The new reality show “Married by America” will no longer be aired by the Fox television affiliate in Raleigh, N.C., because station executives concluded that “the program did not reflect prevailing standards of good taste and that the show was clearly demeaning to the institution of marriage.”
The introduction to Fox’s Married by America Web site reads: “Marriage is a sacred union between two people who have grown together over time. Fox says (expletive) that!”
Married by America features five singles who, upon evaluations from family and the public, are paired with strangers.
According to the Fox Web site, “Once face-to-face, l these new couples will embark on a journey toward matrimony in hopes that they have indeed found their one true love.” The couple chosen by America to be married will win $1 million if they can stay married for 180 days.
Tom Elliff, pastor of the Oklahoma City-area First Southern Baptist Church in Del City and chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Council on Family Life, told Baptist Press he is encouraged by the Raleigh affiliate’s decision to pull the show.
“The fact that their executives hold to the notion that marriage is a sacred institution is not only a rarity among their peers but worthy of commendation,” he said. “Secular media outlets have a recent history of portraying the traditional family as a comical oddity with the father, in particular, generally scripted as nothing more than a dim-witted buffoon.” (BP)
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