TV One promo ruled not blasphemous

"For Christ's sake" is not a blasphemous phrase, the Broadcasting Standards Authority ruled yesterday.

During a promo for the axed TV One drama Orange Roughies, one of the characters exclaimed, "You're married, for Christ's sake!" as he walked past a car in which a husband and wife were having sex.

A Presbyterian pastor from Southland, Trevor Parkinson, complained that Christians were "aggrieved that the name of their Saviour and Lord is used in such a derogatory and blasphemous manner".

But the authority ruled that the word "Christ" as defined by the Concise Oxford Dictionary included "expressing surprise, anger, etc".