The Book of Daniel

For the members and leaders of this congregation, their religion makes absolutely no difference in their lives | Gene Edward Veith

The Hollywood moguls who gave us The Book of Daniel (NBC, Fridays, 9:00 ET) probably think they are presenting Christianity in a positive light. Church people are not freaks. They are just like everybody else, having the same values and problems as the Hollywood moguls.

The Book of Daniel is about an Episcopal priest named Daniel Webster. He is addicted to pain pills. His daughter sells drugs. One son is gay. The other is promiscuous with women. His supervisor, a female bishop, is having an affair with his father, who is also a bishop cheating on his Alzheimer's-afflicted wife. He has a friend who is a local Catholic priest connected with the Mafia.

In his ministry, Daniel presides at plug-pullings at the hospital and gives sex tips to unmarried couples. One of his sermons is titled "Temptation: Is It Really a Bad Thing?" No, it isn't, he proclaims, since good needs evil in order to be good. "If temptation corners us, maybe we shouldn't beat ourselves up for giving into it," he concludes, as a girl in a pew looks knowingly at her boyfriend. "And maybe we shouldn't ask for forgiveness from a church or from God or from Jesus or from anyone, until we can first learn to forgive ourselves."