New UCC Ad

[schoolboi]

Still Speaking

Watch 'Ejector' commercial. It's great and funny!

[keltic63]

That's a great ad!

so why have all the major networks rejected it? they claim it's an "advocacy ad" and too controversial.

Advertise violent video games, sexy beer commercials, titillating previews of their own shows, but an ad saying everyone is welcome at a UCC church and suddenly it's controversial?

[Venari]

That commercial is great.

I have many people upset over my, going to be, attendance of a UCC Seminary. Of course there are a lot of people who are also ticked I volunteer as a clinic escort for Planed Parent Hood. But that is once of the greatest about the "Emerging Church" movement with in the AG is there is room to be radical once again.

-Venari

[themattperry]

That is a sweet ad ... I especially love the people scooting away at the end.

[revtj]

LOVE IT!! Thanks!

Also, just in case any of you believed anything you've heard or read (like on that brackish UMC blog) about how the UCC is 'hemorrhaging' members, check out this article...


http://www.ucc.org/ucnews/mar06/fallout.htm

[SolInvictus]

Yes, the UCC has lost a few churches over the affirmation of Same-Sex Marriage rights, but we've (the UCC) have also gained some churches & new partnerships w/ other progressive denominations. God is Still Speaking.

:-)

[pnggrad79]

Everyone, we need to lift these straight people and churches who have taken a stand for GLBT people and their inclusion up in prayer. Many are having to count the cost for their stand and I applaud them for listening to the Spirit about this.

Gracious Father God, we come before you knowing your greatness and mercy and that you are in control of everything. We bring before You these churches who have taken a stand for us in including us where we were excluded before. We thank and praise you for their boldness and courage and we ask that you continue to give them strength in this struggle against injustice and bigotry. Thank you for opening minds and hearts and we know that unification of your church is what you want, so even now we lift up those individuals who fight to keep us out of churches and mainstream society, and we ask that you touch their hearts and open them up and let the Spirit speak truth to them. We thank you Father for this. Amen!

[schoolboi]

Logo rejects pro-gay church ad

This really makes me mad

[keltic63]

Originally Posted by schoolboi

Logo rejects pro-gay church ad

This really makes me mad

I saw that this morning. I don't get it!

perhaps this is an example of the gay subculture exerting pressure on all lgbt people to act a certain way, and christianity isn't part of that subculture.

[revtj]

Makes you wonder if the media is really a total sell-out to some hidden political & financial faction(s). I'm really not that big on conspiracy theories, but when I listen to Fox News, half the time I cannot believe the extreme partisan, disparaging & degrading things they get away with saying.

Now the 'gay' channel rejects the UCC ad!? Huh?

The gay rag here in the Southeast has leaned politically right quite a bit in a strange and self-defeating way. It was bought out about 4 years ago by some mysterious mogul. There were 2 editorials in particular that upset me. 1 said transexuals were basically holding back the gay movement from achieving civil rights. The other blamed gay people for pushing gay marriage before the election and causing the conservative take-over.

Can we talk about institutionalized internalized homophobia??????????

[peaceboy]

I was really upset about Logo rejecting the ad as well. As I said in a letter to them, if anyone needs this message of love and acceptance, it's gay and lesbian people today, with all the hate directed at them. If you want to send a letter to them, you can at www.accessibleairwaves.org. Who knows if it'll do any good, but it's worth a shot!

[Liberal Crozier]

LOGO is owned by Viacom that owns....that owns......that owns...... and I am under no illusion that their motivation was the hundreds of billions of USD$ and CAD$ that they could address their advertisement from insurance firms buying AIDS insurance policies for nickels on the dollar to soft porn videos and calendars.

In order to placate those who feel that the non-premium cable television stations have to be "beyond reproach" they have voluntarily censored their programmes for both language and content in a highly significant way. One evening, I was watching a comedienne, Margaret Cho, and there were so many bleeps, one wondered why they even bothered to air it. Other major films that I have seen uncut and uncensored are butchered by LOGO.

Please understand, the marketplace of ideas is trumped by the marketplace...and besides, fill in the bleeps is not difficult....or another eye candy gratuitous coupling is not necessary. Is it what is called " the principle of the matter....or kow-towing to the religious wrong" that makes me sad and justifiably angry?

Both UCC advertisements have been accepted by venues that I would NEVER have believed. Hallmark Hall of Fame channel....give me a break.... had no problem with it. Other venues were predictable, but the conservative stations did not cave to pressure. This LOGO censorship is a victory of perception and fact for our antagonists, to be sure !!!!

Peaceboy, I truly believe that we have the spiritual, theological and moral high ground when we espouse the belief that our sexual orientation is just another diversity in God's creation, yet all part of His image. We certainly have the mental health and scientific community. We have enlightened governments around the world granting everything from full marriage rights to civil protections of a greater or lesser degree.

The nihilists come in three groups.......those who murder us; those who imprison us and criminalise expressions of love; those who deny us all rights and equal justice under law.

I am old enough to have been taught by a Holocaust survivor. Moreover, he was a gay man. He was born in Germany, and he did not leave because he felt German above all else, and he felt that tolerance would protect him. When Roehm was killed, and the far right wing homophobes had purged the Nazi party, it was too late to leave. He died - never to see Paragraph 175 purged - or to see the progress that we enjoy today. He was Jewish and gay - and despite the fact that he wore both emblems - his physical strength and stamina initially gave him the ability to survive Auschwitz.

He did not open my closet door, unfortunately, at that time. He allowed me to open it late at night....foray, and return to it in the morning. It then proceeded to increasing the size to fit a thirty year relationship in the shadows. But, eventually and NOW, it almost is possible to tear the closet down....after all, we have two bloodied shirts to hang in them....

[Daniel]

Originally Posted by Liberal Crozier

Please understand, the marketplace of ideas is trumped by the marketplace...

Yes. I think this puts it nicely. The worship of the Almightly Dollar. It's the fear of losing that it that drives such decisions. Let us not forget that the medium falls under heading called showbusiness.

I am old enough to have been taught by a Holocaust survivor. Moreover, he was a gay man. He was born in Germany, and he did not leave because he felt German above all else, and he felt that tolerance would protect him. When Roehm was killed, and the far right wing homophobes had purged the Nazi party, it was too late to leave. He died - never to see Paragraph 175 purged - or to see the progress that we enjoy today. He was Jewish and gay - and despite the fact that he wore both emblems - his physical strength and stamina initially gave him the ability to survive Auschwitz.

Wow. This is something I'd like to hear more about. The little that you relay here is moving beyond words. Your do your teacher a great honor by carrying his experience and wisdom to these pages. There is so little representation of this experience.

This whole matter dealing with the ad shows me that its not the ad that is the problem, but the self-percption of those ynaking it. It is, as you and I agree on, about dollars and cents. But I think there is something else at play too. And that is the peculiar self-consciouness that overcomes otherwise intelligent people: people often can't seem to make up their mind about anything until they figure out just where in the pecking order they fall. (dear- what are you having on the menu? I can't decide.)

It's tribalism at is basest.

[revtj]

The nihilists come in three groups.......those who murder us; those who imprison us and criminalise expressions of love; those who deny us all rights and equal justice under law.

I am old enough to have been taught by a Holocaust survivor. Moreover, he was a gay man. He was born in Germany, and he did not leave because he felt German above all else, and he felt that tolerance would protect him. When Roehm was killed, and the far right wing homophobes had purged the Nazi party, it was too late to leave. He died - never to see Paragraph 175 purged - or to see the progress that we enjoy today. He was Jewish and gay - and despite the fact that he wore both emblems - his physical strength and stamina initially gave him the ability to survive Auschwitz.

He did not open my closet door, unfortunately, at that time. He allowed me to open it late at night....foray, and return to it in the morning. It then proceeded to increasing the size to fit a thirty year relationship in the shadows. But, eventually and NOW, it almost is possible to tear the closet down....after all, we have two bloodied shirts to hang in them....

Lib, your story gave me goose bumps and a kick in the gut. Thank you for sharing it. It includes a sense of history (and suffering) that we need to be ever-mindful of these days. It is exactly what I think Soulforce should be (and is!) calling attention to in prayer-vigiling and direct actions.

The reaction to the UCC ads (as well as much un-reported news, and Fox News' apparent license to denigrate progressives and venerate right-wingers without accountability) makes me think there is a stranglehold on the media and that there is not much out there in the media striving for objectivity.

[Jamie McDaniel]

From a UCC email:

In response to the decision of the networks, the UCC is launching a petition drive to tell these networks to air the UCC ad! Please have your signatures in by Tuesday, May 9. On the day after Mother’s Day, Monday, May 15, we will hand-deliver this petition to the executives of NBC, CBS and Viacom in New York City. To sign this petition online go to: www.ucctakeaction.org/showuccad

[Jamie McDaniel]

...on the air with a new ad.