March 18, 2005

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."

United Church News