A giant billboard advertising religion, strategically placed above the busy North Rand Road in Boksburg and sponsored by the Benoni Islamic information centre, may be provocative but is not offensive and need not be removed.
The billboard is the subject of a complaint laid by a Christian consumer, Wayne Lamprecht, who made a formal objection with the Advertising Regulatory Board.
The billboard is titled “ISLAM, No God but Allah” with two quotes, attributed to Jesus, claiming “Indeed, I am the servant of Allah. He has given me the Scripture and made me a prophet” and “Indeed, Allah is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him. That is the straight path”.
Lamprecht submitted: “I do not have any complaint regarding the promoting of Islam or any religion. I do, however, find this billboard offensive as it denounces another religion, in particular Christianity and the belief in Jesus. I feel that everyone is free to practise their religion or faith of choice, but we should not be discriminating against other religions.”
Lamprecht said he was a resident of Boksburg and asked that the billboard be taken down as he found it offensive.
“You can promote Islam, but please do not discriminate against my religion. If this billboard was placed on the Benoni Islamic centre building or premises, that would be different. But it is not, it is placed over a very busy main road in Boksburg, namely, North Rand Road,” Lamprecht said.
Asked to respond to the allegation, the Benoni Islamic information centre first asked for an extension on the deadline they were given, but then failed to offer any information. And so the ARB went about adjudicating the complaint based on the information at hand.
The board was asked to consider whether the billboard can fairly be considered offensive in that it denounces other religions. This is because the advert references Jesus and promotes Islam.
Advertising should not offend against good taste or decency or be offensive to public or sectoral values and sensitivities, unless the advertising is reasonable and justifiable in an open and democratic society based on human dignity, equality and freedom.
— Advertising Regulatory Board
The ARB noted: “In Islam, Jesus (or Isa) is regarded as a prophet; in Christianity as the Messiah. In both religions, Jesus is quoted in the holy text of that religion. One of the fundamental teachings of Christianity is that God is a trinity, of which Jesus is part. The path to God, in Christianity, is through Jesus. In Islam, Jesus is a prophet who states that Allah is the one true God.”
In researching the two quotes on the billboard, the ARB found them to be direct translations from the Qur’an. It recognised that due to the very nature of religion, “there will always be those who view the beliefs of another religion as offensive, in particular if the religious views held are opposed to the views expressed”.
The ARB noted that for Christians, the citing of Jesus as a prophet, and as a prophet advocating that Allah is the only true God, will feel fundamentally contradictory to their own understanding of Jesus as the Messiah, and as part of the trinity of God.
It added that for many Christians, particularly those who are not aware of Jesus’s role in Islam, the quotes on the billboard could be perceived as a misrepresentation and hurtful.
It was with this in mind, along with an awareness of the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of religion principles, that the billboard had to be judged.
“Advertising should not offend against good taste or decency or be offensive to public or sectoral values and sensitivities, unless the advertising is reasonable and justifiable in an open and democratic society based on human dignity, equality and freedom,” the ARB stated, adding that the context, medium, likely audience, the nature of the product or service, prevailing standards, degree of social concern, and public interest all had to be factored in.
“The reference to Jesus could have been more clearly communicated by saying ‘the prophet Jesus’, differentiating it from the Jesus of Christian teachings. Better yet, the reference could have been to Isa, which is in fact the correct name for Jesus in Islam. (We) felt that the use of ‘Jesus’ instead of ‘Isa’ was a deliberately provocative choice on the part of the advertiser,” the ARB said.
“It is quite common for religions to proclaim their beliefs on billboards, these billboards are most often found on the premises of a house of worship, or in close proximity. The advertisement in this case was on a busy road.”
The ARB found that while the advertising of an aspect of Islam belief could have been done in a more sensitive manner, the billboard as it stands does not amount to communication that can be found to be objectively offensive.
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