If you've been paying attention, you've heard the flap about the United Church of Christ ad rejected by several TV neworks as too controversial.

The ad shows a pair of large, cropped-hair, thug-like bouncers dressed in black, who stand in front of a church and decide who gets in or not, carefully unhooking the barrier only for the "right" people. A pair of men holding hands are turned away. A Latino and black girl are turned away, apparently because of their race. Another person is rejected because they are physically handicapped. The only people we see entering are young white people. We see the barrier snap shut with a strong echoing chain-like clank. The ad ends by telling viewers "Jesus didn't turn people away. Neither do we." In contrast, we are shown a diverse group which is probably supposed to imply something about UCC congregations.

The message is hardly subtle: Other churches are racist, hate gays, and discriminate against the handicapped. We don't. The bit about the gay couple could easily escape the casual viewer. But the bits about race come through loud and clear, having several people rejected on that basis.

For years I've been a member of one of those "other" churches. Our large congregation is racially mixed, and, from my rough estimate, contains a higher percentage of minorities than the general population. In contrast, most the "main-line" Protestant churches I've attended or been members of were, shall we say, rather racially homogeneous.

Turns out my experience isn't a fluke:

A recent study by the Hartford Institute for Religious Research indicated that only two or three percent of mainline church congregations (including the UCC) could be considered racially 'integrated' (defined as having at least 20 percent minority membership), compared to eight percent of conservative Protestant churches, and 20 percent of Roman Catholic parishes nationwide. Despite attempts at outreach, the UCC has lost over 32 percent of its total membership since 1967.

In the UCC's defense, I'll note that it's been my experience that racial uniformity -- whether black, white or Korean -- is more a matter of self-selection than some enforced policy. In particular, I don't think the liberal image of a distant, morally neutral, left-leaning, politically-correct god appeals goes over well with many minority groups.