Brian Griffin (Family Guy) came out some weeks ago without conflict. He met a hot, but über-skanky redhead who was also an atheist. They romantically shared the last copy of The God Delusion, then she slept around with all his neighbors. In all fairness he was trying to hold out because he erroneously thought it would make the relationship more special. One of those situations where a tiny bit of communication could have helped.
And no one cared.
In last night’s episode, Brian came out to his family (he was under the impression they already knew) and all flaming heck broke loose.
Lois lost some cool points for sure:
An Atheist, that’s just about the worst thing a person can be!
But Brian’s a dog. Not much more needs to be said.
What brought this on was Meg recovering from mumps (that her family neglected to get her the proper vaccination for), while she had only one channel to watch in the hospital, a Christian channel. After seeing Kirk Cameron discuss evangelical Christianity, she quickly finds “God’s love”. The biggest disappointment with that part was there was no banana joke.
Never having been a believer in Jesus or Christianity, I always think globally. I wonder if she would have been as easily converted if she was watching a Hindu channel. (That is to say, if its specifically Christ’s love that speaks to one who is born again.) Though the ending was left open, Meg seemed to open her mind to Brian’s reasoning. Did Brian deconvert Meg? Or just get her to stop being an over-the-top evangelical? There’s a whole grey are in between. (I.e., Meg could be a deist now.) How will Lois feel about that, what ever it may be?
Seeing atheism awareness being brought into the popular television show realm is very exciting. Many theists do not fully understand the discrimination and pre-judgment of atheists (in the general sense) face. Depending on where you live, it varies. Though even in the biggest of cities, discrimination and judgment exist. Christians (online) have criticized me for saying I feel discrimination in Los Angeles. It’s surely no small town, but you have to realize the numbers. While there may be many theists who don’t live by the Christian dogma (though there are still many who do) and the range of reform versions of religions is rampant, but not necessarily godless. No matter how many times Anne Coulter reinforces it to her base, it doesn’t make it true.
Many theists who try to be understanding (but surely aren’t), will say atheists care too much about god and religion for people who live without said things. Yet, when one takes an honest look around, s/he can clearly see how the religion and the notion of god affects us frequently. How can atheists just live without ever mentioning god when we cannot escape it. Surely Brian being “outed” among the entire city was a bit of exaggeration for many areas, it isn’t for others.
Luckily my family never said such horrors when I came out, but there were (and occasionally still are) ugly words. Much of that is in the past, though sadly I’m not betting on “all of that”.
I hope Brian finds peace with his beloved Griffin family.
