Good to hear. Sorry if I was over-sensitive about it. We’ve had a lot of OPs who are posting with judgmental agendas (that sometimes don’t come out til later in the thread). Like the mom who asked about her teenagers smoking weed… because now they were LIARS!, and were going to end up homeless on heroin.
Glad you’re not thinking TV writers (and those of us who laugh at them) are “offending the Almighty” or going to hell or anything.
Now, Jimmy Swaggert or Jim Bakker? Yeah, that’s blasphemous.
Jesus regularly appeared to an Episcopal priest in the short-lived Aidan Quinn series The Book of Daniel. It was left a bit unclear, IIRC, whether it was actually the Savior or just recurring hallucinations. The show took a lot of flak from conservative Christians at the time, and some stations refused to air it: The Book of Daniel (TV series) - Wikipedia
Or, as a priest once told me, God answers every prayer, but often the answer is “no.”
I saw that series (The Book of Daniel). It was pretty good, and I think the conservatives might have liked it, had they given it a chance.
I’m surprised that Father Ted, possibly the best TV show ever made, about three priests living on the remote Craggy Island, off the coast of Ireland has not been mentioned.
Mainly its a very comprehensive take-down of organised religion (Roman Catholic Church) which is its main target, but it also works on the premise that most of the clergy do not actually believe in God to begin with, and that most of what is claimed about him/her/it is really just a secular construct - a combination of people seeking power or, in the case of Craggy Island, the result of very human failings. (I was going to say fecklessness, but its actually feckfull).
The comedy series Reaper had the Devil (brilliantly, joyfully played by Ray Wise) seem like not such a bad guy, all in all, and Hell as more of an annoying bureaucracy than a place of eternal torment. God, I loved that show! So sorry it ended after just two damn seasons. I don’t think it ever had a high-enough profile to draw the ire of the Christian Right: Reaper (TV series) - Wikipedia
I don’t think I agree with your assessment of Reaper (Other than that Ray Wise did a brilliant job in a role he obviously had great fun playing).
We see SPOILERS
That while the DMV is a portal to hell, so are huge demonic worms.
The devil keeps his word, but is the greasiest, slimiest, wheedlingest imaginable lawyer about it.
The devil maintains that he is not really a bad guy. I believe the series showed differently.
Finally, it was shown that G-d exists, has an ineffable plan, and that His forgiveness can always be found if you seek it.
One of the best studies of human nature in response to life and death issues ever made.
I believe that Edith Bunker (“All in the Family”) was presented as a sincere believer, and she was the moral center of the show.
To this longtime, hardcore nontheist, it is just refreshing to see something mass-marketed featuring an atheist and an agnostic as main characters, and mocking the hypocrisy and ridiculousness of the christian character’s beliefs. Happens way too infrequently, compared to the countless situations in which religion is treated as something other than make believe.
Agreed.
The first few seasons of the Simpsons did a nice job of gently poking fun at Christian practice, but in an affectionate way. (At least that’s how I took it.) I have a hunch that some of the writers grew up in believer households.
Agreed.
Evangelical Christian here, and I think jokes like this are hilarious. I don’t understand why so many of my fellow believers are so uptight about things like this. Jesus was an irreverent dude, who was constantly bucking social conventions, and ragging on the religious authorities of the day. I could definitely see him making his points with sarcastic, deadpan humor, if he were here with us now. And putting the self-righteous and self-important back in their place.
I’d say Joan of Arcadia is another that would probably qualify.
As I recall the thumper community was pretty upset about Buffy/Angel.
Nah, they showed Muhammad back in 2001 and nobody cared. It was not until 9 years later that people started caring and the episode you describe occur. Now the South Park episodes on places like Hulu are scrubbed clean of 3 episodes.
Re: Simpsons. According to some, Flanders got more extreme and stereotypical as the show went on, enough to inspire its own TVTrope. Other religious takes vary, Rev. Lovejoy got less religious and more jaded as it went on, while his wife is one of the characters with basically zero redeeming categories. A priest was a positive influence (Liam Neeson guest starring). On the other hand, they were pretty rough with the Movementarians…
Your memory may be better than mine.
On that note: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APMu32sC2nM
Nope, zero. Thanks, Obama.
Maybe slightly outside your brief, since it’s based on surrealised stereotypes of Catholic clergy rather than the theology, but there’s the Irish sitcom Father Ted.
If you want something with a more pro-Christian atmosphere, there’s Call the Midwife.
I never saw this show, but I read the linked wikipedia article. I think the show is pretty blasphemous. But then, I’m not into the anthropomorphic/anthropocentric thing.
Babylon 5 had, during it’s five season run, several positive Christian characters. Also positive depictions of a Jew(Commander Ivanova), and positive depictions of a number of different non-human races. The fifth episode of the first season, “Parliament of Dreams” has both hilarious and solemn religious depictions. I wanna go to a Centauri “thanksgiving” bash. Best party ever! Then there was the episode “Passing Thru Gethsemane”, with a Dominican monk finding out that he had been mind wiped, and in his original life he’d been a serial killer.
It’s been over 20 years since I’ve watched it, but doesn’t South Park also have Jesus himself as a recurring character? I don’t think the show treats him too reverently.
I was never a fan of the show but one of my friends, a deeply religious Mormon, would always insist on watching it together. He found the scenes with Jesus uproariously funny, which I always found strange.
