In the MAS*H TV series, Father Mulcahy calls Hawkeye “that crazy agnostic” while speaking of him positively, and in another episode says Hawk is a good Christian – of course using the liberal Catholic POV that if you are doing what is righteous before God, you are being a Christian even if you don’t consider yourself one.
Didn’t Chakotay have his Spirit Guides? Then again, he’s post-Roddenberry… but it matches the general trend of “mainstream human religions were bad and have been abandoned”. But really, why would Amerind “spirituality” get a pass that Christianity/Islam apparently don’t? Hollywood New Age mentality?
Yes, and those are a good start.
Then again, the stereotype does create a chicken/egg type question: is the character an atheist because he/she is unemotional and unable to perceive the transcendent, or is it the other way around? The TV shows tend to muddle that part. And the thing is the one trait is independent of the other, you can have a highly empathetic, creative, in-awe-of-the-universe atheist who improves the world (e.g. Carl Sagan) or a declared believer whose dull pointless existence just brings pain and destruction (Mohammed Atta).
Meanwhile, ISTM “Hollywood-version Asperger’s” is being abused in entertainment media as a way to introduce someone with a social-clues deficit that’s sympathetic because it’s “not really his fault”. I suppose because amont presumed-neurotypicals it’s expected to learn to read the full set of “social signals” effortlessly by osmosis from just living, and those who miss some of those deserve somehow the embarassment and awkwardness because somehow they “failed” at something that’s expected and should be trivial.
It occurs to me that a happy, lovable, admirable atheist is perceived as a threat by theists.
The theist raises his kids to believe that we all need God, that religion is the basis of morality, that a life without God is too terrible to contemplate. Then one day, the successful, apparently happy, loving, amiable neighbours are asked by the kids why they never go to church and they reply that they are atheists. You have to understand how threatening that can be to theists.
Also, for the adult theist who has spent his life going to church and praying to God, the very existence of a happy, moral, well-adjusted atheist is like a huge sign that says: “You stupid jerk, maybe you have spent all these years catering to a fairy tale. The atheists are fine and happy without God.”
First of all, I don’t think the chicken/egg question is important. As long as the media portray atheists as cold, unfeeling and humourless people “unable to perceive the transcendent” they are catering to the theist majority’s prejudices, as well as to the theist fear that their children will question their “faith” if they see positive, admirable atheists.
The very existence of the atheist is felt to be a threat to faith. This is why there is so much emphasis on “strong” faith, and “Faith as solid as a stone.” Like a stone, it lies there, unmoving, unmovable, impregnable. This emphasis on strength and stability betrays the fear of theists that what they believe may be nonsense.
Persons of faith are likely to be insecure because faith is believing something for which there is no evidence. Or as one of my favourite atheists, Mark Twain, said, “Faith is believing what you know ain’t so.” BTW, does Mark Twain strike you as humourless and incapable of empathy?
I did not say that religious people literally express that idea in so many words. I mean that when a huge part of your world-view and your life is based on “faith” (which means believing stuff that is unproven and could well be complete nonsense) then you are bound to feel threatened when someone just like you seems to be living a happy, moral and meaningful life without believing in God. The implication is subtle, but it is there: it says the theist (and his parents and his ancestors before them) have devoted all this time, money and effort believing in and praying to someone who does not exist.
This is why theists like programs where atheists are shown as lacking in their humanity, or where a miraculous and unexplainable occurrence at the end of the show demonstrates that the atheist is foolish and lacking in answers.
Saudi Arabia, where they define atheism as a form of terrorism, is just the most blatant form of theistic fear engendered by the existence of atheism.
Milder forms are the vast majority of Americans saying they would not vote for an atheist, television programs that show atheists as mechanical and lacking in human dimensions, and programs where something unexplainable and wonderful occurs at the end, leaving the atheist looking foolish and making the audience comfortable in seeing the atheist put in his place.
Even milder forms are the theist majority insisting that “In God we Trust” must remain on US money, even though this mention plays no role in the monetary system. The funny thing is, if someone proposed putting “In God and his son Jesus we trust”, most Christians would agree that this is unfair to Muslims and Jews. But the feelings of the atheist minority, for some reason, do not count.
The real reason, it seems to me, is that “In God we Trust” reassures theists in their deep-seated insecurity by saying to them: "Yes there are atheists, but nobody cares about their viewpoint. See, it says right here on the money that we trust in God.
Yes, Mal is a good character, however, he is also an example of the “Angry Atheist”. At the beginning during the battle with the Alliance, Mal is shown as a believer, kissing a cross around his neck. It’s after the browncoats lose that he becomes an atheist.
I would have preferred seeing him as an unbeliever from the beginning.
I forgot about Voyager. You made me remember it. Shame on you! I didn’t watch much of Voyager becaus the overwhelming majority of the episodes I did see had truly abysmal writing.
This is a weird conversation to me. I usually hear that there are no positive portrayals of christians on TV, that the few times that is a christian they’re either shown being a horrible person or if the character isn’t an awful person, they do non-christian things and never act christian, and that the media just wants to portray christians in a bad light.
I roll my eyes at those statements, too.
Anyway, I’m challenging the premise altogether.
These were the top 10 scripted shows of the 2013-2014 season:
Big Bang Theory
NCIS
NCIS: LA
Blacklist
Person of Interest
Blue Bloods
Resurrection
Criminal Minds
Castle
Grey’s Anatomy
I don’t watch most of them. Of the ones I do watch, I can’t think of one where a regular character is portrayed negatively because of their atheism. (nor the other way). Most of the characters on the ones I do watch tend to range from culturally religious (they celebrate major holidays, but religion is not really a part of their lives) to agnostic. Can someone who watches those programs weigh in?
I don’t think anyone on most of those shows is portrayed as devoutly religious OR as militantly atheist. Most TV shows ignore religion completely except for the occasional wedding or funeral… and, of course, at Christmas time.
Nobody on*** Friends ***ever went to church or to a synagogue. Neither did anyone on Family Ties, The Rockford Files, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, or Magnum PI.
Most writers just don’t seem t find religion an interesting topic.
Indeed. Most of us believers tend to have friends who are atheists and we wish them to have happy, moral, and meaningful lives, with or without faith in God. Most of us don’t see God as necessary to be happy, to live morally, or to have meaning - that’s not why we believe or have faith.
The point of being a Christian is NOT to be happy! Oh sure, sometimes my faith can be a source of great comfort, but sometimes it’s extremely inconvenient. At any given moment, I may be much happier than Richard Dawkins or I may be far more miserable. And it really doesn’t matter! Even IF I were, on average, 20 times happier than Dawkins (or vice versa), that would tell us absolutely nothing about the truth or falsehood of Christianity.
Jesus never promised his followers that things would go swimmingly here on Earth, and they don’t!
I’ve spotted an example of a media trope that was previously thought impossible: Atheist Glurge. Woody Allen’s Magic in the Moonlight.
Synopsis: Colin Firth (standing in for Woody) plays a world-famous magician and spiritualism debunker (a la Houdini). A friend approaches him and tells him of a spiritualist hanging out in the South of France, doing readings and seances, and may be The Real Deal. Colin takes the bait and goes off to meet & debunk.
He meets her (Emma Stone), but can’t debunk. She passes all tests. Colin’s lack-of-faith is beginning to wobble. And in a moment of crisis, a beloved aunt is injured in a car crash, and Colin starts to pray for her recovery … but catches himself at the last moment. He then also exposes Emma – his friend has been in cahoots with her, which is how Colin was baffled. But he falls in love with her, his atheism is restored, and they live happily ever after.
