Grand Rapids Press Omits Other Side in Report on Bible Lawsuit

You can’t make this stuff up. The online version of the Grand Rapids (Michigan) Press reported on Wednesday that a homosexual man has filed lawsuits filed against two Christian publishers, since their editions of the Bible call homosexuality a sin.

A Canton [Michigan] man is suing Zondervan Publishing and a Tennessee-based publisher, claiming their versions of the Bible that refer to homosexuality as a sin violate his constitutional rights and have caused him emotional pain and mental instability.

Bradley LaShawn Fowler, 39, is seeking $60 million from Zondervan, based in Cascade Township, and $10 million from Thomas Nelson Publishing in the lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

In the unsigned report, the newspaper gave only the liberal viewpoint of the plaintiff and failed to include any reaction or response from the companies or from conservative sources.

The Press included two quotes from Fowler’s lawsuit against Zondervan:

Fowler alleges Zondervan's Bibles referring to homosexuality as a sin have made him an outcast from his family and contributed to physical discomfort and periods of “demoralization, chaos and bewilderment.”

The intent of the publisher was to design a religious, sacred document to reflect an individual opinion or a group's conclusion to cause “me or anyone who is a homosexual to endure verbal abuse, discrimination, episodes of hate, and physical violence ... including murder,” Fowler wrote.

The report also quoted District Court Judge Julian Abele Cook, Jr., who wrote that “[t]he Court has some very genuine concerns about the nature and efficacy of these claims.” However, the report did not give any quotes from representatives of either Zondervan or Thomas Nelson.

This one-sided reporting on the part of the Grand Rapids Press might lead one to conclude that the editors there must not see this as a frivolous lawsuit.