Tarquin Aluclaire
I disagree. Way back when the ads started I remember there being an ad for the US military. If they can have ads, why not a religion? You buy into religion just like you buy into anything else.
Not exactly. As far as I know, there's only one US military. Religion is an entirely different matter; it's one of those things (along with politics) that people get really worked up about.
Besides, I don't remember any advertisements that portray the US military as being "truth restored." There are far more implications at hand when religion is being advertised. Especially if the advertisers were to start promoting a little-understood system such as atheism or Satanism. Something like that may just destroy an all-encompassing, user-friendly site like Gaia for good.
Tarquin Aluclaire
The Anglican church has bus adds where I live. It is an ad like any other so Caveat Emptor applies. If sombody gets suckered into a religion because of an ad on Gaia then they had it coming.
While it is disrespectful of Gaia to allow these ads to be shown in the midst of a largely impressionable user base, the issue is more fully centered around the financial implications of advertising a single religion and not others. Especially when a minority religion such as Mormonism is being promoted.
Think of the parents who monitor the actions of their children online. A large percentage of these parents are from Christian (non-Mormon) backgrounds. How do you suppose they would react if they knew their children were being shown advertisements endorsing a religion outside of their own?
Now, I realize some of them will have absolutely no problem with their children seeing these ads. But ultimately, by advertising such a small minority religion such as Mormonism, Gaia's potential for loss is greater than its potential for gain.
I could also argue that the ads for the Anglican church and Gaia's ads for the Mormon church are fundamentally different in the respect that it's much easier to quit Gaia to avoid seeing the Mormons' ads than it is to quit life or move to escape the Anglican bus stop ads.
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