Fox's 'Lucifer' Series Draws Protests
Greg Richter
One Million Moms, an offshoot of the American Family Association, has launched a petition asking the Fox broadcasting network to exorcize "Lucifer" from its TV lineup.
The petition had more than 126,000 signatures on AMA's main website and almost 16,000 on the One Million Moms' website petition on Sunday.
Fox has announced the show will be on the network's lineup in 2016, and a preview of the pilot episode can be seen online.
According to One Million Moms, the series "will glorify Satan as a caring, likable person in human flesh."
The series is loosely based on a character from Neil Gaiman's "The Sandman" comics, which also drew fire from Christian groups. Lucifer Morningstar owns a Los Angeles nightclub and helps the police fight crime in the series.
"Bored and unhappy as the Lord of Hell, the original fallen angel, Lucifer Morningstar has abandoned his throne and retired to L.A., where he owns Lux, an upscale nightclub," the Fox website for the show says.
"At the same time, God's emissary, the angel Amenadiel, has been sent to Los Angeles to convince Lucifer to return to the underworld," the petition says. "Previews of the pilot episode depict graphic acts of violence, a nightclub featuring scantily-clad women and a demon."
The petition says the show "previews mischaracterize Satan, depart from true biblical teachings about him, and inaccurately portray the beliefs of the Christian faith."
Fox is disrespecting Christianity and mocking the Bible by choosing to air the show, it says.
Gaiman responded to the protest on his Tumblr page, saying, "Ah. It seems like only yesterday (but it was 1991) that the 'Concerned Mothers of America' announced that they were boycotting SANDMAN because it contained Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Trans characters. … I wonder if they noticed it didn’t work last time, either…"