A Mexican Christian church and local mayor have paid for a billboard campaign calling for biblical based laws as the country slowly moves state by state to legalize same-sex marriage and reappraise the approach it has taken in its drug war that has killed thousands.

‘No to the legalization of initiatives that are contrary to the commandments of God – abortion, gay marriage, legalization of marijuana etc,’ the billboard reads.

‘The wages of sin are death,’ quoting Romans 6:23.

The billboard appeared in Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital of Chiapas state in South East Mexico and images of it began to spread of social media earlier this month.

One of the logos on the billboard is of Chilo mayor Leonardo Rafael Aguilar Guiraro’s Chiapas Green Foundation and the billboard also bears the website address of the Espiranza Segura Jesus Christ church headed by Pastor Joshua Perez.

Discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation is banned in Mexico and there have been calls for the billboard to be removed.

The legislation covers ‘offending, ridiculing or promoting violence through messages and images displayed in communications media,’ and ‘incitement to hatred, violence, rejection, ridicule, defamation, slander, persecution or exclusion.’