[Mb-civic] WOULD JESUS BAN THIS AD?

Fri Dec 3 18:52:31 PST 2004

Would Jesus Ban This Ad?

By John Nichols, The Nation
 Posted on December 3, 2004, Printed on December 3, 2004
 http://www.alternet.org/story/20652/

Watch the ad that the networks deem too "controversial."

The Rev. John Thomas, who serves as general minister and president of the
United Church of Christ (UCC), is having a hard time figuring out why the
same broadcasters that profited so handsomely from airing the vicious and
divisive attack advertisements during the recent presidential election are
now refusing to air an advertisement from his denomination that celebrates
respect for one another and inclusiveness.

"It's ironic that after a political season awash in commercials based on
fear and deception by both parties seen on all the major networks, an ad
with a message of welcome and inclusion would be deemed too controversial,"
said Thomas. "What's going on here?"

The ad in question is part of an ambitious new national campaign by the UCC
to appeal to Americans who feel alienated from religion and churches, and to
equip the denomination's 6,000 congregations across the U.S. to welcome
newcomers. In an effort to break through the commercial clutter that clogs
the arteries of broadcast and cable television, the UCC ad features an
arresting image: a pair of muscle-bound bouncers standing in front of a
church and telling some people they can attend while turning others away.

After people of color, a disabled man and a pair of men who might be gay are
turned away, the image dissolves to a text statement that: "Jesus didn't
turn people away. Neither do we."

Then, as images of diverse couples and families appear on screen, an
announcer explains that, "No matter who you are, or where you are on life's
journey, you are welcome here."

It is a graceful commercial, which delivers an important message gently yet
effectively  something that cannot be said of most television advertising
these days. But viewers of the ABC, CBS and NBC television networks won't
see it because, in this age of heightened focus on so-called "moral values,"
quoting Jesus on the issue of inclusion is deemed to be "too controversial."

What was controversial? Apparently, the networks don't like the ad's
implication that the Nazarene's welcome to all people might actually include
ALL people.

Noting that the image of one woman putting her arm around another was
included in the ad, CBS announced, "Because the commercial touches on the
exclusion of gay couples and other minority groups by other individuals and
organizations, and the fact the Executive Branch has recently proposed a
constitutional amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a
woman, this spot is unacceptable for broadcast on the (CBS and UPN)
networks."

NBC was similarly concerned that the spot was "controversial." UCC leaders,
pastors and congregation members are upset, and rightly so.

"It seems incredible to me that CBS admits it is refusing to air the
commercial because of something the executive branch, the Bush
administration, is doing," says Dave Moyer, conference minister for the
Wisconsin Conference of the UCC. "Since when is it unacceptable to offer a
different perspective?"

Moyer says that people of all religious faiths and all ideological
perspectives should be concerned that the major networks  which dominate so
much of the discourse in America  are seeking to narrow the dialogue.

The Rev. Curt Anderson, the pastor of the First United Church of Christ in
Madison, Wis., says that people of good will should also be concerned about
the message being sent to gays and lesbians in the aftermath of an election
season that saw them targeted by the political right.

"I'm thinking of the LGBT folks in my church who felt so under attack after
the election. They are getting hit again," explained the pastor. "This is
another way where the culture, the media, makes them invisible. It is
incredible that it is controversial for one woman to put her arm around
another."

It is also bizarrely hypocritical. After all, the same NBC network that
found the UCC ad "too controversial" airs programs such as "Will & Grace"
that feature gay and lesbian characters. "We find it disturbing that the
networks in question seem to have no problem exploiting gay persons through
mindless comedies and titillating dramas, but when it comes to a church's
loving welcome to committed gay couples, that's where they draw the line,"
explained the Rev. Bob Chase, director of the national UCC's communication
ministry.

Chase has a point. ABC, CBS and NBC, networks that reap enormous profits
from the public airwaves, are not serving the public interest. Rather, they
are assaulting it by narrowing the dialogue and rejecting a message of
inclusion that is sorely needed at this point in the American experiment.