{"id":505,"date":"2020-05-30T10:49:59","date_gmt":"2020-05-30T10:49:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breaking-the-silence.online\/index.php\/2020\/05\/30\/faith-isnt-taboo-anymore-brands-take-note\/"},"modified":"2024-09-14T06:25:06","modified_gmt":"2024-09-14T06:25:06","slug":"faith-isnt-taboo-anymore-brands-take-note","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amaliafoka.com\/breaking-the-silence\/index.php\/2020\/05\/30\/faith-isnt-taboo-anymore-brands-take-note\/","title":{"rendered":"Faith Isn\u2019t Taboo Anymore: Brands Take Note"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"intro-text\">\n<p>When Chick-fil-A announced in late November that it would stop donating to <strong>faith<\/strong>-based organizations, I was confused.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"dropcap square\" style=\"background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; border-color: #ffffff;\">After&nbsp;<\/span>all, just six months ago, I wrote an article applauding the <strong>faith<\/strong>-centric chicken chain for standing by its founder, Truett Cathy, and the <strong>values<\/strong> he built the business on.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve been studying the <strong>role<\/strong> <strong>faith<\/strong> plays in marketing to the New Heartland for over a decade.<\/p>\n<p>When I unveiled the New Heartland as an under served cultural segment at the Pepsico bottlers meeting in 2010, I was advised by a friend who was a senior marketer at P&amp;G, to avoid talking about <strong>faith<\/strong> completely.<\/p>\n<p>He said <strong>faith<\/strong> in marketing is \u00abtoo polarizing.\u00bb For a minute, I took his advice, because I wanted <strong>people<\/strong> to like me.<\/p>\n<p>After a little soul searching, and based on my research, <strong>faith<\/strong>, not <strong>religion<\/strong>, is a major core value New Heartlanders hold dear.<\/p>\n<p>Luckily, the folks at the meeting understood where I was coming from and how <strong>faith<\/strong> factors into purchase behavior.<\/p>\n<p>Get to a place where you understand the <strong>role<\/strong> <strong>faith<\/strong> plays.<\/p>\n<p>Lately, entertainment and <strong>faith<\/strong> have been intersecting in <strong>ways<\/strong> that reflect a New Heartland state of mind.<\/p>\n<p>Faith and its connection to pop culture is gaining ground with both New Heartland and non-New Heartland personalities leading the way.<\/p>\n<p>Together, celebrities from different religious backgrounds are showing that it\u2019s OK to embrace your <strong>faith<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s about <strong>faith<\/strong>&#8230;however you practice it.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-167 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/amaliafoka.com\/breaking-the-silence\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/faith-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\"><\/p>\n<p>Faith is finding its way into unexpected mediums across a variety of genres through <strong>believers<\/strong> with a platform.<\/p>\n<p>Now in his 20\u2019s, the pop star is regularly in the news for associations with <strong>faith<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>2019 was the <strong>year<\/strong> of embracing <strong>faith<\/strong> in country <strong>music<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Some notable songs featuring <strong>faith<\/strong> include Matt Stell\u2019s \u00abPrayed For You,\u00bb <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Blake_Shelton\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Blake Shelton<\/a>\u2019s \u00abGod\u2019s Country\u00bb and <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Little_Big_Town\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Little Big Town<\/a>\u2019s \u00abThe Daughters,\u00bb fans were introduced to \u00abMonsters\u00bb by <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Eric_Church\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Eric Church<\/a> at the end of the summer.<\/p>\n<p>Since his first EP, \u00abSinners Like Me,\u00bb Church has danced with <strong>faith<\/strong> in his lyrics to much success.<\/p>\n<p>He uses <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jesus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jesus<\/a>\u2019 name on network TV, volunteers for Kids of the Kingdom in his hometown of <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chicago\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chicago<\/a>, and shares his message of <strong>faith<\/strong> through his <strong>music<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>One of his most <strong>faith<\/strong>-driven endeavors, Coloring Book, reached 1.<\/p>\n<p>Swedish DJs Galantis and Dutch singer Mr. Probz approached Parton with a proposal to sing on their EDM remake of <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/John_Hiatt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">John Hiatt<\/a>\u2019s 80s hit, \u00abFaith.\u00bb Many of her country songs have been re purposed as party mixes, but this is the first time she collaborated on a venture of this type outside of her bluegrass roots.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"pullquote align-left\"><p>Her collaborations following 18 years away from the stage are predominantly <strong>faith<\/strong>-focused.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In addition to \u00abFaith,\u00bb Parton joined forces with For King and Country earlier in 2019 on their song \u00abGod Only Knows\u00bb.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>music<\/strong> video for \u00abFaith\u00bb has attracted nearly 5.<\/p>\n<p>Kumail Nanjiani Mixes Comedy and Faith<\/p>\n<p>In the years after 9\/11, however, he decided that tying his message to his Muslim <strong>faith<\/strong> would be a way he could increase <strong>understanding<\/strong> of the culture in America.<\/p>\n<p>Many marketers eliminate considerations of the <strong>role<\/strong> of <strong>faith<\/strong> from advertising because they don\u2019t want to seem out of touch, uncool, or weak.<\/p>\n<p>When agency and brand decision ignore the <strong>role<\/strong> of <strong>faith<\/strong> in buying behavior, they greatly dilute the impact of their messaging.<\/p>\n<p>Faith is a core value that shouldn\u2019t be ignored.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-168 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/amaliafoka.com\/breaking-the-silence\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/faith-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\"><\/p>\n<p>The campaign is one of a handful of recent initiatives to challenge the <strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">taboo<\/span><\/strong> around <strong>organ<\/strong> <strong>donation<\/strong> among Sikh and other South Asian <strong>communities<\/strong> in the U.K.<\/p>\n<p>But when most <strong>people<\/strong> speak to medical professionals and <strong>faith<\/strong> <strong>leaders<\/strong> openly about the process and understand that one donor can save nine lives, they typically decide against opting out, advocates said.<\/p>\n<p>The change in the law has forced several <strong>faith<\/strong> <strong>communities<\/strong> to reckon with the question of <strong>organ<\/strong> donations&#8217; religious permissibility.<\/p>\n<p>Last <strong>year<\/strong>, Project 550 and British Sikh Nurses were among 25 <strong>faith<\/strong>-based and community initiatives funded by the National Health Services Blood and Transplant\u2019s BAME Community Investment Scheme to educate black and minority ethnic <strong>communities<\/strong> about <strong>organ<\/strong> <strong>donation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The British Sikh Report\u2019s analysis of these numbers suggested that religiosity did not notably affect Sikhs\u2019 <strong>organ<\/strong> <strong>donation<\/strong> registration rates, with these numbers remaining fairly steady regardless of the number of Sikh articles of <strong>faith<\/strong> a person wears or whether they have been baptized in a ritual ceremony.<\/p>\n<p>\u00abFor the Sikh community, the concept of seva or selfless service is a fundamental principle of the <strong>faith<\/strong>,\u00bb Jasvir Singh, chairman of the report and of the City Sikhs charity organization, told Religion News Service.<\/p>\n<p>\u00abOur fundamental <strong>faith<\/strong> encourages us to spend all our life becoming detached from our body and detached from worldly possessions,\u00bb Gill said.<\/p>\n<p>\u00abIt seems ironic that at the end, we would want to become even more attached to the body. But in our <strong>faith<\/strong>, once you\u2019ve left your body, it\u2019s just an empty vessel that\u2019s going to decay in the ground or be cremated.\u00bbRahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, has now been granted asylum in <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Canada\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Canada<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The second was that she raised an <strong>issue<\/strong> that is affecting many families in the region around the way men and women are treated so differently, and the third was she said she had rejected her <strong>faith<\/strong>, in this case Islam.<\/p>\n<p>One ex-Muslim told me that her <strong>family<\/strong> read out the Islamic description of Hell and repeatedly claimed that her soul was bound to go through the contorted stages of pain described in the <strong>faith<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The pressures of <strong>faith<\/strong>, <strong>family<\/strong> and the stifling environment around him meant that he had to disengage for his own mental health.<\/p>\n<p>I know of Christians who have left their <strong>faith<\/strong> and converted to Islam who talk of pressures from their families, and where some have had their immediate <strong>family<\/strong> stop all communication, sometimes for decades.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"pullquote align-right\"><p>Apart from the fact that her courage has shown many <strong>people<\/strong> that they can take charge of their life and their destinies, Rahaf has highlighted something that is still <strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">taboo<\/span><\/strong> to raise in the Middle East \u2013 that <strong>people<\/strong> can choose to leave <strong>faith<\/strong> behind and make active choices about what they do and do not believe in.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In all of this, it is important to mention that it is not <strong>faith<\/strong> or religions themselves that are the problem.<\/p>\n<p>Thus, as a <strong>faith<\/strong> community it is important to be aware of how to assist others who suffer from <strong>depression<\/strong>, be aware of our <strong>own feelings<\/strong>, take care of ourselves and be able to maintain our <strong>faith<\/strong> and not feel less of or minimised because of an emotional struggle, Ms Wellman said.<\/p>\n<p>I believe empowering our <strong>faith<\/strong> community on this topic is very important.<\/p>\n<p>Ms Wellman, who has 15 years experience in the field, said the subject is <strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">taboo<\/span><\/strong> in every church denomination.<\/p>\n<p>One of her goals in speaking with them was to break down the stigma that suffering from <strong>depression<\/strong> means you are not strong enough in your <strong>faith<\/strong>, or just need more prayer.<\/p>\n<p>Suffering with <strong>depression<\/strong> doesnt mean that you are crazy, less of, or that you have little or no <strong>faith<\/strong> in God.<\/p>\n<p>Thats why support at those moments from our <strong>faith<\/strong> community is very important.<\/p>\n<p>As Christians we will have moments where our <strong>faith<\/strong> will be tested and because of this we might lose hope.<\/p>\n<p>I believe that God has placed members in our churches\/<strong>faith<\/strong> community with gifts and talents to assist those in our community with the face-to-face approach, so it is important to have a greater <strong>understanding<\/strong> of a biopsychosocial approach to life in our <strong>faith<\/strong> community, she said.<\/p>\n<p>I want <strong>believers<\/strong> whom are struggling with a mental health <strong>issue<\/strong> to know that there are days that, no matter how great of a believer you are, you may lose hope and <strong>faith<\/strong> and may feel guilty that you are depressed and doubting your <strong>faith<\/strong>, she said.<\/p>\n<p>The effects of these doctrines can have a drastic effect on youth growing up in <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Utah\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Utah<\/a>, and in particular, in the LDS <strong>faith<\/strong> \u2014 a <strong>faith<\/strong> which holds community and <strong>family<\/strong> to the highest standard \u2014 making it alarmingly easy for someone to feel like they don\u2019t belong.<\/p>\n<p>Reynolds has vowed to keep his festival going until it is no longer needed \u2014 until the <strong>people<\/strong> of <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Utah\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Utah<\/a> and the LDS <strong>faith<\/strong> understand.<\/p>\n<p>Relocating to the U.S. from <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mumbai\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mumbai<\/a>, Anushka seeks the guidance of talented producer Duddy Brown and songwriter Danni Poppitt, as she takes a leap of <strong>faith<\/strong>, releasing her debut single, properly-titled, \u00abRebirth\u00bb.<\/p>\n<p>Discovering the energy to self-love and self-heal, Anushka sings of overcoming near self-destruction through <strong>faith<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Anushka Jag new single, \u00abRebirth\u00bb is available now via Taboo Records.<\/p>\n<p>Though he has premarital sex \u2013which can be considered <strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">taboo<\/span><\/strong> in Islam \u2013 he doesn\u2019t drink or do drugs, and he also performs his daily prayers.<\/p>\n<p>\u00abI felt like a lot of stories I saw about first-generation kids, or about anyone who comes from a strong cultural or <strong>faith<\/strong> background, was them fighting their parents and telling their parents, \u2018I don\u2019t want to be this. \u2026 I want to be white. I want to be like everyone else,\u00bb he said.<\/p>\n<p>Due to such diversity within the <strong>faith<\/strong>, he said it is hard to pin down a universal perspective.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, however, he said he\u2019d rather write these stories himself than see them handled by <strong>people<\/strong> outside of the <strong>faith<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"pullquote align-center\"><p>Commentators have noted that an emphasis on mediation and the maintenance of relationships, even if they are abusive, is common within many religious and <strong>faith<\/strong> <strong>communities<\/strong>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Faith and <strong>religion<\/strong> are well recognised as having a powerful influence on attitudes, beliefs and social norms related to family and domestic violence (FDV), but empirical academic research on the subject remains scarce.<\/p>\n<p>We recently conducted a study with <strong>leaders<\/strong> and community members from various faiths to better understand the capacity of <strong>faith<\/strong> <strong>communities<\/strong> to address and prevent FDV.<\/p>\n<p>Our initial findings indicate that while FDV is a common problem in <strong>faith<\/strong> <strong>communities<\/strong>, it remains poorly understood.<\/p>\n<p>Family and domestic violence is a <strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">taboo<\/span><\/strong> topic<\/p>\n<p>We also spoke with key <strong>people<\/strong> who had experience <strong>working<\/strong> in FDV with <strong>faith<\/strong> <strong>leaders<\/strong> and <strong>faith<\/strong> <strong>communities<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>In our interviews, <strong>participants<\/strong> often described FDV as being a <strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">taboo<\/span><\/strong> topic.<\/p>\n<p>It was also considered a private, <strong>family<\/strong> <strong>issue<\/strong> \u2013 we found it was rarely spoken about openly in <strong>faith<\/strong> and religious <strong>communities<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>According to <strong>participants<\/strong>, <strong>faith<\/strong> <strong>communities<\/strong>\u2019 <strong>understanding<\/strong> of FDV was generally limited to acts of physical violence.<\/p>\n<p>Participants also said that conversations about FDV are sometimes met with denial and defensiveness among <strong>faith<\/strong> <strong>communities<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>This was true across different faiths.<\/p>\n<p>Many <strong>participants<\/strong> emphasised that <strong>faith<\/strong> and <strong>religion<\/strong> does not condone violence.<\/p>\n<p>In particular, religious beliefs about hierarchical gender roles and male authority that consider men and women to be \u00abequal but different\u00bb were seen by some <strong>participants<\/strong> as a strong influence on attitudes to FDV within <strong>faith<\/strong> <strong>communities<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-169 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/amaliafoka.com\/breaking-the-silence\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/faith-3.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\"><\/p>\n<p>Participants across many faiths saw a focus on keeping couples and marriages together as being of primary importance in their <strong>communities<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>How <strong>faith<\/strong> <strong>leaders<\/strong> respond to the problem<\/p>\n<p>Participants thought the capacity of <strong>faith<\/strong> <strong>leaders<\/strong>\u2019 and <strong>faith<\/strong> <strong>communities<\/strong>\u2019 to address and prevent FDV was limited and highly variable.<\/p>\n<p>There are grassroots groups and informal <strong>leaders<\/strong> across <strong>faith<\/strong> <strong>communities<\/strong> doing important work in this area.<\/p>\n<p>Some community members expressed that their <strong>faith<\/strong> gave them support in difficult times \u2013 including when experiencing FDV.<\/p>\n<p>Several <strong>faith<\/strong> <strong>leaders<\/strong> observed that some other <strong>leaders<\/strong> didn\u2019t share the same level of skills, awareness and responsibility in responding to FDV.<\/p>\n<p>Some <strong>faith<\/strong> <strong>leaders<\/strong> were viewed as falsely confident and lacking insight into their own limitations \u2013 a problem perpetuated by their positions of power within their community.<\/p>\n<p>These include: more information about what constitutes FDV and the harm FDV can have on individuals and their families to increase awareness and <strong>understanding<\/strong> of the <strong>issue<\/strong> more resources to support and train <strong>faith<\/strong> <strong>leaders<\/strong>, community <strong>leaders<\/strong>, and grassroots <strong>faith<\/strong> groups in FDV work more evidence of the prevalence of FDV in <strong>faith<\/strong> <strong>communities<\/strong> should be gathered to motivate and engage those that deny or minimise the existence of FDV in their community marriage preparation, and counselling and religious sermons should include information about respectful and healthy relationships and FDV organisations in the FDV sector need to work together in partnership with <strong>faith<\/strong> <strong>leaders<\/strong> and <strong>communities<\/strong> to achieve change in FDV work.<\/p>\n<p>More broadly, to prevent and stop FDV and the harm it causes, we need greater reflection on the attitudes and beliefs that drive FDV across all sections of the community, including within <strong>faith<\/strong> <strong>communities<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"highlight\" style=\"background-color: #666666; color: #ffffff;\">The text of this article was generated by the <a href=\"https:\/\/amaliafoka.com\/breaking-the-silence\/index.php\/about\/\">Breaking The Silence<\/a> system that collected <strong>8<\/strong> news articles posted on the web from January 2019 to September 2020 and clustered for the taboo subjects related to faith<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When Chick-fil-A announced in late November that it would stop donating to faith-based organizations, I was confused. After&nbsp;all, just six months ago, I wrote an article applauding the faith-centric chicken chain for standing by its founder, Truett Cathy, and the values he built the business on. I\u2019ve been studying the role faith plays in marketing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[44,46,186,580,386],"tags":[455,1070,276,456,749,75,1073,195,454,147,453,194,645,717,1077,457,1072,1074,1071,102,354,815,836,1076,907,1075,635],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amaliafoka.com\/breaking-the-silence\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amaliafoka.com\/breaking-the-silence\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amaliafoka.com\/breaking-the-silence\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amaliafoka.com\/breaking-the-silence\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amaliafoka.com\/breaking-the-silence\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/amaliafoka.com\/breaking-the-silence\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1430,"href":"https:\/\/amaliafoka.com\/breaking-the-silence\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505\/revisions\/1430"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amaliafoka.com\/breaking-the-silence\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amaliafoka.com\/breaking-the-silence\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amaliafoka.com\/breaking-the-silence\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amaliafoka.com\/breaking-the-silence\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}