On Thursday evening I noted news reports that the Fox entertainment network would not air an ad by a Christian website, LookUp316 -- referring of course to John 3:16 -- during Super Bowl XLV.
So I was pleasantly surprised last night to find that Fox did air the ad after all, just before the beginning of the 4th quarter of the game.
USA Today religion reporter Cathy Lynn Grossman was also surprised, telling her readers in a February 7 post that she has to look into what made network executives change their mind.
[To view the ad, click play on the embedded video posted after the page break]
The ad, sponsored by the Fixed Point Foundation, was "originally rejected by Fox Sports for containing too much 'religious doctrine' and for being too offensive," Nathan Black of The Christian Post noted this morning. Like Grossman, Black had no explanation from the Fox officials as to why they changed their minds.
Perhaps its possible the ad only ran in the Washington, D.C. market as a Glenn Garvin blog post at the Miami Herald's website this morning counted the LookUp316.com ad as one that was not broadcast last night.
For his part the Herald columnist failed to see the controversy in the "milquetoast" ad, quipping of the actors in the ad, "Maybe Fox and the NFL think fat people can’t go to heaven."
