HOLLYWOOD'S NEWEST ASSUALT ON JESUS

[1John2_26]

The newest offering from Hollywood of the Christian life:

The Book of Daniel.

A drug addict minister, and a daughter that's a drug dealer, a wife that is an alcoholic and OF COURSE a Gay son.

Will Hollywood ever stop the assault on Christianty?

‘Book of Daniel' Called ‘Bigotry'
Dave Eberhart, NewsMax.com
Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2006


NBC's kick-off this Friday of its new sitcom "The Book of Daniel" has some Christian groups outraged with the show and what some believe is a blasphemous portrayal of Jesus Christ.
Though the show has yet to air, Christian groups are getting "Daniel's" take on traditional Christianity – and they don't like it.
For example, the star of the series, actor Aidan Quinn (the serious politician brother to Brad Pitt's wilder character in "Legends of the Fall"), recently described his latest venture to the Associated Press:
"I'm an Episcopalian priest who struggles with a little self-medication problem, and I have a 23-year-old son who's gay, and a 16-year-old daughter who's caught dealing pot, and another son who's jumping on every high school girl he sees, and a wife who's very loving but also likes her martinis."
Quinn, who plays the Episcopal Rev. Daniel Webster, defended the show, saying the series is "a pretty down-the-middle, wholesome show."
But the Rev. Donald Wildmon, head of the influential American Family Association (AFA), has been unimpressed with such disclaimers and has been asking visitors to his Web site to e-mail NBC Universal Chairman Bob Wright to complain about "Daniel."
"We are told in Hebrews that ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever,'" a form letter at the site explains. "Obviously you don't believe that. It would be beneficial to all if NBC showed a little more respect for Christians who believe the Bible."
In a press release, the AFA said the show "is an example of that network's anti-Christian bigotry." The AFA has already flooded NBC with more than 500,000 complaint emails, the group says.
To better understand Wildmon's beef requires some more background on the show's plot:
Every now and then, Rev. Daniel has a man-to-man chat with a contemporary Jesus, played by Garret Dillahunt ("Deadwood"). Jesus appears only to the reverend.
David DiCerto, who is on the staff of the Office for Film and Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, doesn't condemn the device of the latter day Jesus, but in his recent review perhaps fleshes out what rubs Wildmon the wrong way:
"More sounding board than savior, the show's down-to-earth Jesus, though portrayed with reasonable reverence, is tolerant to the point of being blasé: He has a problem with Rev. Webster's pill-popping but dismissively shrugs off Rev. Webster's kids having casual sex in the back seats of cars. On a more commendable note, the writers avoid making Jesus give pat answers to life's often complex problems."
Jack Kenny, the creator and an executive producer of "Daniel," told the New York Times recently that a walking, talking Jesus simply embodies Daniel's faith.
As if the good reverend doesn't have enough on his plate, the ongoing plot is thickened with a felonious brother-in-law absconding with $3 million in church funds.
This is an innocuous enough plot twist – except for the unhappy fact that it opens the door to what some critics see as unhealthy stereotyping.
DiCerto finds troubling the depiction of Rev. Daniel's Catholic counterpart, Father Frankie (Dan Hedaya), an Italian priest with organized crime connections whom Rev. Webster asks to help find the stolen money.
Case in point - some of the dialogue between a gay mobster and Rev. Daniel: "You got a problem, you come to the Catholics."
Despite the brouhaha, the official NBC reaction – released in a statement – has been understated, emphasizing among other things that few of the show's critics have actually seen a complete pilot episode.
"‘The Book of Daniel' is a fictional drama about an Episcopalian priest's family and the contemporary issues with which they must grapple," the statement reads.
"We're confident that once audiences view this quality drama themselves, they'll appreciate this thought-provoking examination of one American family."
But the AFA remained unmoved by the NBC public relations offensive, stepping up its campaign to include a boycott of the show's sponsors. Last Friday the group sent out an e-mail alert noting that it had identified 10 potential sponsors of the show and asking its members to embargo them.
The Daniel controversy comes on the heels of Parents Television Council (PTC) president L. Brent Bozell's yuletide lambasting of Hollywood's approach to faith.
"During this holy time of year, Hollywood has once again proven how out of step they are with mainstream America by launching an all-out attack on not just religion, but some of the most fundamental tenets of the Christian faith."
PTC and Bozell highlighted three shows:
• An episode of Comedy Central's "South Park," which aired in December, in which a character claims to have been sprayed by blood from a Virgin Mary statue.
• A Comedy Central special (aired multiple times in December) in which Denis Leary talks about the origins of Christmas using obscene language.
• An ABC episode of "Boston Legal" in which a priest is shown printing and selling counterfeit papal blessings and concealing the whereabouts of a pedophile.
"These examples clearly show that Hollywood treats religious icons with utter disrespect. Religious persons of all faiths should beware. Everyone who subscribes to cable is subsidizing content such as this," blasted Bozell.
As for "The Book of Daniel," a spokesperson for Bozell, Kelly Oliver, told NewsMax: "We're waiting to reserve comment on that show until after it airs (and possibly after more than one episode) in order to make a fair judgment."
"Daniel" starts Friday with a two-hour special episode at 8 p.m. and is then scheduled to air weekly at 9 p.m. on Fridays.

[Chimp]

I predict it will go one season. It won't be because of a public outcry...it
will be because it gets crappy ratings.

I was off by 23 episodes....it got 9 million viewers for it's first episode.
Last week's #19 show Numbers had 14 million viewers...ratings killed it
but that didn't stop Focus on the Family from claiming they were responsible
for it's demise...

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive ... 32006c.asp

[Chimp]

Why do Muslims react so violently to harmless things like "insulting and insensitive cartoons?"

...or harmless TV shows....

[Wyvern]

Congratulations, a t.v. show got cancelled one of a couple dozen that will this season and not even the first.

But seriously though very religious people really need to get a sense of humor.

[snappyanswer]

1John2_26 from Muslim Violence thread wrote:
Why do Muslims react so violently to harmless things like "insulting and insensitive cartoons?"


...or harmless TV shows....

Christians should be commended for the peaceful way they handled this attacck on them. Muslims would have burned down half the world if Mohammad was a ghost character sitting in a car with an Imam with a queer son. It is easy to see that it would have happened. Heads would have literally rolled. As usual, Christians took the denigration graciously. They'll do the same thing with the Da Vinci Code attack.

[palmera]

Christians should be commended for the peaceful way they handled this attacck on them. Muslims would have burned down half the world if Mohammad was a ghost character sitting in a car with an Imam with a queer son. It is easy to see that it would have happened. Heads would have literally rolled. As usual, Christians took the denigration graciously. They'll do the same thing with the Da Vinci Code attack.

First, not all Christians are gracious, and not all Muslims lop off heads. Further, general claims like this need to be sufficiently thought out before being made. The socio-economic and political climate of America doesn't easily allow for the kind of rioting that goes on in the Middle East. If it did, I dare say there are Christians I personally know who would riot at certain acts of religious satire. The immediacy of one's environment plays a larger role on how one acts than one's personal beliefs and convictions. The reality of how and why people react the way they do is far mar complex than this thread has thus far explored.

Just think back to the way white supremacists used to act before the Civil Rights movement. When people could get away with lynchings, burnings, and murder, they did it and did it often! What people do, how they act in any given situation, is directly linked to their environment. Fortunately here in the U.S. we've (as a society, economically, politically, socially) progressed beyond upturning assault riffles and firing them into the air in the middle of a crowded public street: there are structures in place which will send us to jail for a very long time if we act in certain ways. This same infrastructure is not in place in many parts of the middle east where said rioting is occurring. It's terrible and there's no justification for it- but it can be understood.

[kctheshootinfool]

First, not all Christians are gracious, and not all Muslims lop off heads
....
Just think back to the way white supremacists used to act before the Civil Rights movement. When people could get away with lynchings, burnings, and murder, they did it and did it often! What people do, how they act in any given situation, is directly linked to their environment.

I can't entirely agree. You are correct that all Christians are not gracious and not all Muslims chop heads, but just as you pointed out that our environment has progressed beyond a 3rd world country (and therefore our actions have progressed) there are still fundamental differences between the cultures that have remained the same.

Most importantly, the Muslim govenrments have done nothing to stop the so-called 'radical Islamic terrorists'. So they say they dont represent Islam as a whole...OK, well, I'd believe that if and only if the Muslim governments would have squashed the terrorists training camps and imprisoned or executed all their leaders and members. For a Muslim nation's leader to make an empty statement denying their support for radical Islam long after the fact is meaningless. Actions are louder than words, so let's see some action.

Second, there is the obvious double standard. Americans are being encouraged to 'tolerate' and be sensitive to everyone's differences, including our fellow muslim neighbors. Muslims and other groups are allowed, however, to show their disdain for us. Bush himself said that we needed to be more understanding concerning the Dutch Mohammed cartoon, and thus justifying the violent actions of the muslims. So if a Muslim were to draw an insulting cartoon of the Pope, shouldnt Catholics be allowed to call for the muslim artist's head?

[Ronin]

First of all I don't look to Hollywood to teach me how to think or how to be tolerant.
As a Christian I have no "prob" with the way hollywood portrays Christians.
I think in some way they show that Christians in thier core are just as human as anybody else. What I find troubleing is why we as Christians give a damn what Hollywood thinks. When we react like some do, we are falling into a trap. It is obvious that is exactly what they want.

Having said that I would like to see a show about a Muslim family. Or a Islomic family. It should be interesting to see how Hollywood deals with that. After all these are the issues that are happening now.

Heres an idea for a show: A gay Muslim teenager, who is in love with his stepmom's son. whose father is a closet pedaphile, who wants a sex change. All in a Alaskan fishing town. Now thats a show I would watch!!!