Christian Post
Facebook has unpublished the Facebook page associated with the pre-denominational Christian ministry "Warriors for Christ," an organization that opposes homosexuality and abortion, on grounds that it violated its community standards on bullying and hate speech.
Warriors for Christ, a West Virginia-based ministry that stands unapologetically opposed to all sinful behavior, no longer has access to its main Facebook page that had over 225,000 followers.
The main Warriors for Christ Facebook page, which is often used to post memes that lash out against society's embrace of things like LGBT rights and abortion, and is used to facilitate the organization's video ministry led by Pastor Rich Penkoski, was initially removed by the social media giant on Dec. 29.
Although the Facebook page was reinstated on Jan. 2 after an online petition was launched calling for Facebook to republish the page, Facebook administrators again took the Warriors for Christ page down last Friday.
Penkoski said in an interview with The Christian Post on Monday that his organization's Christian beliefs are being censored by Facebook because a number of LGBT activists who follow Warriors for Christ on social media had lodged complaints.
Warriors for Christ, a West Virginia-based ministry that stands unapologetically opposed to all sinful behavior, no longer has access to its main Facebook page that had over 225,000 followers.
The main Warriors for Christ Facebook page, which is often used to post memes that lash out against society's embrace of things like LGBT rights and abortion, and is used to facilitate the organization's video ministry led by Pastor Rich Penkoski, was initially removed by the social media giant on Dec. 29.
Although the Facebook page was reinstated on Jan. 2 after an online petition was launched calling for Facebook to republish the page, Facebook administrators again took the Warriors for Christ page down last Friday.
Penkoski said in an interview with The Christian Post on Monday that his organization's Christian beliefs are being censored by Facebook because a number of LGBT activists who follow Warriors for Christ on social media had lodged complaints.
"We can't even use the term 'LGBT' in any context whatsoever or else it immediately gets flagged and banned. If we type those four letters out in our page, it gets removed," Penkoski said.As there have been a number of Warriors for Christ's Facebook posts and videos that have been removed by Facebook, Penkoski said that other posts that have been removed included ones that displayed the organization's opposition to abortion.
"We count our posts on the page. Out of 3,000 posts, less than 3 percent had to with LGBT issues," Penkoski explained, adding that the majority of the counseling work his ministry does is to help reconcile marriages impacted by adultery.
"Yet, homosexuality is the focus that everyone keeps talking about with us. We talk about abortion. We talk about adultery. We talk about fornication. Nobody ever talks about that stuff," he added. "When Facebook pulled our page [for the first time], we were actually counseling with a young woman who was suicidal."While Penkoski said he did not receive an explanation the first time the page was unpublished on Dec. 29, he says he did receive an email from Facebook explaining why the page was removed on Jan. 5 and left with no way to appeal the decision.
"Your Page 'Warriors for Christ' has been removed for violating our Terms of Use. A Facebook Page is a distinct presence used solely for business or promotional purposes. Among other things, Pages that are hateful, threatening or obscene are not allowed," the email reads.
"We also take down Pages that attack an individual or group, or that are set up by an unauthorized individual. If your Page was removed for any of the above reasons, it will not be reinstated. Continued misuse of Facebook's features could result in the permanent loss of your account."Christian Post article continues here
No comments:
Post a Comment