An ad appearing in the daily newspaper Fréttablaðið from the Russian Orthodox Church in Iceland condemned homosexuality over Gay Pride. Fréttablaðið says the ad was printed by mistake.
Many Icelanders were surprised to see an ad appearing beneath the TV listings in last Saturday’s Fréttablaðið – in both Icelandic and English – quoting 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, which says, “Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” The ad was placed by the Russian Orthodox Church of Iceland, but did not bear a name.
The timing of the ad was especially alarming to many Icelanders, running as it did over Gay Pride. The priest of the Russian Orthodox Church, Rev. Timur Zolotuskiy, told DV that the ad was his own initiative; not the church’s. He also said that the ad was anonymous as he did not want to put his name under “the word of God.”
RÚV reports that the editor of Fréttablaðið, Ólafur Stephensen, says it was wrong to have run the ad without a name. He says the paper will run the name of the person who bought the ad today.
Guðmundur Helgason, chairman of the gay rights group Samtökin 78, strongly condemned the ad, saying it was out of place in Icelandic society.
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