Published: February 08, 2007 01:42 pm      

Religious billboards along I-65 pulled after protests

Catholic League protested signs about Sabbath

Religious groups have been battling over a pair of billboards near Interstate 65 in Jeffersonville that are being called discriminatory by some Catholics.

The advertisements, paid for by a West Palm Beach, Fla., church, proclaimed that Saturday, rather than Sunday, was the true Sabbath. Furthermore, the billboards said the holy day was changed by the antichrist to Sunday. A phone number was also included on the advertisements, 866-POPE-MMM. On a telephone keypad, MMM translates to 666.

The Catholic League, a New York-based organization, began protesting the ads Tuesday. They were blacked out by Wednesday. CBS Outdoor, which owns the billboards, did not return a request for comment made Wednesday afternoon.

Catholic League President Bill Donohue said in a news release the billboards had been removed after the group complained.

“CBS Outdoor made the right decision today to remove the bigoted statements attacking the pope and the Catholic Church as the antichrist,” Donohue said.

Representatives from the Florida Church said they were upset with CBS for pulling the ads.

The Florida church is called the Eternal Gospel Church Formed In 1992 By Seventh-Day Adventist Believers, a long-winded title used to legally separate themselves from other Seventh Day Adventists.

“We signed a contract,” said Andy Roman, the elder of the church. Roman said CBS Outdoor was buckling under pressure.

Raphael Perez, the pastor of the church, told The Evening News that the ads were in no way meant to be discriminatory. If the Catholic League believes the ads imply the papacy is the antichrist, then maybe they know something we don’t, Perez said.

The church said they want to work with CBS to find a way to get the ads back up. The phone number may be changed as a part of that compromise, Roman said.

The Eternal Gospel Church Formed In 1992 By Seventh-Day Adventist Believers has been conducting billboard advertising campaigns for the last six years. They’ve had advertisements similar to the ones in Jeffersonville across North and South America.