UCC Pushes to Air Ad; Conservatives Advise Otherwise
NBC and CBS have refused to run a commercial for the United Church of Christ on the grounds that the message "implies acceptance of gay and lesbian couples," according to the United Church of Christ.
The UCC filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission to deny license renewalsto WFOR-TV (CBS) and WJVY-TV (NBC) and their parent companies, Viacom Inc. and General Electric, respectively.
Meanwhile, a CBS spokesperson said the UCC never approached WFOR-TV about running the ad.
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The grounds for their license removal is that the media companies are not operating in the public's best interest and therefore their licenses should be taken away, said UCC.
Licenses are up for renewal every eight years. UCC is charging the two companies for not being proper stewards of airwaves, which is a public good by denying their ad which promotes homosexuality, something the Bible has adamantly stated is a sin.
The UCC states that "like Jesus" the UCC welcomes all people, regardless of everything, including sexual orientation. The ad was accepted on networks such as ABC Family, AMC, BET, CNN, Discovery, Fox, Hallmark, History, Nick@Nite, TBS, TNT, Travel and TV Land, according to UMNS.
The Rev. John H. Thomas, United Church of Christ's general minister and president, even said that the people's rights have been "harmed by the refusal of NBC and CBS to carry the ad.
While the UCC and its supporters - mainly from old-line Protestantism, have been adamantly pushing to air the ad, more conservative Christians have urged the UCC to ¡°voluntarily pull this ad.¡±
Diane Knippers, the President of the Institute on Religion and Democracy and Vice-Chair of the Association for Church Renewal (ACR) pointed out that while conservative leaders support the rights of the UCC to run ads, the ad in question is ¡°dishonest and insulting to other Christian churches.¡±
¡°We defend the right of the UCC to communicate its message in mainstream media. But we believe that this ad is dishonest and insulting to other Christian churches. It violates the UCC¡¯s stated commitment to respectful ecumenical dialogue. The UCC should voluntarily pull this ad,¡± she said. ¡°It should be up to the churches to ensure the integrity and civility of their public statements. It is here that the UCC fails. Its current ad tries to boost the UCC by maligning all the other churches. 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.¡±
James Heidinger, President of Good News United Methodist agreed, saying, ¡°We support the right of religious groups to make public statements, no matter how controversial. We also acknowledge the right of private broadcasters to determine what they will air. In general, we hope that the media would err on the side of openness. They need to put aside restrictions that uniquely obstruct religious speech. We think that there should be room for the UCC to express forthrightly its views on sexuality, as there should also be room for Roman Catholic and Southern Baptist teachings.¡±
