Ellen Leventry: May 2008 Archives

"SHOCK! Geri Halliwell 'rewrites the Bible'," shrieked the headline accompanying a report in yesterday's Now Magazine. "How terribly intersting," I thought, "A member of the biggest-selling female UK group of all time taking on the best-selling book of all time." But, alas Halliwell, a.k.a. Ginger Spice, wasn't creating a GPV Bible (Girl Power Version), but rather rewrote parts of Bible passages that were read at her daughter Bluebell's christening so that they would "read better."

Her actions may seem a bit odd, as there are many versions with different wordings to choose from, but the very fact that there are so many versions reflects generations of people trying to make the Bible not only fit their dogmatic viewpoint, but "read better." While the rewritten passages weren't revealed, it's hard to believe that Geri's actions are "shocking." In fact, what is shocking is that there wasn't enough real gossip floating around to truly merit the descriptor.

Several years ago, I contributed a piece about the best small-screen mothers on American television to Beliefnet blogger Therese Borchard's delightful book "I Love Being a Mom." For the book, I tried to think of characters, who not only set the bar for television motherhood, but also TV moms who accurately reflected the times. So for this Mother's Day, I thought I'd revisit my list of top ten TV moms and see if I had any additions or revisions to make. (For a full list of descriptions, please see Therese's book.)

1. June Cleaver, Leave It to Beaver
The always gracious mother of Wally and the Beaver, June Cleaver is the quintessential television mother against whom all other television mothers are measured. Not to mention real-life mothers.