The Synagogue Council of America has announced its support of the new voluntary rating system for motion pictures announced last week by the Motion Picture Association of America. The Council, central coordinating agency for the rabbinic and lay congregational bodies of Conservative, Orthodox and Reform Judaism in the United States, said it welcomed the measure because it afforded protection of the young from films intended for mature adult audiences and avoided censorship which the Council found objectionable.
Rabbi Jacob P. Rudin, president of the Council, and Rabbi Saul I. Teplitz, chairman of its film commission, said that the Council had always opposed the efforts of pressure groups to establish restrictions on what films the public may see. “These efforts, as well as the emphasis in certain films on sex and violence for commercial exploitation rather than artistic or literary purposes, have posed a real danger, for they invite some form of censorship, which we find objectionable. It is for these reasons that we welcome and support the recently-announced voluntary rating system by the motion picture Industry. The system holds promise of offering protection to children…while it protects the freedom of legitimate movie producers and film audiences.”
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