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Washington Window
Vol. 75, No. 2, February 2006

The Diocese of Washington has attempted to seize what one headline writer dubbed a "preachable moment" by creating a Web log (blog) devoted to discussion of the controversial NBC television series, "The Book of Daniel."

The program, which stars Aidan Quinn as an Episcopal priest beset by troubles, aired at 10 p.m. on Fridays, but due to meager ratings and a dearth of advertising, was axed by NBC on Jan. 23.
The Blog of Daniel (blogofdaniel.com) went online Jan. 4, two days before the first episode of the show.

"Some people were going to love ‘Daniel,’ and some are going to hate it," said Jim Naughton, the diocese's director of communications. "We wanted to give them a place to share their opinions.
"Our ulterior motive was to draw people to a site where we can provide them information about real Episcopalians, what we stand for and what our church has to offer."

The site features links to the diocese's "newcomers page" (wewelcomeyou.org), its spirituality site (edow.org/spirituality), and the eight-minute film about the diocese that was shown at the 2005 Diocesan Convention. It also includes a link to the Episcopal Church's online visitors' center.

The blog has been controversial. Some conservative commentators, including R. Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., have criticized the diocese for "embracing" a show which they believe misrepresents Jesus -who occasionally drops in to chat with Daniel - and demeans Christianity.

Others, including Seventh Day Adventist pastor Monte Sahlin, who heads the Center for Metropolitan Ministry at Columbia Union College in Takoma Park, have praised the blog. The diocese, Sahlin wrote on this blog, "gets a gold star for creativity and not falling into the sin of a defensive, institutional mindset …. This is a good example of how believers can swim in the postmodern, secular media ocean without sinking under the weight of taking themselves too seriously or being completely absorbed by the context."

More than 1,200 comments representing a wide variety of opinion have been posted on the blog, discussing issues including the quality of the show, the interpretation of Scripture and the meaning of "acceptance" in a Christian context. Jack Kenny, creator of "Daniel," has posted news about the show, and the advertising boycott being organized by the American Family Association.

Traffic on the blog has been boosted by stories in both Washington newspapers, The Los Angeles Times, TV Guide and on Beliefnet.com, as well as by widely distributed articles by the Associated Press and Religion News Service.

"The blog is much more visible than I thought it would be," Naughton said, "but the real test is whether it leads people to look at our evangelism materials. And so far, on that front, it is working pretty well."

He said twice as many people had visited the diocesan Web site in January as in an average month. "More people viewed the diocesan movie online in the first three weeks of January than in the previous four months combined," he said, "and that includes December, when we always get a big boost in Web traffic from the online Advent calendar.

Will these materials lead them to our churches doors? I hope so."

Naughton said is not sure what he will do with the blog now that "Daniel" has been cancelled. "We've got a nice community of regular posters who disagree vehemently, but are generally very respectful of one another. Maybe the blog will hang around as a place to discuss other issues of faith, or maybe it will have served its purpose and we will shut it down."

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