ICC Note: In late August, video hosting website YouTube blocked the channel of Pastor Daniel Ausbun after he posted a sermon on ISIS and radical Islam. Pastor Ausbun received an e-mail saying he had violated YouTube’s “Terms of Service” and, after reviewing the terms, decided the channel must have classified his sermon as “hate speech.” YouTube has since lifted the ban on the channel, but the incident has stirred concern about Christians being arbitrarily and unfairly censored by the site. 

9/2/2014 United States (Fox News) – The pastor of a small-town Baptist church in Georgia says he got banned from YouTube after he posted video of a Sunday sermon he gave about the persecution of Christians in the Middle East. “Apparently, they didn’t like me preaching on radical Islam, so I got booted and banned,” said Daniel Ausbun, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Moreland, Ga. “This is sermon censorship.”

Ausbun concedes that YouTube can censor whatever videos it wishes. But he does wonder – what else is it banning? On Aug. 24, Ausbun delivered a sermon about the Islamic State, terrorism, radical Islam and Christian persecution in the Middle East. “So many people in the church had been asking about it,” the pastor told me.

“This was almost more of an educational sermon.” Based on a copy of his sermon notes, the pastor based his message on several New Testament verses – including Matthew 24:9. That verse reads: “Then they will hand you over for persecution, and they will kill you. You will be hated by all nations because of My name.” Ausbun told his congregation that Middle Eastern Christians were given a choice to convert to Islam, pay a tax, leave immediately or face death. He also warned that ISIS is recruiting Westerners. He encouraged the church to pray for the Gospel message to advance despite terrorism and war. About three-and-a-half years ago, Ausbun started a YouTube channel for church members who missed the Sunday service. Over the years, he posted dozens of sermon videos without a single problem – until Aug. 27. “I received an email from YouTube telling me that my account had been terminated for violation of the terms of service and their community guidelines,” he said. “They actually terminated my entire account.”

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“I’m literally terminated – like I’m the terrorist,” the pastor said. Ausbun said what happened to him could happen to other American pastors under the guise of banning “hate speech.” “Anything a pastor preaches on – whether it be radical Islam, homosexuality, the teachings of Jesus – YouTube can label that hate speech and censor their sermons,” he said. The Georgia preacher said he decided to contact me because people need to be aware of YouTube’s censorship.

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