God Bless "The Simpsons"

It's no secret that "The Simpsons" is currently and has always been the best show in television history. My entire family loved "The Simpsons" growing up, including my sister (she'll probably deny it but I guarantee she is watching the show in secret). We started watching "The Simpsons" during the first weird season and have enjoyed every episode since then.

But now I have theological proof that "The Simpsons" is a worthwhile, inspirational, and informative show. L'Osservatore Romano is a semi-official Vatican newspaper owned by the Holy See established in 1861. Recently the paper congratulated "The Simpsons" for their 20th season but condemned certain episodes for "excessively crude language, the violence of certain episodes or some extreme choices by the scriptwriters."

The fact is religion is an important element to "The Simpsons." The paper noted that a regular theme found in the show is "Homer's religious confusion and ignorance are a mirror of the indifference and the need that modern man feels toward faith." It also mentioned Rev. Lovejoy's "snore-evoking" sermons and Homer's face-to-face conversations with God.

In one episode "Homer calls for divine intervention by crying: 'I'm not normally a religious man, but if you're up there, save me, Superman! Homer finds in God his last refuge, even though he sometimes gets His name sensationally wrong," L'Osservatore said. "But these are just minor mistakes, after all, the two know each other well."

Right now I am reading "The Gospel According to Peanuts." It's a fantastic book that takes a humorous and simple way at looking at humanity and faith through the eyes of two-dimensional characters. It also argues that there is a theological significance found in the Peanuts cartoons. Perhaps someone should write a book, "The Gospel According to the Simpsons" or have I just crossed a heretical and blasphemous line?