WASHINGTON (ABP) — The United Church of Christ has filed Federal Communications Commission complaints against two television stations in Florida over their parent networks' refusals to air a controversial church advertisement.
Church officials, acting on behalf of UCC members in the Miami area, filed the complaints against CBS affiliate WFOR-TV and NBC affiliate WJVT-TV Dec. 9, according to an announcement from the denomination. The stations are owned and operated by their parent networks, and both stations' licenses are currently up for FCC review.
The petitions ask government officials to deny the stations renewal of their licenses because the networks' actions violate FCC standards. The regulatory agency requires that licensed broadcast television stations provide viewers with appropriate access to a broad spectrum of “social, political, aesthetic, moral and other ideas and experiences.”
Executives from CBS and NBC declined to sell the denomination airtime for the spots, which tout the church's openness to gays. Those refusals stirred a nationwide controversy, with several advocacy and religious groups objecting to what they say amounts to network-imposed viewpoint discrimination.
The United Church of Christ is the only major Protestant group in the United States to be fully affirming of gays on the denominational level. The commercials depict two burly male bouncers standing at the front of a church building, letting some worshipers in while barring entry by other “undesirables” — including minorities and a male couple holding hands.
The scene is interrupted by text that reads, “Jesus didn't turn people away. Neither do we.” Then, as a multiethnic and age-diverse group of people pose, smiling, inside a church sanctuary, a narrator says, “The United Church of Christ: No matter who you are or where you are on life's journey, you're welcome here.”
In rejecting the ad, NBC executives told church leaders the spot was “too controversial,” and CBS officials cited the White House's support for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
The ad is part of a $30 million multiyear advertising campaign designed to promote the United Church of Christ and help it gain new members. The Cleveland-based body has about 1.3 million members and 6,000 affiliated congregations nationwide. It grew out of mergers between older Congregational, Reformed and German Evangelical denominations.
In a statement accompanying the complaints to the FCC, UCC President John Thomas said the TV stations and their parent companies did not exhibit proper stewardship of the public airwaves.
“The religious, ethical and moral right of members of UCC churches and other citizens to have access to diverse programming has been harmed” by the networks' denial of the ad, Thomas said. He added that the public's right to responsible programming was also hurt by the networks' “failure to carry programming reflecting the full range of religious expression in the United States.”
Church officials said they filed the complaints against network-owned local stations because the FCC does not allow TV viewers to protest network licenses.
Spokespeople for the networks have cited policies that disallow advocacy or issue-oriented ads on topics of great national controversy. CBS and NBC officials also reportedly said the ads were rejected because they appeared to set up a contrast between the progressive UCC and other denominations.
Despite the networks' rejection, the ads are airing on several other broadcast and cable networks, including Fox, ABC Family, BET and TBS.