Radio Disney Removes God from Ten Commandments Ad

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October 19, 2007

Radio Disney Removes God from Ten Commandments Ad

By Scott Presson

It's a movie about the Bible, but the Walt Disney Co. has ordered the word "God" stricken from some ads promoting the upcoming animated film on Moses and the Ten Commandments.

According to Fox News, Radio Disney was to broadcast a radio spot for Promenade Pictures, makers of the film "The Ten Commandments," but the company sent an e-mail earlier this month instructing that the phrase "chosen by God" be stripped from the script.

An email sent to a Promenade Pictures media buyer by Radio Disney Network said,"Both scripts need to include the studio mention and omit the following line: CHOSEN BY GOD.... Please let me know if you have any questions. " Promenade president and Chief Operating Officer Cindy Bond said, "In connection with the Ten Commandments, I did find it offensive”…

"God in our movie is the main character. You rip the whole guts out of the piece."“Bond said that because Disney has just the target audience the film seeks — children and 'tweens — she complied with Disney's request and had the ad redone without mention of God”.

I ordered the spot to be recut and re-edited," Bond said. "If you get them into the theater, they'll hear plenty about God.

"The edited script for the 30-second radio spot replaces the words "chosen by God" with "from Promenade Pictures.

"According to Bond other radio stations and shows — some Christian and some not, agreed to air the commercial as is.

Published reports say that Radio Disney made the request because “its policies require mention of the studio in its commercials and it decided to replace the "chosen by God" phrase with "from Promenade Pictures" because the original script made it sound as though the actors were chosen by God, not Moses, as was the intended meaning”.

“Mention of God isn't prohibited in the company's standards and procedures, according to Radio Disney”.A Christian advocacy group, Liberty Counsel, has petitioned Radio Disney to reconsider its requirement that "God" be chucked from the spots for the movie”.

"It's highly offensive that the family-friendly company Disney portrays itself to be would actually eliminate God from an ad about 'The Ten Commandments,'" said Liberty Counsel's founder and Chairman Mathew D. Staver. "How ridiculous can you be? I'm asking Radio Disney to use some common sense and stop censoring this ad."Promenade Pictures was established by producer Frank Yablans, who co-founded Buena Vista Pictures with Walt Disney in the 1950’s.

“Promenade, as Bond describes it, is a film studio "built on family values" — a sort of "modern-day Buena Vista within a Judeo-Christian point of view."

"If Walt Disney would be aware of something like this happening, he'd be rolling in his grave," she said.The production company has two other animated movies coming out based on biblical parables: "Noah's Ark: The New Beginning," due out in 2008, and "Gideon's Gift." Promenade says it wants to expose audiences to the stories and characters in the Christian and Jewish scriptures.

"The goal of the movie and the goal of the whole series is to interest people in the greatest stories ever told and what we feel were the greatest superheroes that ever existed," Bond said.