MickeyGot a Prayer
Yesterday was something of a slow news day; one of the "top" stories was that Pat Robertson is still taking the voices in his head seriously. Apparently God told him there would be a major terrorist attack in 2007... thus far, I've seen no follow-up stories about Homeland Security agents taking this God person in for questioning.
I found it interesting that given all the strident complaints about how God is allegedly being chased out of our nation and media that this was reported as more or less "straight" news (okay, so the anchor had a hard time keeping a straight face- but who the hell could blame him?). And yes, I know there are equally strident protests about how God is supposedly shoved down our faces in this society. In a perfect world we could just dump both groups of nutters in the Grand Canyon, with an assortment of knives, hatchets, pitchforks, chain saws etc. and watch the fun on Pay-Per-View as the average intelligence of the human race suddenly increased.
There are the usual arguments about how much religion is shown on TV- though really, how many of the characters on your favorite shows do you actually know the religious affiliations of? It really doesn't come up in most storylines: "Nurse, clamp that artery just below the incision... and, by the way, have you accepted the Silver Surfer as your own personal Savior?"
It's not as if the religious extremists are ever pleased even when religion is shown. NBC recently tried out a show, The Book of Daniel, where Jesus Christ was actually a regular character. Christian pressure groups lobbied to have the show cancelled, apparently because Jesus appeared to a family that wasn't perfect in all ways. I don't recall the biblical Jesus restricting His social calendar to the purest of the pure.
Jesus' old Man was a recurring character on Joan of Arcadia, which I don't recall raising such a fuss among the religious nut groups, though Joan turned out to be a victim of their own format. How many new variations could they work on God tells Joan to do something out of the blue, Joan learns a valuable life lesson? In practice, there weren't nearly as many new variations as there were episodes filmed.
I often hear complaints that in sci fi shows religion seems to be absent- at least, the usual suspects that we're used to in the here and now of 21st Century Earth. One could argue that we would have to outgrow religion in order to survive developing technologies as powerful as nanotech and antimatter containment... but a recent South Park presented just as good an argument that even in a world cured of religion we'd still manage to invent facile excuses to kill each other.
One of the most moving discussions of religion on TV was in the Babylon 5 episode "Passing Through Gethsemane." A sub-plot in their third season had a group of Christian monks going to the station to exchange ideas and information with holy men and women of other races. In one scene members of the Minbari religious caste ask one of the monks what the "defining moment" of his faith was; what one thing best clarified what his religion was all about.
He replied that it was Jesus' last night in the garden. Jesus had been made man, and He knew He would suffer horribly once He was found and tried and tortured. With His human weakness He asked that the trial should be taken from Him... but even knowing the hideous fate awaiting Him, He stayed and endured for the sake of redeeming all of us- even those who tormented Him.
I've yet to hear the likes of Jerry Falwell or Donald Wildmon present anything on TV that even remotely portrays Christianity in such glowing light.
I found it interesting that given all the strident complaints about how God is allegedly being chased out of our nation and media that this was reported as more or less "straight" news (okay, so the anchor had a hard time keeping a straight face- but who the hell could blame him?). And yes, I know there are equally strident protests about how God is supposedly shoved down our faces in this society. In a perfect world we could just dump both groups of nutters in the Grand Canyon, with an assortment of knives, hatchets, pitchforks, chain saws etc. and watch the fun on Pay-Per-View as the average intelligence of the human race suddenly increased.
There are the usual arguments about how much religion is shown on TV- though really, how many of the characters on your favorite shows do you actually know the religious affiliations of? It really doesn't come up in most storylines: "Nurse, clamp that artery just below the incision... and, by the way, have you accepted the Silver Surfer as your own personal Savior?"
It's not as if the religious extremists are ever pleased even when religion is shown. NBC recently tried out a show, The Book of Daniel, where Jesus Christ was actually a regular character. Christian pressure groups lobbied to have the show cancelled, apparently because Jesus appeared to a family that wasn't perfect in all ways. I don't recall the biblical Jesus restricting His social calendar to the purest of the pure.
Jesus' old Man was a recurring character on Joan of Arcadia, which I don't recall raising such a fuss among the religious nut groups, though Joan turned out to be a victim of their own format. How many new variations could they work on God tells Joan to do something out of the blue, Joan learns a valuable life lesson? In practice, there weren't nearly as many new variations as there were episodes filmed.
I often hear complaints that in sci fi shows religion seems to be absent- at least, the usual suspects that we're used to in the here and now of 21st Century Earth. One could argue that we would have to outgrow religion in order to survive developing technologies as powerful as nanotech and antimatter containment... but a recent South Park presented just as good an argument that even in a world cured of religion we'd still manage to invent facile excuses to kill each other.
One of the most moving discussions of religion on TV was in the Babylon 5 episode "Passing Through Gethsemane." A sub-plot in their third season had a group of Christian monks going to the station to exchange ideas and information with holy men and women of other races. In one scene members of the Minbari religious caste ask one of the monks what the "defining moment" of his faith was; what one thing best clarified what his religion was all about.
He replied that it was Jesus' last night in the garden. Jesus had been made man, and He knew He would suffer horribly once He was found and tried and tortured. With His human weakness He asked that the trial should be taken from Him... but even knowing the hideous fate awaiting Him, He stayed and endured for the sake of redeeming all of us- even those who tormented Him.
I've yet to hear the likes of Jerry Falwell or Donald Wildmon present anything on TV that even remotely portrays Christianity in such glowing light.
Learning Something Everyday
Malaysia Found
I haven't watched Babylon 5 for a very long time.
I suppose some writers are franticly trying to remind everyone that God is still there, despite of all the chaos showing on TV and realising it in the world.
Passionate Apathy