Encouraged by the ratings success of Touched by an Angel on CBS, ABC Television has turned to a spiritual drama in weekly programming. But unlike Touched by an Angel, Nothing Sacred is generating protest from religious circles.

Nothing Sacred, which is scheduled to start in September, is about a young Catholic priest, Father Ray, who struggles with his faith. For instance, Father Ray tells his parishioners that it is time to stop confessing sins of the flesh and to ignore the church's teaching on homosexuality and abortion.

Nothing Sacred executive producer Richard Kramer says that "the show presents priests in a human, recognizable way, as fallible, real people." Kramer says, "Father Ray wants people to follow their own truth" on the abortion issue.

The show has been denounced by the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, which also urged a boycott against ABC's parent company, Disney, for the R-rated movie Priest (CT, May 15, 1995, p. 52). The 350,000-member Catholic League says Nothing Sacred misleadingly attempts to show that Catholic priests "prefer Hollywood's libertine vision of sexuality to the moral teachings of the church."