The
United Church of Christ tried to
buy air time on national television networks for an ad showing
people being prevented from entering churches, and stating that
"Jesus didn't turn people away. Neither do we." CBS and NBC refused
to sell airtime for the ad.
Since I don't own a television, I wouldn't have seen it.
Supposedly, in the ad
a gay [sic] couple, a Hispanic man, a black woman and a
man in a wheelchair are pushed back from the doors of a church by
two bouncers.
Oregon TV stations differ with two networks over church
ad
The male couple are holding hands, so I guess that's how they are
identified as homosexual.
At first, I wondered why they wanted national network time, and
didn't try for local markets, but
Church spokesman Robert Chase said it would be
prohibitively expensive to advertise on local stations in major
markets such as Boston. But Chase said in several cities around the
country local churches affiliated with the United Church of Christ
are taking it upon themselves to buy ad time on stations to air the
contoversial spot.
Church eyes ad for local TV: Two networks have refused to air
gay-friendly spot
Putting aside for the moment the odd claim that national network
airtime costs more than local affiliate airtime, what audience is
the UCC looking to target? If it's folks who aren't attending their
services, the answer is homosexuals, the disabled and some ethnic
groups. If it's folks who are already attending, it's the old story
of the Pharisee and the publican, applicable to the UCC just as
much as to those with whom they want to be contrasted.
11 Pharisaeus stans haec apud se orabat Deus gratias
ago tibi quia non sum sicut ceteri hominum raptores iniusti
adulteri vel ut etiam hic publicanus 12 ieiuno bis in sabbato
decimas do omnium quae possideo 13 et publicanus a longe stans
nolebat nec oculos ad caelum levare sed percutiebat pectus suum
dicens Deus propitius esto mihi peccatori [the Vulgate]
11 The Pharisee standing, prayed thus with himself: O God, I give
thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust,
adulterers, as also is this publican. 12 I fast twice in a week: I
give tithes of all that I possess. 13 And the publican, standing
afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards heaven; but
struck his breast, saying: O god, be merciful to me a sinner
[Douay-Rheims Challoner version]
Note that the ad doesn't show a UCC church, but instead a church
with which the UCC wants to be contrasted. They want to be known as
what they are not, just as much as what they are (which is another
story altogether).