Media Watchdog Leads Protest of ‘Christophobic’ Cartoon About Jesus

Movieguide founder Ted Baehr is
seeking 500,000 signatures on an online petition to stop Comedy Central from
pursuing the half-hour program JC. According to the network, the show portrays God as more interested in playing video games
than listening to His son talk about adjusting to life in the big city. The
show is being produced by Reveille, the company behind The
Office, Ugly Betty and The Biggest Loser.

“The very concept of this show is blasphemous
and Christophobic,” Baehr said in an e-mail to supporters. “Comedy Central wouldn’t develop such a
show about Mohammed, the founder of Islam. 
So, why do they want to develop a show mocking Jesus Christ and Christ’s
relationship to the Father, first person of the Holy and undivided Trinity?”

Just weeks before it announced JC
in early May, Comedy Central opted not to air an image of the Muslim prophet
Muhammad in a bear costume on its animated series South Park after the
network was threatened by an extremist Islamic website. Comedy Central obscured
the character with a black box and bleeped out references to his name.

Baehr is part of a newly formed coalition that on Thursday condemned Comedy
Central, which is owned by Viacom, for using a double standard regarding its
treatment of Islam and Christianity. Citizens Against Religious Bigotry (CARB)
is sending letters to network advertisers urging them to refrain from spending
ad dollars on JC. On June 17 the coalition will identify which
companies agreed not to sponsor the show.

In addition to Baehr, CARB includes Brent Bozell, president of the Media
Research Center; James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family and now president
of Family Talk; Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America; Family
Research Council President Tony Perkins; radio talk show host Michael Medved;
and Rabbi Daniel Lapin of the American Alliance of Jews and Christians.

“Why does Comedy Central give such deference to Islam while
mocking Christianity,” Perkins asked during a conference call Thursday. “Is it
because they confuse the civility of Christianity with weakness?”

CARB released a video showing a pattern of offensive
portrayals of Christ and God on Comedy Central, most from South Park.
The video includes clips of Jesus defecating on President George W. Bush and a
statue of the Virgin Mary menstruating on the pope.

After announcing JC last month, Comedy Central’s head of original programming, Kent Alterman, said “comedy in purist form always
makes some people uncomfortable.” But Baehr called that claim
“self-aggrandizing,” pointing to I Love Lucy, Up and My Big
Fat Greek Wedding as examples of “great” comedies that don’t blaspheme
religion and are not designed to offend.

“Contrary to the opinion of many self-proclaimed
pundits, mockery and personal ridicule is not good satire,” Baehr said. “It’s
naked propaganda, designed to demonize and stereotype.”

Movieguide
has launched similar protests of controversial films such as Hounddog, which depicted a scene of child rape, and Antichrist, which included
explicit sexuality
and disturbing scenes of mutilation and violence.

“Stopping
this program that is so offensive to God is essential to preaching the gospel
of Jesus Christ and letting people know His infinite love and glory,” Baehr
said. “Every program or movie that mocks and
ridicules Jesus Christ and the gospel breaks God’s heart … another spear
piercing His side.”

According
to the AP, many development deals don’t result in a series. The network must
first like the scripts enough to produce a test episode, then find that strong
enough to put it on the air.