SFGate: CBS, NBC refuse to run church ad welcoming all/Appealing to gays violates 'hot button' policy, networks say

Fri Dec 3 00:28:22 CET 2004

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Ja, Mark,

Godsdienstwaanzin is in de bible belt states - zo heten ze toch? - net zo
machtig en opdringerig en gevaarlijk als in een polderstaat.

Die Coalition Christians in de VS bijvoorbeeld, waarmee we als Hollandse
politici in '95 uitwisselden, zijn net zo geobsedeerd door sex en sex en het
leven voor de geboorte en na de dood, als mensen zoals bijvoorbeeld Donner
die seksueel in hun bewoordingen vervangen door filie als aanduiding voor
ziekten.

Ook pleegden dergelijke groepen ooit aanslagen, bijvoorbeeld op
abortusklinieken. Hoe is daartegen opgetreden en bestaat dergelijk
godsdienstige terreur en geweld in de VS nu nog? Of gaat Bush nu inderdaad
gewoon alles wat zijn verzonnen God verboden heeft bij de VS-bewooners
uitbannen?

De VS is zo bezien net zo hopeloos verdeeld als Nederland, alleen heet hier
rechts wat in de VS links heet en andersom. De liberalen in de VS zijn voor
vrijheid en hier heten die mensen rechts, in de VS hangen knevelaars Bush
aan en hier noemen zij zich links en progressief.

De mensen die de VS ontvluchten naar Canada waren dacht ik ook eerder
liberale democraten, hier heten mensen die al of graag willen emigreren
rechtse xenofoben. Maar grofweg speelt als je etniciteit niet verward met
godsdienstwaanzin toch in hoofdlijnen hetzelfde: scheiding van kerk en staat
of niet, en vrijheid in een pluriforme samenleving of uniformering naar
godsdienstfanatisme.

Fritz

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Giebels" <mark at giebels.org>
To: <D66 at nic.surfnet.nl>
Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2004 11:56 PM
Subject: Fw: SFGate: CBS, NBC refuse to run church ad welcoming
all/Appealing to gays violates 'hot button' policy, networks say

> REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl
>
>
> Kritiek op de Nederlandse TV? Lees het onderstaande artikel maar eens.
> Een 'ad' weigeren, omdat een kerk zich expliciet tegen racisme
> uitspreekt....how low can you go...
>
> Mark Giebels
>
>
> <-----Original Message----->
>
> From: mark
> Sent: 12/2/2004 3:13:00 PM
> To: mark at giebels.org
> Subject: SFGate: CBS, NBC refuse to run church ad welcoming
> all/Appealing to gays violates 'hot button' policy, networks say
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate.
> The original article can be found on SFGate.com here:
> http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/12/02/MNG80A523
> F1.DTL
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> Thursday, December 2, 2004 (SF Chronicle)
> CBS, NBC refuse to run church ad welcoming all/Appealing to gays
> violates 'hot button' policy, networks say
> Steven Winn, Chronicle Arts and Culture Critic
>
>
> A new national television commercial promoting the United Church of
> Christ
> says that "Jesus didn't turn people away," but two major networks have
> turned away the ad itself, saying it violates their policy of airing
> commercials on hot button topics -- such as tolerance toward gays and
> lesbians.
> CBS and NBC rejected the 30-second ad, which depicts a pair of stern
> bouncers barring people of various ethnic types as well as a female --
> perhaps lesbian -- couple from entering a fictitious church.
> "No matter who you are or where you are on life's journey," a voice-over
> says, "you are welcome here." The "here" in the spot is the United
> Church
> of Christ, and the welcome is "regardless of ability, age, race,
> economic
> circumstance or sexual orientation," according to a church statement.
> The networks' rejection of the ad has spawned fresh controversy about
> religion and the media in the politically charged marketplace of moral
> values and ideas.
> The ad, which will run on the Fox Network and various cable channels
> through Dec. 26, arrives at a time of heightened sensitivity to
> religion's
> societal role in everything from gay marriage to abortion.
> Church officials insist they weren't trying to be political in this
> case,
> and the networks say the same.
> "The ad is saying that people feel alienated from the church in general.
> It's about the United Church of Christ welcoming all people," said Barb
> Powell, head of public information for the Cleveland-based Protestant
> denomination. "We were surprised by the networks' response."
> CBS and NBC cite straightforward corporate policies on accepting ads
> about
> controversial topics. ABC, said spokeswoman Julie Hoover, accepts no
> religious advertising on its broadcast network. However, the
> Disney-owned
> company's ABC Family cable channel will air the spot. The networks all
> contend that controversial topics should be handled by their news
> departments and not be hijacked by special-interest advertisers.
> But the CBS and NBC decisions not to run the ad struck chords still
> ringing from last month's presidential election. That's especially true
> with a liberally inclined church whose clergy went on the record
> opposing
> the Iraq war.
> "It's ironic that after a political season awash in commercials based on
> fear and deception by both parties seen on all the major networks, an ad
> with a message of welcome and inclusion would be deemed too
> controversial," said the Rev. John Thomas, general minister and
> president
> of the United Church of Christ, in a statement. "What's going on here?"
> The Rev. Kyle Lovett, pastor of St. John's United Church of Christ in
> San
> Francisco, proposed an answer. On the eve of President Bush's second
> term,
> she said, the networks "can't afford to go against the administration's
> version of Christianity and what counts as moral values and what doesn't
> count as moral values."
> That version, she added, "sees 'moral values' as a code word for a very
> narrow set of concerns -- gay marriage, abortion and stem cell research.
> But the term is much broader than that. It includes education,
> environmentalism, urban decline, the quality of our working life. The
> problem is that some other Christians are more organized than we are,
> and
> they're the ones out there defining the issue."
> "It really is like censorship," said Wilfred Glabach, pastor of First
> Congregational Church of San Francisco, a United Church of Christ
> member.
> "Gay and lesbian characters are all over TV shows, and people make fun
> of
> them all the time. But when something comes along that tries to treat
> their lives and their concerns in the church seriously, this is what
> happens."
> CBS and NBC say their policies on certain kinds of advertising are
> decades
> old. "We have a long-standing policy of not accepting advocacy ads or
> issue-oriented ads," said a CBS spokesperson. NBC declines ads "dealing
> with issues of public controversy," according to spokeswoman Shannon
> Jacobs. In this case, she said, the problem "stems from the ad's
> implication that other religions are not open to all people."
> A United Church of Christpress release quotes a CBS "explanation" that
> goes somewhat further: "Because this commercial touches on the exclusion
> of gay couples and other minority groups by other individuals and
> organizations," it reads, "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." According to a source, the language comes from
> a
> memo directed by the CBS standards and practices division to the
> church's
> advertising agency.
> The rejected commercial is one of two filmed by the United Church of
> Christ in a $30 million campaign aimed to coincide with the
> denomination's
> 50th anniversary in 2007. Another ad, which depicts a young girl opening
> her steepled hands in a welcoming gesture, was accepted by both CBS and
> NBC. The United Church of Christ's Powell said it may run on those
> networks and others around Christmas and again next year during Lent.
> The disputed ad was test-marketed earlier this year in Cleveland,
> Oklahoma
> City, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla., Harrisburg, Pa., and several other
> markets. The church, which has 6,000 congregations and 1.3 million
> members, is spending $1.7 million to air the spot this month.
> In a Webcast on the United Church of Christ Web site
> (www.stillspeaking.com), church spokesman Ron Buford offers this
> blessing
> on the commercial: "If Jesus was alive today," he says, "the Sermon on
> the
> Mount would be on TV."
>
> E-mail Steven Winn at swinn at sfchronicle.com.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Copyright 2004 SF Chronicle
>
> .
>
>
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