Once again the American Family Association is upset about a TV show no one has seen yet.
NBC's upcoming "The Book of Daniel" apparently portrays an Episcopal priest with a gay son, alcoholic wife and prescription pill problem of his own. Not American Family enough for the American Family Association. The character also has visions of an "unconventional" Jesus. Guess I missed the part in the Gospels where Jesus is conventional.
The AFA sees all this as "mocking Christianity." I'll reserve judgment until I see the show but frankly, I think it's refereshing to see a show that even deals with the church or Jesus. Compared to many of the pastors I have met over the years (including me), this guy's life sounds pretty normal.
Ever since that John Ritter portrayed a long-haired country preacher on "The Waltons" the networks have just been out to get us.
This show may turn out to be awful and even offensive, but it's amazing how some Christians' first instinct is to attack any depiction of Christianity that they cannot control. Regardless of this upcoming series content, read between the lines of their press release and notice all the presuppostions. Evidently, "real" Christians don't have questions about their faith traditions, learn about other religions, have any personal struggles or family members who do. Apparently, they also have to be rock solid in their beliefs about Jesus before venturing to write fiction that deals with him.
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We started watching this show by accident and were surprised that we enjoyed it. Even members of my family that are not religious found it amusing and the reality of it refreshing (although maybe the reality is a bit overdone).
Posted by: stacey chisholm | January 21, 2006 at 11:29 AM
Yes, it was an interesting show. It shot for "Six Feet Under" and only made it about 70% of the way. The portrayal of Jesus was charming, and ironically, very mainstream. Its depiction of a denominational leadership was pretty dead on. From what I read, the show is on hiatus. No big loss, but watching the knee-jerk fearful reaction among the faithful was entertaining.
Posted by: donheatley | January 27, 2006 at 08:31 AM