A controversial New Zealand church has rolled out a publicity stunt in time for Christmas – with a billboard showing the Virgin Mary holding a positive pregnancy test. Auckland’s St Matthews in the City Church launched its festive advertising campaign to “avoid the sentimental and trite” and “spark thought and conversation”.
Vicar Glynn Cardy said:
It’s real. Christmas is real. It’s about a real pregnancy, a real mother and a real child. It’s about real anxiety, courage and hope. This billboard portrays Mary, Jesus’ mother, looking at a home pregnancy test kit revealing that she is pregnant. Regardless of any premonition, that discovery would have been shocking. Mary was unmarried, young, and poor. This pregnancy would shape her future. She was certainly not the first woman in this situation or the last.
In 2009, the same church launched the billboard pictured below. I’ll let you make your own conclusions:
[Source: 3News]
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