Cruci-fixins? Muslims Think THEY Get No Respect?

With all the flap about Cartoon-gate, we wonder if anyone has been following this little drama over on God-fearing NBC:

The NBC "Will and Grace" episode featuring Britney Spears hosting a cooking show called "Cruci-fixins" has been cancelled in the wake of Christian protests, but the term was actually recycled from a Fox network show.

It was first used on the oddball comedy "Arrested Development," when one of the characters quipped: "I think I'm going to go get one of those 'Corndog Crosses' -- with all the 'Crucifixins'"

We also learn that there's a little bit of history behind this madcap anti-Christian fun:

"The Simpsons" cartoon also used the term in an episode that described a church ice cream social led by a character called Rev. Lovejoy. Lovejoy offered "Crucifixins," with flavors like "Blessed Virgin Berry," "Commandmint," and "Biblegum."

As far back as 1991, the term popped up in Advertising Age magazine, as part of an entry for a lighthearted contest to predict McDonald's next slogan intended to "pack in the pilgrims" at its new location in Lourdes. "Try our new Crucifixin's Bar" won an "honorable intention" award.

Sound kinda like some stuff we were alluding to here and here, and the thoughts of one of our commenters here. More to the point, here's the latest scoop on the "Will and Grace" episode (and we note that even the title of this fairly popular series has a bit of a religious sneer in it, given one of the main characters' gay-ness, but we'll let that pass):

After NBC began promoting the April 13 "Will and Grace" episode, which was to air on the day before Good Friday, the most solemn day on the Christian calendar, the American Family Association (AFA) posted a "special alert" at the top of its web page with the headline, "NBC to mock the Crucifixion of Christ." The story line of the episode had the fictional Out TV network being bought by a Christian network. Spears played the co-host of a cooking segment called "Cruci-fixin's."

The AFA viewed the "Will and Grace" episode as an intentional mocking of Christians, following a similar Christian uproar that led to NBC canceling "The Book of Daniel." Donald Wildmon, founder of the AFA, accused NBC of a "deep-seated anti-Christian bias."

A new press release from NBC said the original release was erroneous and the Spears episode had not yet been written. "We value our viewers and sincerely regret if this misinformation has offended them," the network stated.

Right. We so totally believe that last graf. Unlike Cartoon-gate, whose timing, if there was any sense of timing, was random, and which actually occurred last fall, this episode was not only cooked up to diss Christianity, but to provoke maximum outrage by airing it during Christianity's high holy days, the doctrinal focus of the Liturgical Year. Outrage, after all, sells commercials which is what it's all about.

This goes deeper, too, as "Will and Grace" appeals to the young urban demographic that the withering networks still seek—a demographic that has been skewing less and less religious as the educational system and the courts have eviscerated the importance of religion and morality (sexual and otherwise) from within, and merchandise hawkers have assaulted it from without, turning the latest vulgar fashion into a kind of new, all-secular version of Baal-worship, to borrow a theme from the Old Testament.

A post-script ends this particular new piece:

The original announcement of the "Cruci-fixins" episode had generated press around the world.

Yep. But no embassy burnings or beheading threats. Our point? Christians finally got fed up with NBC's disrespectful, blasphemous nonsense, and prevailed without rampaging around in various cities across the globe in a murderous fury.

Folks, there is still a place, even in the Land of Free Speech, for a little respect for the beliefs of others. It isn't difficult and it isn't censorship. There's a lesson here, but the MSM won't be quick to point it out. Which is why their collective ratings continue to slip.

UPDATE: Frontpagemag has a link-filled, useful historical reprise of the Serrano/Piss Christ scandal here for those who have forgotten. Writer Rocco DiPippo accurately notes that the outrage has not stopped Serrano over the years from continuing to foist bad art on the public and basking in the praise of the unrepentant left that enjoys the Gramscian splendor of ripping apart Western religious, moral, and cultural institutions. But DiPippo also demonstrates how Serrano has increasingly receded as the infantile, stunt-addicted left and their hateful anti-cultural programs are exposed. The piece concludes with a segueway into the current controversy and urges readers to support the Danes in their hour of need.