“Members of the Ohio Bible Fellowship churches make no apologies for their beliefs.” That is how a reporter for the Columbus Dispatch described the reaction of the 15-church fellowship to its Catholics critics. Among the beliefs they refuse to apologize for is the contention that the pope is the “anti-Christ.” They also hold that Pope John Paul II “heads a church that…is leading millions of people right into hell through false doctrines.”
The occasion for this outburst of anti-Catholicism was the negative public reaction to Bob Jones University’s views on Catholicism. The Ohio Bible Fellowship felt the need to pass a resolution that commits all the churches to “stand against the false gospel of the Roman Catholic Church and warn others of its errors.”
The person who authored the strongly-worded condemnation, Rev. Peter Foxx, is a graduate of Bob Jones University. He was no doubt a good student; he most certainly has proven to be a model alumnus.
Meanwhile, another one of those stupid anti-Catholic ads that call the pope the “anti-Christ” appeared in the Akron Beacon Journal. We’ve been able to successfully persuade most publishers not to run these “Earth’s Final Warning” screeds again, but we might have fallen short with this Ohio newspaper. The newspaper refused to pledge that it wouldn’t run the ad in the future, but it did admit that it had gotten a lot of complaints, including some from its own employees. So there’s a 50-50 chance they might not run this ad again.
