Second UCC Ad Deemed Too Controversial

From Beliefnet:

March 27 -- A new television ad by the United Church of Christ that stresses the church's diversity has already been rejected by major networks as "too controversial," the second time a UCC ad has been banned from the airwaves.

The 30-second "Ejector" ad features several people -- a black woman, a gay couple, a Middle Eastern man, an elderly man in a walker -- who are ejected from their church pews.

"God doesn't reject people," the ad says. "Neither do we."

The four major networks have refused to air the commercial "because of its references to homosexuality, race and ethnicity," though it will run for three weeks on basic cable.

I'm down with UCC. (Yeah, you know me.) But they should have seen this one coming. A simliar ad featuring a bouncer was rejected by the major networks last year. The decision of the networks not to show the ads is pathetic. (Neither ad is as loaded with vitriol and sensationalism as the average spot run by a major political candidate.) On the other hand, the United Church of Christ is guilty of hyperbole. Frankly, the evangelical churches that the commercials implicitly attack do a much better job of attracting racial and ethnic minorities than does the United Church of Christ. As for the "elderly man in a walker," whether or not a congregation welcomes him is more a matter of building accessibility than of inclusive theology.

The UCC is more friendly to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people than any other major Christian denomination, and it has also gone to great lengths to place women in positions of leadership and authority. The UCC should create a commercial (not involving a bouncer or "ejector" seats) that focuses entirely on welcoming homosexuals and empowering women and that does so in a less aggressive manner. Then, when NBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX reject the new ad (as they inevitably will), the church might be able to elicit sympathy to its cause.