The Simpsons and Unitarianism

Okay, I have a question:

The Unitarians have been mentioned several times on the Simpsons... quite frequently, considering the size of the Unitarian Church in the US. The references have always been jokes (somewhat) at the Unitarian's expense.

I have always figured that one of the writers or producers is Unitarian, as the jokes have always seemed fairly self-referencial... they usually aren't jokes about the church itself, but rather about the person saying it, or the context in which it appears.

For example: In Bart's Girlfriend [2F04]:

    Mrs. Lovejoy: [sees empty collection plate, gasps] Everyone
                  turn around and look at this!
    Abe:          What is it?  A Unitarian?

In Alone Again, Natura-Diddly [BABF10]:

    Bart:  Videogames!  Whaddya got?  [grabs a videogame off the
           shelf, and reads the title] "Billy Graham's Bible
           Blaster?"
    Rod:   Keep firing; convert the heathens! [cut to a pixilated
           video screen.  Heathens cross the street, as a Bible
           gun shoots the Holy Book at them.  When a heathen gets
           hit, he turns into a conservatively dressed man with a
           halo]
    Bart:  Got him!
    Rod:   No, you just winged him and made him a Unitarian.

In Missionary Impossible [BABF11]:

    Lisa, Jr.: Amy said that there are lots of religions.  Which
               is the right one?
    Homer:     Well, not the Unitarians.  If that's the one true
               faith, I'll eat my hat.

I am not sure if there are more, those are the ones that I remember off the top of my head.

In the first example, the humour comes from the fact that Abe's paranoia... the fact that Helen might have nabbed a Unitarian intruder. It plays against the idea that Unitarians are imposter Christians, which leads into the second example. Here just winging someone with a bible converts them... but only a bit.

The last example felt the most like an inside joke to me, like the usual nudges at FOX and the shows producers. It is such an arbitrary statement... if you were going to rule out religions, you would hardly start with one as nebulous as the Unitarians.

The show has always been notorious for its liberalism... which aligns well with Unitarianism, a "liberal" church, if that makes any sense. I have often wondered if Matt himself was a Unitarian... Life in Hell is renowned for its positive protrayal of a gay couple, probably the first central gay characters in a comic strip. The Unitarians, of course, are very gay positive... their stance on human rights aligning them strongly with the gay community. (in Hamilton, On, Canada the First Unitarian has a stripe of rainbow colours under their sign... First Unitarian Toronto marches with pride every year.)

What does everyone think? Any insights?

Well, I think it is not a slam at the religion itself as much as it is a slam on the general closed-mindedness that goes on in the church (or is it the Church) today. It is easy to dislike someone who has different views from yourself, especially in matters of spiritual affairs, and since the Unitarians have a very universal belief system (kinda a do whatever you want to thing) it can be a target for all religions. I never thought of the First Church of Springfield as a general denomination but more so as all denominations. Since they are not Baptist or Methodist or whatever, they cannot express specific gripes with other specific denominations.

Just my idea, Stephen

"fishy" wrote in message news:[email]...

Oh, I agree that it isn't a slam against Unitarianism... all of the jabs are extremely good natured. As I said, the target of the joke is more the speaker than the religion.

I agree that the Unitarians make an excellent target... they are enormously tolerant, which makes intolerance towards them all the more humourous.

My biggest question, though, is "is there a Unitarian connection?" Another question might be "does the theology of the Simpsons (the subtext, rather than the First Church of Springfield) echo that of the Unitarians to some degree?"

----- fishy (Sun, 21 Jul 2002 16:51:25 GMT) -----

I'm sorry, but "If that's the one true faith, I'll eat my hat" just doesn't sound good-natured to me. It's almost argumentative and seems very demeaning.

On 21 Jul 2002 22:00:12 -0500, "JD44.3UJO9T" <jd44.3ujo9t> wrote:

Yeah, but it's Homer saying it, so how credible is he?

Yeah, that is how I see it. Homer says it (the man who forgot the name of Jesus) but also, as I said, it is funny because it was so arbitrary and silly.... the Unitarian Church has no strong dogma at all, really, just a basic tolerance and respect for all faiths. Unlike, say, Catholics, who have many beliefs that might seem foolish to outsiders (transubstantiation, for one).

----- fishy (Mon, 22 Jul 2002 12:14:18 GMT) -----

Still, that the writers added it at all makes it seem to me that they just used Homer as a mouthpiece to voice their own opinions. Oh, I dunno ...

If Homer voted, he would vote Republican... at least according to Matt Groening. I don't think that he is their mouthpiece. Lisa is (sometimes) their mouthpiece. Matt has said that he relates to her the most... she is most like his own family.

On Mon, 22 Jul 2002 20:26:04 -0400, fishy wrote:

Homer thinks nuts and gum would make a good product. I don't think he's normally their mouthpiece.

Don't forget Skittle-Brau!

fishy wrote in message news:[email]...

Wow! A religion without beliefs, and tolerance toward ritualistic cannibalism. Where do I sign up?

Okay, last statement I will make, as this is not a religion forum:

No strong dogma is not the same as no beliefs. Let's all go look up the word dogma. (1. A religious doctrine that is proclaimed as true without proof, 2. A doctrine or code of beliefs accepted as authoritative.) So, for those of you playing along at home, they have beliefs, but say that authority comes from a greater force, and is not placed in the hands of the church.

Point two: the tolerance is towards the faith, not the practices of the adherants. Much like the United States constitution, you can't be persecuted for your beliefs, only your actions. I didn't think that this would need explaining to Americans. You don't have to like all other religions, but you have to tolerate them so long as they don't violate the rights of others (say, by eating them.)

I am not a practicing Unitarian, though I have had some experience with that church. If you -really- want to argue that they tolerate cannibalism, write to me instead of wasting everyone's time on the Simpsons forum.

fishy wrote in message news:[email]...

If you really cared about not wasting people's time, you would have written a shorter post.

And, I'd like to talk to you further, but I'm having a neighbor for dinner.

-Bob

----- R H Menzel (Fri, 26 Jul 2002 18:49:16 GMT) -----

Yeah, and if YOU cared, you'd've snipped out all that quoted text! (Well SOMEone had to say it!) >:-)

If you read the thread carefully, you'll see that I never said that I cared about wasting people's time. I was pointing out irony; a concept which obviously eluded you.

But, thanks for trying!

JD44-3UJO9T <jd44-3ujo9t> wrote in message news:[email]...

----- R H Menzel (Sat, 27 Jul 2002 18:36:00 GMT) -----

Now that was just mean, you ... big meanie! Of course, your first sentence is correct. :-P

JD44-3UJO9T <jd44-3ujo9t> wrote in message news:[email]...

No need to be vicious!!!! :o)

-Bob

----- Alan Hamilton (Mon, 22 Jul 2002 05:34:27 GMT) -----

Touch�, good buddy. :-)

I think Nancy Cartwright (Bart, etc.) is Unitarian.

I thought Homer said "Movementarians" here (the cult...na na na na na na na na LEADER)...

Austin

Aha! My suspicions were at least somewhat correct.

No, I am fairly sure about this. I will watch the episode again, perhaps.

Um, yes, extremely different. Hmm.

Wasn't Bart reading Dianetics in one episode?

Which is why Scientology isn't made fun of on the Simpsons, although it's an easy enough target.

----- ALewis525 (Sun, 21 Jul 2002 17:42:12 GMT) -----

No, it was definitely Unitarians. The Movementarians (AFAIK) have not been mentioned since.

[email] (Katijaikat) wrote!

Of course, one could say that because they have no dogma, one could think that the Unitarians aren't a religion at all, and are basically a rough excuse to give people a better thing to fill out on a "Enter your religion here:" form.

Well, of course this isn't true. The Unitarian Church is a creedless church, but not without strong principles and doctrine. The reason the idea of the creed was dropped from the church was because they wanted to be defined by their actions rather than words. A pluralist religion is still a religion.

From: fishy

Okay, I have a question:

The Unitarians have been mentioned several times on the Simpsons... quite frequently, considering the size of the Unitarian Church in the US. The references have always been jokes (somewhat) at the Unitarian's expense.

I have always figured that one of the writers or producers is Unitarian, as the jokes have always seemed fairly self-referencial... they usually aren't jokes about the church itself, but rather about the person saying it, or the context in which it appears.

For example: In Bart's Girlfriend [2F04]:

    Mrs. Lovejoy: [sees empty collection plate, gasps] Everyone
                  turn around and look at this!
    Abe:          What is it?  A Unitarian?

In Alone Again, Natura-Diddly [BABF10]:

    Bart:  Videogames!  Whaddya got?  [grabs a videogame off the
           shelf, and reads the title] "Billy Graham's Bible
           Blaster?"
    Rod:   Keep firing; convert the heathens! [cut to a pixilated
           video screen.  Heathens cross the street, as a Bible
           gun shoots the Holy Book at them.  When a heathen gets
           hit, he turns into a conservatively dressed man with a
           halo]
    Bart:  Got him!
    Rod:   No, you just winged him and made him a Unitarian.

In Missionary Impossible [BABF11]:

    Lisa, Jr.: Amy said that there are lots of religions.  Which
               is the right one?
    Homer:     Well, not the Unitarians.  If that's the one true
               faith, I'll eat my hat.

I am not sure if there are more, those are the ones that I remember off the top of my head.

In the first example, the humour comes from the fact that Abe's paranoia... the fact that Helen might have nabbed a Unitarian intruder. It plays against the idea that Unitarians are imposter Christians, which leads into the second example. Here just winging someone with a bible converts them... but only a bit.

The last example felt the most like an inside joke to me, like the usual nudges at FOX and the shows producers. It is such an arbitrary statement... if you were going to rule out religions, you would hardly start with one as nebulous as the Unitarians.

The show has always been notorious for its liberalism... which aligns well with Unitarianism, a "liberal" church, if that makes any sense. I have often wondered if Matt himself was a Unitarian... Life in Hell is renowned for its positive protrayal of a gay couple, probably the first central gay characters in a comic strip. The Unitarians, of course, are very gay positive... their stance on human rights aligning them strongly with the gay community. (in Hamilton, On, Canada the First Unitarian has a stripe of rainbow colours under their sign... First Unitarian Toronto marches with pride every year.)

What does everyone think? Any insights?

From: "Stephen"

Well, I think it is not a slam at the religion itself as much as it is a slam on the general closed-mindedness that goes on in the church (or is it the Church) today. It is easy to dislike someone who has different views from yourself, especially in matters of spiritual affairs, and since the Unitarians have a very universal belief system (kinda a do whatever you want to thing) it can be a target for all religions. I never thought of the First Church of Springfield as a general denomination but more so as all denominations. Since they are not Baptist or Methodist or whatever, they cannot express specific gripes with other specific denominations.

Just my idea, Stephen

"fishy" wrote in message news:[email]...

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