And the award for most cowardly act goes to: CBS and NBC who have decided to ban an ad produced by theUnited Church of Christ a liberal Protestant demonimination. The UCC has intiated a campaign called "Still Speaking," a drive to get people to visit a UCC church. In the ad, two bouncers stand in front of a church deciding who gets in and who doesn't. (For some reason right now, I can't link to the ad. When I can, I will post it.) The ad states that like Jesus, the UCC welcomes all persons regardless of their station in life and that includes gay folk. Well, CBS said no to the ad. Their reason? Look at this pathetic excuse:
"Because this commercial touches on the exclusion of gay couples and other minority groups by other individuals and organizations, 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 is an outrage. Because the UCC wanted to talk about inclusion of gays, this was deemed "unacceptable."
What a bunch of yellow bellied cowards. They caved into the Religious Right.
Frankly, gay folks should start a boycott or something to tell CBS and NBC that they are in the wrong.
And here is another cowardly thing: why is the larger media not focusing on this? As Josh Marshall notes in his Talking Points Memo Blog, one the daily paper in Arkon, Ohio is focusing on this. What, are you all scared too?
Posted by Dennis at December 1, 2004 01:22 PMplease use the words extremist/s,radicals ect. carefully. If you look up thse words you will find they tend to refer more to actions grounded on extreme beliefs and ideologys rather than just extreme beliefs and ideologys. Besides while we do have freedom of speech would you call a gay man a homo or a fag? no it wouldn't be right. So don't call someone an extremist based solely on thier beliefs. How many Muslims go on Jihads???not many. Just a few. In the same way labeling them all extremists because of just a few of them is not right.Just remember that while you may not agree with someones beliefs its not right to call names. Regardless if some else with similar befiefs called you names. So be the bigger man/woman and respect the beliefs of those around you. You don't have to agree with them or even believe in what they do.Your actions are louder than your words. so vote and support the canidates you agree with if you don't agree with the current state of affairs instead of sitting around whining and ranting.
Posted by: Isaac Patterson at October 27, 2005 02:30 PMI always thought of myself as a fairly conservative christian, but I'm more than a little concerned by the way the issue of homosexuality is being played out in American Christian churches of all demoninations.
Jesus commands us to consider our neighbor's hunger and our own sinfullnes so the we may repent. He does not command us to consider first our own hunger and then our neighbor's sunfulness so that me may force him to repent.
Why is it that straight people are so focused on the state of homosexuals while ignoring the sinfness of their own lives?
What do you have against people who go to church? Why get all heated up about a silly ad?Are you one of those people who are constantly on the prowl, looking for a fight or a way to stir people up? I don't understand the big deal.Nbc,Abc,Cbs and all of them have refused to run many other churches and religious organizations ads. So why get politically indignant about this one?
Posted by: Isaac Patterson at October 12, 2005 05:54 PMThe hard part is convincing people that this applies to them. They view this as an attack on something they are against, forgetting that there may be something they are for that these extremists are against, and they may be next. I know better. When Bob's train starts to roll, the car full of gays will probably be connected to the car full of atheists, and I'll probably be in that one.
Posted by: William Bollinger at December 2, 2004 09:57 AMBob,
What you just said is frighteningly akin to the topic Dennis posted just the other day - of Hitler vs. Harding.
I think that Bush is not Hitler. He's more like Harding or Grant - just not competent, and allowing the wolves to come in and do as they please.
But the religious right is starting to flex its muscle fearlessly. They are starting to truly convince people that they are in charge and in power. They're not, not yet, but this is how they get there - make people believe it's true, and eventually it will be true.
When major news stations start caving to extremists, that's a red flag with sirens attached. That's not an exaggerated threat - that's a real gun you're staring at.
Posted by: Mark Kittel at December 1, 2004 04:02 PMIt is sad to see people forget the contributions gay people have made to our society. Maybe the next thing is to remove all gay athletes from competition. Or maybe the religious right would prefer to act in the same manner as the Nazis. Load all of them on a train and send them someplace where society does not have to be "exposed" to them. Hopefully everyone will see the discrimination being spread by the religious right.
Posted by: Bob Faust at December 1, 2004 03:04 PMOutrageous.
Makes me wonder if they'd accept an ad from an SBC church that said "Come to us - you won't find any gays in our church."
Posted by: Mark Kittel at December 1, 2004 02:22 PM