Tuesday, March 10, 2009
How far does religious belief influence your decision?
While putting together a website for a client recently, I had cause to scratch my head and wonder about something. I've often wondered a similar thing with regards to authors, so there's a connection to Enid Blyton here, albeit a loose one! Bear with me. And this post isn't designed to provoke a religious argument, just to satisfy a curiosity.
So here's the thing. When I put websites together, the client is responsible for supplying all the text. Depending on the "state" of the text, I then edit it for the website. Sometimes the edits are to correct typos, and sometimes the purpose is to add keywords and make the text more "relevant" to search engine queries. But occasionally I strip out bits that I think might be unnecessary, or that come across unprofessional.
Of course the final decision is the client's, but I've had ten years experience with this and have learned one or two things. For instance, having a blank page that says "Under construction" is SO 1990s and is worse than not having a page at all. It screams, "Look at me, I haven't updated this in AGES and just don't care." Leaving the unfinished page off the site is better — at least then the site looks finished, even if the owner knows it's not. Also, saying "click on the links in the left hand menu to navigate the site" means one of two things: either the purpose of the left hand menu isn't obvious enough, or the owner believes his visitors are idiots.
The reason for this post is another "thing" that I've learned over the years: Don't include your religious beliefs in your business plan or mission statement unless your website is for a church or church-related organization. In this case the owner of the site wanted me to include a paragraph that read as follows:
[We are] a new and upcoming business in Northwest Georgia. We are committed to God in all we do, for he is the ultimate sacrifice. We are dedicated to our family and our customers. Our number one goal is customer satisfaction. We plan to have a large arrangement of portraits on this web page so you can see what we can do before you call us to do a job.
The way I see it, there are several things wrong here. First of all, the owner has been in business for four years, so it's time for him to stop calling himself "new" and start being "an old hand." Second, saying "we plan to have a large arrangement of portraits on this web page" is the same as saying "this page is still under construction." But the main thing wrong here is the religious statement. This is a fairly mild and innocent one as religious statements go, but I just don't see what it has to do with the price of fish. Is he suggesting that, because of his devotion to God, he'll be better at his job? His customer service will be far superior to someone who isn't religious?
This reminds me of a previous client who, at the original meeting, looked at me earnestly and said, "Please understand that my business doesn't belong to me. It belongs to God. Everything belongs to God, and I'm just His humble servant, so everything I do is for Him. I want my website to reflect that."
Now, I felt like saying, "Well, actually, it's not your website, it's God's, so you have no say in the matter. You'll get what you're given and be grateful about it." But of course I didn't say that; I was non-committal about the whole thing and just coughed into my cappuccino and sent frothy milk all over the place. The thing is, the owner wanted (and actually has) quotes from the Bible all over his site. And this is a shipping/freight company. I personally don't see the connection, and I can't understand how a man's very personal religious beliefs has anything to do with the business. It's the same with the photography site above. Yes, fine, he's religious and is dedicated to his family. But aren't we ALL dedicated to our families? Does being religious somehow heighten this dedication? I think not, personally. So do the owner's religious beliefs belong on a business website?
You might ask, "Well, why shouldn't they? Where's the harm?" A fair question. Well, for one thing it's bad in terms of search engine optimization. Any mention of something off-topic (especially repeated mention) is bound to draw the wrong crowd and water down any relevant keywords on the page. I once wrote "buy Enid Blyton books and audio books at Amazon" on my EnidBlyton.net home page, and found that I was getting all sorts of people arriving from Google demanding to know where the audio books were. Just that one use of the word "audio" allowed my site to come up under searches for "Enid Blyton audio books," which technically speaking is the "wrong crowd" for my site because I don't sell audio books and don't have any worthwhile links to them.
Likewise, mentioning God and religion on a business website might have the same detrimental effect. But the main question in my mind is: Is there any benefit to publicizing your religious beliefs on your business website? Does it matter one way or the other? Or does it actually harm your business in some way?
As a non-religious person, I might find it a little off-putting to arrive at a website and find that the owner is "preaching" on his home page. It's fine to have that personal stuff on the "About Us" page — but on the home page, mixed in with the description of the business? Sorry, but I'd most likely go someplace else rather than risk dealing with a plumber or accountant or double-glazing salesman who might end up trying to convert me as part of the job.
Where I used to live in England, in what I would consider a largely "indifferent" area, I would expect a website containing declarations of love for the Lord to be met with a degree of scorn. But here in Georgia, USA, where I live now, the opposite might be true; the devout owner might be considered a very worthy gentleman indeed and certainly the sort of person you'd like to install your windows. Hence my question: Is there any benefit to publicizing religious beliefs on a business website? Does it make a difference to you, the customer, whether the business owner is a Christian or not?
On the subject of Blyton, and given that the author was obviously very religious, I find it amazing that she didn't allow religion to creep into her stories. There are a few novels I know of that were a little "preachy," but take the Famous Five for instance — hardly a mention of God anywhere! I believe they snuck off to church one Sunday morning while on a hike together, and I know they went to church in other books, but it was very matter-of-fact. I like that. It would have turned me off if the Five had, for example, made out they were better than everyone else because they believed in God, and because they went to church every Sunday, and because they had "good wholesome Christian values." So kudos to Enid Blyton for not going down that road.
But again, a similar question: Does an author's religious beliefs, which might creep into his or her books, play any part in determining which authors you favor or steer clear of?
This post has 14 comments
I'm not a Christian anyway, so I would get highly annoyed if religious references came into being in Enid Blyton's books--didn't they appear once, in a family novel something like "Those Children"? Anyway, I wouldn't even dream of returning to EB now at my age; she's firmly for kids, I think (and that I don't doubt--I even enjoyed her stories when I was 10).
In fact, religious references always annoy me, not only in books. Hey, the author himself might be a fervent Christian; he has to remember that people of other castes are reading his work!
However, the opposite (atheist references) also manages to annoy me. WHY the heck, I mutter furiously, religion always has to be mentioned? WHY? I hate positive and negative references both; that's why I haven't read the Golden Compasses trilogy till now. Why does the author (stupid whining Phillip Pullman) have to bring in the negative references? Hey, do you know that kids are reading/seeing this and are led along the wrong way? No you (P.P not you Keith) don't--cos your an idiot!!
Forever Reader and Frequent Grumbler,
Julian
Does an author's religious beliefs affect whether or not I choose to read his/her book? That depends. Personally, I don't particularly care what an author believes, as long as they are not preaching to the extent that they are trying to convert me. I have noticed, though, that a lot of authors now rather not discuss their own faith (or lack thereof), perhaps due to the belief that it may put off some readers.
Anyway, most authors who are "guided by faith", and base their work upon this, generally don't achieve much success. Readers never want to be TOLD what to believe!
But then, you get people like me who'd be put off their business. So I guess this all means that they preach only to the converted ...
I suppose if you're in the Masons, you may also use a plumber that goes to your lodge, or recommend him to non-Masons. It's just that, unlike some groups, like Christians, it's not worth banging on about the Masons on your web site because there's not enough potential customers that have rolled-up trouser legs to attract. You may as well pretend to be Christian.
It amuses me a little that so many religious people made a song and dance about the books and the movie, saying exactly the same thing as you did, Julian: that kids will be led the wrong way. Has it occurred to you that taking kids to church every Sunday may also be leading them the wrong way? It's a matter of opinion. I think it's VERY important for all children to be well informed so they can, later, make their own decisions about what they believe. That's why my wife and I are happy to let the Granny take Lily to church on Sundays, while Nessa and I never discuss religion at all. A happy balance. Being well informed includes being able to read "negative" books and watch "negative" movies in order to discover that there MIGHT be other alternatives to what you're taught in church.
Diarmud, we sound like we're on the same wavelength. Like you, I don't care what an author believes as long as their books are not preachy. But... even that's not entirely true. It probably depends on the type of book and what you expect from it. For instance, I found Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code very interesting, and, being non-religious as I am, found myself receptive to all the "negative" anti-Christian ideas (or ideals). But of course many found it offensive; they still bought and read it, but just so they could complain about it properly afterwards. I personally like "alternative theory" plots, so there's a distinct possibility that this kind of author would attract me to his books; in fact just the other day I finished a Dean Koontz book that explained Heaven and Hell. But if an author like Blyton, who writes primarily about adventures and mysteries, kept peppering her books with preachy narrative or dialogue that really have nothing to do with the plot, then it would probably annoy me and turn me off.
Back to websites -- you made a good point, Liz, that perhaps people who "preach" on their website appeal only to those who are receptive to it. Or then again, maybe not. What if I found a website that said: "Here at Joe Bloggs Plumbing, we pride ourselves on being atheists." Frankly this would put me off too. Religious beliefs, or lack thereof, have no place on a business website!
Ralph, it seems you're making a slightly different point. It's true that a man might recommend a plumber he knows from church, but is that because the plumber is religious or simply because the man knows him? Similarly, I might "recommend" someone who is a member of the Chamber of Commerce in my local area, if I had met him at one of the meetings I never go to. Or I might "recommend" someone I know from Lily's school, simply because I see him or her every morning as we drop our kids off. But that's just because I know the person. If some stranger wrote on their website "I'm a member of the Chamber of Commerce and my kids go to that school on Highway 27," this alone wouldn't make me assume this guy must be okay. Nor should a religious person assume a business is respectable just because the owner goes to a church somewhere. That's my point -- no matter what the owner's beliefs, it doesn't make him or his business any better or worse than anyone else.
Also, let's not forget the vague possibilty that a religious person actually might not be any good at his job. He might even be a nasty piece of work, a thoroughly reprehensible person who peddles drugs to supplement his income -- and then goes to church to confess his sins. Every week. Just because he believes in God doesn't mean he's automatically one of the good guys, better than someone like me who doesn't believe in God but has (I think) good morals. In fact, I've always taken offense at this general assumption in life, and maybe that's why the topic of religious beliefs on business websites irks me so!
Anyone else? :-)
As for websites with religious content....it makes me cringe and immediately look for an alternative. I do have beliefs (or at least strong hopes) in an afterlife and things like karma. I just think It's plain wrong that people think it's OK that a church or mosque or synagogue can say "x is wrong. Do not do x or you will go to hell", and they are happy not to do x.
Religion just makes me incredibly uncomfortable. There is a girl in my nursing class who I recently added on Bebo, and alot of her 'about me' content etc is about her church and it really puts me off -- even though she's a lovely girl.
Here's an interesting point though. Good old Tony Summerfield reminded me this morning that Enid Blyton was actually NOT religious at all. I suppose I remember this from her Biography, but it's easy to forget when she produced a number of religious books in her name. But she was a very good businesswoman and was attempting to make herself more approachable by all those religious parents out there. "Oh, she must have very good values if she goes to church, so I suppose it's all right to let my children read her books."
So here we have someone deliberately writing about God (in spite of her own her own lack of belief) in order to increase saleability!
Religion wouldn't be the only theme Blyton didn't mention much -- I think I read she was very musical yet this theme doesn't get any mention in Famous Five. No one even plays an instrument -- the nearest we read about the 'arts' is Julian doing a bit of painting.
One neat Christian hypocrisy about "Five go down to the Sea" is that the Four pile into Church while Yan, who was supposed to show them the way, stays outside & plays with the dog -- to Georgina's annoyance. No one suggests Yan enter Church with them with the implication that he is only fit to play with the dog. It's a nice touch!
"I agree with both of you that religion itself is a problem, as opposed to the question of whether there's a God or not. Why can't people just believe what they want and be happy about it, keeping it to themselves instead of preaching and fighting about it?"
Oh my... what are people thinking this days? Forgotten that Christianity is NOT the only religion in the world???
No, and one of the bits you quoted in your post actually states, "and that's before I start on other world faiths!"... meaning that it makes no difference which religion we're talking about here.
The point of this post is whether or not there's a benefit to mentioning one's beliefs on a business website, so let's not go off on a tangent, Mr Anonymous. :-)
The first question that sprang to mind was what about the book "The Land of Far-Beyond"? It's basically a simpler version of "Pilgrim's Progress," and it seems rather involved, thought-out and, well, heartfelt for someone who isn't a genuine believer. Did Blyton's desire to boost sales extend this far? Have any of you read the book? It's not as well-known as her others.
Suzanne, Enid Blyton did write a lot of religious stories, including The Land of Far-Beyond as you mentioned. The thing is, I don't believe it's all that difficult to write "involved, thought-out and heartfelt" stories that appear to have come from the hand of a religious person. This is exactly my point: ANYone with a heart and some half-decent morals can write a similar story and label it "religious" just to appeal to the religious types. The difference between a religious and non-religious story is often whether the story is riddled with the word "God" or not. It's not the references to God that makes the stories "heartfelt," despite what religious people think; it's the sentiments of the author. When a person says, "If only everyone had the same good Christian values as evident in these Biblical tales..." I immediately think of a thousand non-Biblical tales with equally strong moral points.
So yes, I think Blyton was smart enough to write "stories of great Christian value" to appeal to the masses. :-)
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