LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY nebris)

An Indiana television station is refusing to air a new NBC series that features Jesus Christ as a supporting character, citing complaints from viewers.

"The Book of Daniel," which debuts Friday, stars Aidan Quinn as an Episcopal priest who speaks to a physical Jesus Christ.

Duane Lammers, WTWO-TV's general manager, said he was exercising the station's right to reject network programming.

"If my action causes people in our community to pay more attention to what they watch on television, I have accomplished my mission," he said in a statement posted on the station's Web site.

The show has drawn fire from conservative Christians, including the Tupelo, Miss.-based American Family Association.

"We expect other NBC affiliates will join WTWO in their decision," said the AFA's chairman, Donald E. Wildmon. It was not immediately clear whether any other stations planned to do so.

NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly told The New York Times last month that the show was intended to be thought-provoking.

"Some of the best shows on TV start with the perception of controversy, which is usually not an issue if it's backed by quality," Reilly said.

On the Net:

http://www.wtwo.com/

http://www.afa.net/

~'Jesus in a supporting role'. LOL

~And this of course has nothing to do with the minister's son being gay and 'out' only to his family. A good Christian would send his faggy lil ass off to a Dominionist Re-education Camp.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY britzkrieg)

I don't know if this is technically "dominionist" activity, but it certainly shows how conservative Catholics are flexing their muscles.

Following the Dec. 7 season finale of South Park, titled "Bloody Mary," the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights slammed the network for its irreverent portrayal of church icons and sought to block the episode from being rebroadcast.

It appears the group may have met with success. A repeat of the finale was scheduled to air Wednesday night, but was seemingly pulled from the Comedy Central lineup without explanation.

In the episode, [really gross and offensive stuff transpires]. Somewhat predictably, the Catholic League was incensed by the satirical portrayal of the Virgin Mary and the pope and by the fact that the episode aired on the day before the Catholic Church celebrated its Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

The conservative group demanded an apology from Viacom, Comedy Central's parent company, to Roman Catholics everywhere and "a pledge that this episode be permanently retired and not be made available on DVD." The Catholic League also sought a personal condemnation from Viacom board member Joseph A. Califano Jr., who the group noted is a "practicing Catholic."

Califano was only too happy to oblige. After viewing the episode, he released a statement calling the episode an "appalling and disgusting portrayal of the Virgin Mary."

Full Story

I've seen the episode in question -- twice, in fact. Personally, I was more offended by the writers' characterization of alcoholism as a simple lack of discipline than I was by the sacrilege. Nonetheless, this is South Park, folks. It's supposed to be offensive, and long-time fans have seen how the writers constantly "push the envelope." I doubt conservative Catholics are in the target audience.

I don't really like this episode, but I'd hate to see this attempt at censorship succeed. I hope someone will somehow make this episode available for download, as Xenu.net did with the Scientology episode.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Here's a link to the transcript of a recent NBC Special about evangelicals. I think that you will find it interesting that many of them say that they don't want a theocracy, but yet still endorse one using different words.


NBC's Tom Brokaw goes inside the world of Christian Evangelicals

Read it and learn.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY laevatein)

Hey, everyone, I've been lurking here for a while, and found this quite interesting. I'm a major in anthropology, and tend to have fun making connections between the media and current issues. I'm wondering if anyone has been following Veronica Mars at all?

( Major Spoilers for season 2, including tonight's episode )

Now is this me, or are they blatently making references to dominionist-type families? Do any other shows do this?

Sorry if I misread signs, but I've never approached this topic before.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY charlayne)

I just heard that tomorrow (Tuesday, the 29th), Margarite Perrin is going to be a guest on Jay Leno.

Yep, you know that name.

Need a hint?

"Get the **** out of my house, in Jesus' name I pray!"

Yeah, the Trading Spouses nutball.

This should be fun. I know I'm going to tune in, just to see if she really "gets it" or if she is still totally clueless as to how rabid she came across on TV.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Christian network fights for TV station

Saturday, November 26, 2005

By GILLIAN FLACCUS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SANTA ANA, Calif. -- For more than 30 years, public television station KOCE has dedicated coverage to Orange County in a media market otherwise dominated by the news and glitz of nearby Los Angeles.

But the small station is now battling in court to prevent Daystar, one of the nation's largest Christian networks, from taking over its airwaves.( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY iniswitryn)

I've seen references here to Fox's show "Trading Spouses," specifically the dominionist beliefs and fear-based nightmarish world of participant Marguerite Perrin. When I came across this doll on eBay (I have no affiliation with this auction, nor am I bidding on it), I thought the image might amuse some people here (although it might trigger others).

If this is an inappropriate post, will the community maintainers please delete it - I won't be offended. I'm just going for a little comic relief with it. :)

God Warrior Doll

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY amethyst_hunter)

I don't watch the show in question myself (1: I don't get cable; 2: even if I did I wouldn't watch it anyway because it's not my cuppa java) but danged if this doesn't seriously annoy me.

"Nip/Tuck" ads yanked, self-righteous PTC feelin' pretty smug

"Nip/Tuck" Ads Slashed

By Bridget Byrne Thu Nov 10, 8:20 PM ET

Toyota is peeling away from Nip/Tuck.

Pressured by the self-proclaimed decency mavens at the Parents Television Council, the auto company has pulled all its advertising from the FX series about the ethically fraught personal and private lives of a couple of Miami plastic surgeons.

The PTC trumpeted Toyota's pull-out on its Website, saying the auto maker wrote a letter last week to PTC boss L. Brent Bozell III "indicating the company is pulling their advertising from the ultra-raunchy FX show Nip/Tuck. ( Read more )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY squidflakes)

If anyone got to catch Trading Spouses tonight, then you'll know how insane this obviously Dominionist woman was.

For those who didn't catch it, image a woman who's pushing 400 pounds on a light frame pushing and prodding a new agey family with constant admonisment about going to church and beliving in god. Then, when they try to talk about their beliefs, she ignores them, asks them to not talk about it, then finally starts screaming at them.

When she gets home, she completely melts down, starts screaming about witchcraft, tarot cards, gargoyles. She was so worried that this "dark sided" woman had tainted the family that she kept yelling at them, and finally ripped up the $50,000 check that the show rewards you with. Course, her family loved the "evil spirtual" mom.

In the end, in a nice little aside, she descided to accept the money.

It was a hell of a ride, and I really felt sorry for the woman. Anyone who can get that far in life being that ignorant and close-minded deserves pity.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY amethyst_hunter)

By accident tonight I happened to be sitting in front of the TV and caught the 10 pm news. For those of you in/near the Chicago area, this may be of interest.

Channel 5 had a report on a mission named Love Holy Trinity Blessed Mission, which is based in Chicago and has ties - or did - to Catholicism. Supposedly it's a mission based on Catholic principles, but according to the report, it's definitely got some cult behavior going on. One woman tearfully talked about her daughter, who literally overnight opted out of a college education and joined the mission, and hasn't been heard from since...because one of their tenets is that ALL members *must* cut ties with all outside worlders - *including* family members. That right there is a red flag.

There is a small newsclip on NBC5 Chicago's website; the report is also going to be expanded upon this coming Sunday evening at 10:00 pm. I hope I can catch it.

Project Tocsin has a very interesting article on their blog page regarding godcasters that is in reference to a recent article on the main group in the US coordinating "godcasting" groups, televangelists and the like. (The original Harper's article is available here as part of their "Soldiers of Christ" collection on dominionism.)

Specifically, the Tocsin article details a national conference of "godcasting" broadcasters by the National Religious Broadcasters, which included an awards ceremony at which an FCC employee received an award:

The convention opened on Saturday evening with an awards ceremony highlighted by the prestigious Chairman’s Award which was something of a paradox as it was “for serving the Christian community in a distinguished and exemplary manner,” but it was given to a nonbeliever, homophobic talk radio host, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, who received a standing ovation. She acknowledged the award by saying she was “just a Jewish girl from the Bronx,” and that “we both serve the same God.”

Another award which one would think raises conflict-of-interest issues was given to Federal Communications Commission Chief of Media, Roy Stewart, the senior staff person who handles all broadcast matters. He accepted his award saying, “It is you who should be honored.”

FCC spokesperson David Sisk said the bureau had no policy about FCC employees receiving awards from those whom they regulate that everyone including the FCC commissioners receive awards all the time. Also honored as TV program of the year was Pat Robertson’s 700 Club.

This so far makes two confirmed dominionist-friendly regulators in the FCC--the other being advisor Penny Nance (whose connections to dominionist groups are thoroughly documented here.

The really worrying thing, however, is that Roy Stewart is head of the Media Bureau of the FCC (which is the division that regulates both radio and television stations, including LPFM stations). Per the FCC Phonebook he is still employed there, and per the Media Bureau's bureau chief listing he is Senior Deputy Media Chief of the Media Bureau. Roy Stewart is also--notably--Chief, Office of Broadcast License Policy. (In other words, the very guy who accepted the award from the National Religious Broadcasters is the very guy who sets official FCC policy for who gets and who doesn't get an FCC broadcast license.)

Disturbingly, the FCC also apparently sees no conflict of interest in receiving awards from dominionist "godcasters" (many of whom are blatantly hijacking LPFM licenses to set up barely regulated "godcasting" networks and would in fact be applying for LPFM and translator licenses from the Media Bureau itself).

We may have just found direct evidence of collusion between dominionists (and the hijacking of LPFM licenses) and the FCC itself. I'll keep you all posted.

( References for NRB and dominionist links )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY hummingwolf)

Tucked deep inside a massive bill designed to track sex offenders and prevent children from being victimized by sex crimes...

The provision added to the Children's Safety Act of 2005 would require any film, TV show or digital image that contains a sex scene to come under the same government filing requirements that adult films must meet.

Currently, any filmed sexual activity requires an affidavit that lists the names and ages of the actors who engage in the act. The film is required to have a video label that claims compliance with the law and lists where the custodian of the records can be found. The record-keeping requirement is known as Section 2257, for its citation in federal law. Violators could spend five years in jail.

Under the provision inserted into the Children's Safety Act, the definition of sexual activity is expanded to include simulated sex acts like those that appear in many movies and TV shows.

As has been pointed out, child pornography is already illegal, and California already has stringent laws protecting children (including child actors) from harm. What the modifications to this bill seem likely to do is to enable the federal government to crack down on any sexual scene dating back to 1995--including those between clothed actors on prime-time TV--if filmmakers haven't kept records which conform to today's law.

In other words, while there is nothing in the article which specifically mentions the Religious Right, you can bet they'll be goading officials to take full advantage of this provision if the thing gets passed. Similar provisions have been ruled unconstitutional in the past; here's hoping people come to their senses this time around as well.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY jarandhel)

It starts out with saying how Ronald Reagan once said he wanted to invite an atheist to a delicious banquet, and when it was done ask him if he believed there was a cook. Then it asks you to imagine eating such a meal and being told there was no cook. Then it says this is happening every day in our schools, children being taught that all life and the universe came from nothing. Then it closes with "Evolution is a lie. Don't buy it. Read the Bible." I believe printed below that was "Genesis 1:1", but it flashed by too fast for me to catch it and I was pretty astounded to see such an ad at all, let alone on the SCI FI channel.

The Dominionists are apparently buying ad time for their ideologies on Cable TV now. I never would have expected to see something like that there, especially not during the Dungeons and Dragons 2 movie.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Today's Talk To Action entry talks about what books and magazines to read, what websites to monitor, and other things you can do if you think that the Religious Right is a problem.

If You Think the Religious Right is a Problem....
There are lots of things to be done.

One of the first things to do --- is to learn more about it.

The Christian Right is one of the most successful political movements in American history. Yet people's level of literacy about the subject is often, well, shockingly low. The Christian Right is the dominant faction in the GOP. There are reasons for that. But few seem to know what those reasons are. If we are going to have intelligent conversations about all this, let alone be able to have coherent discussions about what to do, we need to have more people who share a common base of knowledge and the language necessary to have meaningful conversations. After many years, I know that useful knowledge and conversation in this area can be hard to come by.

So here is my up-by-the-bootstraps, do-it-yourself program for coming up to speed: books, magazines, conferences, videos, blogging -- and a radical idea.

Fred Clarkson goes on to list various places to go- including this board!- to learn more about the Religious Right. It's an excellent reference.

Archive of an sfgate.com article regarding dominionists in the military (and in particular the hijacking of the chaplaincy):
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/12152/Evangelical-influence-spurs-clashes-among-military-chaplains

Info on dominionists damning the victims of Katrina further (and claiming the hurricane is divine retribution): http://www.religionnewsblog.com/12148/Wrath-of-God--but-why-gets-many-reasons

And a request for readers:

Per http://www.religionnewsblog.com/12151/Brokaw-to-Focus-on-Evangelical-Movement Tom Brokaw was supposed to have a show on 8 September focusing in part on the dominionist/Avengelical group "New Life Church" in Colorado Springs (one of the largest churches in the US, and at the very heart of the dominionist movement in Colorado Springs).

Did anyone happen to catch this show or have any comments?

Apparently both CNN and Good Morning America (on ABC) have done segments on the "De-gaying camp" controversy and with Love In Action in particular (Reviews of both shows at http://www.exgaywatch.com/blog/archives/2005/07/the_good_mornin.html)

http://www.washblade.com/2005/7-29/news/national/ex-gay.cfm has an interesting expose that shows--as frightening as it may seem--that "Love In Action" is actually *moderate* as far as de-gaying camps go (some use techniques that are akin to torture:

For example, Exodus will not work with aversion therapists who use penis rings that deliver shocks when subjects respond to inappropriate imagery. Exodus also seeks to distance itself from “holding therapists” who try to heal people of homosexuality by touching them.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200508120008 notes, among other things, the continued use of Fox News as a dominionist mouthpiece (this time for "intelligent design", aka young-earth creationism cleverly disguised and not to be confused with "guided evolution" (as formerly accepted in the Catholic Church pre-Pope Palpatine, erm, Benedict XVI) or other forms of creationism that are at least compatible with evolution). (It should be of note that Rupert Murdoch, CEO of Fox, *is* known to have been a member of the dominionist think-tank Coalition for National Policy.)

Interestingly, one of the ex-founders of "Love In Action" (and one of a number of "ex-ex-gays", aka those who discovered "de-gaying therapy" doesn't *work*) speaks out himself on the longterm harm: http://www.waynebesen.com/columns/2005/07/love-in-action-co-founder-my-ministry.html (This should give you some info on what poor Zach is going through)

Here's the letter in question: http://www.waynebesen.com/columns/2005/08/john-evans-im-sickened-by-attempts-to.html

As it turns out, Santorum *was* being a pander-bear (surprise, surprise): http://www.waynebesen.com/2005/08/sen-rick-santorum-is-anti-liberty.html has a link to an unfiltered radio interview with Santorum (whole show is available at http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/episodes/08042005 or Santorum's excerpts from the same page). One has to wonder what his aide (whom is gay) thinks of all this...

Interestingly (and unsurprisingly) it seems all the "ex-gay" promoters are on active payrolls of dominionist groups: http://www.waynebesen.com/2005/08/still-no-unpaid-ex-gays-in-america.html and http://www.baywindows.com/media/paper328/news/2005/08/11/News/ExGay.Movement.Plans.Boston.Confab-966568.shtml
have more info.

http://www.waynebesen.com/2005/08/ex-gay-leaders-in-sexual-no-mans-land.html mentions the specifics of the coercive mindset engendered in "de-gaying" centers; this from an expose the BBC did (http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article304446.ece) which is rather similar to the one that Salon Magazine did a month or so ago. Reportedly, BBC2 also did a report on this on 9 August (if anyone in the UK caught it, info, please?)

http://www.exgaywatch.com/blog/archives/2005/06/afa_praises_par.html has info on how the AFA is now targeting gay/les/bi/trans acceptance clubs in school, with examples (http://www.exgaywatch.com/blog/archives/2005/06/afa_praises_par.html) of how they're trying to form "de-gaying" clubs in schools.

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Theocracy_Alert/070605Seesholtz/070605seesholtz.html has a *very* interesting article on dominionism and how the mental health system is often warped by dominionists (usually under the "Christian Counseling" canard, but often with dominionist-friendly mental health professionals and even quasi-professional associations like NARTH). (I would like to note, as an aside, this has gone on for a good twenty or more years, even more so as the recognition of "Bible-based" coercive religious groups has increased; the old USSR and other totalitarian regimes (and, from what little gets out, especially in North Korea) also have tended to abuse the mental health profession in this manner.)

For that matter, http://www.onlinejournal.com/Theocracy_Alert/theocracy_alert.html is a pretty darned good resource (and one we could stand to partner with). Many many good articles.

Speaking of coercive religious groups in "therapeutic" drag, here's some articles noting how Zach's mannerisms in his last blog entry show signs of coercion: http://www.sovo.com/2005/8-5/news/national/nationalnews_zachupdate.cfm and especially http://a_musing.blogspot.com/2005/08/breaking-zach-code.html

Ex-Gay Watch is presently compiling a list of media contacts--specifically, people who have had experience in coercive "de-gaying" facilities like Love In Action (http://www.exgaywatch.com/blog/archives/2005/08/xgw_seeks_to_co.html).

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY britzkrieg)

The following is from a post to one of my other communities. It discusses a recent debate about Intelligent Design on Nightline. The author is vyoma, but the emphasis is mine.

==========================================

...A substantial part of that is a discussion/debate between well-known (paleo)Conservative columnist George Will and slightly-to-the-right-of-Bill O'Reilly columnist Cal Thomas.

It's a big file, but it's well worth the download time. Thomas has been a rather loud voice in the call for inserting "intelligent design" into the science curriculum of public schools, and he makes it abundantly clear what the ID side is really all about. I find it interesting that in almost every single case, when these folks are pinned down about their ideology, they're ultimately forced to admit that it's based on religion. Thomas goes further; he admits — even asserts — that "intelligent design" is a political movement, not actually a scientific one, and that the people who are advancing all the "teach the controversy" nonsense are, to paraphrase Thomas himself, "flag-waving red-state Republicans who are sick of forced secularization" and who tie the issue to things like "abortion on demand, stem cell research and the Terri Schiavo case." He asserts that if religious values aren't taught in public schools (which he refers to in every instance as "government schools"), that there will be a mass exodus to private schools that teach religion as an alternative to science. He is clearly in favor of this.

Will, for his part, holds that precisely for the reasons that Thomas gives, "intelligent design" is not a scientific theory, and thus shouldn't be taught as part of a science curriculum...

If you really want to see "intelligent design" advocates pull away the mask for a few minutes, in any case, the Nightline clip is absolutely worth the download. Next time some ID advocate tries to convince me that their pet apologetic isn't based on religion, I'm going to make them explain what Stephen Meyers and Cal Thomas have to say about it.

http://www.cjrdaily.org/archives/001727.asp
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001010563

Martin, the new head of the Federal Communications Commission, has recently appointed Penny Nance as advisor.

Nance is associated with a fair number of dominionist groups, including:

• Concerned Women for America


• Center for Reclaiming America (which is a blatantly Christian Reconstructionist group)


• "Kids First Coalition" (a dominionist group that also specialises in "stealth evangelism" and targets teenage moms)

Very interestingly, all of the groups she has worked for have pushed senators to ban peer-to-peer applications using dominionist arguments (not the "oh my god they're violating copyright" arguments, rather, "oh my god they could be trading KIDDIE PORN").

It's actually bad enough that very nearly 100 percent of complaints to the FCC on "indecency" in radio and television are from a single dominionist group, the Parent's Television Council.

(Yes, I feel safe in calling PTC dominionist. Two major funders are the DeVos Foundation (the bankroll foundation set up by the founders of Amway specifically for dominionist causes) and Castle Rock Foundation (one of *several* groups set up by the Coors family to bankroll dominionists); the previous article and http://www.mediatransparency.org/story.php?storyID=62 also have further info on dominionist links with PTC. The parent group of PTC, Media Research Council, is also known to be linked to dominionist groups and has pretty much stated they won't be happy unless ALL networks are essentially turned to PAX TV fare.)

The scary thing is, we are likely now to have someone on the boards of the FCC even *friendlier* to their complaint...

UPDATE 10/25/05:

It appears that--per this FCC release--Penny Nance may be operating as the public relations folks for the division of the FCC's Enforcement Bureau specifically dealing with obscene/indecent broadcast. Especially considering Penny Nance's known history of working for dominionist pro-censorship groups this is especially disturbing.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY jehovahsfitness)

For those of you who haven't seen it, I highly recommend The Jesus Factor. It's an informative documentry by PBS's Frontline series that tells about Bush's past with religion and how the Religious Right got him the presidency.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY deridetenebras)

At CrooksandLiars.com:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2005/07/09.html#a3838

(availabe in Quicktime or WindowsMedia)

wherein he addresses the Treaty of Tripoli and America's "Judeo-Christian heritage"