News Flash: Hollywood Doesn't Get Christians
Via David at the Monkeys, Jonah Goldberg on Law and Order's latest anti-faith faux pas:
But the most recent episode of NBC’s doddering Law & Order series is where I draw the line. The episode tells the story of a racist who committed murder nine years ago but who, in shame and remorse, subsequently found Jesus and was born again. In the nine years since he dedicated himself to Christ, he has led an exemplary life. But his guilt is discovered, and he decides to confess and show true contrition.
So far, so good, right? I’m sure the writers and producers thought they were being eminently fair to all sides. They even showed Jack McCoy (played by Sam Waterston) stunned beyond words that a born-again Christian could be so sincere. In one scene I swear he made the same face my old basset hound would make when I tried to feed him a grape: total and complete incomprehension. His assistant even confessed she goes to church regularly and knows decent born-agains herself.
But this was all grace on the cheap. The rest of the storyline was festooned with nasty — and dishonest — shots. For example, as McCoy and his assistants work to bring the murderer to justice, the shadowy forces of the Christian right seek to have him absolved of all accountability for his crime because he’d accepted Jesus as his personal savior.
Right. Because Christianity is all about avoiding responsibility for your actions. Right?
Regardless, the very idea that evangelical Christians would argue that being born again absolves you in this life for the consequences of your crimes is nonsense, plucked whole cloth in a fit of ignorance. But the complete, outrageous implausibility of the episode’s plot wasn’t the most infuriating part. Several times, various characters opine that the Christians’ legal tactics might work given “what’s happening in this country right now.” I half expected Pat Robertson to burst through McCoy’s office spraying holy water screaming, “Exorcist”-style, “The power of Christ compels you!”
Read the whole thing.
I remember Law and Order...
Posted by Mitch at
May 19, 2005 05:05 AM
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Mitch,
No one should be surprised by this; after all, Dick Wolf is a big liberal.
Posted by: Paul at May 19, 2005 08:31 AMAs a Catholic, I'm no expert on evangelical Christians. However, I cannot recall any such real-life incident in which evangelicals rallied behind an accused evangelical. To the contrary, the one episode I can remember involves our own little terrorist Sarah Jane Olson. If you will recall, the liberal intelligensia, including then city council member Chris Coleman, rallied behind her after her 1999 arrest. They argued for leniency because of what they viewed as her good work in the liberal trenches during the 80s and 90s.
Posted by: Larry Grewach at May 19, 2005 08:59 AML&O (my wife's favorite show) has its moments. But more often than not, it gets annoying in a big hurry. I think the only reason that I ever look at it for more than five minutes is eye candy like Mariska Hargitay, Angie Harmon, Carey Lowell and Jill Hennessey.
Anytime a regular character espouses a right-of-center position on any issue, you just know that the role was created to serve as a token conservative to balance out the lefties. Angie Harmon's character, for instance, was a pro-life Texan attorney. Presumably they had to import her from Texas to New York because they couldn't realistically portray a local as conservative in any way.
I also wonder about Dick Wolf. Everything that he has done over the last fifteen years informs me that his views are overwhelmingly left-of-center, yet an article in Fortune magazine earlier this year gives some insight into his character and makes the difficult-to-swallow claim that Wolf is that rarest of beasts, a political conservative in the entertainment industry. If that's true, then he has been sucking up to the other side in a really big way -- big enough to damage his credibility.
Posted by: Dave in Pgh. at May 19, 2005 09:17 AMExcellent observation re Sarah Jane Olson, Larry. There was a case here in Minnesota a few years ago where a man, who had since become born again, confessed to killing his neighbors when he was a teenager. As I recall, his pastor urged him to come forward, but I don't recall his sentence.
Posted by: Night Writer at May 19, 2005 09:42 AMThe Sara Jane Olson situation was the first thing that popped into my head when I started reading this as well. Remembering her and her backers has made me crabby.....I can't recall anything more sickening & elitist than that bunch.
Posted by: Colleen at May 19, 2005 09:58 AMI used to love L & O until the election, last fall. I read somewhere that Vincent D'Onofrio has a meltdown and filming had to stop because he was too upset to work. It just ruined it for me.
I have noticed, since the election, that the overall slant has become more liberal. I certainly don't watch it as often as I used to.
Posted by: Wyomingite at May 19, 2005 10:18 AMOften, professed Christianity is presented as just a political tactic for people on the right. Because, they obviously don't believe that stuff. It's a tactic. Otherwise, they'd be for cutting the military budget, a "living wage," gun control, gay marriage, welfare, and high taxes. Wouldn't they? "If they were REALLY good Christians, they'd be secular liberals like us."
Posted by: RBMN at May 19, 2005 11:02 AMI saw the episode....and the howling here is more than a bit over-the-top.
What I took away from the episode is that a jury, showing common sense, CONVICTED the guy. Proving again that people should be sent to prison for PUNISHMENT, not rehab.
Posted by: Dave at May 19, 2005 01:38 PM"Howling"?
Wha-tevah.
Posted by: Brian at May 19, 2005 02:03 PML&O. I stopped watching when this worthless show defamed the Wisconsin hunters murdered in cold blood by a Hmong. Apparently the truth is to racist for these liberal America haters.
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