An advertising campaign designed to help people focus on Christ at Christmas will portray an ultrasound scan of the Son of God in His mother's womb on British billboards in December despite criticism that it promotes an anti-abortion message.Reports indicate ultrasound technology is fueling pro-life progress.
UPDATE 12/22/10: Jesus ultrasound billboards now in in several states in U.S.
-- From "Christmas ad: Baby Jesus' 'sonogram' -- halo and all" posted at USA TODAY 11/22/10
A British group is taking the novel approach of promoting nativity scene like no other -- turning a sonogram-like image into a icon-like poster by portraying Jesus as a fetus with a halo, in Mary's womb.
Well, at least it's a baby image... whose is unclear. The text says, "He's on His Way" and they're clearly not talking about Santa.
Also unclear, according to Baptist Press coverage, drawing on stories in the The Guardian, is whether the message will be hijacked for pro-life campaigns.
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From "'Baby Scan Jesus' ad set despite criticism" by Tom Strode, Baptist Press 11/19/10
Promoters of "Baby Scan Jesus," as they have named the ad, hope it will reach 40 million people from more than 2,000 billboard and poster sites Dec. 6-20 in England, according to the Guardian, a British newspaper.
A critic called the ad incredibly naïve. "The image is too specifically associated with pro-lifers to be seen in a benign context. They should go back to angels and cribs," said Terry Sanderson, director of the National Secular Society, the Guardian reported in June in one of its stories about the ad.
Trustees for ChurchAds.net, the ecumenical charity behind the campaign, said the ad "is not, in any way, designed to either support or campaign against abortion." The poster "announces the imminent birth of the Christ child in the way that many modern-day parents choose to announce the coming birth of their own child," they said in a written statement.
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From "UK Ad Campaign’s Ultrasound Image of Christ in Womb Gains Global Interest, Even As Ad Makers Deny Pro-life Message" by Penny Starr, CNSNews.com 11/30/10
“This is a powerful image with eight words that manages to communicate the unique combination of humanity and divinity that Jesus represents,” Francis Goodwin, chairman of ChurchAds.net, told CNSNews.com by e-mail from her office in the UK. “This is a celebration of his birth, hence the timing.”
“We are obviously aware that others might seek to hi-jack the image for their own purposes, but those purposes are not ours,” Goodwin said. “Our objectives are clear and simple and follow on from a 19-year track record of producing Christian advertising.”
This year’s campaign is the second of a five-year plan to retell the birth of Christ in a modern context and to remind people that Christmas is for the celebration of Jesus’ birth.
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From "'We're winning,' Land tells pregnancy center leaders" by Mickey Noah, Baptist Press 11/29/10
[Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) since 1988,] promoted the ERLC's "Psalm 139 Project," a program in which donors' gifts are used to install ultrasound machines in qualified SBC pregnancy ministry centers around the country.
The initiative is named after Psalm 139:13-14, which says: "For it was You who created my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother's womb. I will praise you because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made."
"If wombs had windows, people would be much more reticent to abort babies," Land said. "Sonograms provide a window into the womb. Pregnant mothers who see their babies on sonograms are far more likely to carry their babies to term."
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