A Christian magazine has apologized for running an ad that offered up a suburban Chicago father’s virgin bride to potential suitors.
Published in the jobs section of Christianity Today's March print edition, the ad titled “Son-In-Law” was posted by a self-described Wheaton church elder and Chicagoland chief financial officer.
“Her: godly, gorgeous, athletic, educated, careered, humorous, traveled, bilingual, 26-year-old virgin,” the ad wrote. “You: unworthy, though becoming less so daily.”
Those interested in the position were given his email address to “apply.” A website, said to be his daughter's personal blog, has since been deleted, but a cached version identified the woman as Rachel Stewart, The Daily Beast reported.
The ad gained attention when Rachel wrote in a now-deleted post that she was "impressed" with her dad's bold move.
“At least it's appropriate they placed it in the Employment Opportunities section,” she wrote. “Putting up with this father-in-law's shenanigans is a full time job, without any paid vacation.”
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Although she poked fun at the listing, others weren't amused. Once it started making the rounds on social media with a flurry of backlash, the online version was quickly removed.
The Carol Stream-based magazine's editor-in-chief, Mark Galli, told the Chicago Tribune that he agrees the ad should have never been printed.
"It's a man who is trying to market his daughter," he said. "It's demeaning in this day and age."
In an apology posted to Twitter, Christianity Today vowed it would be taking a “hard look” at its ad review process to make sure it wouldn’t happen again.
Rachel Stewart, though, still finds amusement in the ad, even going so far as to call it "remarkable" in another blog post, The Daily Beast uncovered.
At one point her father had even told her in person that he was planning on "investing financially" into finding her a husband, according to The Daily Beast. To which, she was "impressed, but not surprised."
“I’m just nervous if this doesn’t work out, next I’ll find my face plastered on a billboard,” she wrote. “Oh gosh, now I’m giving him ideas.”
