'Virgin Mary Should've Aborted' Facebook Page Removed Following Pro-Life Campaign
A controversial Facebook page titled "Virgin Mary Should've Aborted," which had close to 12,000 followers, has been taken down after pro-life groups united in a campaign against it.
"This is not a First Amendment issue but rather an issue of FB's own standards regarding Hate Speech. According to Facebook standards, 'we do not permit individuals or groups to attack others based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability or medical condition," Project Wildfire CEO Cary Bogue said in a statement on Tuesday.
Bogue, who is also a spokesman for the group Catholics & Protestants Against FB Religious Discrimination, has been trying to take down the controversial FB page for the past year, and in July 2012 he waged a successful battle to have the page removed after gathering 20,000 signatures and launching a Twitter campaign; however it was later reinstated.
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"We're not trying to censor anyone, but this falls under the category of hate speech," Bogue told The Christian Post back then.
"It's one thing to say we're atheists and we're proud of it…it's another thing to say his mother should have aborted him."
The "Virgin Mary Should've Aborted" FB page, which no longer exists, reportedly featured a depiction of an aborted Baby Jesus with a crown of thorns and blood running from his side, as the Virgin Mary holds him while smoking a Marijuana Cigar.
"If this is not the exact definition of hate speech directed at a religion, I am not sure what is?" Bogue continued in the latest press release.
"We all know Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is an avowed atheist, Pro-Abortion and a strong advocate for the LGBT, but that does not excuse him from continuing to allow this page to remain. I challenge him or anyone at Facebook to explain to the Christians across America how that wasn't hate speech directed against Christianity."
Facebook's policy states that it does not permit hate speech, but distinguishes between serious and humorous speech.
"While we encourage you to challenge ideas, institutions, events, and practices, we do not permit individuals or groups to attack others based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability or medical condition," the Community Standards page reads.
