I caught an episode last night of Without A Trace, a mildly-entertaining FBI drama on CBS. Though the show focuses on kidnapping victims who vanish “without a trace,” there was more than a trace of hostility towards the pro-life position in last night’s show.
The story was about a “Christian” family that was formerly involved in the bombing of an abortion clinic. The wife was kidnapped by the fanatical leader of the former group (called “Soldiers of the Cross) to which they belonged. The FBI agents uncovered a vast underground network that the abortion bombers used, and even stormed in with guns blazing to the group’s communication headquarters—a seemingly innocuous Bible church. Needing more information on these terrorists, the FBI team goes to an NYPD informant who has infiltrated the “anti-abortion” movement.
A fairly positive view of abortion clinics and their patrons is shown. They’re portrayed as level-headed, overcoming people who even have the religiosity to forgive those who have maimed them in the past. Good for them.
The portrayal of the pro-life position is not so rosy. There is no outright assault on the general pro-life position, or on Christians in general. What occurred in this episode, however, is an insidious association of pro-life Christians with abortion clinic bombers. Had I not known better, I would have immediately drawn the conclusion from the show that Christian pro-lifers were extremist terrorists. There is not a single positive depicton of a pro-life Christian in the episode.
This type of stealthy subversion is difficult to combat. Who, after all, wants to be associated in the same breath with a terrorist? To rise up in protest runs the risk of being charged with defending violent terror. More often than not, this is turning out to be the norm for how to portray a Christian in the entertainment industry. A Christian worldview being so far from their own, the cohorts of Hollywood seem to be at a loss for how to deal with Christian beliefs—much less anyone who holds them. Is it only a matter of time before American popular culture is “without a trace” of Christianity?
However it goes, Christians must never cease being salt and light to the world. Though we may become marginalized, we still serve one who is King over all—and traces of him are everywhere.
I saw it too and the slant was ridiculous. The “terrorist” presentation of these radicals was strange, but stranger was that Christianity as a whole seemed to be so cause oriented…just people getting caught up in the ’cause’ of the church against abortion.
Did you notice how they entered the church like they were going into the tunnels of Tora Bora.