www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall The Simpsons

Having read and supposed many statements of the Moscow Patriarchate on various issues, I was surprised (and amused) at how 'out of touch' spokesman priest Mikhail Prokopenko was on the content of 'The Simpsons' cartoon:

"I would not say that absolutely all cartoons shown on 2x2 [a controversial station] are immoral and offensive. In fact, some of the cartoons shown there can even be called Christian and promoting family values - take, for instance, The Simpsons [!!!], a cartoon series that I, for one, really like," Fr. Mikhail told Interfax-Religion on Wednesday.

Since I do not watch the Simpsons, did anyone watch the above mentioned cartoon?

Maybe he saw something in that cartoon that rang true?

The Melkite Bishop John is fond of saying:

To the pure of heart, everything is pure and good.

I don't know hte particular cartoon in question, but I've maintained for years that it's one of the few programs today with family values.

Yes, they're dysfunctional. But when push comes to shove, they're there for each other, no matter how badly the other has dug his own grave.

The two that come most to mind:

1) Lisa is in a beauty contest, and having a crisis of confidence. Bart: "Lisa, this is the hardest thing a brother can ever say to his sister, but . . . you're not ugly."

2) Lisa has a "bad" phase. As she sees her error, Bart steps in to take the blame (with months of detention).

hawk

Not to mention the episode where Bart sells his soul, and Lisa buys it back for him....

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Western Orthodoxy Blog [westernorthodox.blogspot.com]

Actually, yeah, the Simpsons are on balance a decent [cartoon] family. The show delves into some controversial topics time and again and can be highly irreverent now and again, but I keep tuning in, especially for the reruns of the older episodes.

Then there's the episode where Bart and Homer become Catholics--they delayed it after JPII's death for fear of a Catholic League Protest, but my wife and I were awed by the episode's positive treatment of Catholicism (on the other hand, the conversion did not last beyond that episode, unlike Lisa's conversion to Buddhism).

_The Simpsons_ is irreverent to everything except sincere religious faith. Now, their understanding of religions is certain of a liberal American variety--the movie has some profound religious themes, but the much-discussed appearance of "God" at the end is in the form of a female Native American shaman.

However, God does take direct action in several episodes. There's a really good episode called "Homer the Heretic."

To me, Ned Flanders is the real hero of the show--though he's sometimes depicted as being hypocritical or foolish, and though he's always depicted as annoying, Ned is still shown to be a sincere and loving Christian, and a good father (his wife died several seasons ago).

As series creator Matt Groening pointed out, the show depicts the family going to church in just about every episode--how many series can make that claim?

It certainly crosses the line of good taste at times, and there are many episodes I turn off after a few minutes, but, on the whole, _The Simpsons_ is very insightful about human nature, very respectful to God and to people with genuine faith, and fairly clear-cut about the consequences of immoral behavior.

Also, Marge and Homer, despite having a very dysfunctional family, are 100% faithful spouses. There have been a couple occasions over the past 18 seasons where Homer was tempted--and several occasions where he (naively) got into inappropriately close friendships or business associatiosn with women. In almost all of those occasions, he had no thought of being unfaithful to his wife, at all. And whenver the other woman came on to him, he'd immediately rebuke her. No matter his faults as a husband and father, he is loyal to the core.

Quotes from the "Catholic Conversion Episode"

"Once you go Vatican, you can't go back again!"

Father Sean: Not quite, Mr. Simpson. I can only absolve you if you're a Catholic.
Homer: Riiiiight. And how do I join? Do I whale on some Unitarians?"

Homer Simpson: Shouldn't a person have the right to choose his own religion?
Lisa: As strange as it seems, Dad, I agree.
Homer Simpson: What?
Lisa: Well, as you well know, I'm a fully pledged Buddhist.
Father Sean: [laughs] Buddhist? Well, I suppose some children have imaginary friends...
Lisa: I'll pretend I didn't hear that.

Oh man, that's some good stuff.