According to a study commissioned by the Parents Television Council (PTC) and National Religious Broadcasters (NRB), network television mostly ignores religion or casts it in a negative light - - with NBC cited as the worst offender.

"This comprehensive study shows a clear disparity between the religious beliefs of most Americans and how these beliefs are reflected in television programming," said NRB President Dr. Frank Wright. "Religion and the public expression of faith is a crucial element in the lives of most Americans. Our findings should challenge Hollywood to accurately reflect this in television content," said PTC President L. Brent Bozell.

After analyzing 2,385 hours of primetime entertainment programming on seven broadcast networks - - ABC, CBS, NMB, Fox, UPN, WB and Pax - - the PTC/NRB came to these conclusions:

NBC was the decisive leader in broadcasting negative depictions of faith and religion. NBC programming had 9.5 negative treatments for every positive treatment of faith. Fox followed with 2.4 negative depictions for each one that was positive. WB and ABC tied with 1.2 negative for each positive, followed by UPN with 1 negative for every 1.1 positive, CBS with 1 negative for every 2 positive and Pax which did not have a single negative depiction.

References to faith were the most common, (582 of the 2,344 treatments), and also the most positive. Less common, and more likely to be shown in a negative light, are more specific elements of religion, such as a particular church and its teachings, devout laity, and the clergy.

The treatment of religion in an institutional or doctrinal context (such as a reference to a church service, a particular denomination, or to Scripture) was strikingly negative. More than 32 percent of TV's treatments of religious institutions and doctrine were negative while only 11.7 percent of such treatments were positive.

Negative depictions of clergy were more than twice as frequent as positive depictions - 36.2 percent negative compared to 14.6 percent positive.

Representations of devout laity tended to be negative more than positive, but to a lesser degree than in the past - 33.3 percent negative compared to 20.4 percent positive. In the 1997 study, only 7.9 percent of the treatments were positive, whereas a staggering 78.9 percent were negative.

Negativity toward religion grew steadily with each passing hour of prime time. During the 7:00 p.m. hour, religious content was negative 16.9 percent of the time. In the 8:00 p.m. hour, 20.8 percent of instances were negative. In the 9:00 p.m. hour, 27.5 percent of instances were negative, and in the 10:00 p.m. hour, 28.2 percent were negative.