During Super Bowl LVII, an Evangelical ad campaign made history by purchasing two commercials for… well, Jesus. While the ads themselves were moving (even speaking of Jesus as a refugee), something about them just didn’t sit right with me.

Now, look, I want to acknowledge my own prejudices here. I lived and worked in politically conservative White Evangelical spaces long enough to develop a pretty extreme distaste for the whole movement, so I’m naturally a little suspicious of anything associated with that particular flavor of Christianity. Usually, there’s some pretty hateful rightwing political stuff festering just under the surface, so how does this ad campaign square up? Well, the “He Gets Us” campaign has controversial Hobby Lobby CEO David Green as a major backer, and if you go to their website, some of the articles talk about “Jesus as a victim of cancel culture” and other cringey critiques of the modern political landscape that sound like something from Fox News.

Additionally, trying to track down info on “The Servant Foundation” led me down a rabbit hole to find a sketchy parent organization “The Signatry,” a Christian donation firm which has an entirely white male leadership team— always a red flag. And it’s also worth noting that the Servant Foundation contributes millions to the Alliance Defending Freedom, a far right political lobbying group which the Southern Poverty Law Center identifies as an anti-LGBT hate group. This is the stuff that makes me skeptical. The “He Gets Us” site touts their diversity and claims to transcend political left and right, but when you actually look into their biggest donors, it’s the usual anti-LGBT, white supremacist, Republican nonsense. While there are certainly exceptions, by and large, when I’ve encountered Christian groups touting their a-politicalness, a deeper dive into finances and leadership usually reveals rightwing ties. Sadly, the “He Gets Us” campaign fits this pattern.

There’s something deeper though.

I first learned about the “He Gets Us” campaign from an ad which appeared on the podcast Pass the Mic, and this audio ad immediately made me wince. The ad solicited donations and touted the upcoming Super Bowl commercial as an unparalleled evangelistic endeavor. “Never before has something like this been done! Never before has the Gospel been shown to such a wide audience!” The ad immediately struck me as grandiose— like these commercials were going to cause the next Great Awakening or something. Furthermore, the tone was one of self-importance, as if the organizers were saying “Jesus is so lucky to have us.” Perhaps that’s harsh on my part. After all, fundraisers have to make some pretty big promises to get the dollars they need. Still, the self-importance of this ad just didn’t seem to square up with the message they claimed to promote: that of a humble and rebellious savior.

So, to review, we have dubious funding, a suspicious political agenda, and a sense of grandiosity. Yeah, “He Gets Us” feels pretty sketchy to me. And yet, I find myself torn. Some of these ads really do seem to focus on God’s love. Even if they are just talk, they’re good talk. They’re well edited. They’re attention grabbing. The refugee ad in particular is incredible and would probably make more xenophobic Evangelicals appropriately uncomfortable. Can we separate the message from the source though? Is it worth it to view or repost these ads given their origins?

I don’t know. At the end of the day, I think I’m going to file these ads under “a broken clock can still be right twice a day.” But the clock still needs fixing.