Lifestyles of the kitsch and pious

I heard on NPR this morning that there is a new reality show called The Sisterhood featuring the wives of five Christian preachers in the Atlanta area.

Critics say the show takes reality TV one step too far, exposing personal, intimate and sometimes unflattering details about pastors’ wives. But Domonique Scott, former first lady of The Good Life Ministry church, tells NPR’s David Greene that The Sisterhood was somewhat of a calling for her. “We definitely believe that God told us to do it,” Scott says. “Individually, and together as a group.”

“I think for us, the assignment was to step out,” adds Christina Murray, the first lady of Oasis Family Life Church. “We knew it would probably be a little controversial, but we don’t do anything just for people to understand and give us our approval; we do everything for what God is trying to lead us to do.”

Yes, I am sure that their god told them he wants them to do a reality show about their lives since god must be sick of the other offerings on TV and was looking for something new. God has become an all-purpose get-out-of-jail free card for religious people when people question their behavior. I am waiting for the day when an interviewer will ask what seems to me to be an obvious follow-up question along the lines of “How exactly did your god tell you to take such a specific action?”

Needless to say, this show is stirring up controversy as to whether it is appropriate for preachers’ wives to expose their lives on such shows and questioning whether they are doing it for less than noble motives.

Is hell hot or cold?

Before readers roll their eyes and wonder whether I have lost my marbles and am next going to discuss how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, let me reassure them that I have a sociological and not theological interest in this question. It turns out that this question has had answers that have varied with time and I became curious as to the reasons why. [Read more…]

What wins when money clashes with religious doctrine?

That is, of course, a question that practically answers itself. Via reader Vote for Pedro I learned about a court case arising from a tragic situation in 2006 when a woman who was seven months pregnant with twins started vomiting and was short of breath and was admitted to the emergency room of a Colorado hospital run by the Catholic church. The obstetrician on call did not answer his page and the woman died within the hour and the twins did not survive either. [Read more…]

Pat Robertson, romance guru

I was worried for a while about Pat Robertson. As far as I knew he had not uttered a statement on the Newtown shootings, and that was so unlike him. He had also recently been expressing some strangely sensible sentiments on subjects like marijuana and science, and I wondered whether he had seen the light of reason or whether those were momentary brain lapses and that he had since gone back to his old ways of seeing a smiting god everywhere, similar to what he said about the events of 9/11 and hurricane Katrina. [Read more…]

Final part of NPR’s ‘Losing Our Religion’ series

NPR ended its weeklong series on the topic ‘Losing Our Religion’ on a weak note. (You can also see/hear part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4.) In its last part, they interviewed a Methodist minister and a Catholic priest on what they thought of the increasing numbers of people leaving the church especially among the young and what might be done to get them back. (Note that the transcript is not complete and the audio has more.) [Read more…]