NBC accused of double standard
NBC is sending a mixed message to Christians across the nation by planning to show an offensive Madonna concert in its entirety while requiring biblical messages to be edited out of the popular “VeggieTales” children’s show, Brent Bozell, president of the Parents Television Council, said in a letter to an NBC executive Sept. 20. A centerpiece of Madonna’s global “Confessions” tour has been a stunt where she performs a song called “Live to Tell” while suspended on a giant cross wearing a crown of thorns, and NBC plans to air the concert in November. The mock crucifixion has drawn protests from church leaders in Rome and Moscow, according to Reuters. Meanwhile, NBC has started airing episodes of VeggieTales in its Saturday morning cartoon lineup but has asked that all references to biblical or evangelical messages be edited out. Bozell said Madonna’s mock crucifixion is the entertainer “doing her utmost to deliberately insult the Christian faith,” and he noted that NBC executive Kevin Reilly said the broadcasting company “viewed it and didn’t see it as being inappropriate.” Bozell wrote, “What he is saying, loudly and unequivocally, is that NBC’s official position is that it is appropriate to insult Christians. This attitude toward Christianity is inexcusable. It’s also a shocking double standard.”
Land, others seek expanded anti-obscenity effort
Southern Baptist public policy specialist Richard Land and other pro-family leaders have urged the White House to step up prosecution of obscenity and have asked for a meeting with President Bush as a part of that effort. Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, joined Focus on the Family chairman James Dobson and American Family Association chairman Donald Wildmon, as well as nearly 80 other national and state leaders, in a letter to Bush requesting the meeting and urging an expanded effort by the administration against illegal pornography. The signers said they “value the administration’s accomplishments” on the issue so far and hope they can discuss methods of working with the President “to further protect children and families.” Bush’s help “is essential,” the letter said, “because pornographers and sexual predators are increasingly targeting America’s most vulnerable citizens: our children.” The letter urged the President to speak publicly about the problem of obscenity. The signers also asked the President to add prosecutors and resources to the Obscenity Prosecution Task Force at the Department of Justice.
MBTS headcount passes 1,000 for 1st time
Student enrollment at Midwestern Baptist Seminary broke the 1,000 mark during the 2005-06 school year for the first time since the seminary’s founding in 1957, registrar Dave Richards reported. The headcount was up 21.9 percent for the 2005-06 school year, representing an increase from 899 students last year to 1,096 students this previous year. Students enrolled at the Kansas City, Mo., campus accounted for 841, or 77 percent, of the total headcount. These included students in the doctoral, first professional, master’s, undergraduate and WISDOM programs. The remaining 255, or 23 percent, of the students were enrolled in extension courses in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa and South Dakota. Enrollment at Midwestern has grown steadily over the past three years. The 2005-06 headcount is up 56 percent, or 395 students, over the 2002-03 reported headcount of 701.