Religious groups are uniting together in planned protests against a new animated series about Jesus Christ living in modern-day New York.
This series is one of a number of projects that Comedy Central is planning for the coming season, and while there is no certainty this particular project will make it out of script development, various groups are still planning sustained protest activities, which includes attempts to persuade advertisers to boycott the project.
Here’s a description of the show from Comedy Central:
“A half-hour animated show about JC (Jesus Christ) wanting to escape his father's enormous shadow and to live life in NYC as a regular guy. A lot has changed in 2000 years and he is the ultimate fish out of water. Meanwhile his all-powerful yet apathetic father would rather be playing video games than listening to JC recount his life in the city. JC is a playful take on religion and society with a sprinkle of dumb.”
Citizens Against Religious Bigotry (CARB) have described the intended show as “an abomination purported to be entertainment.” The coalition includes the Media Research Center, the Family Research Council, the Catholic League, the Parents Television Council and the American Alliance of Jews and Christians, as well as radio talk show host Michael Medved.
CARB believe that Comedy Central not only have a check-marked history of treating the Christian faith with scorn and contempt, but also have double standards in how they portray Islam and the Prophet Muhammad. Recently, Comedy Central agreed to edit out references to Muhammad from ‘South Park,’ after a radical Muslim group delivered death threats to the show’s creators.
“After we reveal the vile and offensive nature of Comedy Central’s previous characterizations of Jesus Christ and God the Father, we expect these advertisers to agree wholeheartedly to end their advertising on Comedy Central and discontinue their support for unabashed, anti-Christian discrimination,” said Brent Bozell, president of the MRC.
“Why should they be supporting a business that makes a habit of attacking Christianity and yet has a formal policy to censor anything considered offensive to followers of Islam? This double standard is pure bigotry, one from which advertisers should quickly shy away. After all, there are other avenues to redirect their advertising dollars in places that do not offend and alienate viewers. We will reconvene in the coming weeks to share the results of our appeal and the next steps we will take.”
Comedy Central had no comment, says the LA Times.
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