CLEVELAND (ABP) — A spokesman for the United Church of Christ says CBS’s decision to air a purportedly anti-abortion ad featuring Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Tim Tebow during the Super Bowl shows favoritism to some religious viewpoints over others.
Focus on the Family, the group sponsoring the ad, isn’t saying what the content of the 30-second spot will be, but speculation is that it will be Tebow’s mother’s oft-repeated story about how she ignored a doctor’s advice to abort her fifth child, “Timmy,” who grew up to lead the University of Florida football team to national championships in 2006 and 2008.
The UCC, a liberal mainline denomination based in Cleveland, tried to purchase airtime from two networks in 2004 for a commercial geared for people who feel alienated from church. The spot featured two muscular bouncers in front of a traditional church building and behind a velvet rope that they removed to allow some worshippers to pass while blocking others. Those turned away include a gay couple.
Ben Guess, director of communications for the UCC, said CBS refused the ad because it was too controversial. Guess said ABC told church officials they do not accept any advertising from religious organizations, and then a month later allowed prime-time advertising purchased by Focus on the Family on its “SuperNanny” program.
The Women’s Media Center and other pro-choice groups launched a campaign calling CBS to immediately pull what it called “an anti-choice advertisement.”
CBS officials said they were changing their policy against accepting “advocacy” ads for economic reasons. In the past the network has refused to sell air time to public-policy groups like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and MoveOn.org.
“We have for some time moderated our approach to advocacy submissions after it became apparent that our stance did not reflect public sentiment or industry norms,” spokesman Dana McClintock told the Associated Press. “In fact, most media outlets have accepted advocacy ads for some time.”
Guess said in an article on the UCC website that the reversal of the policy is an indication of the “arbitrary way the networks approach these decisions.” The result, he said, is “a woeful lack of religious diversity in our nation's media.”
“The issue that we have here is what religious viewpoints have access on the network’s airwaves and which messages do not," Guess said in an interview on National Public Radio. “Why is one religious viewpoint continually accommodated by the TV networks when there is a common misunderstanding in this country that all religious people… hold a monolithic view on certain issues — such as reproductive choice, such as homosexuality — and this is not the case?”
Guess said the UCC has no immediate plans to purchase network spots, but the denomination’s “God is Still Speaking” campaign is producing a new commercial that will launch on social networks and in a broad Internet ad buy on April 16.
Focus on the Family declined to disclose how much the ad will cost but said the money was donated by a few generous individuals and would not be paid for out of the organization’s general fund. According to media reports, 30-second commercials during the Super Bowl are selling for $2.5 million to $2.8 million.
Last fall Focus on the Family eliminated 75 jobs, an 8 percent staff reduction, citing declining revenue. That followed two rounds of layoffs in 2008, reducing an all-time high of about 1,400 workers in 2002 to a current workforce of 860.
Tebow, an outspoken Christian known for emblazoning references to Bible verses on the black strips under his eyes and wrist bands he wears during nationally televised games, grew up near Jacksonville, Fla.. He attended the city’s First Baptist Church, where his pastor was former Southern Baptist Convention President Jerry Vines.
Tebow’s father is a Christian evangelist who founded the Bob Tebow Evangelistic Association in 1985. Tim Tebow was born in the Philippines, where his family lived as missionaries from 1985 until 1990. They returned to the United States when he was 3 but continue to make annual mission trips to Mindanao. The ministry started an orphanage in 1992, which is Tim’s personal cause.
According to her testimony, Tebow’s mother, Pam, had a difficult pregnancy leading up to his birth on Aug. 14, 1987. She contracted amoebic dysentery in the Philippines. Medicines used to treat her posed a risk to the unborn child and doctors advised her to abort for her own safety.
Bob Tebow, a one-time associate pastor at Southside Baptist Church in Jacksonville, recalls promising God that if he had a healthy son he would raise him to be a preacher. “I asked God for a preacher, and he gave me a quarterback,” the senior Tebow often says.
After sharing her story in an interview that aired on ESPN, Pam Tebow has received numerous invitations to speak to pro-life groups.
Tim Tebow says he knows some people won’t agree with his decision to do the commercial, but he’s always had strong convictions about abortion because his mother’s to have him “is the reason I’m here.”
Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.