Answers in Genesis takes offense to coverage of anti-gay billboard

[Questioninggeller]

Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis is at it again:

Answers in Genesis takes offense to coverage of anti-gay billboard
Georgia Voice
by Ryan Watkins
Friday, 05 November 2010 10:39


I wrote a blog post on Tuesday entitled “Gainesville, Ga., billboard demeans same-sex marriage” that highlights a billboard on display just off Georgia 53 and the Atlanta Highway between Flowery Branch and Gainesville.

Ken Ham, president of Answers in Genesis (organizers of the campaign), responded to the article yesterday by posting a blog of his own, “Intolerant People Opposing an AiG-backed Billboard.” In the post, Ham calls out my journalistic integrity over my choice of wording in the article.
...
Ham makes a point to call me intolerant throughout his piece, which is personally offensive. I’m not intolerant, especially about issues of free speech. I’m a huge advocate for free speech and access to information. I’m a journalist. The last thing I want is for someone to tell me what I can and cannot say in my articles. Unless it's my editor. She can tell me what to say.
...
Ham wants to have it both ways. He wants to put up a message that “demeans” same-sex marriage but hide behind the First Amendment when the community responds to that message with a difference of opinion. Just because someone disagrees with you, doesn’t make him intolerant, Mr. Ham.

I don’t think Christians are intolerant. I do think, however, that denying marriage equality based on personal opinion is prejudiced. That’s my right to express, just as putting up a billboard that says marriage should be between a man and a woman is your right.
...

Full: Georgia Voice

Original story:

Gainesville, Ga., billboard demeans same-sex marriage‎
Georgia Voice
By Ryan Watkins
Nov 2, 2010


A billboard featuring an anti-gay message went up last month just off Georgia 53 and the Atlanta Highway between Flowery Branch and Gainesville, Ga.

GA Voice reader Emily Perkins-Henderson spotted the billboard late last month and sent us several photos of the anti-gay advertisement.

The billboard reads: “The Bible speaks for itself on marriage. God made them male and female – Mark 10:6.”

The billboard goes onto say that it was “sponsored by joyous and generous people.”
...
Melany Ethridge, spokesperson for the I Am Not Ashamed campaign, said that the billboard was likely sponsored by a local church or religious organization.
...
I Am Not Ashamed falls under the Answers in Genesis, a Kentucky-based evangelical organization that also runs the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky. The Creation Museum teaches that dinosaurs and humans once co-existed and that evolution is a myth.
...

Full: Georgia Voice

 

[Big Boss]

"Please respect our intolerance!!"

 

[Seismosaurus]

They're essentially admitting that the major (only?) objection to same sex marriage is not only a directly religious one, but that it's a doctrine of a particular religion. Whilst that's true... is it really an argument the anti gay marriage people want to put up there?

 

[slingblade]

They're essentially admitting that the major (only?) objection to same sex marriage is not only a directly religious one, but that it's a doctrine of a particular religion. Whilst that's true... is it really an argument the anti gay marriage people want to put up there?

The ones who think this way do, yes. A god is telling them this, or so they think, so why would they be ashamed of their stance? That would be like being ashamed of their own god.

Yes, they want you to know that the reason gay marriage is wrong is because their particular version of god says it's wrong.

I thought that was a given?

 

[TragicMonkey]

"Please respect our intolerance!!"

Reminds me of the time I heard someone remark how terrible it was that they couldn't say anything at all without the [insert very rude word for a particular ethnic minority]s thinking he was some kind of racist.

 

[Achán hiNidráne]

"Please respect our intolerance!!"

Bigot: "Queermosexuals are sinners!"

Me: "You're a bigot!"

Bigot: "NO! YOU are the intolerant bigot for point out my Christian-inspired intolerance and bigotry!"

Accommodationist: "Oh dear, oh dear! How dickish of you to call him a bigot! We need to restore sanity and curb this hyperbolic rhetoric! Just because he doesn't like homosexuals doesn't mean we call him a bigot! These are his deeply held spiritual beliefs and we need to respect those!"

Bigot: "Yeah! Respect it!"

Me: "What? These guys are standing in the way of the rights and happiness of human beings!"

Accommodationist: "Surely we can all sit down and talk about this to work out a compromise."

Me: "The Hell... When one side is right, and one side is wrong, there can be NO compromise!"

Accommodationist: "See! You're just as extreme he is!"

Bigot: "That's right, you militant atheist!"

Me: "Oh **** that! If someone says that 2+2=4 and someone else says 2+2=5, you're saying that they should compromise regardless of the facts?"

Accommodationist: "Well, just as long as no one is arguing or being confrontational..."

Bigot: "Besides, 2+2=JEEZus!"

 

[Dorian Gray]

So THAT'S what 'In the Air Tonight' is about....

 

[carolynf1]

Bigot: "Queermosexuals are sinners!"

Me: "You're a bigot!"

Bigot: "NO! YOU are the intolerant bigot for point out my Christian-inspired intolerance and bigotry!"

Accommodationist: "Oh dear, oh dear! How dickish of you to call him a bigot! We need to restore sanity and curb this hyperbolic rhetoric! Just because he doesn't like homosexuals doesn't mean we call him a bigot! These are his deeply held spiritual beliefs and we need to respect those!"

Bigot: "Yeah! Respect it!"

Me: "What? These guys are standing in the way of the rights and happiness of human beings!"

Accommodationist: "Surely we can all sit down and talk about this to work out a compromise."

Me: "The Hell... When one side is right, and one side is wrong, there can be NO compromise!"

Accommodationist: "See! You're just as extreme he is!"

Bigot: "That's right, you militant atheist!"

Me: "Oh **** that! If someone says that 2+2=4 and someone else says 2+2=5, you're saying that they should compromise regardless of the facts?"

Accommodationist: "Well, just as long as no one is arguing or being confrontational..."

Bigot: "Besides, 2+2=JEEZus!"

I'm currently at a quiet coffee shop, and that last line made me guffaw loudly and spit coffee on myself. Also, Ken Ham is a complete whackjob. For example:
“We're putting evolutionists on notice: We're taking the dinosaurs back.”
- Ken Ham to the LA Times in 2005

 

[sadhatter]

This kills me, i have never seen a group so embarassed by what they say as the christian fundamentalists.

Seriously, i am not talking taking a moderate to task on what the fundamentalists say, i am talking about the fundamentalists themselves. It is like they have no filter or proof reader before their crap goes out. How many times have you seen some guy from a fundamentalist group having to save face?

My question is, if you feel embarrassed, why did you say it? ( and of course i mean this in a metaphorical sense. While they can't be held accountable for the views of every person calling themselves christian, they can be for ads they approve.)

I always just get this image of a billboard.....

On one side is a background of all the statements that they made that they have had to eat crow ( and crow is not my first choice of words) on, and a smiling AIG bigshot . On the other are the words " we love god."

Underneath are two arrows one pointing to the half of the sign with the statements and guy saying " this is what we said " the other pointing to the other half " this is what we meant.

 

[Beerina]

Bigot: "Queermosexuals are sinners!"

Me: "You're a bigot!"

Bigot: "NO! YOU are the intolerant bigot for point out my Christian-inspired intolerance and bigotry!"

Beerina: Well, technically, it's the god you worship who's the bigoted ass. Join me in not worshiping Yahweh because of what He is and what He wants.