Less wing-nutty, tastes great

I came across this advertisement (top right corner) for a Christian church, The United Church of Christ, that I think might be fun to attend (seriously - not being sarcastic there). I had seen this ad before on cable, but at the time of it's release, there was a bit of controversy.

Both CBS and NBC refused to air the advertisement, even though the church was paying the same rate anyone else would pay to advertise. The networks rational was that the message of inclusiveness of this church implies that other church's are not inclusive. They interpreted the ad as a indictment against other church's - which I think it is, but the indictment is absolutely true. I'm still flabbergasted that the networks refused to run the ad.

Ask yourself this; would my church run an ad like this? If not, you're probably in the wrong church.

Remember James Dobson and the "Focus on the family" organization's attack on Sponge Bob as a homosexual subversive? The UCC decided they would welcome Sponge Bob into their church. Their pastor posted this on their blog (blog's are hot apparently) in February.

Why We Care about SpongeBob - Why You Should Care About the UCC Ads
Posted by Rev. Robert Chase, 2/16/2005 01:23:00 PM

Over the past few weeks, hundreds of Bloggers have linked to the UCC story about our unequivocal welcome to SpongeBob. Thank you for your support and your positive comments about our effort to shine light on our message that "Jesus didn't turn people away. Neither do we.”

James C. Dobson’s, founder of Focus on the Family, has attacked SpongeBob and other cartoon characters for their tolerance towards families headed by same sex partners has brought national attention to an issue that thousands of Americans experience in a very personal way – they don’t feel welcome – in their places of worship and in their communities. Clearly, our welcome of SpongeBob is symbolic; Our concern about the message of extravagant welcome is very real.

While we have appreciated all the positive posts on the Internet about our efforts, the comments from Paul Waldman at Gadflyer.com really stand out -

“The United Church of Christ is fast emerging as the coolest denomination around - not only are they delivering a message of love and welcoming, but they actually have a sense of humor, something that, with all due respect, is not usually in evidence among those of strong faith.”

We resorted to embracing SpongeBob, after our more direct approach of delivering our message was rejected by CBS and NBC. Our goal continues to be to run our ad on the networks to get our message out to the American public. We have resubmitted the ad to the networks with hopes of running them in March.

The attack on SpongeBob and the refusal of the networks to run our ad is the same issue - do we live in an inclusive society where diversity is embraced or have we as a society turn people away? The SpongeBob debate is a great way to draw attention to the issue, but real battles are happening within agencies like the FCC that regulate the airwaves. We need to make sure that the voices of you who agree are also allowed to be heard.

So please, keep on Blogging about SpongeBob, but also join us in writing to the FCC to make sure that the public airwaves are accessible not just to those who advocate intolerance, but to those who advocate inclusiveness.

Blessings,

Bob
The Rev. Robert Chase
Director of Communication
United Church of Christ