Let\u2019s give Facebook\u2019s nameless content editor credit: he or she may well understand the Crucifixion more truly than do Christians for whom the murder of the incarnate God on a cross has gone from being a scandal to a banality. Facebook is right: the image is shocking, sensational, and excessively violent, because that\u2019s what a crucifixion is! Yesterday in his Palm Sunday sermon (we Orthodox Christians observe Easter a week later this year), my priest said, \u201cWe don\u2019t spend this week saying, \u2018Those Jews did that to Our Lord.\u2019 We spend it accusing ourselves. We did it to Christ. Every time we sin, we crucify Him. This is on us.\u201d He\u2019s right about that. It\u2019s not a bad thing to be reminded how much He suffered in His body to liberate us from death. What the San Damiano Cross depicts is a murder. But for Christians, it also depicts the defeat of all murder and death, and the necessary prelude to eternal life for all. As we Orthodox sing on Pascha (Easter): \u201cChrist is risen from the dead\/Trampling down death by death\/And upon those in the tombs bestowing life.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Christian culture would know that for the people who revere this symbol, they are looking at an image of death\u2019s defeat, and of eternal life.<\/p>\n
But we are no longer a Christian culture, and are becoming less so by the day.<\/p>\n
This incident is alarming because of what it reveals about the kind of world that Christians are going to live in. Facebook is one of the most powerful media companies on the planet. If it decides that it will not approve Christian content because it finds that content violent, bigoted, or what have you, then that will have a tremendous potential effect, not only on the ability of Christians to communicate, but (more importantly) on shaping the way the Christian faith is regarded widely in this post-Christian culture.<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n If @facebook<\/a> doesn't want an ad featuring a historic image of the crucified Christ, then they don't want me as a customer. https:\/\/t.co\/9DgwJKkWiM<\/a><\/p>\n — Rod Dreher (@roddreher) April 2, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n