A church in East Knoxville, Tennessee removed a controversial 'equal rights' billboard after it prompted outrage from citizens in social media.
Last week, the Knoxville Baptist Tabernacle Church posted a sign outside its building that said: "Remember Satan was the first to demand equal rights."
According to WATE 6, a citizen took an image of the sign and posted it to WATE 6's On Your Side Facebook and Twitter pages. The image sparked a debate on social media about what the sign meant.
One Knoxville resident said that she found the billboard "offensive" even though she was a Christian.
"(T)hese kinds of signs and messages are exactly the reason why people are turned off by Christianity," she added.
Another resident spoke to WBIR and said that the sign was aimed at the LGBT community, which has been fighting for equal rights for sometime now.
"It's clearly a sign that was meant to offend a particular community - the LGBT community," this resident told WBIR. "Because of (the church's) lack of foresight, they ended up offending everybody who had ever fought for equality or civil rights in general."
The Tabernacle's lead pastor, Tony Greene, claimed that people misunderstood the billboard's message. He also denied that he was targeting a specific group. Instead, Greene said he was just calling for people to be "(b)e careful" when calling for equality in rights and to make sure they "don't hurt others around (them)."
"You've got to consider everyone around you," Greene said, according to WBIR. Greene also said that it was a test to see if people were reading the sign.
After the backlash, the Tabernacle changed the sign on March 16.
A similar incident occurred in December in Georgia, Atlanta when the Born Again Independent Baptist Church posted a sign that said "Santa is Satan."
Born Again's pastor Edward Carothers defended the sign, and told WRDW that Santa is "robbing Jesus Christ of his glory."
