The black turtleneck-and-blue-jeans-wearing Apple CEO Steve Jobs has landed smack dab in the middle of Christian censorship controversy.
In response to the iPhone-maker’s decision to remove a pro-life app that supports traditional marriage from its iTunes Store, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) has launched a video called “The Iconic Steve Jobs” that paints Jobs as a “Big Brother.”
Steve Jobs built his reputation as an iconic marketer in the famous 1984 commercial for the Macintosh computer in which Apple promises to take on “Big Brother,” says Brian Brown, president of NOM. Jobs has made billions taking on “Big Brother,” yet the irony is that in refusing to allow citizens to support pro-life and traditional marriage positions he’s become the very “Big Brother” he has decried.
The Manhattan Declaration, an organization of Christians who support traditional marriage, life and religious liberty, created the app. Launched in Manhattan in November 2009, the Declaration called “A Call of Christian Conscience” enjoys the support of prominent Christian clergy, ministers and scholars. It has been signed by nearly 500,000 Christians.
The app was developed to facilitate other Christians to sign the declaration. Apple reviewers initially approved the app and certified that it contains no offensive content. Later, when gay marriage advocates mounted an online petition, Apple pulled the app from the iTunes Store. An Apple spokesperson defended the action saying that the Christian app was “offensive to large groups of people.”
As Brown sees it, Apple happily allows all kinds of apps for pro-abortion and pro-gay marriage groups, yet when Christians develop an app to support traditional marriage and life, it is called offensive and is pulled from the iTunes Store.
What is offensive is that Steve Jobs has targeted Christians for discrimination and religious bigotry, censoring our basic right to speech. Steve Jobs has become Big Brother and we call on Christians across America to contact Jobs to express their outrage at his unfair, discriminatory decision. Apple should immediately restore the Manhattan Declaration app and apologize to all Christians for their actions.
Apple was not immediately available for comment.
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