When his fishing companions ask how he is able to walk on the water, he responds, "It's no miracle; you just have to know where the stepping stones are!"
"We wish that our voices can be united to make clear to any secular extremist that any attack or defacement of religious symbols and sacred spaces is not acceptable," South Africa's Muslim Judicial Council wrote in a message to Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, head of the Southern African Roman Catholic Bishops Conference.
Cardinal Napier called on Catholics to abstain from drinking Red Bull leading up to Easter and to donate any money saved to charity.
"While the Red Bull adverts are characterized by their cleverness, we believe that Red Bull South Africa have overstepped a mark," Napier said in a statement. "We also suggest that the marketing team and their advertising and public relations companies make a serious effort to attend sensitivity training. People are more than consumers and faith-based symbols are more than marketing opportunities."
The controversial Red Bull campaign follows a number of incidents over recent months in which billboards and other advertisements have sparked outrage among religious groups.
Last week, outrage erupted in Harrisburgh, Pa., after an atheist organization erected a billboard featuring a picture of a slave and the words "Slaves, obey your masters." The billboard has since been taken down, and representatives from both the billboard's sponsors and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission are scheduled to meet for discussions.
Watch the controversial Red Bull ad in the video above.
Check out other controversial billboards below:
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After facing backlash from both Christians and Muslims in South Africa, energy-drink maker Red Bull has voluntary discontinued advertisements that give an alternative interpretation of Jesus' walk on ...
After facing backlash from both Christians and Muslims in South Africa, energy-drink maker Red Bull has voluntary discontinued advertisements that give an alternative interpretation of Jesus' walk on ...
By Kimberly Winston Religion News Service (RNS) Stripped of its supernatural elements, does religion have anything to offer atheists? What can nonbelievers borrow from the...
By Piet Levy Religion News Service (RNS) Many TV network executives, advertisers and producers would sell their souls to get the kind of audience God...
You may be thinking, "Just how exactly does a guy who claims to believe in the inspiration of Scripture arrive at the conclusion that God is pro-peace?
Particularly in an age where debate around Godlessness is coming squarely into the mainstream of Western thought, I don't think the question of belief is going to be settled anytime soon.
I've always been a happy person. And now, with age and all that comes with it, I'm just about bordering on contentment. But the strange thing is that many people pity me for not believing in God.
Red Bull didn't think this would offend? While I appreciate the attempt at humor, the best part of comedy is the use of imagination in a "visual", the minds imaginative picture based on the comedic input. Deeply held beliefs do not lend themselves to the in your face humor of this commercial.
greytunes: Red Bull didn't think this would offend? While I appreciate
It seems extremely unfair to have a good comment detained from post in a queue for 6 or 12 hours so the thread looks like some one had nothing intelligent to say in an effort to refute what someone else had to say. It would seem some are allowed to "Stack the deck" so the opinion conclusions favor a per-determined objective.
If that is the case what is the point in doing the work to post an intelligent comment?
iLdoRight: It seems extremely unfair to have a good comment detained
Here's an idea for a Red Bull commercial : Jesus turns water into Red Bull and it gives everyone who drinks it wings which they use to fly to heaven. Jesus then turns to face the camera and shouts, "It's the Rapture babyyyyyyyyy !!"
TexasBlueTick: Here's an idea for a Red Bull commercial : Jesus
Yet if an ad parodied Greek or Roman or Norse theology, there would be no outcry. Why the outcry just because it is contemporary mythology being parodied?
curiousdwk: Yet if an ad parodied Greek or Roman or Norse
The biggest problem here is a growing double standard. You can trash, poke fun at, and satirize Christianity all you want. But to do the same to Islam? Buddhism? You get outcries of intolerance and indecency.
We will never get over this as a society as long as we have double standards. I am all for lightening up, but can we please be consistent?
Trevr84: The biggest problem here is a growing double standard. You
"Christian and Muslim religious leaders condemned the commercials for spreading messages that are hurtful to both faiths and religion as a whole, ..."
I will probably never understand this. You have a supposedly Almighty - ALMIGHTY - God and the prophet/son of your choice on your side. And yet you are concerned that an ad for a caffeinated soda can "hurt" your religion? There is supposedly God/Allah, and there are his minions right here on Earth. And the only real, physical manifestation of any of this comes from the works of the minions. I draw my conclusions, you can draw yours.
crydespite: "Christian and Muslim religious leaders condemned the commercials for spreading
Do you feel like such levity and casualness for that which some people (obviously not you) hold to be sacred is equally appropriate for all religions and beliefs?
If so, then at least you are consistent.
If not, if you feel like we should be more sensitive to some religions or beliefs than others, than you are a hypocrite.
Trevr84: Do you feel like such levity and casualness for that
I am sorry Trevr but there was not one word of levity in what I wrote and it was also not written casually; I meant every word of it and I really do think that there is something interesting in the outrage that you and other religious people clearly feel when their supposedly almighty God or Gods are called into question. However, treating your question as a hypothetical: I would reserve the same comment for ANY religion which claimed, as the basis for their call for adherents, a connection to any almighty (or even very powerful), yet supernatural figure which no-one had ever seen and for which the only physical evidence is a lot of people going around talking about them. So I think the answer is yes - wherever religions do that, I will be happy to make the same comment. And I'm not sure what suspicion you harbor that makes you ask this question. If my reply hasn't clarified my position, please feel free to probe more deeply.
crydespite: I am sorry Trevr but there was not one word
You will never understand because you have closed your heart to care about your fellow man. You call them “minions” and mock them yet you know nothing about them. The coldness that comes forth from the mind of atheists pains me.
Romans_9_16: You will never understand because you have closed your heart
Look around you. See the job these people are doing to your fellow humans. I am sorry, but there is a case for pointing out the obvious truth. And I reserve the term "minions" for those who push religion on us, those who challenge science in the schoolroom because they lack the faith to just believe their own myths. I have had it up to here with these people, and although I have many friends who believe, and although I am fond of them, I feel that the minions need to be challenged. You can feel sad for me if you like - I appreciate the sentiment. But to say that I don't care for my fellow man is I think going further than your knowledge of me gives you any right to go.
crydespite: Look around you. See the job these people are doing
I live in South Africa and followed this Red Bull saga. I am ashamed to say that, in spite of SA having one of the most advanced Human Rights Constitution in place, religious bigotry still continues to this day. The SA Constitutional Law protects the rights of individuals to hold any view, and to express it however daft they maybe, BUT, I say again BUT, it DOES NOT protect the views held by anyone. That means anyone's views are open to scrutiny, criticism or even mockery. It DOES NOT protect the individual from OFFENCE. That must be redressed by the many legal means available, incl protests, debate etc etc. Therefore Red Bull did nothing but offend the sensitivities of the religiously insecure. Looking at the Red Bull comments of most of the devotees of christian mythology in this country, they appear to want a christian totalitarian state whereby any person who does not share there views should be put to death - OT style. What a disgrace in the 21st century!
Dale_Simmons: I live in South Africa and followed this Red Bull
You can't allow individuals to "hold any view, and express it however daft they may be" and then in the next breath say certain views should be protected by the right to not be offended. Both of those ideals are antithetical to the other. If anyone can believe anything and express how they feel, then at some point one of those views is going to conflict with someone else's. You can't have it both ways.
Lee_Erickson: You can't allow individuals to "hold any view, and express
Hi Lee. Thank you for your response. I am not sure where you get the notion that I said that "certain views should be protected.by the right to not be offended". In fact I say quite the opposite- I Quote "The SA Constitutional Law protects the rights of individuals to hold any view, and to express it however daft they maybe, BUT, I say again BUT, it DOES NOT protect the views held by anyone. That means anyone's views are open to scrutiny, criticism or even mockery. It DOES NOT protect the individual from OFFENCE". The "DOES NOT protect the VIEWS HELD BY ANYONE" is very clear. The way I see it, I agree exactly with what you say, maybe you misread my post or am I still missing something? Kind Regards -Dale
Dale_Simmons: Hi Lee. Thank you for your response. I am not
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First Posted: 03/14/2012 2:39 pm Updated: 03/14/2012 2:41 pm