UCC and Big Media

I received an email from a friend wondering if I was going to blog on this issue. Some other bloggers have weighed in on this, and they have some good observations.

At GetReligion they are largely critical of the media decision, though note that during the 80s, gay activists successfully stopped advertisements concerning gay people converting to straight. At The Parish, and Mainstream Baptist, the word is pretty negative on the lack of inclusion in our religious world today. For me, I agree and see this as symptomatic of broader themes in America. Tolerance is out. Certainty without doubt is in. If you have Ann Coulter rehabilitating McCarthy and Michelle Malkin rehabbing Japanese Internment, one can only speculate if slavery and segregation are next on the table. Conservatives seem to be trying to not only stem the tide of change, but actually roll things back to a previous time period.

As, I think Get Religion pointed out, the irony is that this uproar will give the UCC exactly the coverage and watercooler discussion that they had hoped their ad would produce. Even more. I know I am concerned with how the religious community seems to be flocking to a stance of discrimination and, yes, ignorance (See previous post). I am also concerned with the general tenor in America. MoveOn.org's Super Bowl ad was denied and it was a critique of labor and economic issues. The right was able to squelch a (probably terrible) bio drama on their beloved Reagan. Howard Stern is off the regular air (not that I care) while Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are able to say whatever hateful thing they want to say. Yet, a church wants to suggest that Christians might embrace my gay friends and that is not worthy of the "marketplace of ideas."