c. 2004 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Groups known for their advocacy of gay rights are urging their supporters to complain to television networks that rejected an ad from the United Church of Christ.

The denomination debuted its “Still Speaking” ads on Wednesday (Dec. 1) and announced that officials at CBS and NBC deemed a 30-second spot too “controversial.” It featured beefy bouncers outside a church denying entry to various people, including a gay couple. The ad highlighting the church’s acceptance of gay couples and minorities includes on-screen text that says, “Jesus didn’t turn people away. Neither do we.”

“It is beyond troubling,” said Ralph Neas, president of the People for the American Way Foundation, in a statement. “It is downright dangerous that the American ideal of inclusion is too `controversial’ for a network news broadcast because it conflicts with the political agenda of the White House.”

CBS, in a statement provided by the UCC, had told the denomination: “Because this commercial touches on the exclusion of gay couples … and the fact that 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 called the ad “too controversial” in a rejection notice.

People for the American Way, a Washington-based liberal organization, is urging opponents of the networks’ action to sign a petition in protest.

Equal Partners in Faith, a liberal-leaning network of religious leaders, expressed dismay at the decision not to air the ad.

“This is censorship of the worst kind and is an ominous portent of what happens when media power and decision-making resides in the hands of a few,” said Sylvia Rhue, director of the Washington-based organization, in a statement that included phone numbers for contacting the two networks. “We support those stations that have agreed to air the ad and strongly condemn the faulty decision-making by CBS and NBC.”

The ad is the latest attempt by a mainline Protestant denomination to use television to build membership and increase visibility.

The UCC said the ad was accepted by several cable TV networks. The ad was not offered to ABC because it has a policy of not accepting any religious advertising.

The national director of the Human Rights Campaign, a Washington-based gay rights organization, asked those who disagree with the networks to contact them and state their opposition.

“It’s a shameful censorship of diversity and understanding,” said Seth Kilbourn, in a statement. “That the divisive and unsuccessful attempt to put discrimination in the Constitution is being used to deny the church its freedom of religion is un-American. Millions of religious people across the country want their churches, synagogues and mosques to be diverse and welcoming.”

But not every religious organization supports the ad. The president of a Southern Baptist seminary questioned the ad when interviewed by ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Thursday, his school said.

“It is a piece of masterful propaganda but it is a diabolical misrepresentation of Christianity,” said R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

“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.’ He did not invite persons to stay in sinful lifestyles.”

MO/RB RNS END