March 27 -- A new television ad by the United Church of Christ that stresses the church's diversity has already been rejected by major networks as "too controversial," the second time a UCC ad has been banned from the airwaves.
The 30-second "Ejector" ad features several people -- a black woman, a gay couple, a Middle Eastern man, an elderly man in a walker -- who are ejected from their church pews.
"God doesn't reject people," the ad says. "Neither do we."
The new ad, which cost about $1.5 million to make, will debut on April 3, but not on ABC, NBC, CBS or Fox. The three networks rejected the commercial as an inappropriate "advocacy" ad because of its references to homosexuality, race and ethnicity.
Last year, the networks rejected a similar ad featuring bouncers behind a velvet rope keeping various people out of a church.
"The message of the commercial is simple," the Rev. John Thomas, the UCC's general minister and president, said Monday (March 27). "No matter who you are, or where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here at the United Church of Christ."
Thomas said he found it "odd and bewildering" that the ads would be rejected. The UCC has launched a new Web site, www.accessibleairwaves.org, to prod the networks towards including mainstream religious voices.
The ad will be shown for at least three weeks, with hopes to extend its run through Mother's Day (May 14). It has been accepted on a dozen cable networks, including CNN, the Discovery Channel and A&E.
Ron Buford, who directs the UCC's "God is Still Speaking" campaign, said the 1.3 million-member church was not trying to take a swipe at other churches by billing itself as more welcoming and diverse.
"It does not mean to suggest that other churches reject people and that we have not; we have," Buford said. "We too can forget our core business, and these ads speak to us as well."
