Fox Rejects Super Bowl Ad With Bible Verse

John 3:16 doesn't fly
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 3, 2011 10:37 AM CST

A commercial deemed OK to run during Sunday's Super Bowl: a steamy Kim Kardashian hawking Sketchers sneakers. And one that wasn't: a 30-second spot that includes a Bible verse. Fox Sports has nixed an ad that appears sort of harmless—a bunch of friends who are drinking beer and watching football spot the words "John 3:16" painted onto one of the players faces, and decide to look up what it means on their phone. The commercial ends there, without actually sharing the verse. (Which is "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.")

Fox said the commercial didn't jibe with company policy, which bars advertising "for the purpose of advancing particular beliefs or practices." The head of the Fixed Point Foundation, the Christian group behind the ad, called Fox "gracious," but said, "Their solution was just to run from it because they think this is something that would offend their viewership." "It's hard to argue with Fox's point about the spot's religious content," writes David Gibson for Politics Daily—but he thinks Fox actually rejected it because it was wary of "the wrong kind of controversy. It's hard to see how a commercial whose only religious reference is a brief shot of a player's eye black and 'John 3:16' could offend an audience of sports fans." Click for more.
(More Bible stories.)

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