Christianity Today Apologizes for Running Megachurch Elder’s Ad to Get Husband for His Daughter
- Updated Mar 10, 2016
Christianity Today has apologized for running an ad submitted by a concerned father and elder of a Chicago-area megachurch which advertised his “26-year-old virgin” daughter.
According to The Washington Times, the ad was placed in the “jobs” section of the classified ads and described the daugher, Rachel Stewart, as “godly, gorgeous, athletic, educated, careered, humourous, travelled, bilingual, 26-year-old virgin.”
The ad’s stated credentials for a potential suitor were: “unworthy, though becoming less so daily.”
The ad also included Stewart’s email address.
Although Christianity Today cannot retract the ad from their print edition, they have taken it down from their online edition and have apologized for posting it.
“We at Christianity Today apologize for publishing a personal ad in our Marketplace section that has been rightly seen as demeaning and in poor taste,” said CT editor-in-chief Mark Galli.
“We want everything in our magazine to reflect beautiful orthodoxy, and this ad did not. We have taken a hard look at our ad review process, made some changes, and we can assure our readers no ad like this will appear again,” he continued.
Stewart was apparently unphased by her father’s ad. She was alerted to it by commenters on her blog.
“I called my dad at work and asked if he knew anything about a personal ad in the leading evangelical magazine envisioned by Billy Graham. His response was revelatory, 'One second. Let me close my door,'" wrote Rachel.
"Then came his unapologetic admonition about the entire thing that concluded with him reading it to me. Impressed, but not surprised, I laughed and then hung up. It wasn't a minute later that I received a text from my mom saying, 'I hear the cat is out of the hat.' Her Puerto Rican version of the expression was the perfect gesture to remind me why I love my parents," she added.
Stewart's blog post has since been taken down as well.
Photo courtesy: Thinkstockphotos.com
Publication date: March 10, 2016
