An Advertising Standards Agency direction that a church website must not promote healing prayer has caused concerns in Northern Ireland, the News Letter reports
The Rev Ron Johnstone, moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster, said he was “very concerned” about a government agency interfering in a church website. His church won a protracted legal battle with the ASA after running an advertisement that carried biblical texts about homosexual practise.
He was speaking after the ASA issued a direction to Christian group Healing on the Streets (HOTS), which said on their website: “Need Healing? God can heal today!”
The group, based in Wiltshire, said it was disappointed with the decision and would appeal. The investigation was begun after a single complaint.
The ASA said a downloadable leaflet from the HOTS website leaflet read: “Need Healing? God can heal today! Do you suffer from back pain, arthritis, MS, addiction … ulcers, depression, allergies, fibromyalgia, asthma, paralysis, crippling disease, phobias, sleeping disorders or any other sickness? We’d love to pray for your healing right now! We’re Christian from churches in Bath and we pray in the name of Jesus. We believe that God loves you and can heal you from any sickness.”
The ASA did not accuse HOTS of claiming that everyone who was prayed for would be healed. HOTS also said that each person prayed for was given a leaflet directing them not to stop taking any medication.
However the ASA directed that the ads “must not appear again in their current form” because they could discourage people from seeking essential medical treatment.
The ASA said: “We told HOTS not to make claims which stated or implied that, by receiving prayer from their volunteers, people could be healed of medical conditions. We also told them not to refer in their ads to medical conditions for which medical supervision should be sought.”
In March 2011 Belfast High Court judge overturned a decision by the ASA that an advertisement by Sandown Free Presbyterian church against a Belfast Gay Pride march in this newspaper was homophobic. The judge ruled the ASA’s decision interfered with the church’s rights to freedom of expression.
Yesterday the moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church Mr Johnstone said he was surprised that the ASA had now begun to adjudicate on church websites.
“I have not read the judgment in question but I am very concerned that a government agency would interfere in a church website,” he said. “As a church we would be very wary about exaggerated claims of healing. But it appears this church only said that God ‘can’ heal, which is very different to guaranteeing healing for everyone.
“Obviously, in the past we had to go to court with the ASA in order to upholds our own religious rights.”