UCC Ad Controversy Gives Way to Free Publicity
Two national broadcasting networks may have rejected the controversial United Church of Christ ad last week, but with the publicity received through dozens of media outlets, the denomination’s leaders are far from distressed
Two national broadcasting networks may have rejected the controversial United Church of Christ ad last week, but with the publicity received through dozens of media outlets, the denomination’s leaders are far from distressed.
“We’re enjoying it, because we’ve never seen anything like it. Our churches are so excited, so proud,” said Marie Tyson, the distribution manager at the UCC warehouse in Berea, Ohio.
The 30 second ad, which was rejected from both CBS and NBC, was a part of the UCC’s “still speaking” campaign that emphasizes the ultra liberal denomination’s all-inclusive theology. The ad depicts a allegorical scene where two bouncers prevent all but a well-dressed white family from entering a picturesque church. People rejected from the church include a gay couple, two black children and a Hispanic girl. Near the end of the ad, there is a scene where people of different races gather before a church to take pictures together; also included in the happy crowd is a lesbian couple, implying God sanctions homosexual relationships within the church.
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Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, pointed out during a Dec. 3 appearance on Good Morning America, that the ad is a “piece a masterful propaganda but it is a diabolical misrepresentation of Christianity.”
“... Jesus Christ did indeed come to seek and to save the lost but as He said to the woman caught in adultery, ‘Go and sin no more,’” Mohler said. Jesus “did not invite persons to stay in sinful lifestyles. Rather, He came to save us from our sins and to make us what we otherwise could not be -- and that is victorious over all the sins that entrap us. Homosexuality is one of those.”
However, the UCC, along with a number of moderate and liberal denominations, decried the networks’ rejection of the ad, saying CBS and NBC’s refusal to air the ad was the real controversy.
A number of media outlets covered the networks’ rejection, providing unanticipated exposure and publicity for the 1.3 million member denomination – for free.
Other networks, including ABC’s family channel, agreed to air the advertisement. Since the spot began running – and since the controversy found its ways into the daily papers – the UCC’s website was flooded with 54,500 inquiries on the location of the denomination’s 6,000 affiliated churches.
"We have never, ever experienced anything like this before," said the Rev. Robert Chase, director of the UCC's communication ministry.
The Rev. Greg Smith, senior pastor of Bethlehem UCC in Ann Arbor, Mich., said that his congregation welcomed several first time visitors to its Sunday service, including three persons who said their attendance was due explicitly to the advertisements, according to the UCC news.
"One person doesn't even own a TV set, but heard about the ads on the radio!" Smith said.
In addition, the UCC reported that the materials for its “still-speaking” campaign, such as posters, shirts, mugs and decals, have been “flying off the shelves.”
All the while, conservatives voiced concerns about the content of the campaign – beyond its implication that homosexual relationships are sanctioned by God.
The ad “tries to boost the UCC by maligning all the other churches,” said Diane Knippers, vice chair of the Association for Church Renewal. “It insinuates that the typical American church turns away ethnic minorities, the disabled and homosexuals, whereas the UCC is uniquely welcoming of all persons. The facts do not bear out this false picture.”
While all church groups are open to homosexual congregants, most believe the homosexual lifestyle is incompatible to the scripture. The UCC is one of only a handful of churches that celebrate homosexual “unions” and ordain actively gay priests.
