The Shofar is the ancient trumpet which called the people of God to prayer, repentance, sacrifice and war.

CHRISTIANS PROTEST OVER JESUS SLUR

22nd July 2008 16.15 hrs

Christians mounted a protest this morning against an article in the South Wales Echo, which was also published on the paper's website in association with Cardiff 's leading firm of solicitors.

The article, by Dan O'Neill, was published in the South Wales Echo on Wednesday 16th July and then put up on the Echo website where it was published 'in association with' Hugh James.

In the article, O'Neill firstly declares that the Bible is not the word of God. It was written by 'a wild-eyed Bronze Age nomad', he rages.

Then, in a remarkable display of ignorance of the social mores of the Holy Land in the 1st Century, he remarks that Jesus Christ could be accused of homosexuality because the Apostles were all male.

Not content with that, he says it is 'suspicious' that Jesus 'picks up small boys and girls and puts his hands upon them.' From there, the piece descends into a bigoted rant against Christianity.

This morning, a group of Christians gave leaflets about the matter to staff going in to the Hugh James offices in St Mary's Street , Cardiff and met Rachel Rhys-Jones, who is in charge of the firm's marketing.

From there, they moved to the office of Media Wales where they occupied the reception area, singing hymns and praying out loud before meeting with Simon Farrington, one of the Managing Editors.

Stephen Green, National Director of Christian Voice, said afterwards:

'The senior partner at Hugh James, Gareth Williams, bears ultimate responsibility for allowing his firm to be associated with such a disgraceful attack on the Christian Faith by Media Wales.

'He should pull his firm's support for the South Wales Echo, apologise to his firm's Christian staff and clients and cancel any further association with Media Wales.

We made it very clear to Simon Farrington that Media Wales should immediately take down the article from the web and publish an apology in the paper and on the web. He should also sack Dan O'Neill, whose column long since ceased to have any relevance to Wales in the 21st century.

'Media Wales are moving offices at the moment, with their current premises scheduled for demolition. If Mohammed had been called a homosexual and a paedophile in their paper, they would not have to wait for the demolition teams to arrive. But they think they can attack the Christian faith with impunity. Today we showed that even though we would never resort to violence, Christians can mount a swift and effective witness against evil. We now look forward to a positive and gracious response from Media Wales.'