Image Credit: Comedy CentralWell, it took them almost a month, but as predicted, religious bigwigs are preparing to square off against Comedy Central in protest of the network’s upcoming animated Jesus Christ project, JC. According to The Hollywood Reporter, notable names like Brent Bozell, Tony Perkins, Tim Winter, and Michael Medved are forming the Citizens Against Religious Bigotry to protest JC.
Mmm…CARBs. (As THR said, “If only it wasn’t the Coalition of the Religious Against Bigotry, because then it could be ‘CRAB.’” And I would love to see Comedy Central duel with some CRAB People.)
CARB has yet to see a pilot or script, since JC is still in development, and might not even find its way on air, regardless of the controversy. But that’s not stopping them from trying to convince advertisers to withhold support from the show if it does get picked up: “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,” Bozell said in a statement to THR. “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.”
While Matt Stone and Trey Parker might agree with that last point, Comedy Central is declining comment. But is CARB justified in being angry that Comedy Central shows like South Park have depicted Jesus as a knife-wielding ninja, and God as a Buddhist hippo-cat-phant? Or should Comedy Central keep the religion-inspired creativity coming?
Related:
Jesus Christ animated series to air on Comedy Central. Peace be with them.
Interestingly enough, Jesus on South Park has never really been a negative portrait, though occasionally ridiculous (the whole Red Sleigh Down thing, plus I can’t imagine the American Catholics loved Jesus splitting Bill Donohue with a ninja shurikan). They’ve shown him as insecure at times, but hey, so did the Bible.
No, no, no – this American Catholic DESPISES Bill Donahue and his stupid “War on Christmas” whining Catholic League. Bring on the cartoon dismemberment!
u no its kinda sad.. wen i turn on t.v and i find some cartoon thats mocking Jesus! and wen you mock Jesus… you insult all christians!!! You have a right to practise wat ever relegion you want.. but still got to respect others beleifs!
Wow. If Jesus ever existed, he’d probably find this whole debate really funny.
Jesus age Efing Christ. Get a G.D. life!!! Jesus and God should not be above scrutiny.
@ ang: Jesus might want you to spell correctly though when defending his honor
@ang Uhh B.S. I do not HAVE to respect your belief in silly fairy tales that have no basis in fact. I have the right to mock you and your ridiculous religion as often, and as harshly as i want. Put down your bible and check out the U.S. Constitution some time.
The inner nerd in me must point out that it was the krull blade Jesus used to kill Bill
ack! the krull glaive to be super duper extra geektastuc
Waw.. Jesus killing somebody sounds pretty accurate with the Bible….?????? yea! and you wonder why Christains dont like this whole idea!? waw common sence is really not that common any more)!
Apparently neither is spell check.
For the record, Jesus never killed anyone in the Bible. One of Jesus’ main “features” was that he was the man without any sin, which is why he was able to die for our sins.
I certainly find it wrong that Comedy Central (and other TV stations) find it necessary to make jokes at the expense of Christianity, but I suppose it’s to be expected by this point. I’ll be making my point another way: by not watching their show. It’s the only form of protest networks understand…
.
uhmmmm.. They are just NOW complaining about this? They didn’t mind the previous portrayals of Jesus from South Park?
South Park is one of the most politically incorrect and offensive show on tv and yet it does not discriminate. Aaaahh the irony. They make fun of everyone and everything. So for people to complain about the show mainly for its religious jokes……
It’s really too bad people don’t get this PO’d with actual reality. sigh
The only miracle of christianity is that anyone would believe it.
im not the best christian ever but, you guys are going to hell
Come on Comedy Central, cave in like you did to the Muslims.
I’m a pretty solid Christian, but I’ve never been offended by South Park’s renditions of Jesus. Some of us actually have a sense of humor, folks! Some sects of Christianity don’t like, for instance, helping the poor, so they whine about this sort of thing. It’s really annoying.
Exactly. My Grandma Sofia is one of the most devout Catholics I have ever met, and she finds it hilarious.
I’m sick of Santa being portrayed poorly! Santa Claus is a REAL person and this rweligious hatred and bigotry must stop now! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
You win.
Don’t you mean…Rabble….Rabble! RABBLE!
Comedy Central can’t have it both ways. If you censor to placate muslims, you must doe the same for Christians, Jews, Hindus, etc. That, or don’t censor at all.
Comedy Central can’t have it both ways. If you censor to placate muslims, you must do the same for Christians, Jews, Hindus, etc. That, or don’t censor at all.
Fixed
Hey, Vince — can Comedy Central have it both ways?
Actually they can. They won’t get death threats by pissing off Christians..well, not unless you’re an abortion clinic
Yeah but Vince…..Christians, Jews and Hindus won’t start riots and MURDER others for depicting a picture of their profit. Sooooo….there it is.
Profit…ha, good one.
Oh well then it’s ok. As long as the other religions don’t pose a serious threat, why acknowledge their offense? In the end, it’s nothing more than a game of self-preservation for Comedy Central. Be sure to only insult people that won’t fight back. (and before you say “this whole article is ABOUT Christians fighting back,” protesting and murder aren’t really on the same page)
when it comes to murdering people in the name of their god then all other religions on the planet would have to work overtime for a few centuries to catch up with Christianity
If these guys actually watched South Park, they’d see that SP doesn’t really make fun of the religious figures themselves. Jesus is never explicitly made fun of, made to look buffoonish or anything, nor any other Gods. The whole thing with Mohamed had less to do with religion and more to do with making fun of celebrity lore. I can’t wait for a show about Jesus. Jesus is ripe for comedic picking. It’s not like they’re trying to make a comedic show about the Holocaust or something.
The “Muslim” thing was specifically designed to offend Muslims by portraying Mohammed. This is strictly forbidden (as are all graven images). Even by suggesting that Mohammed was dressed in a costume it made it an image of Mohammed, thereby forbidden. Either the creators of SP are too stupid to figure out basic logic or they were deliberately trying to pick a fight to support other people who have deliberately picked fights with Muslims over images of Mohammed. I would like to think the former but I know the egos of Stone and Parker are so huge that it must be the latter.
we’re all forgetting that south park did portray Mohammed in at least one episode years ago, that one with the super friends thing, where they ended up making that giant John Wilks Booth to kill the giant Lincoln. and I don’t remember any Muslims getting mad about that. I think the issue with portraying Mohammed is when it’s done specifically to make people mad. sure, they’re overreacting, but they’re also being specifically targeted and picked on, which isn’t right either.
“This is strictly forbidden”??!??? What does that even mean to someone that isn’t a Muslim? Why should the creators of SP care if something is forbidden by Islam? This is America, Kristen. It’s not Mecca or Rome or Jerusalem. The U.S. operates under something called a Constitution which guarantees freedom OF religion and freedom FROM religion. Freedom of speech is also granted by the Bill of Rights — this includes depictions of religious figures. If Muslims have issues with images of Muhammed, they shouldn’t tune in! The same thing goes for the Christians about the JC show — don’t watch it if it offends you. How simple it would be if people like these would worry about themselves and stop trying to make everyone around them adhere to their beliefs.
You cant make fun of the Holocaust but YOU CAN make fun of JESUS!? Wat kinda justification is that!? Lets put it this way.. us Christians beleive Jesus is the Sun of GOD.. and making a comedy out of Him is like saying He is not what He is! i bet you wouldnt like it if some one decided to make fun of the holocaust.. becuz it will make the holocaust seem not as serious as it was!!! Just like making Jesus look like a ninja… in a cartoon is like saying He wasnt really the sun of GOD as we beleive.. and to see that on t.v. hurts.. and i mean hurts! I personally dont think relegion should be made fun of.. find some other “creative” way to make a statement!
Please don’t speak for all Christians. I guarantee you I know far more about Christianity than you do. I am a practicing Catholic, and I love South Park and have no problem with their depictions of any religious figure, mainly because they do it to EVERY religion, and do not single one out.
And by the way, if you were a Practicing Christian, I would hope you would not think that “Jesus is the Sun of GOD” and believe instead that Jesus is the Son of God….you’re making the rest of us look like idiots. Please stop talking.
i meant to say the Son of GOD!!! oops.. lols.. ok.. that was prtty stupid.. lols. anyways.. back to my point.. iam a practising Catholic as well.. and thats why its insulting.. they might be doing this to all relegions but it still doesnt make it right!!! Relegion shouldnt be something to be made fun of! and most of the time wat i have noticed is that.. most ppl make fun of other relegions.. cuz they dont no anything about it!… and how can some one judge rite if they dont no enough about it!? there are a lot of things i dont agree about even other christian denominations but i dont go making fun of them! Relegion is not something to be made fun of! Leave that out.. i find it hillarious wen ppl find something funny about my culture or my language.. but for me.. my relegion goes far beyond my culture or traditions.. i take it very seriously..so i wouldnt find it amusing at all.. talk aobut Jesus… in a manner that is not appropriate to who He really is..now thats not something i could laugh about!
I think Ang has a well thought out answer Monty. Why don’t YOU stop talking?
Abraham, Moses , Jesus and Mohammed all deserve respect. Also Ram, Krishna, Buddha deserve respect. They should not be used in cheap comedy skits.
I am a Muslim who feels none of the leaders mentioned above should be insulted in any way.
Now I want christians- jews and hindus to state that Prophet Mohammed should be respected also and not be insulted.
Ang, that’s because the holocaust was real and there is real proof of it, but Jesus is a story with no proof. It’s like the difference between making fun of 9-11 and Mother Goose.
Just because Jesus lived among men 2000 years ago, while the holocaust was only about 60 years ago, doesn’t make one less real than the other. I know of no serious historians who deny the reality of Jesus, altho there are many who do not believe He is the Son of God.
Um, I certainly can make fun of the holocaust. I can also make fun of Jesus, people with disabilities and the poor. You may not like it, and some people may think it is in poor taste, but I have the freedom to do this.
Me Myself and I, Very well said… Doesn’t mean you’re not a moron though.
They haven’t even read a script and they are saying its offensive? That’s ridiculous. They need to get that stick out of their butts. If you don’t like it, don’t watch it. The same Bill Of Rights that protects their right to practice their religion also protects free speech so they should stop being so hypocritical. They claim to be “christian patriots” but they seem to hate american values
So you don’t see Comedy
Central being hypocritical?
No other religions have threatened VIOLENCE. That’s why the Mohamad images get censored. And Matt and Trey agree that it’s hypocritical. But the reason is violence. As far as I know, Christian fundamentalists haven’t murdered anyone for parodizing Jesus.
@Rusty what Brian said. They’re not worried about offending muslims they are worried about people getting prices on their heads and ending up dead
and also they shouldn’t call themselves CARB they should be CACB because i’m sure the only religious bigotry they care about is so-called christian bigotry that they see in the “media conspiracy” to destroy christianity.
here, here Ted. Spoken like a man of true intellect. I will try and elaborate you’re statement in a more simpler way. Jesus is Dumb, Mohamed is Dumb, Moses is Dumb RELIGION IS DUMB. dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb. Wake up People! we’re living in an age of reason. We have seen the edge of the universe and created synthetic life out of chemicals we’ve discovered the genome and found cro-magnon genes in ourselves. why do you still need a magic man in the sky to answer all your questions? Do you fear death that bad that you still need to rationalize myths and folk lore in order to believe that you will go to some sort of heaven so you need not fear death?
Hey Athiest: If you’re such an intellectual, why did you make so many grammatical errors?
when did i say i was an intellectual? I never said that.I said Ted made a sound and valid point that’s hard to argue with. i stated HE was in intellect. You know, reading comprehension is ALOT more important than spelling. And BTW it’s because I’m a bad at typing oooooh noooo Jennifer the Grammar Nazi will come and take me away. Don’t you love it when someone can’t think of ANYTHING to say so they start spell checking your comment? You should be an English teacher. You get paid to spell check then. If you do it on a comment board for fun then you need a life
For some of us, it’s not a fear of death or needing answers to questions. It’s an expression of gratitude and wonderment at the amazing world we are privileged to live upon. I studied anthropology and archaeology for years, and I used to teach human evolution at a large state university. I am also a member of a certain widespread religious denomination, though I personally don’t think which religion a person participates in really matters so long as they’ve got the right ideas about how to live life with love and respect and give thanks for it. I respect your point of view, but I wish you would respect others’. As I said, I taught college-level human evolution. I also think that you can be a creationist and still be intelligent, even if you choose not to see the scientific evidence of evolution. Insulting people is the worst possible way to get them to appreciate your point of view, so perhaps you and other militant atheists (and militant religious people!) should learn some common courtesy and then come back and express yourself more gracefully.
@Jennifer i had my buddy, who IS an english teacher, read my comment and said the only major grammatical error i made was “more simpler” and that’s only due to my slight dyslexia (sometimes i mix up my sentences in my head e.g. instead of writing “more simple way” or writing “a simpler way” i mix the two up in my head while I’m typing) and i forgot a few comas and to capitalize a few words. Bid Deal. Thanks for making think i butchered that comment when it wasn’t that bad.
is it not unfortunate that you dont have enough reason to respect other peoples relegion…or beleif systems.. before going further into creating synthetic life..and wat not.. lets learn the basics of respecting fellow human beings… unfortunately.. its not something u can learn in a science lab.. lols… but hey. you say u reason.. and if you reason and ure honest you will find the truth..(atleast thats wat changed me from an atheist) if the truth is that GOD doesnt exist.. that is what you should beleif..but if the truth is that GOD does exist.. well… FIND OUT! =D
@ The Athiest – Your English teacher buddy must be TERRIBLE at his/her job; personally, I teach my English students to begin sentences with capital letters. I also deduct points for run-on sentences and using the incorrect form of “you’re.” But it’s ok; Jesus loves the illiterate, too!
@Jennifer jesus doesn’t love self righteous people who make fun of people with dyslexia. Atheist is right, you are a grammar Nazi. Einstein was HORRIBLE at grammar as was Carl Sagan but they were GENIUSES. Would you call Einstein illiterate?
Albert Einstein once said: “I am not an atheist. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds. We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not know how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects the mysterious order in the arrangement of the books but doesn’t know what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God. We see the universe marvelously arranged and obeying certain laws but only dimly understand these laws.”
I think that they are going on Comedy Central’s track record (as mentioned in the article). Do YOU think that this show will be a respectful and warm exploration of hte life of Christ and His meaning in American life today? Are you on crack?
@Kristen The show is about Jesus living in modern day NYC and dealing with modern society while living with his WWJD (since he is jesus) the show is a commentary on modern society. The character of JC is just a catalyst for that commentary the show isn’t going to be making fun of him it’s making fun of US. Are YOU on crack?
Christians should spend more time getting angry at injustice, sickness, and poverty, and less time getting spun up over satire.
recently the cartoon call “Boondocks” showed Martin Luther King living in modern times & it was both respectful & hilarious, and possibly correct. How would all these prophets, saints, martyrs, and figures of historic (and religious) import react to living in our troubled modern world? would their respective messages still be relevant?
BTW the episode of “The Boondocks” I was referring to was called “Return of the King” lol. it was awesome.
Funny thing is.. once up on a time.. Hitler was just practising his right of speech… look how that turned out! (its kinda sad how ppl now a days cant seem to tell when something is soo blatantly wrong and hipocritical) Relegion should not be something you should make fun of!
seriously? you’re gonna bring up Hitler? Hitler belived in free speech? You never heard of Nazi book burnings??? Hitler told people what they can or can’t watch and burned books because they didn’t fit his view of the world… who sound more like Hitler here moron? I would say CARB
Wow.. Ted.. wen did i say.. Hitler allowed other ppl to practise free speech.. i said.. he practised HIS free speech.. as in he said. wat ever he wanted to…
is it soo necesary to make Jesus or any other relegious figures the center of comedy!?
@ang – do you honestly think that Hitler excercising his freedom of speech is what caused WWII and the Holocaust? Isn’t it more likely that Hitler’s suppression of the German people’s freedom of speech in part led to the mass indoctrination of the German people into the Nazi war machine? No one was allowed to speak up against Hitler so the average person had no choice by to follow.
So, the church has never done anything to stamp out expression? Check out the Crusades, or the Inquisition, or this dude called Galileo.
Yay! Godwin’s Law!
Ang, please stop. Just please stop telling everyone what they can and cannot make fun of. It’s simple… if you don’t like the concept of the show, don’t tune in. You may feel that religion isn’t something that should be made fun of, but not everyone feels that way. Oh, and I am a Christian and I laugh at the character of Jesus not only on South Park, but on Family Guy as well.
I don’t understand why we can’t occasionally poke fun at religious figures. If Jesus can be tortured, crucified to death, then rise from the dead, I think he can survive a little ribbing from comedy central. I hope they make the show and that it is as funny as I expect it to be.
I agree, but I think the big issue will be that they caved in to the Muslims so why won’t they for the Christians (which is why I think they are finally protesting now, because CC gave in to the Muslims).
Again,they’re not going to cave to Christians or anyone else for that matter because Christians haven’t threatened or committed violence for unsavory depictions of Jesus. And anyway, in Islam, even a tasteful depiction of Mohamad is forbidden. He is not to be represented in pictures AT ALL (as South Park wanted to do), let alone depicted in an unflattering way (as the Scandi cartoonist did).
Yes, that’s exactly why they’re protesting now — because of “the Muslims.” Certainly Bozell, Perkins, et al. would never ever ever pull a stunt like this otherwise. They’re so fair-minded and reasonable most of the time!
Muslims will KILL you! thats why. I would think most people would take comfort in the fact that Comedy Central can make a show about Jesus and not have their lives threatened becuase of it. Why in Gods name would you want to be like a Muslim?
@dlauthor, how long has SP been on and they never seemed to have a problem before until they’ve seen CC give in to pressure. Yeah, Christians never commit violence, just ask someone like Dr. Tiller.
These guys need to cap a few people if they want CC to cave. CC bravely stands up for free expression unless there’s the slightest actual risk of hacking off someone dangerous.
Wat are you tryna say here.. it was ok that Jesus went thru all that.. torture??? and that its ok.. to make jokes out of His life (which did i mention is considered holy by all Christians) just have respect for that!!!
THANK YOU THANK YOU for the Crab People clip. I just find these protests so annoying. It almost make me embarrassed to come from an Italian Catholic family. My parents and grandparents at least have a sense of humor, though.
I agree with some of the comments above. The real issue is the double standard CC has shown, caving to radical Islam’s demands. I’m not supportive of this new protest (and I’m what you’d call an evangelical Christian), but CC needs to wise up and not try to have it both ways. They should support free speech and back off their South Park censorship.
Ironically, you see the main difference between Radical Islam and faiths like Christianity and Judaism here – the CARB folks are protesting with a letter. The Radical Islamists on the other hand issue death threats.
The sad part to me is that Comedy Central feels the need to even make a show like this.
It doesn’t offend me per say, but really… Comedy Central has become like a shock comic whose career has fallen into decline. They’re just looking for ways to shock you even more.
Other than Stewart and Colbert, I don’t find anything else they air even remotely funny any more.
Which, when you think about it, makes this protest even more pathetic. Had the show aired without this protest, there’s every chance it would have been awful and faded away with little fanfare. But just think how many more people are going to tune in to the first episode now, should it get picked up.
Making fun of your own religion is fun and liberating. Making fun of someone else’s religion is kind of obnoxious.
Which means Christianity is fair game for us westerners.
Everyone needs to calm down – It’s a Comedy Central original program; it’ll be gone after one season and just become another title Daniel Tosh mentions when he goes to commercial.
Since when is slimy Michael Medved a “notable name”? S my d.