Are liberal preachers really this mindlessly tolerant?

Al Mohler reviews "The Book of Daniel." A quote:

One might fairly expect that the leaders of liberal Protestant denominations would be calling their attorneys and rallying their dwindling memberships to protest this portrayal of a liberal Episcopal priest. Are we really to believe that one family and one congregation can get into this much trouble in two hours? And note this--the embezzling of funds and various other peccadilloes must be added to the picture. Is this an honest and accurate portrayal of liberal Christianity? Are liberal preachers really this mindlessly tolerant?

Comments

[Laura in WA]

I think many liberal preachers just don't have as much invested in protesting and boycotting any TV show that dares to question religious orthodoxy or make Christians look like anything less than morally perfect saints.

I watched the premiere (the second episode is on my DVR...haven't watched it yet). It was okay. I could have done with a little less of the "drama" -- a storyline about a minister dealing with a painkiller addiction, OR about a minister's family with an alcoholic wife, OR a marijuana-dealing daughter, OR a son having sex in the backseat of cars, OR a bishop having an extramarital affair, might have been effective in portraying people of faith dealing with human failings and weaknesses just like the rest of us. Put them all together and it just seems ridiculous. And the mafia angle was way over-the-top. (I didn't consider the gay son scandalous, by the way -- it's worth noting that he was about the only one on the show who appeared to basically have his act together!)

As for the laughable opening sermon being a "perfect distillation of liberal theology" -- I go to a liberal church, attend every week, and I've never heard ANYTHING like that from the pulpit! Please. Many conservatives seem to think that if someone doesn't believe homosexuality is a sin, it means that they don't believe sin exists. I actually think liberal Christians tend to be at least as concerned about sin as conservative Christians -- though they may not use that word quite as much and they tend to focus on social sins more heavily than sexual sins (as does the Bible, in my reading).

I didn't find anything all that offensive about the Jesus appearances. True, Jesus spent his time talking to Daniel about the pill-popping (the sin DANIEL was struggling with) rather than shaking his finger over the sins of others. But that's what the Jesus of the Gospels did as well....encouraged people to look at their own sins before worrying about other people's sins. I imagine if Jesus were chatting with the daughter, the marijuana dealing might have come up. (Granted, Daniel's children's misbehavior IS his problem too, but perhaps Jesus was just saving the parenting class for another day).

Anyway, not a perfect show, but an interesting one, and certainly not worth all the outrage it's generated among certain conservatives.

[Rev. Mike]

I haven't seen the show, and probably won't. I don't watch much TV. I want to believe that relatively few people will assume that any TV character is typical of any group of people...I mean, do people assume that Pat Robertson is typical of conservative Christians? It's TV. It isn't real.