Now that CBS has a new policy allowing advocacy ads, The United Church of Christ, rebuffed when it submitted an ad in 2004 showing gay men welcome at worship, has a new question for this network and others:

Why is only one Christian viewpoint -- the Focus on the Family conservative right viewpoint (opposing gay marriage and women's reproductive rights)-- welcome on the air?

Focus on the Family will run an anti-abortion ad starring NFL-draft-bound college star Tim Tebow and his mom. I asked the UCC if they were going to jump in to run their own ad since CBS, which is notably still trying to fill ad slots, says the new policy would allow it.

No, says spokesman Rev. J. Bennett Guess, they'd rather send any millions available to relief in Haiti right now.

Guess then went on to look at the "arbitrary" way networks make decisions, he says, help foster the...

... common misunderstanding in this country that all religious people hold a monolithic view on certain issues, such as reproductive choice or same-gender marriage equality, and this is not the case...

... The UCC encountered a similar situation in early 2005 when our church sought air time on the ABC network, only to be told that ABC did not accept any religious advertising. The very next month, Focus on the Family was allowed prime time advertising on ABC's SuperNanny show.

The UCC will do advertising, on line, later this spring, but, Guess says,

Our media-buying plan, at present, does not include spending $2.5 million for a single 30-second Super Bowl ad. Our current churchwide fundraising is very much focused on recovery and longterm rebuilding efforts in Haiti.

Yet the larger issue of access remains, "not just for the UCC but for all religious groups," says Guess...

When the UCC does return again to CBS or another network, will our distinctive religious viewpoint be heard?

Do you think, like Guess, that networks are screening out Mailine Protestant social activist views in favor of evangelical Christian Focus on the Family? Do you think faith-based groups should be spending funds on advertising at all?