Catholic prayer app, Hallow, encouraging people to pray during Lent. There is certainly a lot to pray about!

Another faith-based ad, however, has stirred up a lot of controversy. It was based on the theme of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples.

The ad features a woman washing the feet of another woman outside of an abortion clinic, with pro-life demonstrators in the background. A police officer washes the feet of a minority individual. A priest washes the feet of someone who is part of the LGBTQ movement. The ad’s tagline was “Jesus didn’t teach hate.”

The ad looked like it was produced by some progressive “religious left” outfit.

The idea of humility and service to others is a biblical theme. The idea that we should forgive those who wrong us is a central Christian concept.

But it was impossible to watch this ad and not feel like that its message was “white conservative America” really needed to atone for its sins against minorities, the LGBTQ movement, the pro-abortion movement, etc., etc.

Let’s take the image of a police officer washing the feet of an inner-city resident.  Police officers in the inner city risk their lives every day to protect inner-city residents from criminals and drug dealers. All they get for their service is hatred from the left and calls to defund them.

If the message of the ad was “don’t hate,” it should have shown an inner-city resident washing the feet of a police officer.