open & shut

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Mar 21, 2004

Driving past United Methodist churches in various places, I've often winced at the "Catch the Spirit" logo displayed on the signboard outside. Partly I dislike the mild blasphemy in the pun that assimilates a Person of the Trinity to the high school basketball rally sense of "spirit"; partly I feel vicarious embarrassment for sober Methodists who obviously had this cutesiness imposed on them by some marketing wonk in the national politburo.

Terry Mattingly reports that the United Methodists have launched a new branding campaign: "Open Minds, Open Hearts, Open Doors." If you harbor a suspicion that this is a way of moving the Celebrate Diversity slogan from the rear-bumper of the youth minister's Subaru to the pastor's letterhead, you're right.