I have long been known among my religious friends as a person who doesn’t really like the Veggie Tales videos all the much.  To me the represent an interesting contradiction of which I may blog on later.

But they are a cherished and beloved form of entertainment to many, and one that promotes biblical values.

IN that regard I respect them.  I may mock them a bit saying things like "I love Veggie Tales: With a good Ranch dressing" but that is all in fun, more to tweak the noses of my friends then really a dislike if Larry.

But there is not mistaking what they are.  They are and always have been a religious expression.  They have always heavily promoted Evangelical Christianity.

NBC decided to capitalize on the 50 million in video sales that the Veggie’s have to their credit, and brought them on to mainstream…sort of.

But the took them and they boiled and sanitized them into a mushy meaningless mess.  They removed much of the references to God.

Michelle Malkin at Hot Air takes them on here:

http://hotair.com/archives/2006/09/29/muzzling-the-veggie-tales/

The news story is here:

God references quashed; ‘VeggieTales’ creator steamed

Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber always had a moral message in their long-running "VeggieTales" series, a collection of animated home videos for children that encourage moral behavior based on Christian principles. But now that the vegetable stars have hit network television, they cannot speak as freely as they once did, and that has got the Parents Television Council steamed.

Two weeks ago, NBC began airing 30-minute episodes of "VeggieTales" on Saturday mornings. The show was edited to comply with the network’s broadcast standards, said NBC spokeswoman Rebecca Marks.

"Our goal is to reach as broad an audience as possible with these positive messages while being careful not to advocate any one religious point of view," she said.

The shows creator says he was surprised:

"VeggieTales" creator Phil Vischer, who was responsible for readying episodes for network broadcast, said he didn’t know until just weeks before the shows were to begin airing that non-historical references to God and the Bible would have to be removed.