The Christian right has recently found themselves to be in an awkward position concerning the "The Simpsons" TV program. A recent episode (which I did not personally see) had the Simpsons hometown of Springfield legalizing and promoting homosexual marriage.
Obviously, this is not a perspective favored by the Christian right - But they have the problem that "The Simpsons" also has a long history of a fairly positive display of Christianity. Most notably, the Simpson's neighbor Ned Flanders.
In an episode of my very limited exposure to conservative talk radio, the host was downplaying the positive significance of the Ned Flanders character. His impression (and he admitted to not having seen the program much) was that Ned Flanders was portrayed as a "dufus", not something favorable to Christianity.
Certainly, a fair number of the shows characters do have a significant "dufus factor", including Ned Flanders. But I do think that Ned does come off very favorably as a fine human being.
I do NOT wish this to be another "Homosexual Marriage" topic. Rather, I am aiming for a discussion of my view that Ned Flanders is a good representation of what a "good Christian" is. I guess that the particular Christian church that the various characters attend, and the minister of that church, could also be part of the discussion.
(Submitted to the "Faith and Belief" forum)
Moose
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