More Religious Leaders Urge For MLA’s New Lamb Ad To Be Banned

More Religious Leaders Urge For MLA’s New Lamb Ad To Be Banned
B&T Magazine
By B&T Magazine



First it was the Hindus, and now Christian, Buddhist and Jewish leaders have followed suit in denouncing Meat & Livestock Australia’s (MLA’s) new lamb commercial by The Monkeys, which they say trivialises various religious figures.

Senior Greek Orthodox Christian priest Stephen R. Karcher, Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, Buddhist priest Matthew T. Fisher and Jewish rabbi ElizaBeth Webb Beyer said in a joint statement all the way from the US that unnecessarily dragging religious figures, who were highly revered by the adherents of their respective faiths, to sell Aussie lamb meat was very disrespectful, highly inappropriate and could be disturbing for some faithful.

“Love, and not lamb meat, united us and brought us together,” the statement said.

“Moreover, icons of any faith, larger or smaller, should not be mishandled, taken frivolously and inappropriately used.

Matthew Fisher, ElizaBeth Webb Beyer, Rajan Zed, Stephen Karcher

Matthew Fisher, ElizaBeth Webb Beyer, Rajan Zed, Stephen Karcher

“We, the faith leaders, were for free artistic expression and speech as much as anybody else if not more. But faith was something sacred and attempts at trivialising it hurt the followers.”

The religious leaders also urged Australia’s Advertising Standards Bureau to act urgently on the various complaints reportedly received by it regarding the ad.

The interfaith gesture comes after Zed issued a statement on behalf of the Hindu community calling for the ad to be banned.




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