{"id":102,"date":"2006-01-18T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-01-18T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/idolchatter\/2006\/01\/blog-for-life.html"},"modified":"2006-01-18T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2006-01-18T12:00:00","slug":"blog-for-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2006\/01\/blog-for-life.html","title":{"rendered":"Blog for Life"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When the Washington diocese of the Episcopal Church USA erected \u201cThe Blog of Daniel<\/a>,\u201d a page on the diocesan website that welcomes discussion of the controversial NBC series \u201cBook of Daniel<\/a>,\u201d I thought: pure genius. Rather than bridle the way the Catholic League does at every philandering priest in movies and TV, DC HQ decided to be laid back about NBC\u2019s depiction of one of their clergy and his dysfunctional family. So what if most of the posts would be self-helpy lectures from left and right about mutual tolerance? Not only would Episcopals seem hip and engaged in the culture (what\u2019s hipper and more engaged than a blog?), the blog would channel interest in the show into education about the real-world Episcopal community.<\/p>\n

What I was too na\u00efve to foresee is the way the show\u2019s producers would use the blog to rally support for the show. Jack Kenny, the show\u2019s creator, has posted an appeal on The Blog of Daniel, urging viewers to call their local affiliates to support the show against the withering fire laid down by the American Family Association<\/a> and other conservative groups, which has caused some affiliates to pull the show and some advertisers to pull their ads. What seems to burn Kenny most is that the AFA is \u201cis using this show as a fundraising tool,\u201d as he states in one blog entry. I\u2019m of course shocked to see Kenny\u2019s brainchild being used for filthy lucre. But given that the stations refusing to air the show are mostly tiny markets in the upper Bible belt, the greater threat to Kenny\u2019s show is \u201cBook of Daniel”\u2019s ratings, which are flagging after only two weeks, and which a nice censorship fury would likely buck up.<\/p>\n

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When the Washington diocese of the Episcopal Church USA erected \u201cThe Blog of Daniel,\u201d a page on the diocesan website that welcomes discussion of the controversial NBC series \u201cBook of Daniel,\u201d I thought: pure genius. 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