Posted on 03/16/2020 11:44:08 AM PDT by Morgana
It is nothing new for Fox’s The Simpsons to mock Christians, but it happened once again in the March 15 episode titled “Better Off Ned.”
Bart Simpson found himself in trouble and facing suspension from school over a prank gone bad, so he used a fake hand grenade during a school performance to cause a commotion. Superintendent Chalmers was about to suspend him when the Simpsons's neighbor Ned Flanders started to kneel in prayer. The superintendent freaked out since it was a public school. He took down a copy of Engel v. Vitale and began reading the Supreme Court decision that ruled school prayer was unconstitutional:
Superintendent: Son, you forced this man to jump on a grenade seconds before I was going to. Well, Simpson, thanks to you, now no one can bring grenades to school. This time, you will be expelled, never to return.
Marge: Please don't expel him. He's got nowhere to go.
Superintendent: Bart Simpson, I hereby declare you...
Ned Flanders: Wait. I've lived next to this boy for years. There's good in him. Let me work with him after school. I'll improve him with the three P's: Persistence, prayer and persistent prayer.
Superintendent: Oh, God, you're one of those.
Flanders: Dear Lord...
Superintendent: Don't kneel. Don't kneel! We're in a public school, for God's sake! "Engel V. Vitale, 1962. The Supreme Court asserts that..."
Flanders: Superintendent, you are about to be on the business end of a prayer chain.
Superintendent: "As a part of a religious program carried on by government, it is a matter of history..."
Man: My love of prayer is reflected in my chest hair.
Second Man: I appear to be in the wrong group chat.
Superintendent: "...And the judgment of the Court of Appeals of New York is reversed, and the cause of..."
Flanders: Amen. Sir, we're up to 205 verified pray-ers. Do you really want me to give them your office number? Hmm? Hmm?
Superintendent: Fine. Stop, please! I've had enough. We won't expel Bart.
Flanders: Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Superintendent: If you supervise this boy, keeping him away from the baleful presence of his father.
Homer: Woo-hoo! Win-win!
Ned Flanders was a good influence on Bart. He taught him the satisfaction of working for a goal – like starting a fire outdoors with a stick and stones after catching a fish. Bart even ended up singing in the church choir.
Homer was jealous of Ned and Bart’s new friendship and fake mentored Bart’s nemesis Nelson. It didn’t go well and Homer ended up apologizing to Bart. Father and son were back to normal at the end of a Christian Pride Parade that Flanders put on. The Mayor of Springfield welcomed the crowd and says, “You right-wing ding dongs will keep me in office forever.”
In the parade, there was a float with an “Innocent Priest” tossing out rosary beads and the parade ends with a pair of hands coming together to pray. Nelson, angry with Homer, broke a wooden cross and turned it into a slingshot to hit the button, which activated the hands just as Bart was walking between them:
Crowd: We’re Christians, we’re proud, but don't say it too loud.
Rod: Holding hands are holy hands.
Bart: Ew. Are you wearing lotion?
Rod: I'm very chappy.
Mayor Quimby: Uh, welcome, er, uh, Christians. God is pleased to thank our corporate sponsor, C. Montgomery Burns.
Lenny: Why won't you die?
Quimby: Mr. Burns will take questions later. Er, uh, thanks to this magnificent parade, you right-wing ding-dongs will keep me in office forever.
Crowd: Yay!
Quimby: And now, at the spectacular culmination of the parade, when the final float has safely cleared the route, a giant pair of praying hands will swing from the sides of the street and come together in holy union.
Homer: He's gonna crush Bart! Where's Flanders now?
Flanders: Right here. What do you need?
Homer: Get away from me! No...!
Bart: Hi, Dad.
Homer: Son, you want to ride in the ambulance together?
Bart: Aw, that’s always been our thing.
So, even in a silly animated show, mocking Christians as “right-wing ding dongs” is fine, as well as taking a shot at Catholic priests. It is the season of Lent for Catholics, after all. Funny, I never see other religions or their followers made sport of like this.
This Christian mocks The Simpsons by having never watched it.
The Simpsons mock everything
The Simpsons' crew has even less intestinal fortitude than South Park, and SP has been pretty quiet about a certain religious group.
The Simpsons mock everybody, it is part of their “charm”
Don’t take it personally
ramadamadingdong starts soon. Why not trash that, a$$wholes?
Simpsons were GREAT. Up until around 2005-6. Actually they started to suck after Bush 43 took office. Before that you had guys like John Swartzwelder writing a good chunk of the episodes. He’s the pro liberty writer who left when the whole series took a left turn.
As a Christian, it really doesn’t bother me if the Simpsons makes fun of Christians.
What bothers me is that they are terrified to make fun of Muslims. Come on! Mohammad had a girlfriend who looked like a goat. Because she was a goat. Slavery! Rape! Domestic abuse! This is all comedy gold! The Simpsons could really get a lot of laughs out of Islam if they just showed the world what a pathetic stupid religion it is.
But they’re afraid, aren’t they?
They just make fun of Christians because they know — they KNOW — we are not crazy trouble-makers. We are a force for good in the world. That is why they ridicule us.
Cowards won’t because they know they could get their heads cut off.
BTW, Morgana, I see West(by gawd)Virginia
is still the last man standing.
Hillbillies to inherit the Earth
“....West(by gawd)Virginia
is still the last man standing.
Hillbillies to inherit the Earth ....”
And don’t you forget it!
They yanked the Apu character because they decided he was offensive to Indians. Yet Ned Flanders lives on.
The Simpsons has been on TV for 30 years. It was smart and funny for about 10.
...And don’t you forget it!
8 Generations of Kin-folk from WVa
including before that schism between 1861-1865
I’d rather live next to Ned Flanders than Homer Simpson.
Anyone who would rather live next to wreck-less Homer, has a death wish.
I’m a Christian and could laugh at something truly funny directed at me.
But that crap just ain’t funny.
Yep. Being mocked by the crooked philandering politician (Ted Kennedy caricature) is a badge of honor.
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