Accessible Airwaves

Once again, the United Church of Christ's inclusion-themed, 30-second TV commercial has been rejected by the broadcast networks and now cable network, Viacom.

The United Church of Christ's all-inclusive message has been deemed "too controversial."

It’s time for equal access.

1. Let Your Voice Be Heard - Send a Message to Viacom Viacom accepts ads laced with sexual innuendo, greed, violence, and the politics of personal destruction, while our message of openness and welcome is not allowed. Tell Viacom to make the airwaves accessible. 2. Tell Your Friends Broadcasters who use the public airwaves have a responsibility to operate in the public interest. Spread the word about our campaign!

Have You Been Turned Away?

The United Church of Christ’s ad has received abundant support from faith-based organizations and individuals from all walks of life. However, some groups, specifically the Association for Church Renewal and the Institute on Religion and Democracy--widely identified with the religious right--are calling our ad, "dishonest and insulting to other Christian churches."

The ad is clearly allegorical. In the same way Jesus used startling symbols in his parables—it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to get into heaven—it contains arresting imagery, taken from the point of view of those who have felt excluded. In focus groups held in preparation for the production of this ad, non-church goers cited again and again that the reason they didn’t attend church was because they had been wounded or rejected in the past. We are simply trying to reach out to this group in a language they can understand and invite them to give the church another chance.

Were our focus groups on target? Have you been hurt by a church? Your stories will help illustrate the need for inclusion and highlight the importance of our message. The attacks on the UCC’s campaign deny the truth that many people face. Please post your stories as comments as a way of serving witness to the truth. We’re interested in your experience as a way of personalizing the realities our ad reflects.

Please post comments here on this blog that reflect how your experience made you feel towards church in general and whether or not it impacted your participation in church. Please refrain from posting specific information about individuals, specific churches or religious groups – our mission is to encourage inclusion.

As we continue to let more and more people know about our extravagant welcome, your responses can help our congregations better serve as welcoming places where healing can take place and more accurately address the pain you are feeling.

Thank you,

The Rev. Bob Chase
Director of Communication
United Church of Christ

Posted by The Rev. Bob Chase
12/16/2004 10:01:11 AM
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About OC Inc.

The Office of Communication of the United Church of Christ, Inc. is the media advocacy arm of the United Church of Christ, a mainline Protestant denomination of over 1.3 million members. The United Church of Christ was the first voice to demand that broadcasters who use the public airwaves have a responsibility to operate in the public interest. In the 1960s, the United Church of Christ earned its place in U.S. broadcasting history by successfully challenging the license of WLBT-TV in Jackson, Miss, for refusing to broadcast news and information about African Americans.