A press campaign with the headline "The word of God against Sodomy" run by a church and timed to spark a protest against Belfast's Gay Pride parade has been banned for being offensive.

The full-page press ad, which appeared in the Belfast Newsletter, was run by the Sandown Free Presbyterian Church and claimed that the previous year's Gay Pride parade in the city had included a banner stating "Jesus is a fag" and that the church was "obliged under God to publicly challenge the vices of this generation".

Homosexuality is referred to in the ad as an "abomination", "God's judgment upon a sin" and "a cause for regret that a section of the community desire to be known for a perverted form of sexuality".

The Advertising Standards Authority received seven complaints about the ad.

Four complainants to the ASA said the ad was homophobic and therefore offensive; and six that it was likely to provoke hatred and violence against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

The Belfast Newsletter said it had also received complaints from readers.

However, the newspaper added that the number of complaints did not suggest widespread offence had been caused.

The Belfast Newsletter said the ad had been placed to "draw attention" to the gay pride event "against the background of ongoing public debate regarding issues it provoked" and it would have been an "infringement of freedom of expression on a matter of public interest" if it had refused to publish it.

In its defence, the church told the ASA said that the quotations in the ad were biblical, part of its religious convictions, and that it could "not be held responsible if readers were offended by the message of the Bible".

The ASA recognised that the text of the ad was "representative of the beliefs of a specific group and indicative of their opinion only".

However, the regulator ruled that some of the text used in relation to homosexuality, such as "declaring it to be an abomination", went "further than the majority of readers were likely to find acceptable".

The ASA ruled the ad had "caused serious offence to some readers" and should not be published again in its current form.

However, the regulator rejected complaints that it was an attempt to incite violence and spread hatred against the homosexual community and its supporters.

The ASA also ruled that the ad, which called for an outdoor meeting for a "gospel witness against the act of sodomy" on the day of the Belfast Gay Pride parade, did not breach the advertising code for inciting violence and hatred.

Guardian.co.uk