'Simpsons' wins the faithful

Associated Press

How God appeared in a dream: "Perfect teeth. Nice smell. A class act all the way."

The family religion: "You know, the one with all the well-meaning rules that don't work in real life. Uh, Christianity."

Church signboard slogan: "God Welcomes His Victims."

This is just a sample of one-liners about religion from "The Simpsons."

For 12 seasons, the animated series has mined religious subjects for laughs.

It has been called sacrilegious for its jabs at clergy and the faithful alike. But it's also winning the hearts of a growing number of religious commentators, who look at the show and see plenty to like.

Two leading Protestant magazines, the liberal Christian Century and conservative Christianity Today, ran friendly cover stories on the show.

Meanwhile, an anthology, "The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D'oh! of Homer" (Open Court), reported religion was an element in 70 percent of randomly selected episodes.

Orlando Sentinel religion writer Mark I. Pinsky noted that the characters regularly pray, attend worship and discuss religious questions. God sometimes intervenes directly in the show's preposterous plots.

Pinsky said that despite ridiculing everything in sight, the show is basically pro-family and lets a rough morality triumph.

According to Pinsky, early episodes featured bratty son Bart. But as the focus shifted toward bumbling father Homer, the show began tackling deeper issues.

However, "The Simpsons" still has its critics. The Catholic League, for instance, objected to a show that featured a satirical commercial in which a scantily clad woman wearing a cross suggestively filled a car with gas as a voice-over said "The Catholic Church: We've made a few ... changes." And the depiction of Kwik-E-Mart manager Apu, a Hindu, has offended some of Indian ancestry.