c. 2008 Religion News Service

BBC under fire for portrayals of Judas, Pilate

LONDON (RNS) The BBC has come under fire from Christian traditionalists who claim that a new TV series portrays Judas Iscariot and Pontius Pilate in a sympathetic light in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

Christian Voice, a religiously motivated lobby group in Britain, targeted the BBC for what it saw as an attempt to exonerate Judas, Pilate and high priest Caiaphas, who concocted the plot to kill Jesus.

The BBC drama, “The Passion,” is being broadcast in four parts over the Easter period. It portrays Judas as torn between his loyalty to both Jesus and Caiaphas, while Pilate is depicted as trying to “keep a lid” on tensions in Jerusalem while battling to manage his wife’s social aspiration and to save his own career.

Stephen Green, a former Anglican turned fundamentalist who is national director of Christian Voice, accused the BBC of trying to rewrite the Gospels and complained to the broadcaster that “yet again a revisionist slant has to be put on a story that is transparent.”

“It is fine to have an alternative look at the motivation of people such as Caiaphas, Pilate and Judas,” he said, “but the fact remains that these guys were instrumental in an innocent man meeting his death.”

“These are bad men,” he said.

The BBC insisted in a statement that “we are not seeking to subvert or rewrite the Gospel narrative. We are just retelling it to bring it alive for a contemporary audience.”

The network quoted Frank Deasy, the TV drama’s author, as conceding that “I’ve always had a problem with Judas in Passion stories in that he suddenly and inexplicably betrays Jesus,” and added that “I was keen to develop a psychological reality to Judas’ portrayal.”

This was not the first time the BBC has crossed swords with British religious organizations. Last year it drew criticism from the Christian Prayer Book Society for portraying Mary and Joseph as illegal immigrants in a retelling of the Christmas story, and it was accused by Christian Voice of blasphemy for screening “Jerry Springer _ The Opera.”

_ Al Webb

Supreme Court to revisit decency standards

WASHINGTON (RNS) The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday (March 17) that it will revisit limits on on-air vulgarity in the court’s first case on unsavory speech in almost 30 years.

After Cher and Nicole Richie used expletives during the 2002 and 2003 Billboard Music Awards on the Fox network, the Federal Communications Commission reprimanded Fox and changed its policy to penalize “isolated” and “fleeting” expletives that invoke “sexual or excretory organs or activities.” Previous FCC policy had penalized only repetitive and deliberate obscenity on the airwaves.

Last June, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Fox. The court found the FCC’s policy to be “arbitrary and capricious,” and said the agency violated administrative law by changing policy without adequate explanation.

Now the FCC will have the opportunity to explain the policy change to the Supreme Court.

“While the FCC has a statutory duty to enforce the indecency laws,” said Michael J. Copps, FCC commissioner, “I continue to believe that all of us _ government, industry and parents _ have a role to play in protecting our children from inappropriate material.”

The Parents Television Council, a strong supporter of the FCC’s efforts to clean up on-air language, is also urging legislators to take on the issue of on-air indecency.

Congress could clarify that “fleeting” profanity is still obscene, said Tim Winter, president of the Parents Television Council.

Others doubt that any Supreme Court ruling would have any real impact in protecting children from obscenities. “The idea that they’re saving the sensitivities of a few people is ridiculous,” said Bruce Fein, constitutional lawyer and a former FCC general counsel.

Any ruling for on-air indecency standards would not change the fact that there is no such standard for cable or wireless television, Fein said.

The court will hear arguments in the fall.

_ Greg Trotter

Quote of the Day: Traveling evangelist Micah Armstrong

(RNS) “Women have two places: in front of the sink and behind the vacuum.”

_ Traveling evangelist Micah Armstrong, preaching to students at the University of Alabama. Armstrong says students will go to hell for drinking, cursing, having pre-marital sex, watching movies or reading Harry Potter books. He was quoted by the Associated Press.

KRE/PH END RNS