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!

Tell NBC to open its Sunday talk show to mainline churches

For the past several years, Easter Sunday has been an occasion for NBC's "Meet the Press" to discuss religion in America.

And for the past two years, and perhaps more, the show's "Faith in America" installment has totally shut out any representation from the nation's mainline churches.

The issue transcends liberal and conservative, Left and Right. It's about the continued absence of representation afforded to mainline, mainstream churches.

This year, two Roman Catholics and a Pentecostal represented the Christian perspective, in addition to comments from one Muslim and one Jew. Last year, it was a Southern Baptist, a Roman Catholic and a Pentecostal who articulated just what Christians believe.

Not a United Methodist to be found. No United Church of Christ leader. No Presbyterian moderator. No ELCA Bishop. No representation from the Greek Orthodox. In fact, not a single voice representing the 35 communions of the mainline National Council of Churches was invited to appear on the program.

That's an oversight of 45 million Protestant, Orthodox and African American churches gathered in more than 100,000 churches -- and for at least two years running.

This year's show included evangelical Richard J. Neuhaus, a Roman Catholic priest and board member of the anti-mainline Institute for Religion and Democracy, who is known for his strong attacks against mainline Protestant denominations.

Despite the fact that mainline churches are at the heart of the American landscape, they continue to be silenced, or perhaps just ignored, when it comes to media conversations about religion in America.

At the beginning of the show, host Tim Russert asked the panelists, "Were people more religious at the founding of our country and were we more divided on moral issues back then than we are now?"

Ironically, there was no one present to represent those historic, mainline Protestant traditions that have been so prominently at the center of American life since its earliest days.

Tell NBC to open its Sunday talk show to mainline churches. Take Action now.

Posted by The Rev. Bob Chase
4/19/2006 03:30:00 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.