An anti-UCC web site leaked the content and a photo of the United Church of Christ's new God Is Still Speaking ad this week. UCCtruths, the site that recently admitted receiving and distributing material from the Republican Party aligned-Institute on Religion and Democracy, was criticized for their move today by UCC officials.
UCCNews said UCCtruths offered "critical comments and an unflattering still-image" that provided a misleading impression of the ad.
The ad was recently previewed to an audience of UCC women leaders. One UCCtruths participate - a former seminary colleague of mine named Michael Ochs - wrote on their discussion board today:
And just to make sure I take full advantage of an opportunity to be comepletely stereotypically sexist, can you really show something to 800 women and expect there not to be gossip about it?
That comment really offers a great example of the tone offered by this group.
Here's the UCCNews article:
A website known for its negative critiques of the UCC's National and Conference settings has published a description of the UCC's newest national TV ad, a full week before church leaders were planning to release the new ad publicly at a press conference scheduled for March 27 in Cleveland.
On March 20, ucctruths, which said it possessed a copy of the UCC's new ad, posted a description of the commercial, along with critical comments and an unflattering still-image "video grab" which gives a false impression of the tone of the UCC's newest commercial - known as "ejector seat" - especially its treatment of persons with disabilities.
"From the beginning of my ministry with the UCC Disabilities Ministries, I have been deeply aware of such a possibility of disability being used as a wedge issue," the Rev. David Denham of UCCDM told United Church News, in response to the site's posted out-of-context image.
The site is long-known to lambaste UCC leaders, including the occasional use of unflattering photos. A recent post critical of General Minister and President John H. Thomas' March 7 lecture at Gettysburg College includes an unrelated image of Thomas with his eyes closed, appearing to be asleep.
In an email to <ucctruths> at 7 p.m. (ET) on March 20, Stillspeaking Coordinator Ron Buford appealed to the site to not publish the ad until the scheduled March 27 release date.
"We have only given the ad to people who have promised to keep it within the UCC until the press conference," Buford wrote. "Whoever released this to you has borne false witness, either directly or by omission. I do not believe you want to proceed with material you have received in this way."
On Tuesday morning, <ucctruths> responded to Buford, saying that it had no plans to run the ad in its entirety at this time.
In December, United Church News consented to a request by Buford and others to embargo all descriptions of the ad until the March 27 public release. However, along with <ucctruths.com>, United Church News has subsequently learned that at least one major news source - Sojourners Magazine - was provided an accurate description of the ad, which it discussed in its Jan.-Feb. issue, along with quotes attributed to Buford.
At Buford's request, the commercial also was previewed by an estimated 800 people this past weekend (March 17-19) at the UCC's New England Women's Gathering.
The UCC's newest ad uses humor to draw attention to a serious topic - the feelings of rejection that many people say they have experienced through institutionalized religion. It begins with a shot of an African-American mother trying to calm a crying baby. Sitting in a church pew, the mother fidgets anxiously, as she endures sour looks from fellow worshipers. Eventually, someone in the wings pushes as "ejector" button to rid the church of her - and her noisy baby. Into the air they go flying.
In a similar fashion, a gay male couple, an Arab-American, a person using a walker, among others, get "ejected." Finally, when a homeless person wanders in and takes a seat, nervous parishioners - expecting she'll get the boot for sure - scoot away from her. "God doesn't reject people. Neither do we," reads the text on the screen.
The commercial then ends with a contrasting image - shots of diverse, welcoming UCC members. The announcer's invitation emphasizes: "The United Church of Christ - no matter who you are or where you are on life's journey, you're welcome here."
