A USA based publishing house that supplies Christian books and Bibles to churches, curriculum, and software among over 10,000 products to support the proclamation of the Gospel worldwide, has told Journalist Google is “intentionally banning” ad content from their website.
In a press release seen by this reporter, Concordia Publishing House (CPH) said they were informed on Monday that all CPH remarketing ads were “disabled due to a violation of Google’s policy” for advertising based on interests and location.
Upon receiving notification that the remarketing ads were disapproved, CPH staff contacted Google. In the conversation, CPH staff members were informed that remarketing ads based on religious beliefs were not allowed.
After reviewing cph.org, cph.org/blog, and splashcanyon.cph.org, the Google representative indicated that content provided by CPH was beyond the scope of becoming compliant with Google.
“This morning, we learned that Google ads will no longer accept anything related to the cph.org domain. They stated that the reason is because of the faith we express on our website,” wrote Concordia Publishing House CEO Bruce Kintz in a Facebook post, that has since been removed.
“Google informed CPH that the type of ad in question would not be allowed based on Google’s policy of religious belief in personalized content. As a Google AdWords Support representative explained, the disapproval resulted from the fact that the items in the ad and on the CPH website refer to Jesus and/or the Bible,” the release stated.
CPH reports it was also informed it could “remove all items that refer to Jesus or the Bible and proceed to use the remarketing ads;” or, “use a different type of Google ad product.”
“Clearly, CPH does not agree with Google’s decision in this matter. If we are willing to remove references to our faith in our ads or website, then we will be allowed to use remarketing ads with Google. Simply stated, we are not willing to sacrifice our beliefs to comply with Google’s requirements,” Kintz also said.
Kintz said that as society becomes increasingly hostile towards the Christian faith, their mission becomes all the more important.
“We will continue to proclaim the faith because we know without a doubt that the Word of the Lord endures forever,” said Kintz.
By Paul W Dennis.
