Christianity Today

Why are Christians even watching it?

It's true that there isn't very much explicit religion in Downton Abbey. Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly spoke with Rev. Ian Markham, dean and president of Virginia Theological Seminary—who turns out to be a big fan of Downton Abbey! He talks about religious and spiritual themes in the series, from the invisibility of God to the relationship between faith and a rapidly changing social order. You can view the interview along with previews of Season 3 here: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/religion-and-downton-abb ey/14519/

It is both naive and 'unbiblical' to expect legitimate Christianity to get good representation from anything in pop culture, regardless of the nature of the presentation or media form employed.

God isn't absent in Downton Abbey. Christianity is not about how often you mention the name of Christ or go to Church, or as the writer of the above report, Mr. Dorman notes "that there should be a character in the script displaying visible faith". The subtle mentioning of God by the Downton Abbey creators in some of the scenes shows that they basically applied a Biblical approach in making sure that Christ was not overlooked in this production intended for a global and varied audience, including both believers and non-believers. Watching Downton Abbey the viewer does not come away with the feeling that the Crawley family is composed of a bunch of agnostics. Overall this a positive development when watching most of today's TV drama's and sitcoms.

Paul, by your standard, there has never been a Christian Church. You are asking for absolute moral, doctrinal and ethical purity with consistent behavior. Does your local church fit that? No. Does America fit that? Of course not. What do we mean when we say a Muslim Nation or a Hindu nation or a Christian nation? We mean the majority of the nation respects and assents to the tenets of that religion, basing their laws on its principles as in India or Saudi Arabia. The majority attends religious services or are baptized. We don't measure whether they live up to the tenets or are sinful. Why call India a Hindu nation if the majority do not live up to Krishna's teachings as Ghandi pointed out? Or why call Iran a Muslim country? England has historically been a Christian nation. National polls show a growing apostasy. Plus, you are ignoring all the arguments for the concept of a just war, which is an ancient argument. America did not enter world war 2 for wealth and power. We were attacked.