Study: Religion Portrayed Negatively on TV

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NEW YORK - Television entertainment programs mention God more often than they did in the mid-1990s but tend to depict organized religion negatively, a study released Thursday said.

The Parents Television Council watched every hour of prime-time on the broadcast networks during the 2003-04 season and logged 2,344 treatments of religion. They judged 22 percent of the mentions positive, 24 percent negative and the rest neutral.

The conservative group’s last study, released in 1997, found far fewer mentions of the topic _ an average of once per hour compared to three times per hour last season.

But any mention of a religious institution or member of the clergy was at least twice as likely to be negative than positive, the council said.

“Ninety percent of the American people believes in God,” said Brent Bozell, the council’s president. “It is an important issue to most people. Hollywood is attacking the very thing that they consider important in their own lives. Perhaps Hollywood ought to be changing its world view.”

Negative examples varied widely: from comic Jimmy Kimmel joking on the American Music Awards that winners should resist thanking God, to a Catholic priest admitting on “The Practice” that he had had sex with a woman who was later murdered.
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Of Note:
“An NBC spokeswoman, Shannon Jacobs, said the network hadn’t seen the study but rejected its conclusion. NBC’s programming reflects the diversity of its audience, she said.”
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The ol’ “It’s not our fault, We’re too busy pandering” excuse.
 
Generally they will always get very liberal theologians as experts. If they want religion to look bad they will find a fundamentalist to come up with some crazy statement and then point out “This is the way religious people think…”

It always amazes me who they pick for experts. You get Bishop Spong or other bitter men who live to rip the church that welcomed them into little bits and pieces.

Lisa N
 
I was trying to point this out to my wife, she just doesn’t seem to grasp it. We used to watch a show called “Sliders” regularly - until I noticed the villian of nearly every episode was a “religious” group of some sort. The whole story line seemed to be how “science and reason” will triumph over religious “superstition”.
Its to the point now alarm bells start going off everytime I see a Christian potrayed on TV, I pretty much anticipate the coming attack. It seems most of the prime-time shows are little more than thinly disguised propoganda for the secular left.
Two notable exceptions - CSI NY and NYPD Blue. CSI NY tends towards more pro-religion themes, quite possibly due to the influence of it’s star, Gary Sinese, a well-known conservative.
NYPD Blue just tends to ignore politics all together, which is fine with me.
The “Law and Orders” are a mixed bag, at least usually there’s an indication that there are two views on some subjects and that there are valid reasons for both positions. I still am amazed Sen Fred Thompson got such a prominent role on a prime-time show.
 
The attacks have escalated after Mel Gibson’s film. Off the top of my head I can think of :
  • the theatrical re-release of the Life of Brian in response
  • the movie about the Da Vinci Code being greenlighted shortly after
  • Ridley Scott’s anti-catholic “Kingdom of Heaven” about the crusades greenlighted.
  • ABC special about Mary Magdalene being the wife of Jesus
  • Peter Jenning’s attack on the Apostle Paul
  • Discovery channel documentary on the life of Ramses (which was a very weak attempt to discredit the biblical account btw)
  • CNN special on the two Marys
  • Newsweek article on Christmas
 
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