Yahoo News reports this week about XXXchurch, a ministry that … well, if you really want to know the details, check out the FAQ on their site. Here’s a taste:

“What is your mission? Our mission is to make people aware of all the issues about porn and for Christians to be accountable and to get their crap cleaned up. We also want to help and give hope to those who feel like there is no way out and are drowning in porn.”

“Why don’t you have more Bible stuff or have it be more Christian? We have Bible studies and sermons that you can listen to and a prayer wall where you can post prayers. However, we refuse to have this be your typical Christian crap website with crosses and bibles all over the place and communicating things that most in the world can’t relate to. Just the truth communicated in a no-nonsense way.”

Communicating a message in a no-nonsense way that people can relate to — isn’t that what marketing is all about?

Let’s make no mistake about it: XXXchurch (or X3church, if you’re worried about accessing their site at work) is marketing religion using sex. They’re also using a tone of voice that’s enormously accessible — especially, and not insignificantly, to kids. They’re anti-porn, but they’re confronting the issue head-on with an honest and realistic point of view.

For too many years, marketing God (which is exactly what’s happening here) has been the province of oily televangelists, raising images of blue-haired widows sending away their meager pension dollars to fatten the wallets of huckster millionaires. These guys over at XXXchurch have a very (very!) different approach. They also have a DVD: “Missionary Positions: Their Faith Is Hardcore.”

That’s a title almost as likely to grab a kid’s attention as the latest Paris Hilton video.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 5th, 2006 at 6:00 am and is filed under Marketing Stuff.