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NBC: Bible Verses In Veggie Tales Offensive,
But Not Madonna's Mockery Of The Crucifixion Of Christ


Dear Howdy & Friends,

NBC anti-Christian bigotry continues. This time NBC censored
Bible verses and expressions of Christian love from the children's
cartoon Veggie Tales being shown Saturday mornings on NBC.

NBC says comments such as "God made you special and He loves you
very much" were offensive and censored them from the show.

In response to the outrage over the allegations that NBC was ordering
the removal of any references to God and the Bible from the animated
series, the network first issued a flat denial. As reported in
Broadcasting & Cable, NBC said they had to "clip off the beginning
and ending tags, which are Bible verses, but they were also arguably
the easiest cut to make."

The creator of Veggie Tales, Phil Vischer, said NBC's excuse for censoring
the Bible verses was not true. Vischer said, "Well, that's kinda funny,
because as the guy required to do all the editing, I know that statement
is false...The show wasn't too long, it was too Christian. The show was
already cut down to the proper length, so timing had nothing to do with it."

NBC then backpeddled: "NBC is committed to the positive messages and
universal values of Veggie Tales. Our goal is to reach as broad an
audience as possible with these positive messages while being careful
not to advocate any one religious point of view." Evidently NBC considers
not being truthful as one of their "universal values."

Vischer said had he known how much censorship NBC would exercise, he would
not have signed on for the network deal.

Censored were comments such as: "Calm down. The Bible says we should love
our enemies." And "the Bible says Samson got his strength from God. And God
can give us strength, too."

NBC says using Bible verses or referring to God is offensive to some non-
Christians. But NBC doesn't hesitate to offend Christians by showing Madonna
mocking the crucifixion of Christ. Neither do not mind offending Christians
in their new program Studio 60 with a segment called Crazy Christians.*

This will seem a strong statement, and it is: The real reason the religious
content is being censored is that the networks are run by people who have
an anti-Christian bias. I noticed this anti-Christian bigotry and spoke out
against it over 25 years ago. I'm sorry if someone thinks that is too harsh,
but I must speak the truth as God leads me to see the truth. (Please click
here to read excerpts from a speech I gave to a group of TV officials in
September, 1981—25 years ago.)

Take Action
1. Send an email to NBC asking them to end their bias against Christians
and stop censoring the references to God's love in Veggie Tales.

2. Forward this to friends and family so they will know of NBC's anti-
Christian bias. NBC is owned by General Electric.

3. Print out the AFA Pass Along sheet and distribute at your Sunday
School class and church. Ask your pastor to encourage members to send
an email.


Sincerely,
Donald E. Wildmon
Founder & Chairman
American Family Association



* Program Review: NBC's "Studio 60"

Here is a review of Studio 60 courtesy of Bill Johnson,
President of American Decency Association

“Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” is a new show on NBC’s
fall line up. The show’s creator, Aaron Sorkin of “West
Wing” fame, has a history of portraying Christians and
the “right wing” as radical ‘whackos’. This new show,
“Studio 60”, is aggressively following the same pattern.
The show, made up of a cast of Hollywood heavy-hitters,
is a 60 minute drama of the behind the scenes workings
of a “Saturday Night Live” type of show (also called
“Studio 60”) and the wranglings with the network that
take place.

The premier episode began when the host of this fictional
show was forced to delete a comedy sketch called “Crazy
Christians” from the show. The network representative d
ropped the segment for fear of angering Christians and
advertisers. The host of the show went on a rant on air
complaining about his network and stating, in part, “And
the two things that make them scared gutless are the FCC
and every psycho religious cult that gets positively horny
at the mere mention of a boycott.”

With great cunning, Aaron Sorkin and NBC send the message
repeatedly throughout this hour-long show that Christians
are extremists and the enemy of “free speech”. The first
and second episodes of “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip”
center upon the theme of Christians as ‘nut-jobs’ who
terrorize networks and advertisers with threats of boycotts.
In other words, people like you and me, who voice our concern
over the decline of decency, are part of a “psycho religious
cult”.

The show hammers home this message over and over. After
replaying the line referenced above, the fictional network
president repeats “there’s going to be some horny, psycho
religious cults tonight.” This network president, a young
woman named Jordan, defends the character who wanted to run
the segment “Crazy Christians” and allows it to air the
following week. She states about the “Crazy Christians”
segment “I just read it and I thought it was inspired.”

Later, at a press conference, she is disgusted that among
the members of the press, is a reporter from a fictional
Christian magazine called “Rapture” magazine. Jordan,
the network president, says: “How many whack jobs read
Rapture magazine?” She is shocked to learn that it
actually has a very large readership. Those who believe
in Christ for salvation and His Second Coming are mocked
when one network official condescendingly says: “The
Rapture’s what I think it is, right? The world comes
to an end, believers go up in a space ship.” Jordan
replies: “It’s not a space ship. It’s Jesus Christ.”
Another asks: “What happens to the non-believers?”
Jordan states: “You get thrown down into a fiery pit.”
All of this airs in a derogatory manner, with a air
of condescension – making it seem as those who believe
this are gullible fruit-cakes.

Numerous other derisive portrayals of Christianity are
given, including ministries like American Decency Association
and those of you who stand with us. When concern in raised
on this fictional show that affiliates won’t carry the show
if the “Crazy Christian” sketch isn’t dropped, and that
television stations are being inundated with phone calls,
the network president blames “Rapture” magazine stating:
“How does the editor and chief of total nut farm magazine
get mobilized this fast?” She is told that a Christian
group posted it on their web site. “That’s like flashing
the bat signal for her members.”

One of the characters is supposedly a born-again Christian –
a Christian who swears regularly and writes comedy for this
fictional show that mocks Christianity. She also prays before
each show and is shown praying with the cast stating: “We
say this prayer in the name of your son Jesus Christ, who
had to have been funny to get so many people to listen to
him.”

This character supposedly appeared on the 700 Club. Her
boyfriend was outraged, called Pat Robertson a “bigot”
and compared his audience and other Christians to the
Ku Klux Klan, stating: “Throw in the Halloween costumes
and you got yourself a clan rally.”

NBC and the producers of “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip”
seem to think its open season on Christians. One would
never see such an incredibly negative, stereotypical
portrayal of any racial group or other religion. But
Christianity is fair game. And those of us who use our
free speech to speak out when we are defamed or our values
are trashed are labeled as “whack jobs” and a threat to
“free speech”.
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