The American Family Association, which led campaigns to punish CBS for broadcasting curse words uttered at Ground Zero as the Twin Towers fell and punish Fox for allowing the word "shit" to inadvertently go out over the air during a NASCAR broadcast, now brings us word of a new threat to civilization as we know it, as reported by another Christian-right group:

'Implied Cursing' in TV Ads Concerns Christian Activist

Recent television advertising that used "bleeped" profanity as to grab attention and shock viewers is being compared to the Bible's warning concerning seduction and deception getting worse and worse.

... In a Dodge commercial for its Caliber model, for example, a Muppet-like character shares that the car "scares the [bleep] out of me."

...A Comcast ad promoting high-speed Internet service portrays a man who, after getting a "power boost" from the cable line, blitzes through a kitchen clean-up chore at lightning-fast speed -- to which his wife exclaims: "Holy ...."

...How about a Volkswagen ad promoting the built-in safety features in one of its models? Passengers in a new Passat blurt out "Holy ..." after surviving a crash. Instead of hearing a profanity, viewers hear a voice-over saying "safe happens."

....Citing a Bible passage in the third chapter of 2 Timothy, [Bill] Johnson [of the American Decency Association] says he is reminded that deception will grow worse during the last days. He thinks Christians should therefore make choices in media consumption that keep them on "God's side" -- by remaining pure in spirit and being much more discerning than in times past.

Yup -- ads that say "Holy (bleep)" are a sign of the Last Days.

I look forward to the joint AFA/ADA campaign to ban Satan-influenced comic strips in which people say "%@#&*@!!!" when they hit their thumbs with a hammer.

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(By the way, I see no sign that either the AFA or the ADA has had a word to say about a true obscenity that's about to go out over the air -- the O.J. interview.)