In a case pitting free expression against user protest
in the new world of on-line advertising, Waltham-based Lycos Inc.,
a major Internet search engine, will not renew an advertisement
placed by Jews for Jesus after a flood of complaints from the Jewish
community.
Jews for Jesus paid $1,700 for a banner to appear
at the top of computer screens of the first 40,000 people who type
in the word ''Jewish'' as a search term, said Jews for Jesus spokeswoman
Susan Perlman.
The group, which began in the early 1970s, has about
70,000 followers nationwide who, it says, practice Judaism while
believing that Jesus is the Messiah. The banner that Lycos has run
advertises a book by the group's director promoting that ideology.
The contract for the advertisement is scheduled to
expire within a few days. ''Controversial advertising is bad for
business,'' said Jeffrey Snider, general counsel for Lycos. He said
that the decision not to renew had nothing to do with the content
of the ad, but he emphasized that the company does not want Jews
to boycott Lycos.
Perlman said yesterday that she had not been informed
of Lycos's decision, and argued that the Internet is by nature a
forum to express a variety of views and therefore is inherently
controversial.
''They may as well find another planet to operate
from if they don't want controversy,'' she said. ''We're saddened
that they have succumbed to pressure.'' Jews for Jesus, which typically
has spread its message through fliers and leaflets, placed the advertisement
through a sales representative in Lycos's San Francisco office,
Snider said. To reach a targeted audience, customers pay Lycos to
link their ads with search terms.
Perlman said Jews for Jesus chose to have its name
attached to the search term ''Jewish'' under the assumption that
many Jews would see it.
They were right.
Although the ad started running July 6, executives
at Lycos's national headquarters in Waltham said they were not aware
of it until they received several angry e-mail messages from Jews
beginning on July 29. The company would not discuss the content
of the messages or say how many it received. ''These people are
not Jews and are ignorant about Judiasm,'' said one message, written
by a woman who identified herself as Patricia Heil. ''They have
involved you in false advertising.''
The flashing advertisement, about 1 inch high and
3 inches wide, shows the Jews for Jesus logo, with the Star of David
replacing the ''o'' in the word ''for.''
It reads: ''The end of the world is no time to finally
realize Jesus is the Messiah. (It's all in the book.) Click for
free copy!''
When users click on the advertisement, a Web page
appears from the Jews for Jesus site, with an order form for the
book. The page included a reference to Lycos.
Because of that, Lycos executives pulled the ad on
July 30, arguing that it gave the appearance that the company endorsed
Jews for Jesus, Snider said. Within days, the reference was removed
from the page and the ad reappeared a week later.
Though Lycos is legally obliged to carry out the
contract, the company does not have to renew it, Snider said.
Diane Kolb, associate director of the Anti-Defamation
League's Boston office, said her group, which fights anti-Semitism,
is a strong proponent of the First Amendment. But, she said, ''Jews
can't be for Jesus.'' She said her group urged Lycos to discontinue
the ad because she believes the message is misleading - and blasphemous.
''It's very seductive material for a lot of Jews,'' Kolb said. ''If
I'm a Jew struggling with my identity living in this Christian society,
I could believe in Jesus, then I could have Christmas and I wouldn't
have to be different from everyone else. ''That's kind of cozy,
but it's offering people an option that isn't available, and that's
what we have a problem with.''
Last month, talk-show host Joan Rivers, who is Jewish,
lashed out at the group on the air after it advertised the book
''Future Hope'' during her show. But Steven Hassan, an authority
on cults and brainwashing, said that though he does not like the
message of Jews for Jesus, he has found no evidence that the group
is dangerous.
''They're essentially Baptists who are putting up
money to recruit Jews, saying you can be a Jew and a Christian simultaneously,''
said Hassan, who runs the Freedom of Mind Resource Center, in Cambridge.
Still, Perlman insisted that Jews can legitimately
believe in Jesus, calling her group ''a small minority of a minority.''
She said that Jews should be free to decide for themselves what
they want to read and analyze.
''It's a shame that there are people who want to
block our message and prevent people from thinking for themselves,''
Perlman said. ''The Web is suppossed to be a marketplace for all
kinds of ideas, and people can click on them or pass them by.''
Since I was misquoted in this article I sent
this letter to the Globe editor on 8/11/99.
Dear Editor,
I wanted to write and correct a serious error in
Sara Neufeld's Boston Globe article (Aug.11th) on Jews for Jesus
and Lycos. Sara created the false impression that, as a cult expert,
I give Jews for Jesus a "clean bill of health." I certainly
do not. I told her that I did have evidence that Jews for Jesus
was a destructive cult and told her about the book, Hawking
God by Ellen Kamentsky. I told her that Ellen lived in the
Boston area, and encouraged her to speak with her. I told Neufeld
that I found Kamentsky's account highly credible when she described
her time in the group as a destructive cult. I also went on to say
that I have yet to meet others like Ellen who could confirm that
her experiences were representative of being involved with Jews
for Jesus, rather than an isolated case - and therefore I was reluctant
to categorize them definitively as a destructive cult. I did say
that I thought Jews for Jesus was very deceptive, and that they
made it sound like it was primarily Jews in the organization, when
"they were mostly Baptists". I also told her, that as
a Jew that theologically, it is impossible to be a Jew and Christian
simultaneously, citing as just one example the Christian doctrine
of original sin - which contradicts the Jewish belief that a baby
is born without sin. There are many other fundamental conflicts.
Also, Neufeld mistakenly says the Freedom of Mind
Resource Center (www.freedomofmind.com) is in Cambridge. It moved
to Somerville approximately two years ago.
Freedomofmind.com fully supports religious
freedom and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The fact that a person’s name or group appears on our website
does not necessarily mean they are a destructive mind control cult.
They appear because we have received inquiries and have established
a file on the group.
The Freedom of Mind Resource Center Inc. was established by cult expert Steve Hassan.
