Tom Ellis as Lucifer MorningstarCommentary by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
In what is certainly a bad sign for the state of our national soul, FOX’s diabolical sitcome, Lucifer, has returned for a second year with the season’s opener spewing blasphemies about God, His so-called “wife” and how creation came about.
Newsbusters is reporting on the show which stars Tom Ellis as Lucifer Morningstar and Rachael Harris as Linda Martin, the demon’s therapist. In a scene from the show, Lucifer explains the Creation story to his therapist.
“In human terms, once upon a time, a boy met a girl, and they fell in love. They had sex. The only trouble was, they were celestial beings, so that moment created the universe.”
The therapist asks, “the Big Bang?”
To which Lucifer responds, “Never knew how appropriate the name was until now, did you?”
God and His “wife” had “a whole litter of children”, including himself, who lived in the house they built, which is called heaven. They were very happy until “Dad started going into the garage and tinkering with a little project he called humanity. Mom grew cold . . . distant. And pretty soon they were neglecting their family.
As a result, one of the children – namely Lucifer – began to “act out” and was tossed out of the house.
In other words, it was God’s fault that Satan rebelled.
Believe it or not, this show was one of FOX’s strongest performers last year, particularly in the 18-49 age group with around 4.8 million viewers. This is the same age group that comprises the fastest growing number of “nones” – people who profess no particular religion – which makes them particularly vulnerable to the show’s ploy of making Lucifer into a sympathetic character rather than the completely evil being that he is.
This year’s show also introduced a new character, a forensic scientists named Ella Lopez, played by Aimee Garcia, who is the “token Christian” for the show. Even though she wears a cross and identifies as a Christian, viewers quickly learn that she believes the devil got a bad rap.
“I mean, what did he really do that was so bad?” Ella asks. “What, rebel against his dad? Ask some naked lady if she wanted an apple?”
To further prove that the Christian faith is utterly vacuous, Ella has a discussion with a detective named Chloe Decker (played by Lauren German) who questions whether God, the angels, the devil, really exist.
“That's all a metaphor, right?” Chloe asks
And Ella responds: “Maybe. Maybe not.
“Oh, okay,” Chloe says. “ . . . I just thought there would be more faith in your faith, I guess.”
Ella goes on to explain that she has an aunt who used to be a nun, and who taught her that doubt was important.
As Newsbuster’s Alexa Moutevelis Coombs opines, “Ella’s story probably reflects the background of the show writers. Their only faith experience is that one of them has an aunt who was a nun and therefore they think that gives them some kind of authority to speak on the topic. That also may be why every so often they hit upon a nugget of truth.”
Coombs rightly calls the show a “comic book version of Satan” – but that doesn't make it any less dangerous.
© All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly®/Women of Grace® http://www.womenofgrace.com
