Gay man sues Zondervan for mental anguish

‘Gay’ man sues Bible publisher for ‘mental anguish’

$10 million sought for ‘negative connotation’ toward homosexuals

Posted: September 09, 2009 – 8:55 pm Eastern    © 2009 WorldNetDaily

Homosexual man is suing a third national Bible publisher for “mental anguish” after he says the company published Bibles with a negative connotation toward homosexuals.

Bradley LaShawn Fowler of Canton, Mich., alleges Tyndale House Publishers manipulated Scripture when it published Tyndale’s New Living Translation Holy Bible and the New Life Application Study Bible by using the term “homosexuals” in a New Testament passage, 1 Corinthians 6:9.

“One Bible dictates homosexuals will not inherit the Kingdom of God, while the other is completely void on the issue altogether,” Fowler wrote in a statement on his blog.

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As WND reported, Fowler, who had a blog on Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign website last year, filed his initial complaint against Christian publishers Zondervan and Thomas Nelson Publishing. Fowler, who represented himself in both lawsuits, said in his complaint against Zondervan that the publisher intended 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.” …

He told the Grand Rapids’ WOOD-TV in 2008 that he wants to “compensate for the past 20 years of emotional duress and mental instability.”

According to JoAnne Thomas on RightPundits.com, Fowler explained his complaint on his blog last year, referencing the I Corinthians 6:9 passage:

In 1970, I Corinthians 6:9 read as followed [sic]-Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulteres [sic], nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind.

In 1982 ,the same scripture read like this-

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodimites [sic].

In 2001 the same scripture reads like this-

Surely you know that the people who do wrong will not inherit God’s kingdom. Do not be fooled, those who sin sexually, worship idols, take part in adultery, those who are male prostitutes, or men who have sexual relations with other men, those who steal, are greedy, get drunk, lie about others, or rob thses [sic] people will not inherit God’s kingdom.

When Fowler filed his initial claim against Zondervan, he alleged its Bibles’ references to homosexuality as a sin made him an outcast from his family and contributed to physical discomfort and periods of “demoralization, chaos and bewilderment.”

Both civil complaints were dismissed because Fowler did not file his complaints before the three-year federal statute of limitations expired.

However, Fowler filed a lawsuit against Tyndale House Publishers in January and is still seeking $10 million in damages. Fowler filed a motion for entry of default and a motion of summary judgment in district court, but the judge denied his motions, saying Fowler presented no proof that he served the defendant properly. The judge ordered him to reissue the original summons and complaint to Tyndale.

Fowler wrote on his blog that he has “a long battle awaiting him.”

“[W]hen William Tyndale Publishing [sic], Inc., Zondervan Publishing, Inc., and Thomas Nelson Publishing, Inc. began revising the scriptures, each publisher implemented the term homosexuals within its Bible, yet failed to follow what the scripture teaches about doing so,” Fowler wrote on his blog. “As a result, homosexuals have endured a life long struggle of being accepted within the American culture.”

Source:  http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=109356     © www.wnd.com