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Cereal, Juice... and a free Bible

August 8, 2000 AD - Imagine starting your day off with a big bowl of Cheerios cereal, a vitamin enriched glass of orange juice, and a Bible. That's exactly what 12 million families may be doing in the next few weeks. There would have been millions more CD-ROM Bibles distributed with the General Mills Cheerios brand cereal, but Disney Interactive refused to allow the Bible software to be included with their "Who wants to be a Millionaire" software, also being promoted in Cheerios cereal boxes, because the Bible was too controversial. Even though this was not their intent, the Disney-ABC group didn't want to mix their "love of money" software with God's Word. That's a good thing, but not the reason they refused to have the Bible software on the same CD.

This is all part of a $10 million promotion by General Mills. The New International Version Bible software was freely provided by Zondervan Publishing through Rhinosoft Interactive of Wisconsin, the firm that helped create the CD-ROMs for General Mills.

According to a Detroit Free Press article, appearing on July 22 in the religion news section, the anti-Christian groups are already voicing their objections to the 12 million or so copies that General Mills has already apologized for distributing. In their article, they quote Rabbi James Rudin, the interreligious consultant for the American Jewish Committee in New York, as saying that Zondervan's Protestant version of the Bible -- the New International Version -- in cereal boxes is offensive. He was also quoted as saying:

"I eat General Mills products myself, and I don't think it's right for any American to pick up a box of cereal in the morning and feel excluded," said Rudin. "This is one particular version of the Bible they're offering -- and America is multi-religious, multi-ethnic. When Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Taoists and millions of other Americans pick up this box of cereal and look at this Bible -- they are excluded."

Here's a Jewish Rabbi concerned about Muslims, Buddhists, et al, being excluded and offended! If General Mills had published the Jewish Torahs in those CD's, would he be lamenting for the poor Christians? His support for a "one world religion" is quite obvious.

What Christian or Bible related story in the whitewashed American biased media wouldn't be complete without the aetheists commenting? Again, as quoted directly from the Detroit Free Press article (which is not really whitewashed, but has been splattered on a bit):

"Ellen Johnson, president of American Atheists, based in Cranford, N.J., said, 'The problem is that there's only one option here -- and it's the typical choice that evangelical Christians give us. When it comes to equal access in this country, it's clear that evangelicals don't want it'."

Isn't that a shame? Well then, Ms. Johnson, just what do you propose as another option or choice? Perhaps a CD-ROM that contains the By-Laws of your ungodly corporation?

Now, it appears that General Mills is trying to claim that the CD-ROMs containing Bible software were unknowingly distributed without their consent. The founder of Rhinosoft Interactive, Greg Swann, claims that this latest statement is a lie. Apparently, the Bible was on the CD-ROMs from the very beginning and would have been included on every CD-ROM had Disney not objected to it being included with their "Millionaire" game software.

We truly hope that every Christian reading this report runs out to the local grocery store and grabs up all the boxes of Cheerios they can find with the Bible CD included. Our reasoning for this is simple. What better way to distribute free food for the hungry and poor than by giving them cereal with a Biblical message! Many have lost their jobs this summer, but their computers are still working while they have no food to put on their tables.

If you want to voice your support for Rhinosoft, you can E-mail them directly at encouragement@rhinosoftinteractive.com . We're sure that Greg Swann will be forwarding the replies he receives to General Mills.

There are 12 million Cheerios boxes being put on the grocier's shelves in August featuring the Bible included on the CD-ROM with either the game Clue, Carmen Sandiego, Word Detective, Lego Creator, or Amazon Trail. We found the last box at our local Publix grocery store with the Amazon Trail CD. It wasn't easy to find where the Bible software was located and there was no mention on the Cheerios box or CD concerning Bible software at all. We found the NIV Bible in a reference section along with Merriam-Webster's Dictionary and their Thesaurus.

All the reference programs are simple to load onto your PC computer - sorry MAC owners, this CD won't work for you - by simply clicking the install button. Considering how the Bible software was hidden and there not being any mention of it on the cereal box or on the CD-ROM, we don't see how its inclusion as one of the reference books could ever be considered "controversial", as Disney claims. After all, isn't the Bible the #1 reference book in the world?

Happy shopping!

Cheerios is a registered commercial mark of The General Mills Company. This report was compiled by Anthony Wayne for Lawgiver.Org

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