Billboard Religion

Recently upon driving north on 75 from the downtown Detroit area I recognized a new billboard “advertisement” proclaiming its message under a depiction of the city landscape.  The message in bold black letters stated, “JESUS IS LORD OVER DETROIT.”

My immediate reaction was to think of all the non-Christians in Detroit who will be forced to view this message every time they travel north on 75.  But the more I thought about this declaration, the more questions I had.  I teach composition to college freshman and one of the first lessons they receive about writing is the necessity to think about their “audience.”  Who do they anticipate will be reading what they write?  The answer to that question determines many aspects of a particular writing assignment such as the tone, diction, style, length of the text, etc.  This aspect of writing, known as rhetoric, is meant to help the writer be as persuasive and effectual as possible in presenting an opinion, argument, or analysis.  But the other, less talked about, benefit of rhetoric is that it helps the writer think about and determine what his/her motivation is for writing.  Even before we consider our audience, we must know what the purpose of the written assignment is and why we are writing it.  It takes a certain amount of self-awareness and honesty to identify our motivation for doing/writing something.  The goal of an essay isn’t always to defend an argument; it might be to give the readers many perspectives on a topic so they can think about all sides of an issue.  The purpose might be to compare two objects or ideas, it might even be to meander through a topic in a way that helps readers to think about it from different perspectives.  Whatever the purpose of the writing assignment, the student must have this clearly in mind when thinking about who the target readership is. 

I began to think about the people who made the decision to put this billboard on 75 obviously targeting a very diverse “audience” and if they considered what the purpose of this billboard would be.  The message makes a statement about something they personally believe.  For them, this message probably gives them some sort of solace when they think about the city they live in with all of its challenges and problems.  But what was their purpose for posting this message in such a public space?  Is it to convince others of what they see as the truth of the message, a sort of evangelistic tool?  I cannot see how this statement convinces anyone of anything; it is decidedly sectarian.  Is the purpose to claim the city through a public statement for those who believe as they do?  If so, this would seem not a little un-Christian.  I cannot think of a scenario that includes any consideration of audience of how these people came to the conclusion to put this statement on a billboard over I-75. 

One reason for considering rhetoric when writing is the same reason we attempt to think before we speak.  It allows us to think about others and how what we say will affect them.  Rhetoric, when used humanely, can be kind and considerate.  Language, that tool we use every day without a second thought, can be respectful of others or assumptive.  Too often, religion is used as an excuse to not be considerate of others.  This is a sad irony.  To assume that others will think as we do is to take a self-centered approach to communication.  And to assume that everyone should adopt our own beliefs is presumptuous.  How we use language, both verbally and textually, can reveal how much we assume about others and how much we insulate ourselves from people who are different from us.

Billboards with religious messages are nothing new.  But usually the message is clearly evangelistic in nature, such as “Repent, and be saved.”  As presuming and arrogant as this message may be, at least its purpose is clear.  But many messages posted by religious zealots leave one wondering if the authors are thinking about what it is they want to convey and for what purpose.  

Clearly stated or not, this method seems a display of superficial religiosity that hides behind the anonymity of a billboard while offering a false sense of doing something meaningful for a city whose residents face many challenges.  The purpose of this billboard message seems to be mainly for the people who put it there, to convince themselves that they are spreading their Christian message.  To them I would offer the words of a predecessor of their religion: “Let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18 NKJV)  And to that I would add a little Greek wisdom that comes into play when considering rhetoric, “Know thyself” (and the purpose for which you write).