I hadn't heard of Veggie Tales before and the new series popped up on my Netflix listings, targetted at my son's age range. He seemed interested in the characters and the show claims to be educational so I though that we'd give it a go.
5 mins in to the first episode, it seemed harmless enough; a lesson in caring for animals, taking responsibility for the care of others and suchlike. All good lessons. Then we got hit by a surprise quote from the book of John! I brushed it off as it's an American show and I don't care if it's a christian teaching a good lesson, as long as it's a good lesson (who can argue that taking personal responsibility for the care of others is anything but!). The second episode continued in the same vein: a worthwhile personal/social lesson with a random biblical quote thrown in for good measure! However my opinion changed drastically with the end credits of that second episode. It ends with the main characters telling the audience to "Remember, God made you special! And he loves you very much!". As the series kept developing, the biblical input started increasing and the fundamentalist lessons started creeping in. I now won't let my son watch any later than episode 4, due to the indoctrinal nature of the content.
So I did my research. For those who don't know, Veggie Tales is an overtly Christian show, created by Big Idea Entertainment (the famous christian animation house and subsidiary of Dreamworks Ent.). It's been running in a variety of forms for over 20 years! I guess the Netflix team thought that people would already be aware of the Veggie Tales brand but with no labelling of the religious nature of the content, I was taken completely by surprise.
is this news to anyone else or am I simply behind the times?!
5 mins in to the first episode, it seemed harmless enough; a lesson in caring for animals, taking responsibility for the care of others and suchlike. All good lessons. Then we got hit by a surprise quote from the book of John! I brushed it off as it's an American show and I don't care if it's a christian teaching a good lesson, as long as it's a good lesson (who can argue that taking personal responsibility for the care of others is anything but!). The second episode continued in the same vein: a worthwhile personal/social lesson with a random biblical quote thrown in for good measure! However my opinion changed drastically with the end credits of that second episode. It ends with the main characters telling the audience to "Remember, God made you special! And he loves you very much!". As the series kept developing, the biblical input started increasing and the fundamentalist lessons started creeping in. I now won't let my son watch any later than episode 4, due to the indoctrinal nature of the content.
So I did my research. For those who don't know, Veggie Tales is an overtly Christian show, created by Big Idea Entertainment (the famous christian animation house and subsidiary of Dreamworks Ent.). It's been running in a variety of forms for over 20 years! I guess the Netflix team thought that people would already be aware of the Veggie Tales brand but with no labelling of the religious nature of the content, I was taken completely by surprise.
is this news to anyone else or am I simply behind the times?!
Sum ergo sum
