{"id":171,"date":"2006-02-24T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-02-24T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/idolchatter\/2006\/02\/law-order-in-the-journey.html"},"modified":"2006-02-24T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2006-02-24T12:00:00","slug":"law-order-in-the-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2006\/02\/law-order-in-the-journey.html","title":{"rendered":"Law & Order in the Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Whether its prime time or not, weekday or weekend, holidays, sweeps period, or any other time of the year, it doesn\u2019t take long to see that cop shows and court shows are very popular these days. “CSI<\/a>,” “Cold Case<\/a>,” “Law & Order<\/a>,” “In Justice<\/a>,” even “Boston Legal<\/a>” are examples of shows that offer the \u201cpayoff\u201d in which the bad guy is caught, convicted, sentenced, disgraced or killed.<\/p>\n

Charles Colson has reflected on this<\/a> fact and said yesterday on his radio show that there may be a spiritual reason for it. \u201cI\u2019m convinced that the popularity of cop shows reflects our God-given desire for justice and moral clarity,\u201d Colson said. \u201cOur love of these dramas\u2014and before them, Westerns\u2014reflect our acute awareness of the difference between good and evil, guilt and innocence.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an interesting perspective, because, when you get down to it, how many people really long for more stabbings, killings, rapes, blood, gore, or violence of any kind in their day? Why endure it by choice? What is it that drives us to these shows?<\/p>\n

\u201cPolice dramas presuppose a moral universe,\u201d Colson says. \u201cIn fact, moral absolutes are essential to police dramas. Take them away, and the story falls apart. Why? Because if there is no such thing as real evil, there’s no such thing as a guilty party.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whatever your favorite is, the questions of morality and the nature of right and wrong\u2014and the issue of who decides\u2014cannot be separated from the authentic spiritual journey, if the journey is to have any relevance outside of our own feelings and moods. The search for inner help and spiritual strength must bring a sort of spiritual \u201claw and order\u201d to be ultimately fulfilling.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whether its prime time or not, weekday or weekend, holidays, sweeps period, or any other time of the year, it doesn\u2019t take long to see that cop shows and court shows are very popular these days. “CSI,” “Cold Case,” “Law & Order,” “In Justice,” even “Boston Legal” are examples of shows that offer the \u201cpayoff\u201d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":279,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nLaw & Order in the Journey<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2006\/02\/law-order-in-the-journey.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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