Thanks for sharing this. I agree, it's great to see that the show is having an impact. It's awful that the show isn't aired in the US currently.
One thing I didn't agree with in Dan's editorial was this portion:
"but I was dismayed that it was on a network devoted to promoting one specific religious viewpoint. From everything I've read about Henson, he was not a follower of Jesus Christ.
Even worse, he's not alive today to give approval for his show appearing on a network that pushes ideas with which he may not have agreed (yes, yes, I realize he may no longer actually own the rights to the show, but at least if he were alive he could make his views known).
Besides, how comfortable could devout Christians be with The Muppet Show anyway? It's fun for the whole family, true, but it raises some thorny ethical and theological questions – for example, should creatures from different species be allowed to mate? Even as a child, I was somewhat uneasy with Miss Piggie's obsession with Kermit. And hey, what place do Muppets occupy in God's Creation anyway? They're not exactly human beings, not exactly animals."
Some of facts here are wrong. First of all, he presumes to speak for someone who's dead, which is never a good idea. While I believe it's true Jim wasn't religious (though his family were devout Christian Scientists) his work and most of what I have read about his life suggest that he was equally open to all faiths and belief systems, so long as they were positive and promoted peace, goodwill and the best aspects of humanity.
Secondly, CTS has positioned itself as a broadcaster of "family friendly television" with blocks of programming that are appropriate for families of any religious denomination, or none at all. CTS is actualy required by law to express more than one specific religious view point so Dan seems relatively uninformed about the actual nature of this channel.
The references to Miss Piggy and Kermit's "interspecies" relationship being inappropriate to evangelical Christians means that Dan is either suggesting a) that evangelical Christians aren't smart enough to recognize the allegorical nature of the Muppets or b) they're racists or segregationists, which is extremely troubling and is of course usually untrue.
I realize this was meant to be a light hearted Muppet-friendly editorial, but I think Dan Brown seems to have been prejudiced by negative stereotypes of Evangelical Christians. When you read between the lines of what he wrote there's a dark intolerant undercurrent running through this piece that was a little disturbing to me.
While I do identify myself as Christian (and much of my family belongs to fairly conservative evangelical church) I have
a lot of problems with most of Evangelical Christianity and I'll admit I thought it was inappropriate for CTS to be licensed in this country. Despite that, I've since given the station a chance and become a regular viewer of some of their programs. Considering it's religious nature, I've been surprised by how balanced and relatively bias-free CTS is. They do have a lot of religious programming, but it's not all Christian and certainly represents more than one point of view. Crossroads Television (which operates CTS) deserves a lot of credit for what they've done.
I do think this a great editorial and Dan's love of the Muppets is obvious. I just wish he would get all of his facts straight and pay a little closer attention to Jim's message of accepting and loving
everyone no matter what they believe.
After all, that is about as Christian a message as you can get.
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