ST ANDREW, Jamaica — The University of the West Indies, Mona says it has withdrawn its approval for a local church to use a venue on the campus for the showing of a film with ties to controversial US pastor Steven Anderson.

In a release issued today, UWI said that the scheduled showing of the film was never an event of the university but that of the local church, which it did not name.

“Approval was granted to a local church to use a venue on campus to screen a documentary and for an audio presentation,” explained UWI, adding that the request did not include any reference to Anderson.

UWI also noted that while it fully supports freedom of thought and speech, it will not associate itself with any event which could be interpreted as inciting any form of violence.  

“Having considered the issues, approval for hosting the event on the campus was withdrawn,” UWI said.

Anderson who is an anti-gay preacher, was yesterday prevented from boarding a flight to Jamaica by airline officials in Atlanta who claimed the directive to deny him entry came from the Jamaican Government.

It was further reported that the Jamaican Government had given the directive because the “pastor’s statements are not conducive to the current climate”.