News & Reporting

A year ago, we were blogging about the controversy surrounding the Tim Tebow pro-life ad that was to air during the Super Bowl. (It ended up airing anyway, and there were far fewer complaints after it aired than before it – scandal averted!)

Now we have another minor commercial controversy brewing. Fixed Point Foundation reports that Fox Sports has rejected a proposed Super Bowl ad featuring a reference to the Bible verse John 3:16 – ironic since it has been showing up in the background on signs at sporting events for decades.

In the commercial (embedded below), Fixed Point – whose stated mission is "to promote a confident Christianity in the public square by fortifying the minds of Christians and challenging the faith of skeptics" – hoped to encourage viewers to look up John 3:16 and consider its meaning. The commercial directs viewers to a website (lookup316.com) with the verse and explanation. Neither the commercial nor the website sells a product or asks for money, but Fox supposedly rejected the commercial because it contains "religious doctrine."

Still, some regions have opted to air the commercial anyway; a Fox station in Birmingham has agreed to air it twice during the big game. Here it is:

And here's the Tebow ad from last year's Super Bowl:

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