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Comedy Central, home to controversial shows such as South Park and Drawn Together, rebroadcasted an episode of the Sarah Silverman Program on Thursday in which the female comedian has sex with “God.”
The installment, titled “Batteries,” first aired Wednesday night and features a “one-night-stand” with a “Black God,” whom Sarah Silverman tries to brush-off the morning after.
Many Christians disagree strongly with the rebroadcast, noting that the content is extremely insensitive and degrading toward religion.
One such group, the Timothy Plan, has urged Christians to boycott the network’s parent company, Viacom, and pull out from all investments with them. The Timothy Plan is a mutual fund that avoids investing in companies that profit from or support things like pornography, abortion, non-married lifestyles, anti-family entertainment, as well as companies involved in promoting issues contrary the teachings of the Bible.
“To air and rebroadcast a program, comedy or not, that depicts the main character having sex with God brings Viacom’s anti-Christian vitriol to an all time low,” said Arthur Ally, president of the Timothy Plan, in a statement. “Christians and culturally conservative Americans alike should be appalled by the sheer blatancy of this heresy.”
The episode begins with Silverman laying in bed next to actor Tucker Smallwood, a former NBC television director. The man, who portrays “God,” acts enamored with the lead female and invites her to spend a day with him in heaven. She then goes on to brush-off the character by dropping hints for him to leave.
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“Anyone with any semblance of basic Judeo-Christian values should find this type of programming offensive,” added Ally in his statement.
The show itself has been receiving a mixed variety of reviews.
"Sarah Silverman is the twisted sister of comedy,” reviewed Mike Duffy, a TV critic for the Detroit Free Press, "... whose flights of rude attitude are subversively hilarious to some, aggravatingly tasteless to others."
The gist of the show is to follow Silverman as she lives her daily life, which is by no means ordinary. The program’s website notes: “In each episode, Sarah manages to fall into unique, sometimes unsettling and always hilarious predicaments, with her sister (played by real-life sister Laura Silverman), her geeky gay neighbors, Brian and Steve (Brian Posehn and Steve Agee) and Officer Jay (Jay Johnston) never far from her side.”
Silverman is best known for her stand-up comedy. She typically deals with topical humor and satire, mild or serious societal taboos, and controversial topics such as racism, sexism, and religion.
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