wfn.org | [UCC News] UCC leader calls Focus on the Family's tactics 'bullying'

[guessb@ucc.org]

United Church of Christ
United Church News
The Rev. J. Bennett Guess, news director
216/736-2177, guessb@ucc.org
http://www.ucc.org

For immediate release
March 18, 2005

United Church of Christ leader says Focus on the Family's anti-tolerance
stance 'leads to bullying on the playground'

With James Dobson's Focus on the Family claiming victory over the SpongeBob
Squarepants controversy, the United Church of Christ's pastoral leader
called on people of faith to reject the Focus on the Family assault on
tolerance as "bullying."

"It is a sad day when Focus on the Family, a group claiming to speak for
Christians in America, finds reason to celebrate assaults on tolerance
in
the name of its own version of family values," the Rev. John H. Thomas, the
UCC's general minister and president, told United Church News.

"For Focus on the Family to bully groups like the We Are Family Foundation
because of their efforts to teach children about respect for those who
are
different only leads to bullying on the playground," Thomas said. "What's
Christian ? or American ? about that?"

Thomas' comments came in response to a Religious News Service story on
March 15 which said, "Focus on the Family was praising the removal of
references to sexual orientation from materials accompanying a children's
video starring SpongeBob SquarePants and about 100 other television
characters."

According to RNS, Focus on the Family "claimed victory" because earlier
versions of the video's study guide included references to discrimination
against gay and lesbian persons, but those references were removed from the
final versions sent to 61,000 elementary schools last week.

A spokesperson for the We Are Family Foundation said the gay and lesbian
references were edited out to shorten the guide, not in response to
pressure from religious conservatives.

Thomas called upon UCC churches and other concerned groups to reject
attacks on tolerance as not only anti-gay, but also anti-children.

"Clearly, the goal of the We Are Family Foundation is to promote
peer-to-peer respect among children," Thomas said. "But some have willingly
hijacked this laudable goal at the detriment of those children who are
enduring bullying everyday. This is the issue that gets lost."

Thomas entered the SpongeBob fray on Jan. 24 when he challenged Dobson's
public comments opposing the tolerance video. Thomas even extended an
invitation of "unequivocal welcome" to SpongeBob or any who are falsely
maligned or marginalized by religious institutions.

Thomas' remarks, along with photos of him with a SpongeBob doll, were
disseminated widely through the internet, especially among the blogs.

"While Dobson's silly accusation makes headlines, it's also one more
concrete example of how religion is misused over and over to promote
intolerance over inclusion," Thomas said at the time. "This is why we
believe it is so important that the UCC speak the Gospel in an accent not
often heard in our culture, because far too many experience the cross only
as judgment, never as embrace."

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