![\"Kruis_san_damiano\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/409\/2018\/04\/Kruis_san_damiano.gif\")
Social media outlets have been fielding accusations of suppressing Christian and conservative viewpoints for some time. Facebook found itself back in the spotlight of that debate just before Easter for its response to Franciscan University\u2019s series of advertisements.<\/p>\n
Franciscan University is a Catholic university in Steubenville, Ohio with approximately 2,500 students. Just before Easter, the university posted a series of ads to their Facebook page to promote some of their online theology programs. One of those ads was rejected due to the image it contained. The image was a picture of Christ being crucified on the San Damiano Cross. Facebook\u2019s rejection notice described the image\u2019s content as \u201cshocking, sensational and excessively violent.\u201d<\/p>\n
To no one\u2019s surprise, Franciscan University upbraided Facebook for banning the image of the Crucifixion. \u201cThis incident is alarming because of what it reveals about the kind of world that Christians are going to live in,\u201d said Rod Dreher of the American Conservative. \u201cFacebook is one of the most powerful media companies on the planet. If it decides that it will not approve Christian content because it finds that content violent, bigoted or what have you, then that will have a tremendous potential effect, not only on the ability of Christians to communicate, but (most importantly) on shaping the way the Christian faith is regarded widely in this post-Christian culture.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a clever move, Franciscan University took advantage of Facebook\u2019s rejection to talk about Christianity and Easter rather than exploding in impotent anger. The university said that Facebook should not have rejected the image, but Franciscan University surprised many by agreeing with Facebook\u2019s description of the image as \u201cexcessively violent.\u201d \u201c[The Crucifixion] was certainly excessively violent,\u201d said Franciscan University. \u201cA man scourged to within an inch of His life, nailed naked to a cross and left to die, all the hate of all the sin in the world pour out its wrath upon His humanity\u2026This is sensational, this is shocking. [Our salvation] is only possible because of the excessive violence that He endured for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some people claim that the image was rejected by Facebook\u2019s auto-content editor, but many are skeptical of that assertion. Despite this, many Christians have used social media to point out that Facebook\u2019s rejection of the ad has actually given the ad a greater reach than it would have had on the university\u2019s page.<\/p>\n
Regardless of why the image was truly rejected, Franciscan University pointed out that the most remarkable part of the image was not its violence, but its true meaning. \u201cIt was not the nails that held Jesus to the cross: He was God, He could have descended from the Cross at any moment. No, it was love that kept Him there. Love for you and for me, that we might not be eternally condemned for our sins but might have life eternal with Him and His Father in heaven.\u201d Dreher agreed and stated that \u201cfor the people who revere this symbol, they are looking at an image of death\u2019s defeat, and of eternal life.\u201d Facebook or Facebook\u2019s auto-content editor may have forgotten that fact, but Christians all over the world remember it every day regardless of what images are blocked from use in online advertisements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Social media outlets have been fielding accusations of suppressing Christian and conservative viewpoints for some time. Facebook found itself back in the spotlight of that debate just before Easter for its response to Franciscan University\u2019s series of advertisements. Franciscan University is a Catholic university in Steubenville, Ohio with approximately 2,500 students. Just before Easter, the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":616,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7],"tags":[31,30,32],"class_list":["post-34","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholic","category-christian-news","tag-anti-christian","tag-facebook","tag-social-media"],"yoast_head":"\n