Christian SOR ad judged “untruthful”
Last year a group of Christians published an ad in The Times trying to influence the parliamentary vote on the Sexual Orientation Legislation. It attracted 51 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority for being unsubstantiated, untruthful, misleading, offensive, socially irresponsible, and likely to stir up violence against homosexuals.
The group called themselves “Coherent and Cohesive Voice” – an amalgam of homosexuality-obsessed Christian groups largely made up of black churches but including Christian Concern for our Nation and the Lawyers Christian Fellowship.
Really, with a bunch of lawyers on board you would think they wouldn’t have made such a hash of their advert, which was found by the ASA to be both inaccurate and misleading.
Here is a sample of their claims about the effect of the SORs. Under the heading “So what do the Government’s newly proposed SEXUAL ORIENTATION REGULATIONS do?”, was this list of questions:
– Force all schools to actively promote homosexual Civil Partnerships to children (from primary school age) to the same degree that they teach the importance of marriage?
– Force a printing shop run by a Christian to print flyers promoting gay sex?
– Force a family-run B&B to let out a double room to a transsexual couple, even if the family think it is in the best interests of their children to refuse to allow such a situation in their own home?
– Make it illegal for a heterosexual policeman, fireman or member of the Armed Forces, to refuse to join a Gay Pride event promoting the homosexual way of life?
Each question was followed by a box with a tick in it. None of the claims were true.
We don’t hold much store by the Bible here at MWW, but isn’t there something about not bearing false witness in there? Commandment number 9, if memory serves?
The SORs were passed in March and came into effect in April this year.
(Hat tip The Freethinker)
Mmmm what is funny about this ruling is that the provisional one was made months ago and CCV took ages to get their fingers out of their arses to reply… maybe they were not feeling very christian at the time… idiots…
So what does the SOR do for gay people?
OK, so the ASA have determined that they lied. What are they going to do about it? Nothing.
They “can” fine the perps in theory IIRC, but in practise it’s more a case of a slap on the wrist and “you’ll have to remove the ad guys” but as is the case in the majority of these instances, the message has already been trasmitted. I believe SCE have done this a few times as have Virgin and several other big names. It’s time the ASA had bigger teeth and the muscle to use them.
Any group who have to point out in their own name that they’re “coherent” are probably protesting a bit too much.