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!

Why We Care about SpongeBob - Why You Should Care About the UCC Ads

Over the past few weeks, hundreds of Bloggers have linked to the UCC story about our unequivocal welcome to SpongeBob. Thank you for your support and your positive comments about our effort to shine light on our message that "Jesus didn't turn people away. Neither do we.”

James C. Dobson’s, founder of Focus on the Family, has attacked SpongeBob and other cartoon characters for their tolerance towards families headed by same sex partners has brought national attention to an issue that thousands of Americans experience in a very personal way – they don’t feel welcome – in their places of worship and in their communities. Clearly, our welcome of SpongeBob is symbolic; Our concern about the message of extravagant welcome is very real.

While we have appreciated all the positive posts on the Internet about our efforts, the comments from Paul Waldman at Gadflyer.com really stand out -

“The United Church of Christ is fast emerging as the coolest denomination around - not only are they delivering a message of love and welcoming, but they actually have a sense of humor, something that, with all due respect, is not usually in evidence among those of strong faith.”

We resorted to embracing SpongeBob, after our more direct approach of delivering our message was rejected by CBS and NBC. Our goal continues to be to run our ad on the networks to get our message out to the American public. We have resubmitted the ad to the networks with hopes of running them in March.

The attack on SpongeBob and the refusal of the networks to run our ad is the same issue - do we live in an inclusive society where diversity is embraced or have we as a society turn people away? The SpongeBob debate is a great way to draw attention to the issue, but real battles are happening within agencies like the FCC that regulate the airwaves. We need to make sure that the voices of you who agree are also allowed to be heard.

So please, keep on Blogging about SpongeBob, but also join us in writing to the FCC to make sure that the public airwaves are accessible not just to those who advocate intolerance, but to those who advocate inclusiveness.

Blessings,

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

Posted by The Rev. Bob Chase
2/16/2005 01:23:00 PM
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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.