The Book of Daniel, a new NBC show about an Episcopalian priest, the conflicts within his family and flock and a randomly appearing Jesus figure, premiered January 6.
From the time the show was announced, Christians had been protesting it. Two NBC affiliates refused to air Daniel even before its debut, and five more canceled soon after.
As of January 26, the show has been canceled for good. I think this is ridiculous.
I admit, when I first saw the commercials for the show I was a little offended. But then I watched it and realized that there was very little in Daniel that was truly offensive.
Sure, there were a lot of crazy issues: Daniel’s gay son, drug dependency and mafia blackmail, to name a few. But nothing in the show reflected an anti-Christian agenda.
All these things do happen within the church, and no one on the show endorsed any sinful behavior. Instead, the overarching attitude was that of “Love the sinner, hate the sin.”
The “Jesus” that appears to Daniel seemed to be a good metaphor for the Holy Spirit. He encouraged, comforted and convicted Daniel. He pointed Daniel in the direction of holy behavior.
If I recall correctly, the Jesus of the Bible did the same for His disciples and the Holy Spirit does the same for us today.
This is also not the first time something along these lines has been done (think Oh, God! starring George Burns or its newer counterpart, Bruce Almighty starring Jim Carey). These movies were perhaps even more inaccurate in their portrayal of our God, yet they both delivered a good message.
The Book of Daniel had the potential to do a lot of good by reminding Christians that God is always present with us, and by giving non-Christians an example of how our God loves us despite our sin and will help us overcome it.
After years of complaining that the media is morally damaging, Christians forced cancellation of a show about, of all things, the church.
Will Cunningham 
Mikaela Brown 
Sophia Hunter