Religion's Marketing Problem

We have a big problem.

The Christmas season's "Peace on earth, good will to man" is not playing well this year. Ironically, the problem that this religious holiday is up against is, of all things, religion. If you doubt this, I point you to a cover story of The Economist entitled "The New Wars Of Religion."

In this article, Philip Jenkins, one of America's top religious scholars, claims that when historians look back on this century, they will probably see religion as "the prime animating and destructive force in human affairs, guiding attitudes to political liberty, concepts of nationhood, conflicts and wars." If the first eight years of this century are an indicator, Jenkins is on to something.

What's at the heart of all this is a marketing problem. In the history of mankind, nothing has been sold as aggressively and successfully as religion. But unlike the traditional world of marketing, the "my religion is better than your religion" arguments have taken on an intensity that has often become fatal. And when you consider the weaponry that's available out there, it is all very frightening.

So what's to be done? How can we begin to "unmarket" religion and get back to some "good will"? In my estimation we have to shift the discussion away from negative "better" to a more positive "good will" argument.

You start with undermining the logic of "better." Consider "the room full of religions" scenario. Let's say you put into a room learned representatives of each of the big four religions (Christianity, Islam, Hindu and Buddhists) along with Judaism and someone from the atheist nonreligious school.

When asked by a moderator, "What will happen, with certainty, to each of you when you die?" each participant will come up with six different predictions backed up by the religious book they use to support their predictions. Logic would clearly point to the fact that only one can be right. Five out of six, with some certainty, are wrong. And, since no one can predict the future, there is no way to dispute this statistic. And, what's worse, all can be wrong if God has no favorites.

That established, instead of arguing intensely about the unknown "Hereafter," perhaps more effort should be focused on the "here and now." All the big names in religion and philosophy have talked about this approach. Christ said, "Love thy neighbor as thyself." Muhammad said, "Whoever does not love their neighbor does not know God." And Confucius said, "The man of perfect virtue, wishing to establish himself, seeks to establish others." It's obvious this advice has been ignored over the centuries as each religion argued about their primacy.

If all religions spent more time on this advice, we would be getting back to that "peace on earth, good will to man" concept. Arguing and strife will get us nowhere but into big trouble. We should all challenge this logic of one religion being better than all others and focus our efforts on getting along with each other, whatever religion we pursue. For all we know, that just might be what God would like to see us all do.

Finally, you might ask, how would you launch a program like this? Religious leaders? Not likely, as many see their role as propagating and defending their version of religion as the right one. Political leaders? Maybe, but most wouldn't want to upset their hardcore religious followers with talk like this.

The only hope I see are the silent majority of people that simply want to see more peace on earth and can live with less religion if necessary. The problem is, how do you organize them? That’s even a bigger problem to solve.

Meanwhile, have a happy and healthy holiday season and spread some good will whenever you can. It's desperately needed.

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Comments

[Gareth]

A well thought out, reasoned consideration of the issues.

Unfortunately, bringing logic to a religious debate is like bringing a giraffe to a knife fight - the other participants will look at you funny then turn on you.

We must find another way to solve the problem of extremism than tackling religions head on.

Religious extremism is a problem of poverty and a problem of condonement.

Telling miserable, downtrodden people to stop believing so devoutly is like taking a comforter away from a child.

By working to eradicate poverty and create societies which punish religious oppression or incitement, people will shed their extremism like a heavy coat in the summertime.

This is a particularly strong argument for globalization and the separation of church and state. The former will spread the latter as it's far easier for governments to attract foreign business if they don't condone killing them...

PS. Happy holiday and thanks for creating such a great resource - I look forward to following you all in 2009!

[Brett Duncan]

I agree with you and disagree with you.

Granted, if ALL religions practiced what they preached regarding helping their neighbor, especially those downtrodden, it would make a wonderful statement. Even if just one religion did this, massive strides would be made by this silent majority.

The problem, of course, is that each religion's #1 priority is to share "the truth," not just good will. And it's this truth that we all disagree on and, ultimately, aren't 100% sure of. Religion is most concerned with bringing together humans with God (term used loosely given the topic), and because of that interaction, good will is a result.

But at some point, if truth is the #1 call of any religion, then a line in the sand must be drawn at some point.

The problem is that religion is managed by humans, and humans always screw stuff up. So to come full circle, the idea of good will is religion's best shot at marketing itself well. But I don't know if that's the point.

[Douglas Karr]

I suppose the reason why Religious Marketing doesn't work is because those who are eventually rewarded aren't here to share their testimonial, case study or whitepaper.

[Jonte Edvardson]

I think one of the biggest problem with religion is that it should not be promoted at all!

Religion would only work if everybody believed what they wanted to believe and let their neighbours believe whatever they want to believe - and not try to promote or force them into their "truth". That's when things get ugly...

[GCF]

Thanks for layering the marketing perspective on a truly magnificent challenge facing all populations and government leaders.

Here's another perspective - the crux of the problem is not that "My religion is better than your religion;" rather, it's "my religion requires me to wipe out your religion and all nonbelievers." This extreme level of intolerance is the source for much of the destructive nature of religion. This goes beyond the notion that you must forsake all others in order to prove your faith; it calls for you to act by destroying all others to prove the level of your faith.

I would suggest that not only should we preach that religion is about good will. We also have to preach acceptance of other faiths. It is ok if a religion calls on you to forsake all others and commit solely to your God, but you should also accept other faiths even if you don't agree to their precepts.

If marketers can figure out how to spread this message, I'm sure some good will can be generated along the way.