In the Name of the Father : Though it’s not without its flaws, the new ABC series brings good writing, a strong cast and a doubting priest to prime time.

ABC makes history Thursday by being the first network to open an 8 p.m. series with a Catholic priest in his underpants. After that comes its new series about a dark, brooding, hard-drinking criminal psychologist with a life in Los Angeles as messy as an unmade bed.

“Nothing Sacred” and “Cracker” present the most unconventional pair of protagonists in prime time. Their misfortune is to have been thrown to NBC’s Thursday night lions. Things look grim for the Christians.

In the case of “Nothing Sacred,” that means Father Ray, the ever-probing, ever-thinking young cleric at the center of a stunningly rich, heroically smart and challenging hour that promises to be an adventure of the mind and spirit (those cheeky jockey shorts notwithstanding).

In other words, this is kick-butt good television. How often does that happen?

Some Catholics familiar with tonight’s pilot consider it an assault on the church’s teachings and have demanded its swift excommunication. You can appreciate their concern, given TV’s tendency, until recently, to universally defame religion in prime time, when acknowledging it at all. And true to its title, “Nothing Sacred” does, indeed, introduce Father Ray as being skeptical about God’s existence and advising a pregnant young woman to make up her own mind about abortion. Hardly mellow Bing Crosby in “Going My Way.”

But here’s hoping its critics watch more of the series before reaching a final verdict, for the second episode U-turns humorously down an alternate path, and future “Nothing Sacred” scripts have it exploring other issues as well as extending the premiere’s abortion theme, but framing it somewhat differently.

David Manson and Paul Leland created “Nothing Sacred,” and Richard Kramer joins Manson as an executive producer. The fine cast is led by Kevin Anderson as Father Ray, who shares St. Thomas with the elder Father Leo (Brad Sullivan); the progressive Sister Mo (Ann Dowd), who opposes the “stained-glass ceiling” restricting nuns; the newly ordained Father Eric (Scott Campbell); Sidney, the atheist business manager (Bruce Altman); J.A., the youth minister (Jose Zuniga); and Rachel, the 18-year-old receptionist (Tamara Mello).

In addition to quality writing and acting, “Nothing Sacred” is distinguished by its devotion to debate and its depiction of the Catholic clerics not as spiritual islands but as people fully integrated into the eclectic, throbbing, warm-bodied society they serve.

That surely applies to the hierarchy of St. Thomas Church, a large, creaky urban parish headed by Father Ray, a compassionate, jeans-clad people’s advocate whose devotion to the homeless and tenacity in keeping alive a soup kitchen for them surfaces throughout the series. As does his independent mind and his defiance of convention, at times as unruly as his hair.

In addition to his abortion counsel backfiring, he’s severely tested Thursday when encountering an old flame with a despotic husband, a troubled 13-year-old stepson and a possible yen for resuming old times. “Two children and one caesarean later,” the embers of their romance are still glowing.

“Nothing Sacred” has its flaws. Although deep and layered, the initial script ultimately falters when points of light converge too conveniently and resolutions rush in. The abortion sore will remain open, though, as will the show’s thoughtful but irreverent discourse on the church, as in Father Leo saying that he believes in the concept of hell but that “after we began sending people there for eating meat on Friday, I began having my doubts.”

Coming later is a remarkably wise episode about a young priest with AIDS, a tenderly written character study that becomes an expression of faith. And next week’s second episode is an eclectic knockout, at once warm and enormously witty while somehow merging the soup kitchen, transvestites and a wedding reception amid the homeless.

“Why do people ask priests for help on their marriages?” Father Ray wonders. “Who in the hell could know less about marriage than priests?”

More than just hymns, marble and white linen, Catholicism in “Nothing Sacred” lives and breathes through its disciples as well as its liturgy. A church that matters in a series that matters.

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* “Nothing Sacred” premieres at 8 p.m. Thursday on ABC (Channel 7). It has been rated TV-PG (may be inappropriate for young children).