revelations

I didn’t know about it until I read Frank Rich’s new column just now, but apparently, NBC, taking a hint from the success of the Left Behind books, will be airing an evangelical-friendly mini-series this week. Here’s a clip:

This Wednesday the far right’s cutting-edge culture of death gets its biggest foothold to date in the mainstream, when NBC broadcasts its “Left Behind” simulation, “Revelations,” an extremely slick prime-time mini-series that was made before our most recent death watches but could have been ripped from their headlines. In the pilot a heretofore nonobservant Christian teenage girl in a “persistent vegetative state” – and in Florida, yet – starts babbling Latin texts from the show’s New Testament namesake just as dastardly scientists (“devil’s advocates,” as they’re referred to) and organ-seekers conspire to pull the plug. “All the signs and symbols set forth in the Bible are currently in place for the end of days,” says the show’s adult heroine, an Oxford-educated nun who has been denounced by the Vatican for her views and whose mission is underwritten by a wealthy “religious fundamentalist.” Her Julie Andrews affect notwithstanding, she is an extremist as far removed from the mainstream as Mel Gibson, whose own splinter Traditionalist Catholic sect split from Rome and disowned the reforms of Vatican II, not the least of which was the absolution of Jews for collective guilt in the death of Jesus.

While some Christians are suggesting that NBC isn’t exactly on solid theological ground, most would agree that this is a huge step into the mainstream for evangelicals. And, if successful, this could signal a big network push into Rapture-friendly entertainment territory…. So, I guess it might just be a matter of time until we see Jerry Falwell lean across a board table, flick his wrist and utter the catchphrase “You’re Saved.”