Episcopal Priest Pleased Book of Daniel Yanked from the Tube
by Jim Brown
January 27, 2006
(AgapePress) - - An Episcopal priest says he's encouraged by NBC's recent decision to dump the controversial television series The Book of Daniel. He calls it a testament to what can happen when enough Christians speak out against blasphemy and irreverence on TV.
NBC pulled the show earlier this week amid protests from pro-family and Christian groups who felt the program was an attack on conservative Christianity. The show was written by a homosexual, and featured -- among other things -- heterosexual adultery, homosexual relationships, premarital sex, and an Episcopal priest addicted to prescription drugs.
Steven Kelly, the rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in Detroit, says he is grateful so many believers complained about the show.
"Good Christians -- and even Christians here in the Episcopal Church -- were not only outraged by it, but contacted the sponsors and NBC and let them know how they felt about it," the clergyman observes. "I know NBC wasn't interested in making any sort of moral statement. Ultimately, to the major networks, it's all about money; and if they couldn't find a way to pay for [this program], then they most certainly would stop it."
In Kelly's eyes, the show highlighted an unfortunate reality -- that "a great deal of the Episcopal Church has gone the way of all flesh," he says.
"We're in the middle of a huge fight for the soul of our national denomination -- especially in light of our worldwide Anglican Communion, which is very faithful and Bible-believing," Kelly says. "The [Episcopal] Church in Africa and Asia is appalled at the progressive and inventive theology of the American Episcopal Church -- and this series just magnified the worst of what many Episcopal churches are about."
Over the past several years, the Episcopal Church USA has suffered membership losses and controversy over the ordination of an openly homosexual bishop, internal debates over the issue of homosexual "marriage," the theft of millions of dollars by the denomination's national treasurer, and a drug and sex-trafficking ring operated by a priest in New York.
More than half a million members of the American Family Association protested The Book of Daniel by sending e-mails to NBC, and thousands of others called or e-mailed their local NBC affiliates.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
