By The Special Guests Publicity Service
Persecution Potshot!
Attention Christians: Get your faith ready for an ongoing litigious form of harassment as a result of a new precedent set earlier this month in a U.S. District Court. There, a gay activist has filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against two Christian publishers for a Corinthians passage that denounces homosexuality. And experts in the Christian camp say it’s likely a sign of things to come.
The man, Bradley LaShawn Fowler of Canton, Michigan, is seeking $10 million from one publisher and $60 million from the other, claiming that the Bible’s reference to homosexuality as a sin “made him an outcast from his family and contributed to physical discomfort and periods of ‘demoralization, chaos and bewilderment’.”
“Just when I think I’ve heard and seen it all, a more ludicrous form of persecution takes shape somewhere in this world,” says Andre van Heerden, a writer, director and producer of Christian faith-based films.
Van Heerden tackles the subject of persecution every day, both in terms of his films’ content and their associated media relations. His most recent release, a film entitled SMUGGLER’S RANSOM, is a Cold-War-era story about the Soviet capture of a young woman attempting to smuggle Bibles into Romania.
“Call this lawsuit what it really is, a publicity stunt, and it still concerns me,” says van Heerden, “because it inspires others to conceive similar legal crackpot cases just for the sake of attacking our faith. Whether such cases are legit or reasonable doesn’t matter. They still attract the media and provide these people a bully pulpit.”
Apparently, the U.S. District Judge on the case also found the suit weak, because he denied the gay man’s request for a court-appointed attorney, saying the court had “very genuine concerns” about the legitimacy of the claims.
THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE MAY BE HELPFUL:
‘Bible’ lawsuit may be sign of things to come
By Jeff Johnson, OneNewsNow.com
Pro-family advocates say Christians should get used to legal harassment such as the lawsuit a homosexual activist recently filed against two Bible publishers.
Bradley LaShawn Fowler of Canton, Michigan, does not like the fact that the Bibles produced by Zondervan and Thomas Nelson Publishers both accurately convey God’s prohibition against homosexual behavior. So he is suing in federal court, seeking $10 million from Thomas Nelson and $60 million from Zondervan.
Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, says Bible-believing Christians had better get ready for more of this type of sniping. “Obviously, this is a frivolous publicity stunt, but this is a portent of things to come,” he warns.
“We know that the homosexual activists are now targeting, essentially, born-again Christians and committed Catholics and Mormons who oppose their agenda. They’re out to re-write the Bible, to say that the Bible really does not condemn homosexual practice, which it obviously does,” says LaBarbera. “Ultimately, we believe they’ll be doing more and more of these lawsuits against Christians and Christian companies.”
LaBarbera says the suit reminds him of British actor and homosexual activist Sir Ian McKellen, who has admitted to ripping pages that contain scriptures condemning homosexuality out of Gideon Bibles in hotel rooms. “The fact is whether you rip the pages out or not, or whether you sue, or whether you pass a law against it, the Word of God still stands,” he emphasizes. “And God’s authority on that issue still stands, no matter what man does.”
The judge in the case has denied Fowler’s request for a court-appointed attorney, saying the court had “very genuine concerns” about the legitimacy of the claims in the lawsuit.
Posted on August 4, 2008