By MELISSA MARTIN
Oregon Catholics tired of looking at a high-profile Interstate 5 billboard that reads "The pope is the antichrist" are calling for its removal.
"It's a deliberately and gratuitously offensive statement that singles out Catholics for contempt," said the Rev. Liam Cary, a priest at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Medford. "It's not in someone's back yard - it's right there, in your face, on a public road."
The Archdiocese of Portland, which serves western Oregon's 290,000 Catholics, is calling for the removal of a sign rented by Larry Weathers, an elder with Rogue Valley Historical Seventh-day Adventist of Talent, a church with about 40 members. The church is not affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which has disowned it and considers it renegade.
"We're not against Catholics or against their religion, just the political, religious organization of the Vatican," said Weathers, a Talent barber.
The billboard north of Central Point near the Tolo Road exit belongs to Outdoor Media Dimensions. A spokeswoman who did not give her name Thursday said the company had prepared a statement for her to read to the dozens of Catholic and media callers.
"The content expressed on billboards leased by Outdoor Media Dimensions does not in any way express the opinion or beliefs of our company or staff," it said.
The billboard has been up about two months. If it bashed any other group, it wouldn't have lasted this long, according to Cary. Similar anti-pope billboards have cropped up around Southern Oregon since a campaign began in 1993.
"What's to stop someone from putting an anti-Jewish billboard up or an anti-black or anti-Hispanic billboard up?" Cary asked. "I'm sure there would be a great uproar in Medford. But if it's anti-Catholic, why do we tolerate it?"
Billboards are not the only medium Weathers uses to get his message across. His church pays for mass mailings of the 94-page book "The National Sunday Law."
"The book outlines who the anti-Christ is," Weathers said. "Anti means in the place of Christ. A lot of people think it means against Christ. Any pope that holds that office becomes the person on Earth that represents Christ."
Cary said he prefers theological debates to roadway ranting.
"If he had a conversation with someone, that's one thing," Cary said. "But to have a blunt statement like that with no explanation, it can't help be anything but insulting."
Cary added that since many Hispanics are Catholic, the billboards may appear to be directed at them.
"When they come to Oregon, how welcome do they feel when they see a sign like that that mocks their religious faith in a public space?" he asked.
But it's not just Oregon Catholics who are offended by the billboards. Medford's Visitors and Convention Bureau and Chamber of Commerce have received letters and e-mail from folks from Florida, Texas, New Jersey and California.
"It's not the positive message that we want to be sending," said Julie Petretto, executive director of the Medford Visitors and Convention Bureau.
"When it affects your visitor industry or any other industry, it hits home. It's an economic impact to us and it's a bad message."
Brad Hicks, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce of Medford and Jackson County, said he's received letters from people who believe the sign is synonymous with hate.
"I think every American has a stake in responding to bigotry if we want to keep this place livable," he said.
Such billboards are free speech, protected by the First Amendment, according to Medford attorney Alan Herson. He is the father of Jeff Herson, former owner of Outdoor Media Dimensions, now owned by a Seattle company. Alan Herson is representing the company in a unrelated lawsuit about Oregon's billboard laws.
"The person who bought space from the billboard people has the right to free speech like all Americans do," Herson said. "If the Archdiocese doesn't like it, rather than censorship, they should print their own speech and buy a billboard. That's the American way. Your newspaper quotes anti-Semitic statements regularly, and nobody is calling for an end to your newspaper."
Billboards in Oregon are regulated by the state Department of Transportation, not for content but for placement along highways, said John Vial, district manager.
The Oregon Supreme Court recently sided with the state that several billboards in Southern Oregon are illegally placed, including the board with the anti-pope message. But the state can't remove the boards because court appeals are pending.
"The department thinks that billboard is in poor taste, but we're not in a position to remove it," Vial said.
This the same company that I querried. If they'll put this anti-catholic (Pope) board up I'm certain that we'd get our up without problem.
EBUCK