Skip to main content.
Related sites:
Religion News Blog is a non-profit service providing academics, religion professionals and other researchers with religion & cult news
ReligionNewsBlog

Religion news articles about religious cults, sects, world religions, and related issues

Navigation:
Web religionnewsblog.com
Home | Site Menu | About RNB | RNB Store | Cult FAQ | Cult Experts | Apologetics Index | Cult Information Search Engine
Homosexuality/Lesbianism/Bisexuality/Transg.:

Church for gays launches ad blitz

The Indianapolis Star, USA
May 31, 2006
Dan McFreely
www.indystar.com
  • Article Tools  • Share This Story

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Item 14835 • Posted: Wednesday May 31, 2006  

Click here... More articles on this topic: Homosexuality/Lesbianism/Bisexuality/Transg.

$55,000 campaign asks: Would Jesus discriminate?

How would Jesus treat gays and lesbians? Would he accept them as they are, or condemn them as sinners?

Whether you’re interested in engaging in the debate or not, a local gay and lesbian church’s in-your-face advertising campaign could make it a difficult topic to avoid over the next few weeks.

Especially with 2,000 yard signs, which began popping up in the metro area over the weekend, an ad in Sunday’s Indianapolis Star (with three more planned), 650 bumper stickers, 720 T-shirts and soon 25,000 door hangers — all courtesy of volunteers from the Jesus Metropolitan Community Church.

The $55,000 campaign asks: Would Jesus discriminate? And it comes while Indiana lawmakers are being asked to prohibit same-sex couples from adopting children.

“Do you know someone who is homosexual? Would you give your life for that person? Jesus did,” the church’s ad says.

Pastor Jeff Miner, who heads the church, which was founded in 1990 by 18 gay Christians, believes some people are using Scriptures today in the same way the Bible was used to support slavery, oppose women’s suffrage and to defend laws against interracial marriage.

“We want to help other Christians connect the dots between past acts of discrimination and what is happening today,” said Miner.

Some conservatives welcome that debate but say Miner is wrong. Curt Smith of the Indiana Family Institute said it was, in fact, dedicated Christians who ended slavery and have fought for many social justice issues throughout history.

“The Bible is misused all the time, and I think the good pastor is misusing it as well,” said Smith.

Both sides of the debate on homosexuality quote the Bible to support their argument.

“Look at the example of Jesus,” Miner said. “Jesus defended social and religious outcasts. That was one of his trademarks. Yet many in today’s church seem to specialize in beating up on those who are different. What’s wrong with this picture?”

“Christ was very clear,” countered Miller. “Any sexual relations outside of one man and one woman in marriage is condemned by the Bible. Christ discriminated against lots of things. We understand right and wrong. And we need to understand what the Bible says — and it in no way endorses homosexual behavior.”

Jesus Metropolitan Community Church is working with national groups Faith In America — a group organized to fight discrimination against gays and lesbians — and Metropolitan Community Churches worldwide, in sponsoring what it calls the 30-day “prophetic action” to spark conversations across the nation.

Their first newspaper ad was run Sunday, a day when nearly 300,000 people were in town for the Indianapolis 500. Miner said a future ad in a Sunday edition of The Star will show a group of Klansmen around a burning cross with a headline, “Remember a time when a symbol of love was used as a symbol of hate?” The subtext: “The Bible shouldn’t be misused to justify discrimination against any group, including gay people.”



Religion News Blog RSS feed Subscribe: Religion News Blog RSS feed  |  Religion News Blog RSS feed Subscribe by topic: Homosexuality/Lesbianism/Bisexuality/Transg.

Like this story?

Today's Most Popular Articles

Share this

To share this page simply copy and paste one of these URL's:




Article and Site Tools

» PermaLink to: Church for gays launches ad blitz
   Need a shorter link? You can remove everything after the final /
» More news articles + news archive on Homosexuality/Lesbianism/Bisexuality/Transg.
» More religion and cult news

Subscribe (RSS / Email) [What is RSS?]
» RSS News Feed - All Topics: Religion News Blog RSS Feed
» RSS News Feed - Single Topic: Homosexuality/Lesbianism/Bisexuality/Transg.
» Headlines by Email: Daily Religion News Blog Headlines

More Article Tools
• Bookmark / Tag: Del.icio.us
• Bookmark / Tag: Furl
Save this article
Email this article
Print this article [Temporarily out of order]

More Information
Books about Homosexuality/Lesbianism/Bisexuality/Transg.
Relevant books (and other goodies)

more religion news aboutmore Religion News Blog articles about

About Religion News Blog
Religion News Blog (RNB), published by Apologetics Index, highlights news items and other resources on world religions, cults, religious sects, alternative religions and related issues. RNB's non-profit news clipping service is used by - among others - Christian apologists, countercult professionals, anticult organizations, cult experts, teachers, religion professionals, reporters and other researchers.

Home
Latest Headlines
RSS news feed [?]
Headlines by Email
News Trackers
Free content for your site
About RNB
Privacy Policy
Contact RNB
Link to RNB
Advertise on RNB
Apologetics Index
Cult FAQ
Apologetics Search Engine
CounterCult Search Engine