In a study of religious content on television, The Parents Television Council found more references to faith more negative than positive, citing Fox’s animated primetime hit Family Guy as a prime example. The group sees the study, titled ‘Faith in a Box 2005-2006,’ as proof that the entertainment industry is not reflecting the strong religious beliefs of Americans, and is, in fact, hostile to people of all religions.
‘The evidence is clear,’ says PTC president Brent Bozell. ‘Fox’s The Family Guy proved to be especially sacrilegious and vile when it showed God in bed with a woman.’
Bozell also blasted CBS’ popular sitcom, Two and a Half Men, which featured star Charlie Sheen singing about getting laid to the tune of ‘Joy to the World.’ These examples, and others, show that Hollywood has a clear distaste for religion,’ he adds. ‘This is an industry that is completely out of touch with reality.’
This is the seventh time the PTC has examined the treatment of religious content on primetime television over the course of an entire year. The group looked at a total of 2,271.5 hours of programming containing 1,425 treatments of religion and found 95% of it to cast religion in a negative light.
Fox was found to be ‘by far the most anti-religious network,’ with one in every two portrayals of religion coming up negative. NBC came in second with well over a third of religious references landing in the less-than-favorable column. UPN and ABC also made the naughty list, while programming on The WB network (now known as The CW) featured the fewest negative depictions of religion, according to the group. Reality shows such as CBS’ The Amazing Race and ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition were cited as examples of programs that have featured affirming messages about religion. More on the study can be found at ww.parentstv.org.
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