Just happened to sit down in front of the television at 9:30 tonight. Showing was The New Adventures Of Old Christine. I do not know much about the show; I've watched a couple of episodes, and it certainly is not a favorite. Usually I would have allowed it to play in the background while I read a magazine. But, this time my attention was grabbed by the theme of the show. It was about religion.

Christine is a divorced mother of a pre-teen. I think her character would admit to being unsure of herself and hedonistic with lifestyle. In the episode of note, her son comes home after visiting with his dad and his new girlfriend. With excitement he tells mom they have been to church. Christine is quite upset. After the boy leaves the room, she expresses anger and dismay that her ex-husband would take their son to church. When asked why she so dislikes church, she stutters, and then says that churches hate gays and she hates anyone who hates.

Then the show explores Christine's discomfort with church. Several times her son continues to ask her to please take him to church. It seems she had a bad experience with Confirmation as a child. And, again she is convinced that churches hate gays. Finally she relinquishes, and takes her son to church. She is uncomfortable, and there are some awkward moments, but she finds church to be a good experience.

I want to thank the writers of this show for not totally trashing church. What they presented was not my kind of church, or even my understanding of the Christian faith, but at least they made an honest attempt to portray Christians and church as amiable. The minister was a nice guy. Even the child's Sunday School class was treated gently, even if a bit humorously, by the plot. The foibles of Christine were accepted with kindness. The preacher's message had little to do with the Bible or the gospel, but again it was not offensive- and I am sure an anti-religious agenda could easily have been slipped into such a part of the show.

Especially did I take notice of a couple of points in the show. During the worship service, Christine was totally at a loss concerning the rituals and formalities of the congregation. This was a reminder to me of how a guest, in my worship services, could equally feel out of place. We should make worship welcoming to such people. And, several times the stereotype was presented that the church has an anti-gay agenda. In this show, the minister assured Christine that several of his church members were gay. I have my suspicions that the writers of the show truly feel that the church in general has a prejudice toward gays. I feel such an understanding is unfortunate. We as a church, and particularly I am referencing the Evangelical Conservative church, must do a better job of letting people know that we love them. How am I to convince a person to turn from sin and to Jesus unless he/she is first convinced that I love him?

Thanks CBS for a good thirty minutes of television. Please give us more of such respectful and thoughtful treatment of religion.

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posted by: babe4jesus55 (reply)
post date: 12.18.06 (10:36 pm)

That IS interesting. It's been a long time since I saw a mainstream tv show take even a neutral view of Christians when mentioned.

Church unfortunantly seems to have become a breeding ground for homophobes and other anti-different than me types. Who are we to pull the holier-than-thou card? We each have our stumbling blocks and need to chisel at our own before we go pointing at everyone else's.

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posted by: 69whisper (reply)
post date: 12.19.06 (12:56 am)

Congratulations dear !
you are No.4 in the hotblog list. so good to see you there :)

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posted by: PastorDave (reply)
post date: 12.19.06 (5:13 am)

Reply to: babe4jesus55
"We each have our stumbling blocks and need to chisel at our own before we go pointing at everyone else's." - It is a difficult challenge to be uncompromising toward sin and yet be clearly loving toward the sinner. I think the scriptures teach us to do both.

I do think this is generally a rather raunchy show, and would not recommend it to others. Its just that the particulary episode that happened to be on my television last night was interesting, to me.

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posted by: PastorDave (reply)
post date: 12.19.06 (5:16 am)

Reply to: PastorDave
I really do not want to be that high in HotBlogs. Hopefully, soon, some of these guys that post five times per day will overtake me. To be ranked so high puts too much pressure on me to produce something well written and interesting on a consistent basis. That kind of challenge is better handled by others. I prefer to be high enough in HotBlogs that others will perhaps notice and read, but not so high as to be expected to performe well!

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posted by: surrogate (reply)
post date: 12.19.06 (5:40 am)

Reply to: PastorDave

"I prefer to be high enough in HotBlogs that others will perhaps notice and read, but not so high as to be expected to performe well!"

My feelings exactly. Woke up this morning feeling like I was wearing a target on my forhead.

I haven't seen the show yet. Hell, I haven't seen a sitcom all year, I don't thinkm oh well except "the Office," which Ryan downloaded and we watched together a couple of weeks ago. I'll have to make a point of watching it.

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posted by: inkspector (reply)
post date: 12.19.06 (1:33 pm)

Sad to report, I did not see the show.

I wouldn't worry too much about your rank on the Hot Blog list. We will all eventually fall down the list in a few days. Just enjoy it for now.

I think you have a nice blog so it is an inspiration for others who are just starting out to view yours and get some ideas for theirs.

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posted by: TheRockSays (reply)
post date: 12.19.06 (6:11 pm)

The PC elite doesn't make a distinction between hate and disagreement. Thus, if a church has a philosophy about homosexual acts being immoral, well that's intolerant and bigoted. This is why "hate the sin and love the sinner" is no longer used to describe a philosophy, but is code to disparage Christians with unfashionable beliefs.

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posted by: no1yewno (reply)
post date: 03.26.08 (12:48 pm)

Take a look at her now. To paraphrase Christine on the March 17, 2008 show - I hate Christmas. All that giving and Jesus. Yeah, I was shocked and disgusted.

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