The Christian Institute, a U.K.-based Christian group affiliated with the Church of England, is crying foul with a lawsuit against Google after the popular internet search engine rejected their pro-life advertisements.
The group, which had purchased an “AdWords” advertisement that would bring up information on abortion laws and a link to their homepage every time a user searched for “abortion,” is claiming that Google rejected their advertisements in an act of deliberate discrimination against their views.
According to Google, the company has a policy of rejecting “inappropriate” advertisements that mix religion and abortion.
"At this time, Google policy does not permit the advertisement of web sites that contain 'abortion and religion-related content'," Google explained in an email to The Christian Institute.
The Christian Institute, however, claims that Google’s denial of its advertisement is a violation of the British Equality Act 2006, which guards against the discrimination of groups based on their religious views.
Moreover, the group claims, Google maintains a double standard – while advertisements from religious groups are denied, pornographic websites and abortion ads from secular organizations attacking religion are acceptable.
"To describe abortion and religion-related content as 'unacceptable content', while at the same time advertising pornography, is ridiculous,” said Colin Hart, Director of The Christian Institute, in a statement on its website.
"Google promotes itself as a company committed to the ideals of free speech and the free exchange of ideas. It is against this standard that Google's anti-religious policy is so unjust,” he added.
"For many people, Google is the doorway to the internet. It is an influential gatekeeper to the marketplace of debate. If there is to be a free exchange of ideas then Google cannot give special free speech rights to secular groups whilst censoring religious views,” he said.
Former Tory Minister Ann Widdecombe also commented.
"It does seem to me to be the most appalling and blatant case of religious discrimination and also to be a very silly attempt to stifle due debate,” she said, according to the London Daily Mail.
The Christian Institute had planned on promoting its pro-life advertisements in anticipation of the British Parliament vote next month on the Human Fertilization and Embryology Bill – the first bill on abortion to reach the House of Commons in nearly 18 years.
The legislation, if passed, would allow the creation of human-animal hybrid embryos for medical research by providing changes to the regulation and licensing of the use of embryos in research and therapy.
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It's really unfortunate to see how some people just don't get the point and just start battling and battling and battling out of ignorance. Google isn't against religious organizations advertising their group. They also aren't against abortion clinics advertising their services. They are an equal opportunity advertiser. What they DO have a problem with is people using ADS as a SOAPBOX to start a debate. If you want to use Google to start a debate, create a website and get it indexed in the organic results for Google. But don't pay Google money (for ads) to try to shout the loudest (through ads) about how you feel people should be.
That's ultimately Google's position and any reasonable person would agree with it. If they allowed this, they would allow abortion clinics to spread anti-Christianity advertisements, for instance. Certainly nobody wants that. So, if you want to advertise your religious organization, by all means advertise it. When people land on your site, and read further, perhaps they will also read and agree with your beliefs on abortion. However, they only want ads to be used for ADVERTISING. To get people to be interested in your site and go to your site, not to get people interested in your opinion or rile people up who don't agree with it.
In fact, I also seem to recall that Google disallows groups who are ANTI-something. i.e., if I create a group that is just ANTI-BUSH, they would allow the advertisement to focus on the negativity. If, however, I create a group that is PRO-OBAMA, they would be ok with this... even if the underlying message might be the same. Again, they want the positive ads... that promote a service or group... not negative ads... or ads that promote an opinion, a feeling, a belief, or one which is meant to stir debate on a subject.
There is a difference between a soap box and a billboard.
Jesusis1, I believe the group is making the claim that Google is not allowing religious content to be mixed with certain social issues like Abortion, not that religious groups can't advertise. Google certainly allows that (ex: the Megafest you mention), but just not in connection with those certain issues..
Also, this is referring to the UK version of Google, not the US version. http://www.google.co.uk/
It is not strange for the secular humanist to discriminate, because most are insecure and chose to delete and stifle any question or arising objection to their weak views.
Google are only committed to free secular humanist speech and exchange of ideas.
The double standards practice by Google is just another example of secular humanist hypocrisy.
I believe this can be categorized as hate crime.
Why the heck would abortion and religious content mixed together be banned? That is ludicrous. They are basically saying, "it's ok to believe abortion is wrong, but not for a religious purpose". That is indeed religious discrimination.