This entry is one of a series of articles covering religions depicted on TV as being true. For full details and a list of the other religions covered, go to the introduction.
Judaism and Christianity
Christianity has been the dominate religion in most of the West, especially Europe, for hundreds of years. There are, of course, many denominations of Christianity, each with their own beliefs, and much of Western literature either includes Christian figures or embodies Christian values in some ways. It stemmed from Judaism and the two religions still share certain core beliefs and figures: God, angels and so on. However, Jesus is particular to Christianity, of course, while Mary and the saints are really only prominent in Catholicism and Orthodox religions.
Mormonism, a (debatably) Christian denomination, almost gets its own show – Battlestar Galactica, which is based in part on the Book of Mormon – but that show doesn’t prove Mormonism’s truth or show Mormon teachings.
In terms of TV, God actually shows up surprisingly infrequently – or unsurprisingly, given he doesn’t have a physical form in the Bible – although he appears in metaphor in shows such as Home Improvement. Jesus shows up occasionally, but far more common are the Devil and demons.
As for shows that show the truth of Judaism and Jewish religious stories but that couldn’t also be Christian stories, there aren’t any that I can think of, beyond an episode of The X-Files featuring a golem that despite trying very hard, gets a whole bunch of stuff wrong.
Continue reading “Your handy guide to true religions on TV – Judaism and Christianity”