I know everyone lambasts Fox News for being biased, right-wing, too controversial, etc etc ad nauseum. However, this time, it's NBC and CBS that are allowing a conservative agenda to take over their station's airwaves.
Back in the day, I wrote about the new commercial the UCC (United Church of Christ) filmed. Check out the commercial at Still Speaking. It was aired in test markets, and churches reported a favorable response to the ad. In the ad, two bouncers stand outside an "ideal church" and control who can and can't enter. I don't remember the specifics, but I know that several people in the ad were turned away, and I think two of them were a same-sex couple holding hands (mind, not having sex, or kissing, just holding hands). Then, the commercial says "Jesus didn't turn people away, neither do we."
The UCC is rolling out the national ad campaign as of yesterday; however, the ads will not be showing on CBS nor NBC, because they have decided the ad is "too controversial." You can read all about it here(CNN), here (Chuck Currie, a UCC seminarian and fellow blogger), and here (UCC webpage).
This whole situation makes me angry. It's okay to show Will & Grace, but you can't show a commercial accepting Will into the church?
Fox, ABC [edit: not been shown on ABC, but they have a policy of not accepting religious ads], and many other networks have accepted the ad. If Fox will show it, why won't NBC and CBS? We can only speculate. Still, it is decidedly hypocritical that both networks showed inflammatory election commercials, yet they won't show a commercial airing a message of inclusion.
The CNN article quotes NBC as saying:
the problem with the ad was not its depiction of same sex couples at church, but its implication that other religions are not open to all people.
As far as I'm aware, the UCC is the only Christian church to declare it's denomination "open and affirming," which is our phrase for saying "not only are GLBTQ welcome, but they are accepted for who we are. We will not try to change them." The Disciples of Christ and the United Methodist Church both have similar stances, but they are not as widespread as the UCC.
Speculation will continue. I'd like to know an official, and fair, reason why NBC and CBS won't show the ad.