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Anti-Muslim film puts Christian TV in global spotlight

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Published On: 9/12/2012 A.D. - 25/1/1434 H. Visited: 12223 times

Unrest in the wake of 'Innocence of Muslims' has shed light on U.S.-based, Arabic-language satellite TV stations whose programming is aimed at converting Muslims to Christianity.

Off the 210 Freeway in suburban Duarte, between an International House of Pancakes and a Wal-Mart, sits a nondescript one-story industrial park that has been an unlikely flash point for weeks of global unrest.

It's here that The Way satellite TV channel creates evangelical Christian programming that beams across the Arabic-speaking world. Until recently, the business was so anonymous that even city officials didn't know the television studio was operating there.

But that all changed a few weeks ago, when The Way was revealed as a key filming location for "Innocence of Muslims," whose YouTube trailer has sparked ongoing violent anti-American protests in dozens of cities throughout the Middle East and beyond.

The anti-Islam film has shed light on The Way and other U.S.-based, Arabic-language satellite TV stations whose programming is aimed at converting Muslims to Christianity. Though little noticed in the English-speaking world, the stations' programming had been controversial among Middle Eastern Christians and Muslims — both in the U.S. and abroad — long before the low-budget movie popularized their message.

"All kinds of Christians have gotten in on the action, and some of them are quite horrific in the way they do attack the Islamic faith," said Terence Ascott, the chief executive and founder of SAT-7, a moderate, nondenominational Christian satellite network that began broadcasting in the Middle East in 1996. "It doesn't help the relationship between Christians and Muslims."

The stations' programming ranges from relatively tame Christian cartoons and broadcasts of religious celebrations to fiery sermons that attack the prophet Muhammad. The production values vary, and broadcasts include Arabic-language programs as well as English-language talks shows dubbed into Arabic.

Some of the stations are independently operated by immigrants from the Middle East. The Way is run by an evangelical Coptic Christian named Joseph Nassralla, originally from Egypt.

Others are financed by some of America's highest-profile Christian televangelists. Joyce Meyer Ministries and Trinity Broadcasting Network each started their own Arabic-language Christian networks, with the goal of expanding their reach to millions of potential converts.

Orange County-based Trinity Broadcasting Network launched its Healing Channel in 2005 and has steadily extended its reach. The station touts solar-powered satellite dishes that can beam programming to isolated desert communities.

"Never in history has there been a greater opportunity to reach the Muslim population of the earth with the saving power of Jesus," said TBN founder Paul Crouch before the trailer for "Innocence of Muslims" was translated into Arabic and uploaded onto YouTube.

Unlike The Way and a few stations that attack Islam using fiery rhetoric, The Healing Channel focuses largely on singing the praises of Christianity. "You get more with honey than you do with vinegar," TBN spokesman Colby May said.

There are no reliable statistics on the stations' viewership.

But the potential audience is huge in countries like Egypt, where Christians are hungry for an alternative to state-run television that rarely addresses their issues, and even poor families with no Internet access can scrounge up enough for a satellite dish and receiver, said Febe Armanios, an associate professor at Middlebury College who has studied Coptic and Middle Eastern Christian satellite stations.

"On top of shacks, you see the dishes," Armanios said. "People may not have Internet, but they're going to have a cellphone, and they're going to have access to satellite TV."

Expatriates in the United States, nostalgic for their home countries, also tune in.

Arabic-language Christian satellite channels first began to emerge in the mid-1990s but proliferated rapidly in the last decade as the technology became cheaper. A report commissioned by SAT-7 listed 26 Christian satellite channels broadcasting in Arabic.

They include stations run by the Coptic Orthodox Church, which are aimed at Christians and steer clear of potentially incendiary programming, to more radical channels like The Way, The Truth and Redeemer TV, whose primary target audience is Muslims.

Nassralla went into hiding in the furor over the "Innocence of Muslims" and later issued a statement saying he was duped about the real nature of the movie by filmmaker Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, who was arrested Thursday on suspicion of violating terms of his probation.

One of the widest-reaching Christian evangelical stations is Al Hayat, or Life TV. U.S. televangelist Joyce Meyer helped launch the station in 2003 and her program still airs on it six times a day, dubbed into Arabic.

For more than six years, the station also broadcast Father Zakaria Botros, a Coptic Christian cleric who dedicated sermons to describing the alleged sexual indulgences of the prophet Muhammad, including portraying him as a pedophile and necrophile.

Magdi Khalil, a Washington-based Coptic human rights activist and director of the nonprofit Middle East Freedom Forum, said that according to his research, Al Hayat's viewership is upward of 30 million.

Botros' outspoken views on Islam earned him a $60-million bounty for his death from Al Qaeda but made him a hero to some Christians, including several of the "Innocence of Muslims" filmmakers. In 2010, for reasons that are not clear, Botros split from Al Hayat and launched his own channel a year later.

A spokesman for Meyer told The Times via email that Meyer had no relationship with Botros and had no role in the cancellation of the cleric's show. Operators of other evangelical stations declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment.

The networks say their main focus is converting nonbelievers and spreading the Gospel, but they rarely miss an opportunity to solicit cash donations on their websites or on air.

In mid-September, amid days of riots in Cairo and other cities over the trailer for "Innocence of Muslims," Botros took to the airwaves to defend the movie. During a rebroadcast of his remarks, callers to his show from all over the world pledged thousands of dollars.

Like the channels' viewership counts, their funding sources are often murky. Although many operate as nonprofits, meaning that their tax filings are public, the records generally do not name donors.

The tax forms do give a sense of the amount of support the channels receive, ranging from less than $100, 000 to more than $3 million a year. The most recent tax form for a nonprofit associated with Al Hayat, from 2010, reported $1.2 million in contributions. National Christian Foundation, a major Christian grant-making organization, reported on its tax form that it had contributed $422, 500 to the same nonprofit that year.

The people involved in the evangelical networks proved to be a relatively small circle. The chief financial officer of the Westminster-based nonprofit that runs Botros' station, Raafat Girgis, is also the program director for TBN's Healing Network.

In 2007 Nassralla, who runs The Way network, took out a restraining order against Ahmed Abaza, the owner of The Truth, another Southern California-based channel known for its anti-Islam programming, accusing him of harassment. The case was dismissed.

People involved with traditional denominations like the Coptic Orthodox Church have distanced themselves from the evangelical outlets, which they see as incendiary and divisive. The Los Angeles diocese launched its own satellite station, Logos TV, three years ago, largely in response to the more radical channels.

"We found that there are three or four stations that are irresponsible and give the wrong image of the Copts," said Father Bishoy Aziz of St. Mary & St. Athanasius Coptic Orthodox Church in Northridge. At Logos, he said, "we don't attack any religion. Even if we want to speak about Islam, we try to defend the Bible only."

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