While googling around, I ran across a Methodist press release from 2001.
Quote:
New attendance at United Methodist churches in five cities increased an average of 108 percent for the first month of the denomination’s national television ad campaign, a result not only of the commercials but also of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks….
While CBS aired the ads during the opening week of the campaign, NBC and ABC had not accepted any of the spots before Sept. 11. Now, both networks have indicated they will accept the ads, and Horswill-Johnston believes that change was dictated partly by economics but also by the content of the ads themselves.
So, advertising for churches with more conservative views is OK, while advertising for liberal denominations is “advocacy” and therefore verboten?