Donna Freitas: February 2007 Archives

Between "24" and "Heroes" on Monday and "Gilmore Girls" last night, television viewers are getting a heavy dose of religion.

With the recent re-appearance of the shamed President Charles Logan from Season 5--Jack needs his help tracking down a Russian terrorist--suddenly talk has turned to prayer, redemption, and forgiveness. When Jack questions Logan's motivation to help his country (and rightly so), Logan urges Jack to believe that he has "re-found" religion and his true goal is redemption.

On the "Heroes" episode "Company Man," Claire's Mom finally sees what her "special" daughter can really do--come back from the dead--and Mom begins talking about resurrection (Claire's that is) and the role of faith in surviving the latest family crisis.

And then on the "Gilmore Girls" episode "Will You Be My Lorelai Gilmore?" Lorelai ends up negotiating a truce between Lane--about to give birth to twin boys--and her fundamentalist Christian mom. Mom wants the boys raised as good Christians, and Lane says absolutely not: her kids are going to have the "freedom from religion" that she never enjoyed growing up. But when Lorelai suggests to Lane that maybe her kids will actually want church, Bible camp, and all the related stuff that Lane hated when she was a child, though shocked at the thought, Lane caves to Lorelai's sense, and Mom and Lane make up.

So everybody's jumping on the television religion bandwagon this week, and with a new "Lost" airing tonight, I'm guessing we're not done yet.

Between the front page New York Times Style section article "Shaking Riches Out of the Cosmos," which marvels about the fact that "The Secret" book is sitting atop the New York Times Hardcover Advice Bestseller List, and Newsweek's online extravaganza "Decoding 'The Secret,'" not to mention an official Oprah stamp of approval (she's dedicated two shows to it), Rhonda Byrne, editor of "The Secret" book, is laughing all the way to the bank--WITH YOUR MONEY!

New York Times reporter Allen Salkin rightly compares Byrne's "Secret" empire and its basic (and base) Law of Attraction message that "if you think it, it will come" to a long history of public interest in the latest "get rich quick" schemes (emphasis on the scheme):

Although "The Secret" is an overnight phenomenon, its message of think-and-grow-rich is but the latest version of a self-help formula dating back more than a century, with roots both secular and religious, and branches that have included Napoleon Hill's best-selling "Think and Grow Rich" in 1937 and Norman Vincent Peale's "Power of Positive Thinking" in 1952.

J. Gordon Melton, the director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion in Santa Barbara, Calif., traces the origins of "prosperity consciousness" to 19th-century Christian Science. "It's always waiting for slightly different forms of expression, the same old message," he said.

In my Idol Chatter December review of the DVD, I slammed this watered-down, self-interested mockery of a viewer's intelligence. This film's message is so flimsy and so juvenile that I could barely sit through the screener. And now to find out that it's sitting atop the bestseller list and getting top billing in major news outlets? I am rather appalled.

You do realize that by investing in "The Secret, you are merely making Rhonda Byrne richer, right? Not yourself?

"The Secret" is the latest New Age version of what has long been known as "The Prosperity Gospel," which is anything that preaches the "good news" that you are meant to have lots of money, and that if you just support "our church" or buy "our book" than we we let you in on the "how to"!

And you should know: some people consider members of Prosperity Gospel movements as members of a cult. Don't join the mania!

It's official: Meredith Grey didn't die last night in "Some Kind of Miracle," one of "Grey's Anatomy's" most intense episodes yet. I know, I know. She is one of the main characters. She couldn't really die. But I really did start to wonder if she might.

Though Meredith came back to the living after her near-drowning experience (potentially a suicidal one) in the frigid waters along Seattle's coast, before she woke up she spent some time among the already dead. Viewers got a full hour glimpse of the afterlife--at least according to Meredith Grey. Not surprisingly, it looked a lot like Seattle Grace hospital, and it was populated by former patients of Meredith, most notably Denny, Izzy's one-time fiance who died tragically at the end of last season. It is Denny who plays angel to Meredith's newcomer-to-heaven role. As Meredith scurries through the hallways trying to re-save long-dead patients, Denny tries to convince her that death is not what she wants, that she can still go back, she just needs to want life.

But it's an encounter with her mother that finally convinces her to end her heavenly sojourn.

For all the talk of McDreamy and McSteamy and the soap opera-like relationships ongoing in the show, "Grey's Anatomy" continues to wow me each week, producing moving, provocative storylines with so much depth and emotion that I can't help but tune in. Last night's was one of the show's best.

TLC premiered a new reality series this week, "My Unique Family: The Witches Next Door," presumably because the very premise must sound weird (or even blasphemous!) to most viewers. "What?" you're meant to wonder with confusion. "Witches? A family of them?"

Meet the Rev. Kendra Vaughan Hovey, High Priestess of the First Wiccan Church of Duxbury, Mass., and her husband Tim, her daughter Alana (8 years old), and her son Alec (11), also witches. For the last year, Kendra has been working full time establishing her church and building a congregation. She wears a collar every day, like any other clergy might, whether she's doing official business or she's off to meet her kids at the bus. She does this to make a point: that a Wiccan priestess should act no differently than any other minister, and that it is important for the public to recognize her role and status in the community.

Perhaps the weirdest part of show is how normal this "witch family" is--kind, well-mannered, happy, devout, and trying to reconcile their lives with their faith--in comparison to some of their neighbors, in particular the Christian ones, who live in the same town.

At one point in the episode, Kendra's family and several others from their church take an afternoon hay ride on a beautiful sunny day, sing "church hymns" happily together as they bounce along, pick pumpkins, and endeavor to teach their kids to appreciate the earth and creation with some brief lessons from the Wiccan tradition. Pretty harmless, right? Well, as everyone is off frolicking among the pumpkins, the TLC people interview the tractor driver for the ride--who happens to be Christian--about what he thinks of Witch Kendra and company. His basic answer (I'm paraphrasing here) was that while he had to do his job for any paying customers--i.e., drive them around--he felt that "these people" were a blot on society, and that anyone who didn't accept God's son was damned to hell.

Zoom to the end of the hay ride when, like any other well-meaning, polite parents, the kids are encouraged to say "Thank you" to the hay-ride driver--which they do with great kid-like gusto. What's funny/sad about this moment is that as the witch kids are shouting their thanks, Mr. Christian hay-ride driver is wincing, as if it's not thanks they are giving to him, but evil, satanic spells that are pouring out of their mouths in his direction.

It's hard not to like Kendra and her family--they are about as happy and well-adjusted as any family can be. The kids have lots of friends, they say please and thank you, they play nicely, and they seem pretty happy to be witches (especially the little girl, Alana, who you just want to hug every time you see her), eagerly participating in services, giving thanks at the table, among other devotions. Kendra is incredibly articulate, likable, and has a healthy relationship with her husband. The biggest problem this family faces is that the First Wiccan Church of Duxbury is growing so quickly that the kids miss mom, since she's always on the phone doing "pastoral counseling" or writing at the computer.

Viewers who will not be offended by a family of Wiccans will certainly find learning about the tradition--its rituals, practices, and members--pretty fascinating. I'd say that so far, "The Witches Next Door" is a nice testament to a faith that many people have unjustified prejudices against. Once you get beyond the fact that its practices are unfamiliar--at least at first--Wicca doesn't seem all that strange after all. They sing, pray, give thanks, gather for worship, and certain members wear robe and cape-like garments during praise. Hmmmm. I wonder what other traditions do that, too?

In "Breach," director Billy Ray of "Shattered Glass" tells yet another gripping story of one man's utter duplicitousness. This time around, however, the man in question, Robert Hanssen--played brilliantly by Chris Cooper--succeeds in bringing down not only himself, but the whole FBI with him. Dozens of FBI agents and assets are compromised, and the entire Bureau's identity is thrown into crisis over Hanssen's 20-year stint as a double agent for the Soviets.

What's puzzling about Hanssen--considered "the greatest breach" in the FBI's history--is the fact that he is a devout Catholic. His entire family is Opus Dei, he attends daily Mass, goes to confession regularly, prays the rosary constantly, and his office and home are filled with crucifixes and religious paraphernalia.

How can a man this orthodox in his religious ties become such a criminal? How could he, in good conscience, live with himself knowing that he was responsible for the deaths of over 50 men and women based on the intelligence he passed along in exchange for millions?

Is it possible that this faith enabled the behavior, rather than challenged it?

This is what I left the theater wondering. Is it possible that going through the sacrament of confession, with its corresponding penance--daily Masses, rosaries, etc.--was how Hanssen somehow maintained the behavior in his own mind? Did he believe that, although he committed treason regularly, he could jsut walk into a church seeking absolution and it would be granted, and that with enough penitent acts he could "pay" for his sins?

Or did his devout Catholicism ultimately break him--tormenting his conscience with guilt and the knowledge that true penance would only come through getting caught by the people he betrayed?

It's hard to know the role that faith truly played in Robert Hanssen's 20-year career of treason and in his subsequent fall, but there's no doubt that director Billy Ray has delivered a stunning, provocative film. Go with a friend because you will want to talk about it afterward.

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