# CBS..NBC..Church of Christ commercial **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 1, 2004, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-nbc-church-of-christ-commercial/277432 "2004-12-01T02:09:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-nbc-church-of-christ-commercial/277432/21 "2004-12-01T03:32:39Z")
The Church of Christ welcomes gays?!?! This is not your father’s Church of Christ. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-nbc-church-of-christ-commercial/277432/22 "2004-12-01T03:42:35Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > The Church of Christ welcomes gays?!?! > This is not your father’s Church of Christ. You say that like it’s a bad thing. ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-nbc-church-of-christ-commercial/277432/23 "2004-12-01T04:16:25Z")
I agree that nobody’s freedoms are being violated, but WHAT THE FUCK?! NBC and CBS constantly air ads from all sorts of right wing groups and churches and agendas. The ad in question here is not in your face about anything: it says, we accept all comers in our church, just like Jesus would have (which, frankly is far more consistent with Jesus’ gospel ministry than anything you see out of anti-gay churches). The fact that some of the people who are “turned away” are gay is fairly subtle: nothing about it is in your face. But the scariest and most confusing thing of all is this paragraph: “Because this commercial touches on the exclusion of gay couples and other minority groups by other individuals and organizations,” reads an explanation from CBS, “and the fact 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.” This SHOULD read “since we can make up some similar bullshit for almost any other issue or product or church, all spots are unacceptable for broadcast.” Congrats especially to the Fox network, among other cable networks, for airing the ad. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-nbc-church-of-christ-commercial/277432/24 "2004-12-01T04:51:28Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > The Church of Christ welcomes gays?!?! > This is not your father’s Church of Christ. Church of Christ != United Church of Christ. The thread title is misleading (in fact, just about gave me a heart attack!) ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-nbc-church-of-christ-commercial/277432/25 "2004-12-01T04:57:45Z")
This is fucking unbelievable. The people at those networks who decided not to run the ad are either craven fucking assholes, or they are just as fucking bigoted as the knuckle-draggers who would protest against the Church of Christ’s message of inclusion. Maybe they are both. Of course, this is the same CBS that refused to air a MoveOn ad, so we shouldn’t be surprised. What really drives me crazy is not their conservative political stance, but the fact that they try to camouflage it with purported concern about “controversy.” These cunts are happy to take money for just about any piece of slimeball shit campaign advertisement during the election season, and they are also happy to constantly run ads for shady lawyers, cock-enhancing pills, hard liquor, prescription drugs, and “public service” announcements that equate smoking a doobie with funding Osama. If none of this shit is too controversial for them, then why the fuck won’t they an ad whose message is, literally: > [@](#): > > Jesus didn’t turn people away. Neither do we. > > The United Church of Christ > > No matter who you are, or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here. If you want to see the ad, go [here](http://stillspeaking.com/default.htm). Just another example to put in the bank for when the conservative mouthbreathers start frothing about the librul media. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-nbc-church-of-christ-commercial/277432/26 "2004-12-01T05:26:11Z")
WTF? That might have been the single least offensive piece of footage I’ve ever seen. Hell, a deer gets shot in _Bambi_… What qualifications, exactly, are needed to head up a network’s Standards & Practices division? ---
**Author:** ![Ninja\_Pizza\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f04885/32.png) [@Ninja\_Pizza\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ninja_Pizza_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-nbc-church-of-christ-commercial/277432/27 "2004-12-01T06:28:10Z")
Just poking my head in to say “Church of Christ, Commercial” sounds like a church with an honest name. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-nbc-church-of-christ-commercial/277432/28 "2004-12-01T06:48:16Z")
> [@Apos](#): > > I agree that nobody’s freedoms are being violated, but WHAT THE FUCK?! NBC and CBS constantly air ads from all sorts of right wing groups and churches and agendas. The ad in question here is not in your face about anything: it says, we accept all comers in our church… OK we get it – they accept all sexual orientations, no need to get vulgar about it. 😉 * * * Ah, turn the clock back forty years and substitute ‘sexual orientation’ for ‘race.’ Imagine if you would… _“We won’t accept a commercial for a Church that accepts people of all races because that looks negatively on those churches that exclude Negroes; and that would be too contraversial. Besides, the proposed civil rights bill has not yet become law…”_ Fucking cowards. ---
**Author:** ![buttonjockey308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-nbc-church-of-christ-commercial/277432/29 "2004-12-01T06:50:13Z")
Yeah, sucks it does, but it’s good to know there are some xtians out there getting it right. Pit while you’re here, but vote with your remote. ---
**Author:** ![Strainger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strainger/32/244_2.png) [@Strainger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strainger)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-nbc-church-of-christ-commercial/277432/30 "2004-12-01T08:27:34Z")
Sad. I’ve watched the ad, and it’s quite compassionate and welcoming. It doesn’t even state explictly that the UCC welcomes homosexuals (and even if it did, so what?), just that they welcome everyone. By the way, in case y’all missed it the first time, it’s the **United** Church of Christ, which is a completely different animal from the Church of Christ. If I ever go back to church, it will be to a UCC (aka Congregational) church (I decided that long before the ad ever came out). ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-nbc-church-of-christ-commercial/277432/31 "2004-12-01T08:43:33Z")
> [@Apos](#): > > Congrats especially to the _Fox network, among other cable networks_, for airing the ad. Shh, don’t tell\*\* Reeder\*\* about that. He’ll have to admit since it was on Fox they’re a rightwing group worthy of scorn. As for the ad, I can’t see any reason this would be offensive to anyone. The only people I can think of that would be offended wouldn’t know how to use a remote to turn the tv on anyway. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-nbc-church-of-christ-commercial/277432/32 "2004-12-01T12:38:56Z")
> [@](#): > > Who gives a shit if they have the legal right? What’s that got to do with anything. Can nothing legal be pitted? Of course, one can pit whatever one wishes. However, the explicit point of the OP was that > [@](#): > > our freedoms have been hijacked. which is simply false (on this occasion). The twits at CBS and NBC advertising should be lambasted with all the vitriol at one’s disposal, but making dumb claims about losses of freedom distorts what has occurred and dilutes the rationale for the rant (just as has happened to this thread). ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-nbc-church-of-christ-commercial/277432/33 "2004-12-01T12:51:18Z")
Wow . . . this is so incredibly fucked up. A church finally wants to send a widespread message of unity rather than the elitism, divisiveness, and hate that most churches spread, and they get smacked down by the man. FUCK YOU CBS FUCK YOU NBC FUCK YOU “Middle America” ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-nbc-church-of-christ-commercial/277432/34 "2004-12-01T13:00:24Z")
> [@](#): > > _tomndebb_ > However, the explicit point of the OP was that > > “our freedoms have been hijacked.” > > which is simply false (on this occasion). Na, it’s not “simply false”. It’s just false if you go along with the rather wizened notion that freedoms can only be infringed by explicit government action or literal monopolies. These broadcasters do have power, so it is quite reasonable to argue that they can use that power to restrict or hijack freedom. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-nbc-church-of-christ-commercial/277432/35 "2004-12-01T13:29:09Z")
> [@hawthorne](#): > > Na, it’s not “simply false”. It’s just false if you go along with the rather wizened notion that freedoms can only be infringed by explicit government action or literal monopolies. These broadcasters do have power, so it is quite reasonable to argue that they can use that power to restrict or hijack freedom. First of all, I _am_ gay, just to establish _bona fides_ here. Second, what freedoms are they restricting or hijacking? They’re private corporations who are legally allowed to decide what advertising they will or will not accept for broadcast. Their decision not to show this ad is boneheaded and cowardly, but it hardly affects any freedoms I may have. I may change my mind on this point if you can convince me that I somehow have heretofore unknown freedoms that the networks in question are demonstrably restricting or hijacking. Can you? ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-nbc-church-of-christ-commercial/277432/36 "2004-12-01T13:58:22Z")
> [@buttonjockey308](#): > > Pit while you’re here, but vote with your remote. Unless you’re a Nielson family that won’t make one iota of difference. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-nbc-church-of-christ-commercial/277432/37 "2004-12-01T14:20:31Z")
Something seems a little off here. Among other things, I believe that different executives make advertising standards decisions for CBS and UPN, whereas the story claims to have a single written memo covering both organizations. I’m not calling hoax yet. But I am calling that something funny is going on here. ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-nbc-church-of-christ-commercial/277432/38 "2004-12-01T14:22:25Z")
> [@villa](#): > > Maybe a better method would be to mobilize liberal consumer spending power. It worked with South Africa (at least to an extent). It’s a shame those who care can’t effectively show companies that discriminate against homosexuals that it is most definitely not in their financial interest to carry on doing so. I would be interested if you would expand on this a bit. What exactly are you refering to regarding liberal spending power in South Africa? I’m not disputing what you’re saying, just curious as to how you see the situation. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-nbc-church-of-christ-commercial/277432/39 "2004-12-01T14:26:55Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Fuck them right in the ass with a big black dildo. Why would you wish something so pleasurable on such vile people? Surely, it would make more sense to wish that they _never_ get fucked–long, hard, and slow–ever again? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-nbc-church-of-christ-commercial/277432/40 "2004-12-01T14:41:35Z")
> [@manhattan](#): > > Something seems a little off here. Among other things, I believe that different executives make advertising standards decisions for CBS and UPN, whereas the story claims to have a single written memo covering both organizations. > > I’m not calling hoax yet. But I am calling that something funny is going on here. I think the story is referring to the memo written by a press contact for the UCC about the two explanations from the networks. From the link: > [@](#): > > According to a written explanation from CBS, the United Church of Christ is > being denied network access because its ad implies acceptance of gay and > lesbian couples – among other minority constituencies – and is, > therefore, too “controversial.” > > […] > > Similarly, a rejection by NBC declared the spot “too controversial.” Just to add a personal note - when I was a kid, I was raised in a very strict Calvinist-based (Reformed Church of America) Protestant church, mostly because that’s what my parents were raised in and they were just going along with what they’d been taught. After years of hearing sermons that were too conservative, hellfire-filled, and otherwise unpleasant for us (it’s lovely growing up as a teenage girl and hearing the Mother’s Day/Father’s Day sermons that preach about how a woman’s place is in the home and subservient to her husband, etc.), my sister and I began outright refusing to go. We’d been invited to the church that friends attended, and my parents went along one Sunday, and we switched almost immediately to it, a United Church of Christ church. Our old church was deeply divided over the idea of electing a woman deacon, while our new church had women pastors at many locations (not our particular one). A couple hymns referred to evolution as God’s work on our planet. I found out that not only were women ordained, but so were gays and lesbians. I’ve since fallen away from the church, having moved away from my hometown and many years and experiences intervening, but my husband has attended a number of UCC services with me, and now that he’s completely lost faith in the institution of the Catholic Church (which he was raised in), he wants to check out the UCC church in our neighborhood. He’s found out that many of our neighbors who are ex-Catholics have gone there. I think the networks have every right to choose which commercials they will and will not run. I also think they’re being jerks on this point. In a recent thread about the FCC, Desperate Housewives, etc., one poster made the point that (paraphrased) ‘much like every time a train doesn’t crash there are no newspaper articles about it, no one ever writes the FCC to say they aren’t offended.’ If some of us think that the only demographic ruling the networks is a more conservative one, perhaps it’s time to make a more liberal voice heard, in a constructive manner. Argue for the good moral values of inclusiveness and acceptance, for instance. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-nbc-church-of-christ-commercial/277432.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-nbc-church-of-christ-commercial/277432.md?page=3)