WASHINGTON (BP)—A U.S. Senate committee approve legislation July 19 to assure the federal government has the authority to rule a broadcast is indecent based on the use of one word or image.

The Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation forwarded to the full Senate by unanimous consent the Protecting Children From Indecent Programming Act, S. 1780. The bill calls for the Federal Communications Commission to "maintain a policy that a single word or image may constitute indecent programming."

The legislation, sponsored by Sen. John Rockefeller, D.-W.Va., seeks to remedy a June ruling by a federal appeals court that undermined FCC rulings against television programs in which obscene words wer used in prime time.

Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, told Rockefeller in a July 18 letter the entity fully endorses his bill.

"Passage of this bill into law will help protect children from encountering indecent words and images on television," Land said. "Even a single indecent word broadcast on television during regular family viewing hours can have a negative impact on children and society, and the FCC should have the ability to punish such airings for violation of indecency laws."

In June a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York rejected FCC decisions that the uses of obscene language in live programs on Fox Channel in 2002 and 2003 were indecent. With its 2-1 ruling, the judges sent the case back to the FCC to give the agency an opportunity to explain its reasoning further.

Pro-family organizations have long criticized the sexual content, plus obscene and profane language, on prime-time television. The 2004 Super Bowl halftime show pushed the issue into the national spotlight and motivated Congress to take action. Janet Jackson's exposure on national TV capped a controversial show and brought a deluge of criticism from many Americans, including legislators and the FCC.