A newspaper advert condemming homosexuality has been deemed offensive by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA).

The full-page press advert bearing the headline ‘The word of God against Sodomy’ was placed in the Belfast Newsletter by the Sandown Free Presbyterian Church.

The ASA received seven complaints about the advert, which referred to homosexuality as an ‘abomination’ and ‘God’s judgment upon a sin’. In addition the advert stated that it was ‘a cause for regret that a section of the community desire to be known for a perverted form of sexuality’.

The advert was timed to spark a protest against Belfast’s Gay Pride parade in July 2008.

The ASA ruled the ad had ’caused serious offence to some readers’ and should not be published again in its current form. However, the ASA rejected complaints that the advet was an attempt to incite violence and spread hatred against gay people.

Rev David McIlveen of Sandown church refused to accept the ruling. “This is an offence to every bible believer,” he said. “It is ironic that an authority that seeks to prevent others from being offended appears to have no scruples in offending those who hold to the plain teaching of the word of God.”

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