Michaela is a big fan of ER. You could say she watches it religiously.

So when I came across this clip on you tube I had to have a listen. Apparently the painfully trendy ER staff had to call in the chaplain to speak to some bloke who was seeking forgiveness for his crimes at the end of life.

Evangelical shock jock radio station Way of the Master Radio enjoyed it, and took the opportunity to take a pop at liberal post modern trendy folk who they see as populating the ’emerging church’. Have a listen- its fun!

It kind of raises the question of how Christians are portrayed in the media. In the UK, for the most part- they are not. It is perhaps a different story in the USA…

There was another programme this week on Radio 4 called ‘God and the movies’. You can listen again on this link.

Apparently Hollywood has woken up to the marketing opportunities of targeting the 200 million or so Evangelicals in middle America.

So Mel Gibson’s film ‘The passion of the Christ’ spawned a line of other movies- many of them very bad… some quite good.

• The Choinicles of Narnia (Cheesy but watchable)
• Constantine (dreadful)
• Facing the Giants (I have no idea)

There seems to be a move towards low budget ‘Godsploitation fims’ (I kid you not!) Check this out- BIBLEMAN!

But there is this other return to films that contain strong moral themes- films like Iron Man or Superman, which seem shot through with references to Biblical themes- redemptive messianic moments set to stirring music, and displayed by beautiful polished people…

Is this a good thing? Surely using mass media to convey something truthful about God is a good thing?

I confess to cynicism. Hollywood is about manipulating images for profit. Do we really want to sell Jesus in this way?

But then movies remain the shapers of mass consciousness perhaps like nothing else…

I think I will steer clear of Godsploitation movies- unless to suck from them some emerging-post-modern humour. Call me shallow if you will!