NBC Offends Christians Again

Sigh....when will christian advocacy group stop pretending that they are a minority in this country. The bulk of this county (and the government) is christian. And one would think that these people's faith would be strong enough to withstand a few jokes on a television show. Will and Grace is offensive cause it is not funny, not because of some religious jokes.

Do stories like this prove that the media is out to offend Christians, or do they prove that Christians are easily offended?

/sarcasm on

Personally I think we should protest against this publicly and loudly. Let's have rallies and marches to show how much we dislike the writer's sense of humor in this sitcom, much like the Muslims who protested outside the Danish Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia. In fact, taking from that similar situation, let's inform the christians in Europe and elsewhere about this and turn it into an international incident requiring apologies from government authorities and.....

/sarcasm off

Are we getting a little ridiculous here?

Sure we all have our right to free speech in the US, to have our own opinions and be able to speek those opinions out loud for others to see and here, but what are we trying to do here?

Are we trying to voice our opinions here for discussion or are we trying to usurp a fellow American's right to free speech?

If it were any other religion other than Christianity then people would be up in arms and you would probably even have polititians involved. Yet, because it is Christianity NBC feels that its ok to make fun of it. Just think if it were Muslims they were making fun of or something.

I have to agree with ChadW. It certainly seems that the only group that it is ok to "poke fun" at or insult is Christianity (and mostly Evangelical Christianity).

I will concede; however, that the Christians that get the most press, don't help us out sometimes.

The solution is simple. Watch a different channel. Honestly, most evangelical Christians already think a show like Will & Grace is an attack on their religion. God forbid (heh) anyone should have a different set of beliefs.

WOW! I thought the Muslims were overreacting to the Mohammad cartoons in Europe, but I guess the Christians are no different.

Oh, I have to agree with you Oftcrash, just watch a different channel if you don't like it. I think the problem is well summed up by the author, who says:

I don't care if I'm in the minority or in the majority, when NBC blatantly specifically puts a show that makes fun of Christians on the day before a Christian holiday, I'm sorry, I find it offensive. That has nothing to do with my faith. That's just poor taste.

Also, the fact that a show that slammed any other religion would be lambasted as not being "accepting of diversity", or any show that made it not ok to be homosexual...you get the idea.

For me, it's not just the particular theme in question that is so "offensive" (I can change the channel as you say), it's the double standard that applies to the open expression of one's beliefs.

It's not like NBC is always biased one way or the other. It was they who turned off the lights and cameras right in the middle of Matt Lauer's interview of Tim Robbins, which made alot of us mad.

@praetor605: The advocacy groups are a minority and while the majority of the country would indeed categorize itself as "christian," most of them have better things to do like lead very unchristian lives.

@J Richmond: Taste is subjective. A world where political correctness rules and everyone is scared to speak their opinion lest someone might be offended doesn't make for good comedy. I find these advocacy groups trying to cram their version of faith down the public's throat offensive, but then I think logically about what they are saying and just find it amusing.

@positron: The latter, but just a minority of them. These things only make the news because of a small number of religious devotees making a lot of noise for the attention. My Grandmother is hard-core, twice-a-day church going Catholic and her opinion on these things is that these groups are nuts because faith is what you believe, not what others think. Good enough for me.

@oftcrash: I agree completely. Poking fun of religion in comedy is much older than "a priest, a monk and a rabbi walk into a bar" so this isn't exactly an outrage so much as an excuse to get on the soapbox.

@stetic: indeed.

It's a TV show....change the channel!

1) When have we seen the American Family Association, the "conservative advocacy group" mentioned in the article, vehemently address an issue that didn't fall into the "social" realm of conservatism? I think they would likely be better labeled a "Christian advocacy group." Take a look at their web site and you likely won't see much about fiscal conservatism.

2) Yeah, it has become sort of OK to make fun of Christians in U.S. society. Really. Look around us. Just like it is pretty much OK to make fun of white people (do you really think a movie called "Black Men Can't Swim" would have been produced by ANYBODY in Hollywood?). Stop the whining. You're the majority; act like it rather than acting like an oppressed minority. Just turn off your TV, change the channel, don't visit Universal Studios parks, sell your GE stock, don't by any GE products, sell all of your current GE products, protest the length of Ann Curry's hair, etc.

3) I think Will & Grace is pretty much played out but still occasionally funny. Isn't humor about crucifixion more funny around Easter due to the topicality? (Uh oh. Insensitive comment! But true. If you don't find such things humorous, your just going to be offended by that statment, but if you do, well, you'll find it humorous. And, no, I don't find it funny.) And there were a lot more people crucified other than Christ.

@ David Knighton: So it is okay to offend all Christians because of a horrific act by sick people who claim to be "Christian"? Just like Islamic Terrorist don't define all of Islam, these sick morons who sent death threats to Chad Allen do not define Christians as a whole.

Why the hell haven't they taken on the Onion? I mean their last Podcast about Christian porn should have gotten them all riled up for a crusade.

So these Christians what the episode censored and taken off the air. Why? If it damages their faith so much to watch it, obviously their faith wasn't that unshakable to begin with. Or, if they are already aware that the material isn't in accordance with their beliefs, why don't they just read the bible or something instead of watching NBC for a half hour while Will & Grace is on? It's not like it would be such an inconvenience for them since, obviously, hardcore Christians aren't the target audience for a show with gay themes. It's not like they are ripping Jesus a new one on 7th Heaven. Now that would be offensive.

I noticed that the story link doesn't seem to go directly to the story anymore. CNN also has the story on their site.

From their story:

According to NBC's initial synopsis of the episode, Jack's fictional TV network, Out TV, is taken over by a Christian broadcaster, leading Spears' character to do a cooking segment on his show called "Cruci-fixin's."

I watched several episodes of "The Book of Daniel" (the again reference in the story title above), and found it to be a relatively weak show but on the whole, not that offensive. I can't imagine a less-racy portrayal of Christ than on that show. As for "Will & Grace", I've never been that much of a fan of the show. I think Christians would love it, since gays are routinely the subject matter of most of the jokes. I suppose satire isn't something that conservative Christians deal with very well.

I'd say the "Cruci-fixin's" joke is probably the funniest thing on W&G in a couple of seasons. Too bad it's wasted on Spears, if they even decide to use it at all.

I guess I had the wrong idea about this story. As a Christian, at first I was a bit alarmed, but now I see I'm just far too uptight. According to some of the comments, this is no big deal. Christians shouldn't worry when our faith is ridiculed, we should just take it. People's beliefs, their very way of life, that has no santity, we can make fun of that all we want. Great news, I'll go tell Pat Robertson to come up with some homophobic jokes, us Christians will get a great laugh out of that. Oh don't worry if that offends anyone who is gay, just ignore it. Obviously if gays, muslims, jews, or anyone else can't take being made fun of, their beliefs are weak and insubstanial anyway. If someone is really dedicated to their beliefs, they WANT to be ridiculed. That must be it.

It doesn't matter if it's religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or political alignment, whatever you think or believe is cannon fodder for the bored and asinine to get laughs off of. Come on people, respect and consideration are obviously overrated. We should say whatever we want with no consideration to how it might offend someone else because obviously that's how we would want people to treat us and our views.

Ha. Ha. Ha. Hilarious, really.

I don't know that making a joke (unfunny though it may be) is "slamming" a religious practitioner. I agree that there is little chance of a Christian tuning in Will & Grace to begin with. I think it's funny how Christians and Muslims are up in arms over any perceived slight, while it seems EVERYONE finds pagan people fair game. Even during a sermon, Christians feel free to outright mock those who don't share their beliefs, especially a pagan person. Aren't programs ALLOWED to offend some people in our country? I'm so tired of Christians dictating what can be said and shown. I'd love to see how Christians would react if "Allah" was substituted for "God" in our Pledge of Allegiance, and every where else Christians seem to think it belongs in our country, "Love it or Leave it". Perhaps then they might see why that point about separating church and state is important to some of us. Growing up, I loved the idea that we lived in a nation whose ideals were to let people freely worship as they see fit. I'm sick of having Christians force their beliefs on me and what I might watch or listen to on the public (and now private) airwaves!

Dudes. Turn the other cheek. You didn't see Christ complaining about his persecution.

For some reason the link didn't work for me. I'm reposting the link for those of you who are having the same problem.

/www.cnsnews.com/bozellcolumn/archive/2006/col20060111.asp">http://www.cnsnews.com/bozellcolumn/archive/2006/col20060111.asp

With all the competing belief systems in play there are just too many opportunities to be offended, but the offense needs to be put into perspective. Is it a direct personal attack at an individual, or is it meant as a general critique of a movement or a faith's problematic aspects? I find it disingenuous to say that Christians are victims of ridicule and harassment for no unwarranted reasons in today's polarized political climate - look around, Christians and their social conservative movement have engineered political control of many positions in our government, from state and local offices right up to Bush (who is a Methodist with clear political ties to the Evangelicals.) Ted Haggard, leader of New Life Church, and President of the National Association of Evangelicals has weekly phone calls with the Bush administration (for god's sake!) So it's a bit hard to accept that Christian's are somehow off limits while they pursue strategies that many consider harmful and narrow-minded like institutional prejudice and activism against homosexuals (why bother with jokes when you're busy passing legislation to separate and limit their civil rights?) or imposing their views on an individual's right to die a dignified death at a time of their choosing, or outlawing abortion outright. It's this sanctimony displayed by certain factions within various religious groups that somehow their views and opinions are buttressed by an almighty figure that is unassailable and never to be questioned that is the height of tragicomedy to me.

I'm sorry this is the correct link

Culture War: Amen.

I think that to call the episode this show in question, which absolutely none of us have seen (it hasn't even been written yet, let alone filmed), offensive is just absurd. First of all, Pat Robertson saying things on a prayer hour/news show about gays or foreign leaders is a far cry from a 30 minute sitcom. One is a religious (and wannabe political) leader telling his followers what to think. The other is a comedy satire. The context of them both is simply not equal.

This W&G episode has all of the persecution of Christians of Ned Flanders saying "Yeah! Christ-O-Riffic," except Flanders is a more three dimensional character than Brittany Spears. For all the complaining the conservatives make about "whiny liberals," and then to pitch a fit about this is really pathetic.

Fundamentalist Christians will find themselves less the object of ridicule when they stop acting ridiculous. I find them ridiculous, this is America, I can find anyone ridiculous if I want to as they can find me ridiculous if they choose to. Again, it's a TV show, if it offends you, change the channel.