Would Jesus Ban This Ad?
Date: Friday, December 03, 2004 11:06 AM
I found this article on the AlterNet.com news service.
It's a good example of how people or organizations, whether
religious of secular, are open to welcoming others - but
only so long as those others are comfortable to be with.
Announcements for most DUP events and many Sufi events
include the statement "Everyone welcome." It's always
good for us - both as organizations and as individuals -
in our Sufi and DUP activities, to be aware of our
limitations that become apparent whenever we might find
resistance to expanding our hearts to include all.
How big is "Everyone"?
Everything is in God, yet the human heart can contain God.
With Love,
Carl
- - - - - - -
Would Jesus Ban This Ad?
By John Nichols, The Nation. Posted December 3, 2004.
The United Church of Christ wants to spread a message of
respect and inclusion for all. But the mainstream media won't
let them. Watch the ad that that the networks found too
"controversial" to air.
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 im****tant
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.
John Nichols is The Nation's Wa****ngton correspondent.
[Follow the link below to view the page with this article
which includes a link where you can view the ad yourself.]
http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/20652/
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