I noticed that the UK licensed satellite broadcaster Revelation TV on channel 765 is showing this advertisement as part of editorial content from an organisation called "Creation Ministries" which equates people who do not believe in God with Nazis and claims that they have no morality:
I was unsure if this was advertising or editorial so I have reported it to OFCOM and the Advertising Standards Authority.
My ASA complaint was as follows:
I believe that this breaches the following parts of the advertising code:
SECTION 4: POLITICAL AND CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES
No advertisement:
(a) may be inserted by or on behalf of any body whose objects are wholly or mainly of a political nature
[American Vision is a foreign organisation with political goals. See their book "The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States of America"]
SECTION 10: RELIGION, FAITH AND SYSTEMS OF BELIEF
10.12 Denigration
No advertisement may denigrate other doctrines
[This advertisement denigrates Atheists by equating them with Nazi attrocities during World War 2, suggests that Atheists have no morality and that they are or will induce violence]
10.14 Use of fear
No doctrinal advertisement may play on fear. References to the alleged consequences of not subscribing to a particular doctrine are not acceptable.
[This advertisement suggests that if you believe in evolution or reject a belief in God in favour of reason you will end up living under a "reign of terror" run by atheists]
10.16 Identification
Doctrinal advertisements must make clear the identity of the advertiser and, where different, the body on whose behalf the advertisement is being broadcast
[This advertisement did not mention American Vision anywhere in it, and the web address does not make it clear which organisation it was on behalf of]
My OFCOM complaint was this:
I believe that this breaches the OFCOM broadcast code on two counts:
4.1: Broadcasters must exercise the proper degree of responsibility with respect to the content of programmes which are religious programmes.
[No opposing views were presented and there was no opportunity for anyone of other beliefs to challenge the ideas being put forward].
4.2 The religious views and beliefs of those belonging to a particular religion or religious denomination must not be subject to abusive treatment.
[By talking about prominent Atheists and then showing pictures of Nazi death camps and other atrocities the programme makeer was denigrating atheist beliefs and suggesting to viewers that atheists have no morality]
I have to say though that even when I was a Christian I would probably still have complained as this sort of thing is repellant in general, especially on a UK licensed TV station.
An interesting twist to this story is that the organisation behind the ad American Vision blames the decline of America jointly on the teaching of evolution and dispensationalism:
Things began to change, however, when Christians allowed enlightenment thinking and higher criticism to infiltrate our universities and seminaries. Once thoroughly Christian colleges like Yale and Harvard gradually slid far away from their noble Christian purpose of educating men to advance the Kingdom of Christ. By 1925, the Theory of Evolution effectively replaced Biblical Creation in government schools. Christians retreated from the public sphere. Meanwhile, the Scofield Bible was propagating a new view on Bible prophecy called dispensationalism. This view took the emphasis away from the work of Christ and His Kingdom and focused on the nation of Israel. It also taught that the world would grow darker and darker before Christ returned and rescued a few remaining Christians from utter defeat.
As a result of these evil influences, Christians have lost their vision for the future.
Yet, Revelation TV is dispensationalist and strongly promotes the role of Israel in biblical prophecies of the end times so it seems as if they are promoting something that they would not normally be very keen on.
I believe that this channel is currenly trying to move its place of licensing to Spain so it will not be covered by the OFCOM broadcast code.
Update: 2nd Feb 2008
No response from Ofcom yet but the ASA say that the station has no record of it being shown so I have sent them my off air DVD recording.
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9 comments:
You are silently crying out for 'help'. May the Lord help you to come of your fallen state. Amen.
Hetty.
Not really, I just get a bit fed up with people suggesting that there can be no morality without God. This is demonstrably untrue or the world would already be in anarchy.
I spent £200 with Creation Ministries yesterday and I can't wait for the books and DVDs to arrive to add to my collection.
The advert is very condescending, but it is true that there cannot be a proper moral code via atheism - by people who think the world is filled with 'blind pitiless indifference' as Dawkins wrote.
How can you base a code on an attitude that sees humanity as evolved pond scum whose lives are meaningless?
The world is not full of anarchy because there is a law that states you reap what you sow, do unto others, what goes round comes round...whatever you want to call it.
Most people know there is a price to pay for wrongdoing and that's what stops complete anarchy.
Even most nonreligious people recognise this, if subconsciously.
Christ said to love thy neighbour because of this law - if you don't - you'll pay. If you steal - you'll pay, etc.
May the Lord wipe the scales from your eyes to see the truth.
Hello Stewart
I used to be just like you. In fact I was involve in promoting some of Ken Ham's earliest speaking engagements in the UK.
I hear what you are saying, and I understand why you are saying it, but people don't actually get their morality from the Bible. If that was the case then why is the same broad morality found around the world in Christian and non Christian countries. Also, this broadly accepted morality has changed hugely over the centuries while the bible has not, which suggests that morality developed separately from it.
On the issue of personal behaviour, are you suggesting that you are only being good because God is watching everything you do and threatening you with damnation if you aren't? I can say that I am being good because other people deserve to be treated well because of their HUMANITY. Even the most non altruistic person would accept that doing good for others is likely to reap benefits for themselves, and probably thats how our basic morality developed in tribal cultures where we had to get along with the same small group of people for our entire lives. Part of the evidence of this is that when society moved into towns and cities this system of morality started to break down, because we did not have the same close relationships with other people.
You seem to have been influenced by people who say that natural selection is random and that it all happened by accident. It is not random at all. May I suggest this video as a way of starting to think about this issue:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=LRQQmCpmuGc
By the way, my own life has become richer, more fulfilling and more meaningful since I said farewell to God.
You can read the details here deconversion here:
http://www.hudson.nu/blog/2008/01/from-christian-to-atheist.html
Hello again Gordon,
"why is the same broad morality found around the world in Christian and non Christian countries."
Because people have innate qualities given by the Creator - including attributes/qualities that ensure continuation of the race, like compassion.
"this broadly accepted morality has changed hugely over the centuries while the bible has not, which suggests that morality developed separately from it."
In the UK, it is government that is installing a new 'morality' based on the 'humanist' atheists' prominence in areas of influence.
These new ideas on morality, based only on man's interpretations and 'philosophy,' mean that homosexual acts are now considered 'normal' whereas almost every society in the world made this behaviour taboo.
That's just one example.
"On the issue of personal behaviour, are you suggesting that you are only being good because God is watching everything you do and threatening you with damnation if you aren't?"
Who said I was good?
Morality is breaking down quicker than ever thanks to disintegration of three important things: family, religion and community.
All being attacked by government for reasons of control.
"By the way, my own life has become richer, more fulfilling and more meaningful since I said farewell to God."
I know what's happened in your life, because I have been chastised by the Almighty. I am being refined in the fire and yes, it is very painful sometimes. The Lord has clearly given up on you as you have on Him and so the refining process has stopped and you are being allowed some good times before being esteemed as dross and thrown into the lake of fire for ever.
Hello Stewart
You seem quite happy with the idea of me being tortured for eternity?
At least your position is biblical. The bible does say that you will be able to watch (Luke 16:19-31).
God is love (apparently).
The problem is that you believe a lot of very bizarre things like this without any evidence.
If I told you I had fairies at the bottom of my garden you would expect me to provide objective evidence for my claim. The same burden of proof is required for any religious argument such as the existence of Adam. Simply using one source (the bible) to validate itself is not good enough.
Related video
Gordon, I don't want anyone to be tortured, which is the reason for my comments.
If you cannot take the warning from the Lazarus story, you are doomed because a "great chasm" will be fixed.
Sounds very sci-fi, but it has to be this way. It is the culmination of everything. Sheep one way; goats the other.
Nobody is claiming fairies created and redeemed mankind.
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From John ch. 5:
30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
31 If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.
32 There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true.
33 Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth.
34 But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved.
35 He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.
36 But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.
37 And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.
38 And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.
39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.
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From John ch. 14
16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.
20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
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It is not a matter of simply believing the Bible - a living faith in Christ provides as much evidence as you need.
What evidence do you have for any of this?
If I told you I had fairies at the bottom of my garden you would not accept this belief without some evidence and you would need me to prove it with evidence.
All I ask is that Christians provide evidence for the existence of God.
When I used to get asked this question I would reply with these hymn words:
"You ask me how I know he lives?
He lives within my heart!"
Which is exactly where God does exist: in people's hearts and minds. If he existed then it would be difficult to avoid him and nobody would be in any doubt.
If I play devils advocate for a moment:
Suppose we accepted that a God like the one in the Bible did exist, then where did he come from? Something that complex must have either been created by a being more complex than itself or evolved from a simpler life form.
The bible doesn't have any information on this, which is odd, because you would have thought that an omniscient God would have known in advance the sort of logical questions we would be asking in the 21st century.
Related Video
Revelation TV are now moving their broadcasting offshore so they do not have to comply with the OFCOM broadcast code. See this article for more detail:
Revelation TV
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