| A Campaign by the Office of Communication of the United Church of Christ Inc.
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Accessible AirwavesOnce 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!Message of Support from the Oregon-Idaho Reconciling United Methodists
Posted by The Rev. Bob Chase, 2/23/2005 09:59:00 AMWe received the following message of support from Deborah Maria of the Oregon-Idaho Reconciling United Methodists. While we have received hundreds of emails and other letters of support for our campaign we thought that visitors of this site would appreciate this message.
Blessings,
Bob
The Rev. Robert Chase
Director of Communication
United Church of Christ
----
"The Oregon-Idaho Reconciling United Methodists want to salute the United Church of Christ for your awesome and public stand to declare over the television waves your proactive position to welcome all God's children to your church! You have truly made God's love more visible in a world that seems to be losing sight of Jesus' message.
In the wake of the recent United Methodist trial which removed the Rev. Beth Stroud, a self-avowed lesbian, from ordination, this issue takes on a stronger sense of urgency and need for change, as we feel pain over our own church's policy and action.
We seek to aid our own denomination as it lives into the United Methodist Igniting Ministries campaign for 'open hearts, open minds, and open doors.' Your positive stand is a light on the hill for us.
Thank you for your advertisement -- a pronouncement of glad tidings and great joy to our hearts and minds! It helps energize loving, caring individuals and groups who seek to be heard and long to shareour faith with all.
May we all continue to seek God's guidance as we work for God's transformation within and without our marginalized walls."
Permanent Link [ ]February 16, 2005
Why We Care about SpongeBob - Why You Should Care About the UCC Ads
Posted by The Rev. Bob Chase, 2/16/2005 01:23:00 PMOver 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
Permanent Link [ ]February 15, 2005
It's clear that homophobia is reason for ad's rejection
Posted by William Sloane Coffin, 2/15/2005 09:45:00 AM[Editors note: We are pleased to have The Rev. William Sloane Coffin as our first in a series of guest Bloggers. Rev. Coffin, a UCC minister, has been called “the most important, liberal, white preacher of his generation.” A widely-regarded prophetic voice, author and justice advocate, he is a former senior minister of The Riverside Church (UCC/American Baptist) in New York City and a former chaplain at Yale University]
At my age, I harbor far fewer illusions than I did in younger years. Still, I was shocked by the refusal of NBC and CBS to air a TV ad by the United Church of Christ. The UCC is a mainline, Protestant denomination of 1.3 million members who gather in some 6,000 congregations across the country.
There was nothing unseemly or hateful about the ad; quite the contrary. In effect, it said that there are no outsiders to a God who created all humankind, and as Christ himself was the soul of hospitality, a faithful church strives to be inclusive. Pictured among a variety of people who have been hurt by exclusion were two men walking hand in hand.
Inevitably, in a homophobic society, many people feel uncomfortable with displays of same-sex affection. But their comfort is not the issue. At issue is the discomfort of gays and lesbians who for years have been isolated, silenced, abused, and killed. The image of Matthew Shepard hanging on a Wyoming fence still burns in many American minds and hearts.
So NBC and CBS were guilty not only of censorship but also of insensitivity to considerable suffering. No doubt, the networks feared a right-wing backlash. It is true that such leaders of the Religious Right as Jerry Fallwell, Pat Robertson, and Gary Bauer repudiate violent forms of homophobia. But to deplore the violence, while continuing to proclaim the ideas that undergird it, strikes thoughtful people as hypocritical. Seeds of disrespect all too often blossom into hatred and violence.
The UCC properly implied that millions of American Christians are at odds with the Christian Right. They know that the Biblical book of Leviticus forbids homosexual relations. They are also aware that the same book condemns barbequed ribs and Monday Night Football for it is “toevah” – an abomination – not only to eat pork but merely to touch the skin of a dead pig.
In reality, there are no biblical literalists, only selective literalists. By abolishing slavery and ordaining women, millions of Protestants have gone far beyond biblical literalism. It’s time we did the same for homophobia.
Homosexuality was not a big issue for Biblical writers. All told, there are only seven verses in 66 books that refer to it. Nowhere in the four gospels is it ever mentioned. Not everything Biblical is Christ-like, and verses involving more hate than love have no place whatsoever in the human heart. For Christians, the problem is not how to reconcile homosexuality with the scriptural passages that condemn it, but how to reconcile the rejection and abuse of homosexuals with the love of Christ. The UCC ad claims that it can, and must be done.
In a Washington, D.C., cemetery, on the gravestone of a Vietnam veteran, it is written, “When I was in the military, they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one.”
Is a man loving another immutably immoral? Cannot Hamlet once again persuade a reluctant Horatio that “there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy?”
Permanent Link [ ]February 9, 2005
Our Turn, Your Turn - Defining the Public Interest
Posted by The Rev. Bob Chase, 2/09/2005 08:29:40 AM
As we expected, CBS and NBC have filed comments with the FCC that suggest that they are digging in their heels and are defending their actions in rejecting our all-inclusive message of extravagant welcome.
While the United Church of Christ's (UCC) original goal was airing our message that all are welcome at the UCC, the rejection of our ad has raised another equally important issue. Who defines what is in the "public interest." Television stations are allowed by the FCC to broadcast over the public airwaves when "the station has served the public interest, convenience and necessity."
The question then remains – who gets to define the public interest? Have we as a society turned that responsibility over to network executives or those with a narrow religious agenda?
Yesterday, the UCC filed a response to the Networks filings and once again called upon the FCC to reject the pending license applications for NBC and CBS owned and operated stations for failing to serve the public interest.
How do you think the FCC should allow the public interest to be defined? Please write your own response comments. While the applications pending are just two stations, how the FCC responds could determine how station licensees are handled in the future. Free speech and diverse views on television is at stake – please make sure that your voice and the voices of people you know are heard.
The Rev. Bob Chase
Director of Communication
United Church of Christ
PS - What is clear is that where the ad is shown it is having an impact. As far as we know, not a single complaint has been registered, but attendance and giving to UCC congregations is up all across the country.
Permanent Link [ ]
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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. |
