i just don't get it

Politics and religion – you’re not supposed to talk about them, especially in mixed company. I guess it’s because people feel so passionately about both, and out of respect for their deep-rooted beliefs, values and opinions, you shouldn’t say anything that could offend them. I definitely get that.

When I drove to Houston with my parents over the Christmas holidays, we got into it a million times about George W, the war in Iraq, the attack on our own rights at home, interracial relationships, gay marriage, bisexuality and other hotter-than-a-jalapeno-pepper topics among young single feminists like me.

At the same time, I often feel compelled to talk to people about these same issues because they just don’t make sense to me. I don’t really understand why it’s inappropriate to discuss these topics; however, it’s OK to make tasteless, stereotypical jokes about them. And if you don’t laugh at them, then, well, you’re just no fun.

Luckily, times change. They change slowly and not without resistance; but, they do change.

Over the last month or so, I’ve become a fan of a new-and-already-cancelled NBC show called “The Book of Daniel.” It’s a true ensemble cast, led by Aidan Quinn – who I’ve always had a crush on. He’s just adorable, and soooooo sexy with his graying hair.

Quinn’s also sexy because he’s fallible. His character Daniel Webster is married and has a family with their own stories – a gay son, an adopted Asian son and a semi-rebellious daughter who started off the season getting busted for selling pot to fund her passion for computer-animation programs.

He appears to be addicted to pain pills. He’s reluctantly working with the mob to build a new church, and his wife has a thing for mixed drinks. Oh, and he talks to Jesus regularly – and Jesus talks back.

Some people are upset because all of this “sinning” and controversial material surrounds a family where the father, Aidan Quinn’s character, is an Episcopalian priest. Two television stations refused to even air it in their cities. Refusing to allow their citizens the opportunity to make their own choices, ask their own questions and find their own answers because “they” don’t think it’s appropriate. Advertisers got jumpy, they bailed, and the show was cut.

Do you remember the Miramax film The Priest? There was great controversy about that film – I even had to defend it while working Disney’s Information Phones in Guest Relations. The people who called complaining that Disney was mocking God, religion and all that is holy had not seen the film. I did. And it had a profound effect on my own spirituality.

Both of these – “The Book of Daniel” and The Priest – have done much to restore the faith in God and religion that is chipped away by the zealots who quote the Bible to back up their biased views. They speak out against TV shows, books and films that they don’t even experience themselves. They don’t open their minds enough to understand and therefore are incapable of making an informed conclusion.

I saw a news conference recently where someone asked President Bush if he planned to watch Brokeback Mountain, being that he’s such the cowboy himself. Bush laughed condescendingly and dismissed the idea, like he was on the schoolyard during recess at middle school. Why are people not outraged? This is the president of the United States of America. It was such a cruel display of prejudice, and Bush expressed it so naturally. He doesn’t even believe he needs to at least “act” as though he likes gay people. To him, it’s still something you make crude jokes about in the locker room with your buddies.

I don’t know, I just don’t get it. The more I believe, the more I want to listen. But the more I listen, the more confused I get.