Tennessee newspaper lifts ban on Christian ad after initially labeling the word 'Christian' as 'offensive'

A Tennessee newspaper has performed a U-turn after initially rejecting an ad for a Christian bookstore for containing the word "Christian," which it considered "offensive."

Cedar Springs Christian Stores took to Facebook on Saturday to thank its supporters and make a public announcement that the Knoxville News Sentinel finally agreed to run its ad.

"We have enjoyed a working relationship with the Knoxville News Sentinel and appreciate the work they do in our community," read the post. "We are grateful that they are now printing our ad and hope that the awareness brought to this issue will prevent mistakes like this going forward."

The paper also gave the Christian company an extra two days to run its ad for free for the inconvenience of the initial rejection.

The incident was sparked after Cedar Springs Christian Stores decided to close one of its locations, and the owners had decided to inform their customers about the closing down sale through an ad they submitted on July 26 to be run on July 28 that read, "Store closing sale – Cedar Springs Christian Store – Clinton Highway location – All merchandise, fixtures, slat walls must go. Sale through August 13, phone 865.947.XXX."

However, co-owner Lois McGinnis did not find the ad in the newspaper when she checked the paper on the scheduled day. She called up the company to ask what had happened.

"She said our ad did not run because it contained an offensive word," McGinnis told Fox News, on what a classified ads employee for the paper had told her. "I asked what that offensive word was, and she said the offensive word was 'Christian'."

McGinnis also lamented that the newspaper did not notify her about their decision not to run their ad nor return their money. So she shared the incident on social media, which resulted in outrage among many who rebuked the decision by the newspaper.

Knoxville News Sentinel referred to what happened as a "misunderstanding" between the two companies and issued Friday an apology on Facebook. They blamed the issue on a "system failure" and "technological issue" for misclassifying the requested ad by the Christian bookstore. They also stressed their good business relationship with Cedar Springs Christian Stores, their history of working together and added that they granted them extra running time for their ad at no extra cost.