Anti-Catholic asides in scripts - TVs "Bones"

[CaptFun]

While channel surfing today I caught a glimpse of what I thought was a gratuitous and unnecessary slap at Catholicism (and those other Christian ministries that believe in the efficacy of Baptsim).

Title character Dr. Temperance “Bones” Brennan (played by Emily Deschanel) is asked by a a co-worker if he can have the next day off to attend a baptism.

To paraphrase what I heard … her cryptic reply was something like …

Sure, why would I object to someone attending a ceremony where the sprinkling of water on an infant’s head would absolve her from all the sins she committed before she was born?

To my ears this was a cultural dismissal of my faith … presented in such a way as to elicit a quick “yeah … that IS stupid …” emotional response in the viewer … before the plot of the show moves rapidly on.

It’s nowhere in the league of the Hitler films that showed a Jewish character then quickly cut to close ups of rats by any means (yes, they did that) … but it’s something I’m noting.

Bracing myself for at least an annoyed baptism question coming my way any time now.

so … maybe that’s a GOOD thing?

Your thoughts?

 

[Tarpeian_Rock]

I’m sure there’ll soon be an episode where she makes a sarcastic comment about Islam. Oh, wait . . . . . .

 

[anon67074017]

The entertainment industry likes to take jabs at Christianity. This is unfortunate. Why can’t they respect us?

 

[pensmama87]

I have not watched the show, but friends of mine have noted there is a consistent tension between Bones and the other main character over religion. To my knowledge it’s actually the rare show that doesn’t entirely rely on lame stereotypes about Christians.

There’s a difference between having a character say something bigoted and the show/movie/book endorsing the bigoted point of view.

 

[multitude]

The entertainment industry likes to take jabs at Christianity. This is unfortunate. Why can’t they respect us?

The funniest thing is, whilst it was meant to be a jab, it shouldn’t actually be taken for a jab considering that it is indeed what we practice. Original Sin is something we are supposed to believe. The problem is that this world considers stupidity as a serious crime and must be stomped out on principle, and if not, at the very least it must be mocked. However Jesus Himself was insulted and mocked for a fool, and yet He was rather unapologetic about a lot of things He said or taught.

One thing I am beginning to realize is that this world can continue with their shannanigans, but in the end, those of this world will eventually realize their own foolhardiness. The question is, whether it will be too late for them to realize this or not.

 

[QuestLove]

While channel surfing today I caught a glimpse of what I thought was a gratuitous and unnecessary slap at Catholicism (and those other Christian ministries that believe in the efficacy of Baptsim).

Title character Dr. Temperance “Bones” Brennan (played by Emily Deschanel) is asked by a a co-worker if he can have the next day off to attend a baptism.

To paraphrase what I heard … her cryptic reply was something like …

To my ears this was a cultural dismissal of my faith … presented in such a way as to elicit a quick “yeah … that IS stupid …” emotional response in the viewer … before the plot of the show moves rapidly on.

It’s nowhere in the league of the Hitler films that showed a Jewish character then quickly cut to close ups of rats by any means (yes, they did that) … but it’s something I’m noting.

Bracing myself for at least an annoyed baptism question coming my way any time now.

so … maybe that’s a GOOD thing?

Your thoughts?

 

[QuestLove]

While channel surfing today I caught a glimpse of what I thought was a gratuitous and unnecessary slap at Catholicism (and those other Christian ministries that believe in the efficacy of Baptsim).

Title character Dr. Temperance “Bones” Brennan (played by Emily Deschanel) is asked by a a co-worker if he can have the next day off to attend a baptism.

To paraphrase what I heard … her cryptic reply was something like …

To my ears this was a cultural dismissal of my faith … presented in such a way as to elicit a quick “yeah … that IS stupid …” emotional response in the viewer … before the plot of the show moves rapidly on.

It’s nowhere in the league of the Hitler films that showed a Jewish character then quickly cut to close ups of rats by any means (yes, they did that) … but it’s something I’m noting.

Bracing myself for at least an annoyed baptism question coming my way any time now.

so … maybe that’s a GOOD thing?

Your thoughts?

You should actually watch the whole series to get a full understanding. Her character is actually an atheist who is married to Booth, a devout catholic.

The show is not anti-catholic, because the moral authority ( and all around good guy) in the show is Booth, a devout catholic.

The show actually does a good job of showing the compromises both of them make to understand each others viewpoint.
She has come to understand how important religion is to him (and ppl in general) rather than strictly from the pov of an anthropologist. so much so that two seasons ago she allowed the kids to be baptised and raised catholic (even though she does not believe).

 

[Robyn_p]

While channel surfing today I caught a glimpse of what I thought was a gratuitous and unnecessary slap at Catholicism (and those other Christian ministries that believe in the efficacy of Baptsim).

Title character Dr. Temperance “Bones” Brennan (played by Emily Deschanel) is asked by a a co-worker if he can have the next day off to attend a baptism.

To paraphrase what I heard … her cryptic reply was something like …

To my ears this was a cultural dismissal of my faith … presented in such a way as to elicit a quick “yeah … that IS stupid …” emotional response in the viewer … before the plot of the show moves rapidly on.

It’s nowhere in the league of the Hitler films that showed a Jewish character then quickly cut to close ups of rats by any means (yes, they did that) … but it’s something I’m noting.

Bracing myself for at least an annoyed baptism question coming my way any time now.

so … maybe that’s a GOOD thing?

Your thoughts?

Yeah I don’t know. I’ve only seen a few episodes, but I think that’s more a way to show us Bones’ character than an actual jab at Christianity.

I saw another episode set at Christmas time where she declares Jesus didn’t actually exist and basically says her co-workers - who are religious - are stupid for celebrating the holiday. Like your example, it was almost an aside and it had no bearing on the plot, but I didn’t feel like the show was necessarily endorsing her view of religion.

 

[AKDee]

I think you might be being overly sensitive. Bones features the main character “Bones” juxtaposed to the man who becomes her husband, “Booth”. Booth is a devout Catholic. Bones is an atheist. Both are portrayed true to character, and I never felt the writers used Booth’s character to make Catholicism look bad. And Bones always made caustic comments about pretty much everything- her lack of a sense of humor and her bluntness to the point of rudeness was part of her character.

 

[Robyn_p]

You should actually watch the whole series to get a full understanding. Her character is actually an atheist who is married to Booth, a devout catholic.

The show is not anti-catholic, because the moral authority ( and all around good guy) in the show is Booth, a devout catholic.

The show actually does a good job of showing the compromises both of them make to understand each others viewpoint.
She has come to understand how important religion is to him (and ppl in general) rather than strictly from the pov of an anthropologist. so much so that two seasons ago she allowed the kids to be baptised and raised catholic (even though she does not believe).

That’s good to hear. I’ve only caught a few episodes here and there so I didn’t know that.

 

[Tomdstone]

The entertainment industry likes to take jabs at Christianity. This is unfortunate. Why can’t they respect us?

Why? I’ll tell you why. Because Catholics and other Christians go to movies where it is very common that Our Lord’s Name is taken in vain and there are no objections heard from Catholics or Christians on the sacrilegious use of Our Lord’s Name. Of course, if someone were to draw a picture of Mohammed, you can be sure that there would be a huge backlash and vigorous and long demonstrations, parades and possibly even worse from the Muslim community. Muslims take their religion very seriously.

 

[Church_Militant]

Have you guys watched the series much? My wife and have and if you guys had then you’d know that Temperance Brennan is an atheist, because she and Seeley Booth have often gone round verbally about their different beliefs because he’s Catholic. In the course of the series there have been many places where Booth explains and defends the faith with her and she has never derided it though she remains skeptical.

The series is actually pretty good and at least there hasn’t been any scenes with blatant homosexual activity. Thanks be to God.

I also doubt you all realize that the 2 main characters Brennan and Booth are also the Executive producers: Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz, so I think they’ve done a good job of keeping to the task of entertaining without trying to stuff some trash down our throats like so many other shows have.

If the remark in the OP is the worst I ever had to deal with I would cry out with Hillaire Belloc “Benedicamos Domino!”

 

[Church_Militant]

I think you might be being overly sensitive. Bones features the main character “Bones” juxtaposed to the man who becomes her husband, “Booth”. Booth is a devout Catholic. Bones is an atheist. Both are portrayed true to character, and I never felt the writers used Booth’s character to make Catholicism look bad. And Bones always made caustic comments about pretty much everything- her lack of a sense of humor and her bluntness to the point of rudeness was part of her character.

 

[multitude]

Why? I’ll tell you why. Because Catholics and other Christians go to movies where it is very common that Our Lord’s Name is taken in vain and there are no objections heard from Catholics or Christians on the sacrilegious use of Our Lord’s Name. Of course, if someone were to draw a picture of Mohammed, you can be sure that there would be a huge backlash and vigorous and long demonstrations, parades and possibly even worse from the Muslim community. Muslims take their religion very seriously.

That too. Which is why I don’t have too many qualms about Islam. I remembered somebody on CAF once said that God is letting Islam have new life these days, and I’ve been thinking about that one for some time. But, it makes perfect sense. Someone is going to take enforcer role eventually.

I find it particularly striking that Our Lady used to be a lot more vocal in Her apparitions on those who take Our Lord’s name in vain for the past couple centuries. But those of this world no longer care or listen to Her. So the Muslims are, IMHO, God’s way of saying, “what’s it going to take?”

 

[SilverLight]

Its from a show and therefor I do not take it seriously. What someone says about my faith does not bother me that much before it may have but I have learned to have a thick hide when it comes to this stuff now.

 

[ChurchSoldier]

The wife and I binged watched quite a bit (Netflix). While I agree some points aren’t supportive of the Christian Faith (it is a show about homicide after all), I don’t expect anything on tv to be supportive of anything other than a secular or “worldly” world view. That’s a big part of why we did away with TV.

If you screen down the movies /shows on the Netflix title page, with the thought that our media reflects our culture, it will show you how dark / broken our world really is.

 

[TARRAT]

I quit watching Bones years ago. This is not the first such comment by the series star.

 

[Son_of_Niall]

Doesn’t look like a show I would be interested in even without the anti-Christian remarks.
Modern ‘procedurals’ love to get down and dirty with disgusting gory scenes. Why anyone would want to watch that is beyond me. That cannot be healthy psychologically.

 

[Kay_Cee]

Booth is a devout Catholic.

Not exactly. Booth got Bones pregnant, then married her outside the Church.

 

[QuestLove]

I’m sure there’ll soon be an episode where she makes a sarcastic comment about Islam. Oh, wait . . . . . .

She actually does. When Arastoo was just hired and he had to leave to go pray 5 times a day…
She is atheist after all, and she describes and studies all religions as myths.
I think the writer/anthropologist on who the character is based has expressed these ideas before, so I am not sure that the whole show was conceived as one big anti-catholic movement.