FALWELL CONFIDENTIAL
Insider weekly newsletter to The Moral Majority Coalition and
The Liberty Alliance
http://www.falwell.comFrom: Jonathan Falwell
Date: October 19, 2007
God Banned from ‘The Ten Commandments’ Movie AdsMoses was chosen by God to lead the children of Israel.
But apparently that’s either a big secret or an offensive assumption.
Earlier this week, I learned that the promotional material for the new film “The Ten Commandments” had been edited so that the term “chosen by God” did not appear in trailers and advertising for the movie. “The Ten Commandments,” a 3D CGI animated film, is being released nationwide today (October 19).
Radio Disney determined that the ads for the Promenade Pictures film should not bear the words “chosen by God.”
An October 2 e-mail sent from Jason Atkinson of Radio Disney to media buyers hired by Promenade to promote the film contained instructions to “omit” the line “Chosen by God” and instead insert a mention of the studio.
Yes, we sure wouldn’t want to offend anyone by implying that Moses was chosen by God — the entire basis of the biblical narrative of Moses being God’s instrument of delivery for Israel.
This is reminiscent of last year’s excellent Christian film “Facing the Giants,” which was slapped with a PG-rating by the Motion Picture Association of America solely because it contained thematic elements that were found to be too evangelistic.
I believe both of these examples are pictures of the diversity obsession in our culture.
We have become so fixated on being non-offensive to people, specifically in terms of God and faith (usually the Christian faith, I might add), that we are seeing God purged from the public square and censored from the most basic forms of speech.
The fact is that Moses was literally chosen by God and “The Ten Commandments” movie clearly portrays this with the story of the Burning Bush, wherein God addressed Moses. “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob,” God said from within the bush (Exodus 3:6) as Moses stood on the holy ground where God chose to address him.
It’s such a beautiful and inspiring story and a picture of God being active in the lives of His children and having specific plans for us.
Yet, this “Christophobia” (a term crafted by Jewish legal scholar J.H.H. Weiler) is infecting our culture to such a point that the mainstream apparently believes God to be a dirty word.
It’s a modern American tragedy, as I see it.
Online PetitionLiberty Counsel, a subsidiary ministry of Liberty University and one of the nation’s foremost religious freedom organizations, has now launched a petition drive to ask Radio Disney to stop its censorship of the word “God” in “The Ten Commandments” advertising. (Readers may view a trailer from the movie by clicking on this link:
http://www.epicstoriesofthebible.com/trailers.php .)
Liberty Counsel notes that, on its website, Radio Disney promotes other movies with references to mythical gods, Tiki gods, Navaho gods and animal gods. Yet, the God of the Bible is the target of censorship.
Mathew Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel and dean of the Liberty University School of Law, said, “It is shocking that Radio Disney censored God from the ad promoting the animated movie.”
Liberty Counsel actually worked with the Promenade Pictures team at pre-release church showings and believes the film has a positive biblically-based message.
I encourage readers to visit the Liberty Counsel website ( www.lc.org ) to participate in this important petition. We must stand up for religious freedom in America … while we can.