Religion, Agendas, and Television

It's becoming a disturbing trend, portraying the extremes of religion on television. One would think, as I do, that religion is under subtle and pervasive attack.

A few years ago I was forwarded an e-mail regarding a particular television show, where characters depicting Mormons were shown to be positively crazy, and the religion itself was sadly misrepresented. I didn't see it myself, but got a fairly good idea of what occurred in the show from a description. It saddened me to read what the writers thought would be okay to say.

In the last few weeks I've seen shows based around Jews, Libertarians, Catholics, Mormons (again), Episcopalians, Baptists, etc. None of them were shown the respect they deserve. I watched two of my favorite shows just last night, both of which had stories revolving around organized religions. Again these churches were being portrayed as intolerant and filled with a bunch of nuts. If someone believed in God, he/she is shown as misguided, illogical, and just plain silly in the head. If they objected to something they were shown as intolerant, small-minded, and fanatical.

I understand extremes make for good television, but a lot of people out there take what they see as an accurate representation.

Tangent: I distinctly recall the day I read the words, "Gossip Girl has finally lived up to it's hype." In other words, no matter what their ads claimed no one was really watching it. Unfortunately there are now teens and pre-teens who honestly believe the youthful elite of society sleep around with no consequences. Whether or not we choose to acknowledge it, too many of our teens are growing up believing what they're seeing.

Though I do hold responsible the writers who portray religions as organizations filled with a bunch of loons, and recognize there are some out there with agendas they want to press on us, I also know the real force behind it all.

Surely it is Satan's agenda to make religion seem silly, illogical, and unreasonable. Who wouldn't love to have the world think belief in God is the opposite of sanity? Even the lines spoken by a believer comes off sounding trite, childish, and rediculous.

Though we can't do much about what's being placed on our television screens, we can take responsibility in our homes to explain to our children what's real and what's not. My kids aren't old enough to watch any of the shows I've spoken of, but we're coming closer to the day when I can't send them all to their rooms to read at 7:00. They will be watching these shows sooner than I want.

I'm coming to recognize the need to study up on those religions I may not understand so that I can correct those things misrepresented on television.