I recently wrote a piece for Advertising Age called “What the Catholic Church Can Learn From Social Media.” In it, I said in part:

In a simple cartoon circulated online, Jesus looks at Peter and says, “No, I’m not talking about Twitter. I literally want you to follow me.” This is an apt depiction of the competitive relationship that has existed between media and religion, summed up as: “I’m God. Turn off the media and listen to me.” If modern technologies were used to further the faith — be it an advertising campaign or a televised sermon — religious institutions possessed a stranglehold on the content using a top-down, paternalistic approach to communication.

Forcing followers into submission no longer works — this is as true for the Catholic Church as it is for consumer-packaged goods.

Evidently the Pope and social media is a very hot topic because once the new pope was selected, I was asked to talk about it on Bloomberg West which you can watch here.

I will be curious to see how much the Catholic Church takes this issue to heart. It might simply be of more interest to us than it is to those in a position to set the church’s agenda.

Katherine Stewart’s book, The Good News Club, is the kind of smart, in-depth reporting that makes you want to scream at the text while you are reading it–not because it’s bad, but because you can’t believe you haven’t heard about the issue before now.

Ms. Stewart uncovers a virus that is invading the public school systems. No, not MRSA or chicken pox. It is the Religious Right, a group which is becoming increasingly entwined with America’s public schools–notably our elementary schools where children 10 and younger are unable to distinguish between curricula sponsored by the state and that promoted by a group with a religious evangelical agenda.

A group with the unassuming name, The Good News Club, comes to schools offering to teach religion as nondenominational. Given this spin, school boards and parents accept the entree of these groups into their school believing it is an opportunity to expose children to religion as an anthropological, sociological or historical area of study. But, this is not the case. In fact, The Good News Club is part of an evangelical mission that stoops to “faith-based bullying”, leading to angry splits among what had been harmonious communities.

So how do these openly faith-based groups invade the very secular institution of the public elementary school? Stewart pegs this to a Supreme Court case Good News Club v Milford Central School, which equated religion with free speech. In so doing, a loop hole was created whereby if a school opens its doors to any outside organization, it must also allow religious organizations the same access.

Stewart cites a number of issues as it relates to this situation, which are too numerous to outline here. However–and this is the most compelling take-away–the entree of religious teaching in public schools hits at the core of the First Amendment. We do not have a state sanctioned religion, and we do not want one in the future. Unfortunately, if groups like this go unchecked, Stewart believes that may very well be where we are heading.

Well the Scientologists are back again.

Over the last several days, new commercials for Scientology are appearing on the major broadcast networks. That “the church” is advertising is not new. They ran a series of ads two years ago. I’ve written about them here and in Social Compass in an article called “The Evolution of Religious Branding.”

What is new is that they are airing on some of the most popular–and most expensive–programming on network television. Not least of which was last night’s premiere of American Idol. Not only that, the commercials are not being distributed on the Internet. In fact, the old advertising no longer exists on the Scientology web site.

So why now?

A number of reasons: 1) Janet Reitman’s book Inside Scientology, an in-depth history of the church appeared on a number of best book lists of 2011. I’m about half way through the book and for those who know Scientology it is a bit long winded for my taste. For anyone who is interested in thorough histories, it will be a good read. 2) A new very high profile defection has occurred in the church. A few years ago it was Oscar-winning writer-director, Paul Haggis. Now it is Debbie Cook, who was an enforcer for the organization but is now a whistle blower, according to the Village Voice. Below is a story about her on Good Morning America.

Having only seen the commercial fleetingly, I can say this much about it. From a communications standpoint, Scientology is trying to communicate they are big. The copy in the spot was all about how the church is big and growing–obviously meant to combat the notion that people are fleeing a sinking ship. That idea is further communicated by the media placement. You simply don’t get much bigger than American Idol–TV’s highest rated show.

As I mentioned last time, James Frey has a new book out called the Final Testament of the Holy Bible. He’s going to be on Oprah to promote it so set your DVRs–the date’s not set but there are only a handful of shows left.

My commentary on the book and its marketing are on The Revealer.

On this Easter morning and when it is still Passover, I thought I’d put down my thoughts about something Christian and something Jewish.

First, the Passover story. The Jewish Daily Forward last week wrote a story suggesting that four characters from Glee represent the Four Sons of the Passover story–the wise son, the wicked son, the simple son, and one who does not know to ask. Rachel (the loud Barbra Streisand singing soloist of the choir) is the wise son; “Puck” (the high school “bad boy”) is the wicked son; wheelchair-bound Artie is the simple son because he simplest–that is rather uncommitted–about his Jewishness; Tina Cohen-Chang’s Jewishness is invisible in the show save for her name. Coming from an interfaith marriage, the assumption is that she does not know to ask because in most homes of this sort children are not raised to be Jewish-identified.

What I find most interesting about this (and Jay Michaelson does a wonderful analysis in this piece) is that Glee more than any other show on television is unafraid to show Jewishness. Most often on primetime television, Jewish characters appear on individual episodes and are integral to a single plot line (the exception being Cuddy and James E. Wilson (J.E.W.) on House). Here, though, Jewish characters are shown across a spectrum of different personality types. Moreover, and true to how faith is lived particularly for this generation, Jewish identity is a part of who they are–no more or less than being goth or wearing a Mohawk. It might change as these charcters age, but this is up to our fantasies to divine because in TV Land they can never get out of the Glee Club.

For Easter, I must mention James Frey’s new book The Final Testament of the Holy Bible.

James Frey, as you likely know, is the author who famous lied in his memoir and was publicly shamed by Oprah for having done so. Since then, the author moved on to market himself as the Bad Boy (the Wicked Son?) of publishing. Thus on Good Friday, he released his new work which is described in the following way on the product’s website:

What if the Messiah were alive today? Living in New York. Sleeping with men. Impregnating young women. Euthanizing the dying, and healing the sick. Defying the government, and condemning the holy.

If you met him, and he changed your life, would you believe?

The book is not available in stores, but through an upscale art gallery at art gallery prices, or you can download it at a typical price point.

Since this only came out two days ago, I’m still reading it and examining the marketing. Once done, my thoughts and analysis will appear in a piece I’ll be writing about this for The Revealer. In the meantime, if anyone has thoughts on this book, Frey or the marketing thereof, I’d love to see your postings.

Happy holidays.

The New York Times has two stories about yoga that confront the same issue. While it appears they are debating if yoga belongs to Hindus, the real issue seems to be can you repackage, that is market, aspects of one faith and use them in another?

On the front page of the paper, there was a story about Hindus fighting to keep yoga associated with their faith. “Hindu Group Stirs a Debate Over Yoga’s Soul” states

The campaign, labeled “Take Back Yoga,” does not ask yoga devotees to become Hindu, or instructors to teach more about Hinduism. The small but increasingly influential group behind it, the Hindu American Foundation, suggests only that people become more aware of yoga’s debt to the faith’s ancient traditions.

In, I believe, today’s style section there was story called Stretch/Bending with a Holy Twist. This article was all about practicing yoga but replacing the obligatory “om” with the words of St. Francis of Assisi.

“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith.”

The article then goes on to discuss if it is right and appropriate to mix Christianity with yoga.

In both articles, a quote appeared to the affect that yoga is not itself a religion. And, this is of course true. More at issue, however, is a statement from the cover article quoting Dr. Aseem Shukla, a Hindu American Foundation co-founder, “our issue is that yoga has thrived, but Hinduism has lost control of the brand.” Is that a concern because Hinduism is in declining? Otherwise, why would they care? (I don’t know the answer to this so please feel free to educate me on this matter.)

At any rate, this would certainly not be the first time that a western faith has stolen something from the east…rosary beads, anyone?

While a blockbuster book, the movie Eat, Pray, Love was a bit of a snore at the box office.

It could be that the producers didn’t really care about the box office as much as they did about the ancillary merchandise (movies make more money from DVDs and PPV anyway, but here we’re talking about real tchotchkes). According to an article in The Hollywood Reporter (subscription needed) called “Eat, Pray, Shop!” Sony got women to shell out $4.99 for prayer beads, $72 for “I Deserve Something Beautiful” necklaces and $49 for organic t-shirts. “The film might be a call to action for women to live their lives passionately, but it’s also a call for them to purchase the tastes, smells and luxuries that Julia Roberts enjoys onscreen through her travels.” It’s sort of “Eat, Pray, Love” meets “Sex and the City,” especially when “being spiritual” entails a mirror sequined tote bag for $1399.90.

Excuse me for not having written of late. Been busy working on the new book…More on that later.

Here’s a story you might have missed:

Kirstie Alley was the (as it turns out) short-term spokesperson for Jenny Craig. Unlike Valerie Bertinelli who continues to hawk for the weight-loss company, Kirsty Allen couldn’t keep the weight off.

Willing to try yet again, Ms. Alley created her own line of weight loss products and developed a reality show–Kirstie Alley’s Big Life–on A&E to launch them. (The show still appears on A&E’s web site, but it is not currently on their program schedule.)

When I tell you that this show is beyond bad (one critic’s headline was something along the lines of “Big Life has the makings of a Big Flop”), you know that’s saying something because I’ll watch a lot of programming others consider fairly awful. Suffice it to say, I couldn’t make it through more than one episode.

What does this have to do with religion and marketing? According to an article on Gawker, the line of diet products being sold have ties to the preachings of L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology. (Alley is well known as a Scientologist.) Anonymous, a group that is famous for investigating Scientology, claims that there are ties to the church itself, though that has not been verified.

Either way, it would behoove those who are concerned about their weight and fans of Kirstie Alley to not go blindly into purchasing this product–one that has a steep price tag of $139/month…wonder how that compares with Jenny Craig?

There was a wonderful story in the NY Times yesterday about one man’s response to the overcommercialization of yoga.

In a world where who your yoga teacher is and whether you are wearing Lululemon has become more important than your connection to Spirit, Greg Gumucio has not bought into the hype. Instead he has created an anti-celebrity, anti-fashionista yoga in his studios called Yoga to the People. Students don’t know who their teacher will be when they take a class; they pay what they can afford to pay and as their website states: “There will be no correct clothes, There will be no proper payment, There will be no right answers … No ego no script no pedestals.”

To those who would suggest that it is impossible to balance faith and commerce, I would suggest taking a lesson from Mr. Gumucio. He has 3 studios in New York, 2 in California, has plans to expand into Williamsburg, Brooklyn and Chelsea as well as possible long-term expansion into Austin, Chicago and Los Angeles.

In the Kabbalah Centre’s neverending quest to spread the word, they have now launched Kabbalah U online. They say they are doing this because it is the most effective means to disseminate this information, which is of course try. However, if the goal was to make the information available, they would provide it all for free.

This, of course, is not the case…except for the next 5 days. Until April 30, you can use Kabbalah U for free.

To login, visit www.ukabbalah.com and enter the following:
username: april
password: april

Here you will find “hundreds of hours of classes from teachers all over the world, available for downloading & watching as much as you desire, learning new lessons each time you watch.”

Better hurry! After Friday, you have to pay $42/month!