Posted on 12/23/2009 4:44:11 PM PST by fight_truth_decay
VATICAN CITY (AP) -- To put it as the devout Ned Flanders would, the Vatican's newspaper thinks "The Simpsons" are an okely dokely bunch. L'Osservatore Romano on Tuesday congratulated the show on its 20th anniversary, praising its philosophical leanings as well as its stinging and often irreverent take on religion.
Without Homer Simpson and the other yellow-skinned characters "many today wouldn't know how to laugh," said the article titled "Aristotle's Virtues and Homer's Doughnut."
The paper credited "The Simpsons" - the longest-running American animated program - with opening up cartoons to an adult audience.
The Fox show is based on "realistic and intelligent writing," it said, though it added there was some reason to criticize its "excessively crude language, the violence of certain episodes or some extreme choices by the scriptwriters."
Religion, from the snore-evoking sermons of the Rev. Lovejoy to Homer's face-to-face talks with God, appears so frequently on the show that it could be possible to come up with a "Simpsonian theology," it said.
Homer's religious confusion and ignorance are "a mirror of the indifference and the need that modern man feels toward faith," the paper said.
It commented on several religion-themed episodes, including one in which Homer calls for divine intervention by crying: "I'm not normally a religious man, but if you're up there, save me, Superman!"
"Homer finds in God his last refuge, even though he sometimes gets His name sensationally wrong," L'Osservatore said. "But these are just minor mistakes, after all, the two know each other well."
I don’t know what the hell this guy has been watching. For 10 years “The Simpsons” has been nothing but little Matt Groening inspired leftist homilies and political propaganda.
“The paper credited “The Simpsons” - the longest-running American animated program - with opening up cartoons to an adult audience.”
Obviously they never heard of Rocky & Bullwinkle.
"L'Osservatore Romano" ain't "the Vatican." It's a daily newspaper which, while it does publish approved translations of official Church texts, otherwise operates as an independent newspaper whose masthead motto is Unicuique suum ("To each his own")and whose editor is an Italian academic, Giovanni Maria Vian.
D'oh!
Ha!
If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. The Simpsons shows I’ve seen are anti-religious and a stupid downgrading of the country’s intellect. And the Vatican likes this shite? Probaly no one there watches the show, or they just don’t get how undercutting it is to values and beliefs.
Apparently the AP thinks it is though. Funny that.
Or the Flintstones.
The Simpsons have been dead to me for years. When they did an episode making volunteer soldiers out to be retarded, I was outta there.
Word up.
ping
*they’ve been dead to us sometime between Homers DUI and blaming it on Marge, Rev Homer with the “Queerly beloved wedding” and Marges sister adopting a chinese kid
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_the_Heretic
Homer the Heretic
"Homer the Heretic" is the third episode of The Simpsons' fourth season, which originally aired on FOX in the United States on October 8, 1992. In the episode, Homer decides to forgo going to church and has an excellent time staying home. His behavior quickly attracts the wrath of God, who visits him in a dream. The episode was written by George Meyer and directed by Jim Reardon. The chalkboard gag from this episode was a reference to the previous episode's controversy involving various insults in a musical.
Plot
On a very cold Sunday morning, Marge is gathering the family to go to church. However, after viewing the weather outside and struggling with his pants, Homer refuses to go. He then proceeds to have what he declares "the best day of [his] life": he sleeps in late, dances in his underwear (à la Tom Cruise in the film Risky Business), makes his own brand of waffles, wins a radio trivia contest, watches an action-packed football game, and finds a penny under the couch. Homer attributes all his good fortune to skipping church. Meanwhile, Marge and the kids shiver their way through a rambling sermon, only to find themselves trapped at the end since the door has frozen shut. After finally being freed by Groundskeeper Willie and his blow torch, Marge is unable to start the car because of the freezing temperature. When they finally get home, Marge is horrified to hear that Homer intends to never go to church again. She becomes very upset with Homer and does her best to persuade him, but to no avail.
After falling asleep, Homer has a dream in which God personally appears to him. God is very angry at Homer for "forsaking his church." Homer points out that "I'm not a bad guy, I work hard, and I love my kids...so why should I spend half my Sunday hearing about how I'm going to hell?" God agrees with Homer's point and agrees to let Homer worship in his own way. Homer then starts his own religion tailored to his own personal tastes.
Marge, Reverend Lovejoy, and Ned Flanders all attempt to convert Homer back to Christianity and fail. The next Sunday morning, Homer is once again at home while everyone else is at church. While smoking a cigar, he falls asleep on the couch and the cigar ignites some magazines. Soon, the whole house is ablaze. Homer wakes up but quickly succumbs to the thick smoke. Apu spots the fire, and summons the Springfield volunteer fire department (of which Krusty the Clown, Chief Wiggum, and Barney Gumble are also members).
Meanwhile, Ned Flanders sees the fire and rushes to rescue Homer, pulling him free of the house just as the fire department arrives. After the blaze is extinguished, Homer fears that God was delivering vengeance. Reverend Lovejoy suggests that God was actually working in the hearts of Homer's friends, despite their different faiths. Lovejoy convinces Homer to give church another try. Homer comes to church the next Sunday, but sleeps through the service. God appears in his dreams again and consoles Homer on the failure of his religion. God starts to tell Homer the meaning of life (and implies that Homer will die within the year), but the viewers never hear it because God is cut off by the credits.
True story: When I was seventeen... it was a very good year... but I digress... anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, when I was seventeen I was already 6 foot 3 inches tall but I only weighed about 160lbs soaking wet. After meeting my (6 foot 2 inch, 225lb) stock-car-driving- firefighting-engine-block-lifting Dad, Gorilla Dave, my friend Mike said the following:
“Dude, I thought your old man was going to be a skinny little dude with glasses like you, but he walks in and it’s like ‘WWWWIIIIIILLLLLLMMMMMMAAAAAA!!!!!’”
"Praise the Lord."
Correct, the link I included above “Some feel...the paper needs a new edictor” talked about the ownership of OR.
Thanks
The Search for the Kirwood Derby.
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