OTTAWA – A religious television program that claims that current world conflicts and military actions were predicted in the Bible did not contain abusive commentary or violence, nor did it breach any broadcast codes administered by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, the agency has determined.
The CBSC received a complaint about the show Jack Van Impe Presents broadcast on Global Manitoba (CKND-TV). The complaint alleged that the program hosts promoted hate and fear with their predictions about the end of the world, and suggested that the program should carry a viewer advisory alerting parents to the violent and misleading nature of the content.
Jack Van Impe Presents is an American program hosted by Jack Van Impe and his wife Rexella. The program generally consists of Rexella reading the week’s news headlines, focusing on reports about world conflicts and military actions, followed by Jack quoting Bible passages which he suggests describe and predict those world events.
The CBSC’s Prairie Regional Panel reviewed two episodes of the program which had been identified by the complainant viewer. In those episodes, for example, Rexella listed news stories about missile attacks in Lebanon and Syria. Jack then quoted numerous Bible scriptures that mention conflicts in those parts of the world. Jack also emphasized that the Bible predicts that all of these wars are a sign that Jesus will return. They noted a newspaper article in which U.S. President Obama had stated that “we will never be at war with Islam”. Jack responded with “I can’t agree with that because we are already at war with Islam. We are fighting them in Iraq, in Afghanistan. Perhaps soon in Pakistan. Perhaps very soon in Iran.” He then went on to talk about comments made by Iranian President Ahmadinejad.
The viewer complained to the CBSC about Van Impe’s “consistent message of hate, fear and doom”, and specifically mentioned Van Impe’s reference to being at war with Islam. The complainant also observed that the program is broadcast on Sunday mornings and suggested that children could be disturbed by Van Impe’s predictions about violence and the end of the world, so it should carry a viewer advisory.
After examining the complaint under relevant clauses of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ Code of Ethics, Equitable Portrayal Code and Violence Code, the Panel found no breach of any code. While there were discussions of global conflicts, the Panel noted that there was no actual violence in the program, so there was clearly no breach of the CAB Violence Code and no requirement that the program contain viewer advisories or only be aired late in the evening.
With respect to the complainant’s allegations of hateful comments about other groups, the Panel made the following comments:
[…] Jack Van Impe’s observation during the May 31 episode that “we are already at war with Islam” […] may or may not be a correct or accurate characterization of the recent and/or current world order, but that does not make it discriminatory, much less unduly discriminatory. There is no breach of Clause 2 on this account. Nor does the Panel conclude that the May 31 observations constitute an attack on Islam, in terms of Clause 8. Nor do Van Impe’s observations that “we” are fighting Islam, i.e. Islamic countries, such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other Muslim nations referred to in that same monologue amount to an attack on Islam, the religion. Even if the characterization in historical terms is not accurate (and the Panel expresses no opinion on this point), the Panel finds no contextual attack on Islam or its practitioners that would constitute a breach of Clause 8.
The Panel also disagreed with the complainant’s assertion that the show should be rated 14+ as it is an information program exempt from classification. The Panel further noted that there is no codified standard that prevents Van Impe from selling his books and DVDs during the program, an activity about which the viewer also complained.
