The BBC drama, Bonekickers, has received some flak with claims of anti-Christian bias over a “gruesome” decapitation scene.

The BBC has received over a 100 complaints of anti-Christian bias since the show was broadcast Tuesday evening. The complaints: the character doing the hacking belonged to a fictional far-right-wing Evangelical group, the White Wings Alliance, based on the Crusades.

We’re scratching our heads, we can’t remember the last time we read where evangelicals had beheaded someone. We do remember Nick Berg.

Berg, an American freelance telecommunications contractor in Iraq, was kidnapped by the Islamist terrorist group, al-Qaeda in 2004. A videotape of Berg’s death by beheading was released while his body was later found near Bagdad.

Another instance of beheading occurred in 2004 in Afghanistan. Afghan soldiers beheaded four Taliban fighters in retaliation for beheading a soldier and an interpreter.

“They cut off their heads with a knife,” he said of the Taliban action, “so when our forces arrested four Taliban, we cut off their heads too.”

According to the New York Times, the Taliban, a hardcore Muslim extremist group located in Afghanistan, favors beheading as it’s most favored method of killing its perceived enemies.

al-Qaeda was busy beheading in Iraq in 2004. Berg was beheaded in May, a South Korean translator, Kim Sun-i, in June, and a Japanese hostage, Shosei Koda, in October. In 2005, three Christian teen girls were beheaded by Muslim extremists in Indonesia.

The caller painted an ominous scene: A convoy of 40 vehicles carrying 70 heavily armed and masked men was prowling the streets of Rosarito Beach on Tuesday evening. The three police officers who arrived were quickly abducted. The next morning, their mutilated bodies turned up in an empty lot.

Their heads were found in the Tijuana River later that day. – Streetgangs.com

Beheading has become a method of killing by drug cartels in Mexico. In 2006, two policeman were beheaded in Acapulco. In 2007 five headless bodies were found dumped around Mexico City. Authorities believe the gruesome crimes are being committed in a series of wars between drug gangs over smuggling routes.

While militant Islamist extremist groups and Mexican drug cartels are known for beheading their victims, evangelicals have yet to be tied to any recent beheadings.

In a move reminiscent of Seinfeld’s Bizarro World, where everything is “opposite”, the Bonekicker plot has an “evil” Christian beheading a moderate Muslim. Many in the U.K were not amused, pointing out that the “PC Police” would have had their knickers in a knot if the story line consisted of a Muslim beheading a Christian.

So why choose evangelicals as the bad guys?

The people behind the Bonekicker story may have felt they couldn’t use other “religions” as the bad guy for fear of charges of religious bigotry or racism. On the other hand, Christians are notoriously forgiving and less apt to rampage in the streets over slights to their religion.

The inclusion of a beheading of moderate Muslim by an evangelical may have been someone’s idea of an original plot twist. After all, when was the last time an evangelical, even a far-right wing one, cut off someone’s head?

Either way, the BBC stands by its decision to air the show.

By LBG

Source - Sydney Morning Herald – Schoolgirls beheaded in grisly Indonesian attack
Source – USA Today – Video Shows Beheading of American Captive
Source – Daily Mail – Bonekickers drama blasted for showing gruesome decapitation scene
Source – BBC – South Korean Hostage Beheaded in Iraq
Image – Crusades