COUNTERPUNCH LETTERS : Christianity on Television

I found David Cole’s views on religious TV programming or the lack thereof quite interesting, and his assertions about the depredations of the religious right serving as a disincentive for TV producers are probably, but possibly not so unfortunately, correct (“It’s Not the Networks That Shy Away From Religion,” Calendar, Dec. 18). However, I must comment about his recollections of “St. Elsewhere.”

The series Mr. Cole watched must not have been the one I watched. I certainly never saw the Bruce Greenwood character before his conversion as a “caring” doctor who “discovered” Christianity in a way that seemed “perfectly normal.” I definitely recall him as a nasty, contemptuous, egoistic young man who cruelly seduced and abandoned Dr. Westphal’s daughter. Then, as I recall, the circumstance that led the character to “discover Christianity” was the fact that he pricked his finger with a needle that had been used on an AIDS patient. (Some of the character’s supposed new enlightenment: He then naively approached the AIDS patient, asking him to convert to heterosexuality.) Therefore, this character was merely the usual TV series “Christian”--out of touch with contemporary realities, abysmally ignorant and uncompassionate of other human beings. In other words, this program featured the usual smear--probably to try to pique viewers’ curiosity and bolster sagging ratings at the time.

As for the supposed Christian character on the erstwhile “L.A. Law” series--the minute you read about her much-ballyhooed sermon on virginity to the lecherous Corbin Bernsen character, I suspected a more sophisticated plot was afoot. Sure enough, and though I can proudly state I never watched a single episode of that series, later publicity confirmed my suspicions. That character as well was essentially an individual basically incapable of dealing with life’s harsher realities.

What many people like Mr. Cole seem not to be able to grasp is the fact that religion, unlike politics, which is more easily propagandized, is much too subjective to present to mass audiences. It is a far, far better thing not to have religious programming on television at all, and if a religious movie such as “The Last Temptation of Christ” had careful, advance theological warnings, there would still have been a furor over that, but it would have been less.

K.C. DURFEE

Burbank