One can count on one hand the number of programs actually supportive of biblical Christianity on Compass. But in the overwhelming majority of cases, it is either featuring programs bashing Christianity, or showcasing other religions in a very favourable light.
Consider some recent episodes as well as some upcoming viewing on Compass. On 15 March 2009 we had the "Hand of God". It is described on the Compass website this way: "This moving personal story about the sexual abuse of a 14-year old altar boy in 1960s America examines the personal cost to one family and their faith."
Now all child sexual abuse is to be deplored and condemned. But why are we not surprised that this is yet another story about the big bad Catholic Church and abusive priests? How many times will the ABC run this story?
The truth is, for every abusive priest in existence there may well be hundreds, if not thousands, of faithful and committed priests who have only endeavoured to be a force for good, not evil. How many of their stories get a run on Compass?
Then on 22 March we had "Life and Death". It is described as follows: "Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran are two of the three Bali Nine facing execution for drug trafficking. They live each day in hope and fear knowing it could be their last. . . . [T]his program examines how the death penalty extends punishment to the families and friends of the condemned."
The program was basically one long diatribe against the death penalty. Never mind that capital punishment has clear biblical support. And never mind the hell people and their families affected by deadly drugs have to go through – drugs which the drug peddlers are quite happy to push for profit.
Last night, 29 March, we had, surprise, surprise: "The Atheists". It featured a completely sympathetic overview of the new atheists. No hard questions were asked and no critics of atheism appeared. It was just an hour-long free ride for the misotheists to continue their war on religious belief in general and Christianity in particular.
One could write an entire article on the silly and convoluted arguments presented on the program, but that may have to wait for another time. Suffice it to say that one can wait in vain for biblical Christians to get such a sympathetic hearing as did these sceptics and atheists.
But wait, there's more. In the next two weeks (taking us right up to Easter Sunday) there will be a two-part program, "The Real Jesus: The Hidden Story of Jesus". It is described in this fashion: "British theologian Robert Beckford investigates remarkable parallels to the Jesus story in other faiths; some that predate Christianity by thousands of years. He looks at the stories of Horus, Mithras, Krishna and the Buddha. He also examines the radical differences between the Jesus story in Christianity, Judaism and Islam, and seeks to find within this the 'real' Jesus. A colourful and lavish two part series shot in locations around the world."
The way the story was described on air tonight makes one very nervous about this series. Indeed, it is already online but I do not think it is worth spending much time on, for several reasons. First, we are informed that Beckford is "theologian with a passion for 'edutainment'." That's about right. He is eight parts entertainment, and two parts – at best – education. Indeed, he sounds all rather like Dan Brown.
Also, his CV tells us that he is a Jamaican-born reader in black theology and popular culture at Oxford Brookes University. Before that he was a lecturer in African diasporan religions and cultures, University of Birmingham. His writings include such topics as 'Black Male Sexual Representation and Christology'.
So he is not a New Testament scholar by any means, yet he will lecture us on who the "real" Jesus is. But given his past track record, we need not expect very much. Indeed, he has appeared on Compass before. And guess what? You got it - it was also at Easter time.
Over the Easter period in 2006, Compass featured his two two-part 'documentary' entitled "Who Wrote the Bible?" It was one long challenge to the authenticity and reliability of the Judeo-Christian Scriptures. He basically interviewed liberal theologians who slammed the Bible, while ignoring the wealth of conservative biblical scholarship. As a case in point, he declared the New Testament to be a "masterwork of spin written by people who were nowhere near the events they describe, all gathered by powerful editors who kept out ideas they did not like".
Indeed, it seems that every year at Easter time Compass airs some program casting doubts on the central tenets of the Christian faith. It regularly features heretics, apostates and liberal theologians who are all quite happy to rip into biblical Christianity, challenging all the key beliefs, including the resurrection. And on a regular basis it does so specifically on Easter Sunday, one of the holiest of days of the Christian calendar.
Such deplorable attacks on Scripture, Christ and the Christian faith are of course par for the course for our taxpayer-funded ABC.
One should not hold one's breathe to see Compass featuring a documentary highly critical of the Koran, running it during Ramadan. And I don't think we will see an episode slamming Aboriginal dreamtime spirituality anytime soon.
This is just another case of the ABC's long-standing anti-Christian bigotry. And we tax-payers are footing the bill for this anti-Christian agenda. It is becoming as tedious as it is appalling. Compass of course could show these attacks on Christianity at any other time during the year. But to deliberately place them at this most special of times in the Christian year shows what a bunch of anti-Christian bigots we have working at the ABC.
If you are concerned about this constant, deliberate, provocative and orchestrated attack on the Christian religion, why not contact the ABC and make your complaints heard loud and clear? Use this webpage to contact the good folk at Compass:
http://www.abc.net.au/Compass/contact.htm
Please do not just sit back and let another attack on your faith take place. Please stand up and be counted.
