Despite being cartoons, The Simpsons are more clever and
culturally-conscious than most TV families, and the writers incorporate
real-life religion into their lives: grace at meals, Sunday School,
Bible references and even an animated version of the Almighty himself.
The Vatican has taken notice of The Simpsons' Christian faith and
published an article in its newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, insisting
they are true Catholics:
The Simpsons are among the few TV programmes for children in which Christian faith, religion, and questions about God are recurrent themes… Few people know it, and he does everything he can to hide it, but it is true: Homer J Simpson is a Catholic.
According to The Daily Telegraph:
It quoted an analysis by a Jesuit priest, Father Francesco Occhetta, of a 2005 episode of The Simpsons, The Father, the Son and the Holy Guest Star, which revolved around Catholicism and was aired a few weeks after the death of Pope John Paul II.
The episode starts with Bart being expelled from Springfield Elementary School and being enrolled in a Catholic school where he meets a sympathetic priest, voiced by the actor Liam Neeson, who draws him into Catholicism with his kindness.
Homer then decides to convert to Catholicism, to the horror of his wife Marge, the Rev Lovejoy and Ned Flanders.
The episode touches on issues such as religious conflict, interfaith dialogue, homosexuality and stem cell research.
The Simpsons has addressed religion, both on earth and
in heavenly realms, throughout its 20 years on air.
This concern for
spirituality hasn't gone unnoticed (the Vatican has commended the show
before) and scholars have even sat down to tackle the fictional family's
faith.
We know a great deal about the spiritual life of almost every one of the characters. Most of the cartoon cast attend the First Church of Springfield, a middle-of-the-road Protestant church, presided over by the Reverend Timothy Lovejoy, but other characters are identified as Jews, Catholics, Hindus, Hare Krishnas, "Movementarians" or snake-handlers.
The children of the town go to Sunday School -- usually unwillingly, and Bart does have to be frisked for weapons -- but theological issues interest them when they are there. When the teacher announces that the day's topic is Hell, Bart is delighted. "All right!" he enthuses, "I sat through Mercy and I sat through Forgiveness; finally we get to the good stuff!"
The Bible is referred to frequently: on TV and radio, in counseling the troubled, and (of course) in the pulpit. Ned Flanders, the evangelical next-door neighbour of the Simpsons, has a large collection of versions in his house -- including the Aramaic Septuagint, the Vulgate of St. Jerome, the Living Bible and the Thump-Proof Bible.
Homer, however, finds the book expensive and preachy: "Everybody's a sinner," he complains, "except this guy!" It is also largely irrelevant: "If the Bible has taught us nothing else -- and it hasn't -- it's that girls should stick to girls' sports such as hot-oil wrestling, foxy-boxing and such and such."
The writers don't seem to go out of their way to portray
God or religion as ridiculous.
Instead, there's the same about of
tradition/belief and doubt/hesitancy as most Christians have.
SIC: SPI/USA