{"id":1650,"date":"2007-07-31T13:49:00","date_gmt":"2007-07-31T13:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2007\/07\/when-you-meet-jesus-be-sure-to-call-him-mr-christ.html"},"modified":"2007-07-31T13:49:00","modified_gmt":"2007-07-31T13:49:00","slug":"when-you-meet-jesus-be-sure-to-call-him-mr-christ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/07\/when-you-meet-jesus-be-sure-to-call-him-mr-christ.html","title":{"rendered":"“When you meet Jesus, be sure to call him ‘Mr. Christ’ “"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a> I’m sure you’ve been wondering, like I have, about the moral and theological implications of “The Simpsons Movie.” <\/p>\n

Thankfully, the folks over at Busted Halo<\/a> have decided to tackle that question for us, with this illuminating essay<\/a> by Mark I. Pinsky, author of “The Gospel According to the Simpsons.” Pinsky offers a little character deconstruction, and a Sunday school lesson or two:<\/p>\n

Ned Flanders, Homer\u2019s evangelical neighbor, naturally comes in for his share of ribbing. When he sees a pollution-mutated raccoon with a thousand eyes, he marvels, \u201cWho am I to question the work of the Almighty?\u201d It is, he concludes, a manifestation of the \u201cgenius of Intelligent Design.\u201d Flanders\u2019 faith is unshaken as Springfield faces annihilation. He takes his children to the church, where they are alone in the sanctuary, and prepares them for the end. \u201cWhen you meet Jesus, be sure to call him \u2018Mr. Christ,\u2019\u201d he tells them. \u201cWill Buddha be there?\u201d one of the boys asks. No, he snaps, with characteristic intolerance. <\/p>\n

And yet there is a sympathetic three-dimensionality to Flanders\u2019 depiction that is characteristic of both the movie and the series, and which raises the emotional stakes for the viewer\u2014part of what has made The Simpsons so addictive for so many years. Flanders may be literal-minded and narrow, but he risks his own life to save the Simpsons from an angry lynch mob. He also provides a father figure for Bart when Homer ignores him, but urges the boy to return to his real father when Homer tries to make amends. <\/p>\n

It is The Simpsons Movie\u2019s willingness to depict all the different sides of us\u2014the good, the bad, the cynical and the reverent\u2014that makes it so rich and funny on our complicated, all-too-human relationship with religion. <\/p>\n

Or as that reluctant theologian Homer Simpson likes to say: \u201cIt\u2019s funny \u2018cause it\u2019s true.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What’s also funny, and true, is my resemblance to a character on “The Simpsons”<\/a>. Be afraid. Be very afraid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m sure you’ve been wondering, like I have, about the moral and theological implications of “The Simpsons Movie.” Thankfully, the folks over at Busted Halo have decided to tackle that question for us, with this illuminating essay by Mark I. 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