Pseudo-Science at CBS

The use of prime-time TV to sell the public a bill of goods hit a new low a little over a year ago, when, on May 15, 1992, CBS aired a two-hour primetime special called Ancient Secrets of the Bible. Produced by David W. Balsiger, the program claimed to present “startling and surprising evidence” to validate biblical stories viewed by many as myths.

Ancient Secrets of the Bible reportedly did well in the ratings, and CBS has since aired two more Balsiger pieces, The Incredible Discovery of Noah’s Ark (2/20/93) and Ancient Secrets of the Bible II (5/15/93). Each program dealt with such Old Testament stories as David and Goliath, Noah’s Ark, Moses receiving the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai, Samson and Delilah, and Daniel’s trial in a fiery furnace.

So unpolished were the presentations of the Bible stories that Dan Barker, a former Assemblies of God minister, remarked, “The production quality was something out of a third-grade Sunday school class, with amateur actors in bathrobes wearing beards glued on crookedly.”

Although presented as a “non-religious scientific investigation” (Noah’s Ark, 2/20/93), the documentaries feature such “experts” as UFO/Bermuda Triangle researcher Charles Berlitz, and the sort of “scientists” who believe that dinosaurs and humans lived at the same time. The foregone conclusion, as the narrator states in the Noah’s Ark documentary: “The Bible is proving to be an uncanny historical document. The latest science and technology supports the conclusion that the Bible is historically accurate.”

The programs appear to allot several minutes for biblical skeptics to express their belief that the stories are mythical. Then, one by one, representatives from various Christian fundamentalist institutions—such as the Institute for Creation Research—explained away the skeptic’s point of view.

What viewers are not aware of is that both sides in this “debate” are scripted by the shows’ producers—giving the skeptics sketchy, unsubstantiated arguments that are easily knocked down by the advocates for biblical inerrancy.

Last year, David Balsiger asked me to appear on The Incredible Discovery of Noah’s Ark. I told Balsiger that it was my understanding that the program was completely scripted—that he wrote both sides of the argument. “Yes,” he remarked, “But CBS approved the script” I declined to appear.

I called a friend at CBS News and asked her about these specials. “Oh, that’s Entertainment!” she said, meaning that the programs are produced by CBS’s entertainment division, not its news operation. “Wouldn’t viewers be confused,” I wondered aloud, “and think that this is the same CBS viewers look to for factual reporting?”

Liza Rindge, a publicist at CBS Entertainment in Los Angeles, provided me with the official CBS line on the programs—that they are “reality specials.” Beyond that, I couldn’t find anyone at CBS willing to comment on the content of the programs.

CBS tries to play down David Balsiger’s role in the production of these specials, but material from his organization lists him as “chief researcher, field producer” and “director.”

Balsiger is a prominent member of several Religious Right organizations. In the 1980s he received considerable attention for his “Presidential Biblical Scoreboards”—glossy magazine-style voter guides for evangelical Christians. He also served as an original member of the steering committee of the Coalition on Revival (COR), a little-known Christian Right think tank. Balsiger signed the COR Manifesto, which states in part:

We affirm that this God-inspired, inerrant Bible is the only absolute, objective, final test for all truth claims, and the clearest verbal picture of reality that has ever come into the hands of mankind. By it, and it alone, are all philosophies, books, values, actions and plans to be measured as to their consistency with reality.

COR members also sign a pledge committing themselves to “rebuilding our civilization upon the principles of the Bible…until the day we die.” One of COR’s projects is to “bring media under the influence of a biblical worldview by evangelism, prayer, infiltration, and honest friendships with media leadership.”

Balsiger, of course, has every right to believe the infallibility of the Bible. CBS, though, has breached the public trust by abandoning any sort of standards of balance or accuracy when turning over its airwaves to the Religious Right. The only “reality” CBS demonstrated in the presentation of these biblical specials is that its ratings are more important than its credibility.

Skipp Porteous is the president of the Institute for First Amendment Studies and the managing editor of Freedom Writer.