Facebook has rejected an ad that a Catholic university submitted, which showed the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The image of Jesus nailed on the cross was apparently not up to the social media standards, thus the site banned it from being published on its platform.
The Franciscan University in Ohio posted on its school blog that it submitted a series of ads to promote its theology and evangelization programs. One ad, however, failed to meet the standards Facebook stipulated and cited the image for its "shocking, sensational and excessively violent" content.
The school shared the photo in question and wrote that Facebook was not wrong to say that "the Crucifixion of Christ was all of those things." The post went on to preach words from the Gospel about the sacrifices Jesus made for mankind and the rejection he faced as He obediently followed God's will.
Rod Dreher from the American Conservative, however, called out Facebook for its bigotry and "religious and cultural illiteracy." He contended that an algorithm might be responsible for the ad's rejection but also said that people should be worried all the more because it's a machine that made the decision.
Meanwhile, Sylvia, the site manager for the blog Passion of Christ, posted in March that Facebook also rejected her religious ads. Apart from a rejected bloodied crucifixion image, Facebook also did not approve her ads with titles like "Being Christian," "Following Jesus," or "Are you being deceived by the devil?" among others.
The Christian blog owner expressed concern over the censorship, which she said would limit the reach of Christian sites. Worse, she had approved posts and ads deleted on Facebook without warning, which she said might herald the disappearance of Christian content altogether.
Sylvia wrote the open letter to Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg after a staff closed the case involving her disputed ads without any resolution. She suggested changes that Facebook must make as well, while waiting for an apology from its CEO.
