Lest Blood Be Shed

I am finally finished (at least for this semester) with school. All the papers are turned in and I didn't even have to drive to Chicago to submit them. The professor for my Daughters of Ethiopia class has emailed me back already letting me know I received an 'A' on the paper. I also finished my history research paper on Pelagius. It is amazing how much some of the more progressive churches (as well as me) are in line with Pelagius.

Yeah for finished papers!

That's not why I wanted to have an entry today. I'm sure some of you have seen this already but the United Church of Christ (UCC) is a small denominational church and they have started an ad campaign to just get the word out about who they are and that they exist (the are really small). One of the commercials they put together for this campaign was deemed "too controversial" to be aired on CBS and NBC. This really floors me. To think, the networks that show commercials with women wrestling in the mud over which beer tastes better will not show a commercial from a church because it is too inclusive.

The commercial is a simple commercial. It starts with two bouncer types at the doors to a church. You see white nuclear families being allowed into the church but the bouncers stop a two men, a black child, a hispanic boy, and two women embracing. The the commercial fades to black and puts the following sentences on the screen, "Jesus didn't turn people away." then, "Neither do we." You can see the actual commercial on their website. http://www.stillspeaking.com/default.htm

NBC, UPN and CBS will not show this commercial. I understand it is the right of any broadcasting corp. to reject commercials but to think the type of programming that gets played on those stations is not "controversial" and the inclusivity in this commercial is just too controversial to be aired. It is beyond me to understand. One of the reasons other than "being too controversial" that CBS and UPN gave for not airing the commercial is that the Executive Branch of the US government had proposed a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage (which was defeated) therefore they could not show the commercial. http://www.ucc.org/news/u113004a.htm

It seems our country will turn out like Sodom after all and be destroyed from within from its own injustice and unrighteousness of unwelcoming the stranger, the outcast, the widow, the marginalized.

Jesus didn't turn people away. Should we?

At least I'm not the only one that suspects human rights violations in Iraq due to U.S. forces and The coalition of the willing. The BBC has an article bringing attention to the outcry for an investigation into the number of civilian deaths. We can only wait and see if G.W. allows Blair to have an independent investigation.

On another cheery note, there has been more laws enacted to bring about death for the environment as well as people from environmental pollution. Yea! for Christian Fundamentalist (read objectifying oppressive fascists) rule in the US. Did you know that a Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) study released last week has confirmed the presence of perchlorate - an explosive additive in solid rocket fuel - in almost every sample of lettuce and milk taken in a nationwide investigation? Perchlorate, leaking from military bases and defense contrator's facilities, is known to cause regional water pollution, resulting in serious health effects (you know, like miscarriages, birth defects, sids, cancer, brain disease, etc). Too bad Christian Fundamentalists don't want to clean it up.