North American Scene from December 12, 1986

MEDIA

A Controversial Film

With his new feature-length film, Wired to Kill, Christian author and filmmaker Franky Schaeffer has ventured into the secular arena. The science-fiction movie has been shown in two test markets and will soon be distributed nationwide.

Because of its violence and implied theme of revenge, Wired to Kill will likely raise a few eyebrows among Christians. Set in the future, the film revolves around a Christian family living in a society in which law and order has disintegrated. The family is regularly victimized by a brutal motorcycle gang. Finally, the teenage son realizes the authorities are powerless and decides to take things into his own hands. With his girlfriend’s help, the boy rigs up a number of remote-control devices intended to shoot or bomb the gang out of existence.

Paul McGuire, executive producer of Wired to Kill, said the film’s message—that an individual can stand up and make a difference—is both Christian and important. “After all,” he said, “the Christian message is whatever is true.”

However, Terry Lindvall, film professor at CBN University in Virginia Beach, Virginia, said the movie’s “might-makes-right” message “owes more to Nietzsche than to Jesus.” Lindvall also called the film’s scripting “poor” and its continuity “sloppy.”

PORNOGRAPHY

Reaction to a Lawsuit

In an open letter, Christian author and psychologist James Dobson has criticized the government’s handling of a lawsuit filed against him and the other members of the recently disbanded Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography.

In the suit, Playboy magazine objected to a letter authorized by the pornography commission and sent in February to retail outlets selling Playboy and similar magazines. Many stores eventually removed Playboy and other magazines from their shelves.

According to Dobson, the letter was sent to give retail outlets a chance to respond to testimony presented to the commission, not to encourage stores to stop selling certain magazines. In July, a federal judge ordered the commission to retract the letter; damages are now being negotiated.

Dobson says U.S. Justice Department lawyers have been too conciliatory in their settlement discussions with attorneys from Playboy. According to Dobson, Playboy has requested that the commissioners sign a letter stating, among other things, that Playboy is not pornographic.

Regarding the current discussions with Playboy, Dobson said the only kind of statement he would sign is one clarifying that Playboy was “beyond the scope of the [pornography] commission’s assignment.” Anything else, he said, would constitute an endorsement of Playboy.

AIDS

Teach Your Children

U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop has released a report calling for sex education—beginning in early elementary school and reinforced in the home—to help America’s youth avoid Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

“This epidemic has already claimed the lives of almost 15,000 Americans, and that figure is expected to increase 12-fold by the end of 1991 Koop said. “It is estimated that 1.5 million people are now infected with the AIDS virus.”

The 36-page report describes the disease, explains how it spreads, and calls for comprehensive education efforts to prevent children and adults from exposing themselves to the virus. “School education on AIDS must be reinforced at home,” Koop said. “The role of parents as teachers—both in word and in deed—cannot be overestimated.”

AIDS is spread primarily through sexual contact and by injecting illicit drugs through contaminated needles. The report suggests abstinence from sex and drug abuse as the best way for students to avoid AIDS. For adults, the report recommends sexual monogamy and avoiding illegal drugs. “The most certain way to avoid getting the AIDS virus … is for individuals to avoid promiscuous sexual practices, to maintain mutually faithful monogamous sexual relationships and to avoid injecting illicit drugs,” the report states.

PEOPLE AND EVENTS

Briefly Noted

Accepted: Into membership by the National Council of Churches (NCC), the rapidly growing Korean Presbyterian Church in America. Since its formation in 1976, the Los Angeles-based denomination has grown from 100 congregations and 12,000 members to 180 congregations and 20,000 members. The NCC Governing Board also granted observer status to the Islamic Society of North America, an umbrella organization of Muslims in the United States.

Approved: By officials at the Minnesota State Reformatory, an inmate’s request to be visited by a witch. Reformatory superintendent William McRae initially denied a request by Robert Edwards to have a witch conduct a “purification ceremony” at the St. Cloud prison. But a staff member of the state attorney general’s office later told corrections officials that the denial violated Edwards’s constitutional right to freedom of worship.

Awarded: By a Florida jury, $175,000 in damages to a regular customer of a St. Petersburg bar who was hit by a car after leaving the bar. Mark Hastings testified that he had 8 to 10 drinks at Jerry’s Lounge before he left the bar and was struck by a car. He argued that the bartender knew he was an alcoholic and should not have served him. Under a 1980 Florida law, a bar that “knowingly serves a person habitually addicted to alcohol” can be held liable for any resulting injuries.

Confirmed: By the U.S. Senate, President Reagan’s appointment of Frank Shakespeare, Jr., as the new U.S. ambassador to the Vatican. He replaces William A. Wilson, who resigned the post in May. The Senate approved Shakespeare’s appointment despite protests that naming an ambassador to the Vatican violates the First Amendment by giving preferential treatment to a single religious group. The U.S. Supreme Court recently declined to review a case challenging Reagan’s decision to establish diplomatic relations with the Vatican.

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