Posted on Oct 6, 2006 | by Kelly Boggs

ALEXANDRIA, La. (BP)--Who says that television networks don’t have standards? The National Broadcasting Company certainly does. Recently NBC allowed its conscience to be its guide and edited a cartoon aimed at kids so it would meet the network’s standards.

Several weeks ago NBC began airing “Veggie Tales,” a long-running and successful video series known for its moral messages and Christian content. However, the network deemed the cartoon’s references to God to be inappropriate and ordered them edited out.

In fact, the signature sign-off of the two most well-known “Veggie Tales” characters was regarded to be too controversial. At the conclusion of each episode, Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber say, “Remember kids, God made you special and he loves you very much.” According to NBC, the tagline came too close to “advocating one religious point of view.”

Defending NBC’s decision to edit “Veggie Tales” was Alan Wurtzel, a broadcast standards executive at the network. “There is a fine line of universally accepted religious values,” he said. “We don’t get too specific with any particular religious doctrine or any particular religious denomination.”

The line of what NBC considers to be “universally accepted religious values” must be exceedingly fine, because the network has no trouble flaunting behaviors that most religions consider sinful.

Take “The Book of Daniel,” for example. It was canceled by NBC earlier this year due to poor ratings, and featured an Episcopal priest addicted to prescription drugs whose wife was an alcoholic. The couple had three children: a drug-dealing daughter, a sexually active straight son and a sexually active homosexual son.

If the above scenario was not sufficiently dysfunctional, the priest’s father, also a member of the clergy, was having a sexual relationship with a female bishop. Additionally, the priest’s lesbian secretary was involved sexually with the priest's sister-in-law.

In the midst of all this immoral and sinful behavior, a cool, hip Jesus periodically would appear to visit the priest and offer tidbits of tolerant, non-judgmental advice.

If “The Book of Daniel” had received better ratings it would still be on the air, despite the fact that it mocked the values of religion in general and Christianity specifically. Apparently, sexual purity and an avoidance of substance abuse are not part of the “fine line of universally accepted religious values” that NBC recognizes.

A summation of a recent episode of “Passions,” a soap opera that airs on NBC, follows:

“A shocked Luis fears his cover will be blown when Fancy shows up at the strip club pretending to be a dancer.... An unconscious Fox bleeds from the head after Miguel shoved him during a game of basketball. Kay attends to Fox and fears the funeral Tabitha saw in her bowl will turn out to be his. Fortunately, Fox regains consciousness.”

“There’s a private investigator report that J.T. Cornell has gone into hiding and cannot be found. Her P.I. is apparently worthless because J.T. is actually staying at a hotel in Harmony. J.T. text messages Rebecca, begging for a sexual escapade. Rebecca receives the messages while Ethan and Gwen are in the room, and she tries to hide her nervousness, but Ethan begins to catch on.”

“Chad sneaks off for a rendezvous at a motel. At the same time, Valerie also does a disappearing act....”

I won’t try to put a number on how many religious sensibilities this one episode of “Passions” (which I selected at random) offends. However, a conservative guess would be quite a few.

Commenting on the “Veggie Tales” issue, Brent Bozell of the Media Research Center wrote, “NBC is the network that hired a squad of lawyers to argue that dropping the F-bomb on the Golden Globe Awards isn't indecent for children....”

NBC, it seems, believes telling a child “God loves you” is potentially more harmful than introducing that same child to profanity.

While NBC is busy editing references to God from “Veggie Tales,” the network is considering airing a Madonna special in November with a mock crucifixion. The pop icon attaches herself to a mirrored cross and dons a crown of thorns as she sings.

NBC believes telling children that God loves them is potentially offensive, but mocking a central tenet of Christianity is not. The network believes telling children that God made them special is potentially problematic but flaunting sinful behavior is not. Well, you can say this about NBC: At least the network is consistent.

NBC has its standards alright. It is just that respect for someone’s deeply help religious beliefs do not seem to be a part of the network’s “fine line of universally accepted religious values,” especially if those beliefs happen to belong to Christianity.
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Kelly Boggs, whose column appears Fridays in Baptist Press, is editor of the Baptist Message, newsjournal of the Louisiana Baptist Convention.