'As Christians, this was a slap in the face to us': Newspaper rejects ad for use of 'offensive' word

'She said our ad did not run because it contained an offensive word.'

Lois McGinnis and her family own the Christian bookstore Cedar Springs Christian Store. When the family attempted to run an advertisement in Knoxville News Sentinel newspaper, McGinnis was shocked to hear the ad was rejected for containing "an offensive word."

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The ad read: "Store closing sale - Ceder Springs Christian Store - Clinton Highway location - All merchandise, fixtures, slat walls must go. Sale through August 13, phone 865.947.XXXX."

The advertisement was placed July 26 and was supposed to run July 28. When McGinnis discovered it missing, she immediately called the paper to speak to a classified ad employee.

McGinnis stated: "She said our ad did not run because it contained an offensive word. I asked what that offensive word was and she said the offensive word was 'Christian.'"

The newspaper didn't bother telling her they wouldn't be running her ad or mention any problems when it was placed.

"We had no way of knowing they considered the word 'Christian' offensive until we tried to place this ad," she told Fox News. "As Christians, this was a slap in the face to us."

McGinnis took her frustrations to the store's Facebook page, where she wrote: "I am taking a survey.. DO YOU FIND THE WORD 'CHRISTIAN' OFFENSIVE?

"Our Clinton Hwy store is closing so we tried to put an ad in the classified section of the Knoxville News Sentinel for fixtures. They refused the ad because of the word 'Christian' (in our name) We [sic] were told that word is offensive to readers so our ad got bumped. Seriously? Please give us your opinion."

When one person commented: "Very offensive to me that the NS can get by with this .I [sic] am a Christian and proud of it...To me this is taking someone's rights to satisfy someone else's .[sic] Seems a little bias [sic]and unfair .[sic]"

McGinnis, having calmed down, stood up for the paper and explained: "The latest explanation of ensuring nothing derogatory is said of any group including Christians makes sense. The only problem I see at this point is that that wasn't their first explanation. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt which is the only thing I would hope for, too."

The message received nearly 1,000 "likes," "sad" faces and "angry" faces. It was shared over 2,000 times and many comments explain the public was offended - for the shocking reason the newspaper refused to print the advertisement.

After Knoxville residents read the post, they began to call the Knoxville News Sentinel. They continued to complain to the newspaper until it was forced to release a statement.

They apologized "for any misunderstanding about the News Sentinel stance on Christianity." Then they attempted to blame the situation on "a system failure."

The paper claimed the failure "resulted in a classified ad for Cedar Springs getting hung up in our front end system."

Notice they didn't include the word "Christian" in their statement, released online.

"We corrected the technology issue in our system and the ad is now running for an extended period at no extra charge."

Patrick Birmingham, one of The News Sentinel's publishers, wrote: "The News Sentinel does not have a bias against Christianity or any other religion."

The day after posting their story to Facebook, McGinnis wrote: "Thank you all for your support. We have enjoyed a working relationship with the Knoxville News Sentinel and appreciate the work they do in our community. We are grateful that they are now printing our ad and hope that the awareness brought to this issue will prevent mistakes like this going forward."

Thankfully, the situation was mended and the advertisement was run. Though this story had a happy ending, it is important for believers to keep an eye out for each other and to join together when religious freedoms are threatened.

Please pray for a more unified front for believers around the world and for the Lord to change people's hardened and broken hearts.

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