Depiction of religion on TV goes in cycles, says newspaper TV critic

Published: 2004-08-26

PITTSBURGH (CNS) -- Everything in television goes in cycles, and that includes the depiction of religion and the religious lives of TV characters, said Rob Owen, TV editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "Sometimes we can find it in the most unlikely of places," said Owen of religious content on series. "For instance, that episode of 'The West Wing' that I think ended the second season, entitled 'Two Cathedrals,' where President (Josiah) Bartlet is cursing at God inside the National Cathedral in Latin. A powerful scene. "It dealt with religion in a way that real people deal with it," Owen added in an interview with the Pittsburgh Catholic, diocesan newspaper. "Real people get angry at God. Real people have doubts about God. But too often on television you don't see that depicted. Instead, you see the saccharine 'Touched by an Angel' quasi-spiritual element of purported relationships with God. There are ways that religion deals with TV that are both obvious and simplistic, and perhaps not as obvious and a little more complex," he said.

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