God and Downton Abbey

There was a lot of hype over the weekend about the season premiere of Downton Abbey, the hit PBS series involving the Crawley family and their servants. To be honest, I did not know a thing about Lady Mary or Mr. Carson, Daisey or Mr. Bates, or any of characters until my wife began watching the series over the holiday break. We both became addicted fans!

So, it was with fascination and a bit of odd curiosity that I stumbled upon an article entitled, “Why Is God Still Absent from Downton Abbey” in Christianity Today by Todd Dorman.  Really? Is somebody going to criticize one of the few worthwhile television programs because God seems to be absent?

Here is a portion of what Dorman had to say….

“The record-breaking Downton Abbey spans a deliciously long stretch of time. The show includes the wreck of the Titanic, in which the Crawley family loses its heir, the lead-up to World War I, the War itself, its aftermath, and now, in Season 3 the advent of the roaring 20's. The show's writer and primary creative force, Julian Fellowes, is a practicing Catholic.

“The show is set in an old abbey. The family who own Downton, especially the older generations who have the most to lose by losing the house, are obsessed not only with the house itself, but also with its history.

“Also they employ a vicar.

“So how is it that God is a peripheral presence at best?

“To be fair, there have been a few mentions of God. During Season One there was a perfunctory scene set in a church, but it was basically about architecture. At the beginning of Season Two, the evil footman Thomas asked God's forgiveness for sticking his hand out of the trenches to be properly shot so he could return home with a medical discharge.

“To be fairer still, Season Two included two moments of devout prayer: Lady Mary praying at her bedside when her beloved Matthew goes missing at the front, and two servants interceding for Matthew and another missing footman during the same period.

“By some measures, this would be a watershed on a hit show—two scenes in which people sincerely pray! But in Downton, these events were so late in coming that they did more to point out a missed opportunity than to fill it. During his brief appearance, we learned that the vicar lives on the family's land, and is beholden to Lord Grantham for both his livelihood and the flowers on his altar.

“It's been well reported that Downton Abbey is the most successful British period piece since Brideshead Revisited, the series based on the Evelyn Waugh novel. Both are set in roughly the same geographic and economic regions—and as of Season 3, with some time overlap as well. Both stories mark long and descending trajectories for once-great English families. But the plot of Brideshead is driven by and steeped in its characters' passionate and complex relationships with God. Waugh's story turns on a crisis of faith that both sums up the sea changes of aristocratic life at the end of the nineteenth century and transcends earthly questions with spiritual ones.

“Of course Fellowes has no obligation to repeat this accomplishment, and presumably has little interest trying. Yet it remains striking how much divine trapping there is in Downton Abbey, for what little role explicit faith plays in its characters' lives. There are numerous fascinating blog posts, including this one, that search for implicit Catholic and Christian themes in the show—good and evil, suffering for cause, various types and grades of love and devotion. At some point, though, especially with a vicar in the family's employ, it seems odd for such connections to remain unnamed, unspoken, and, for all we can see, unperceived.”

My initial reaction was to suggest that Christianity Today spend more of its time on addressing the truly major social issues of our time: hunger, war, mass killings, gun control, and the moral bankruptcy found in most reality TV shows. I do not find anywhere in the Scriptures where it states that God needs to be mentioned in a television series. But the Scriptures sure do have plenty to say about justice, mercy, and caring for our neighbors.

An interest in the lack of God’s presence on Downton Abbey caused me to seek out further information about how God was faring in the United Kingdom these days. The statistics were alarming.  In the past when life had fewer distractions people measured Church attendance on a weekly basis, but today regular Churchgoing is often measured as those that go at least once a month. A report on "Churchgoing in the UK" published by Tearfund in April 2007 shows that only 15% of the English population attends Church at least once a month. If the Church in England was the national soccer team, they should have sacked the manager long ago. A European social study (published in 2002) put the UK at the 4th lowest rate of Church attendance in Europe. See the chart below and remember that 1920 wasn’t that long ago.

So, if Mr. Dorman is so concerned about the absence of God in this story of the Crawley dynasty perhaps he should suggest to the creators that the series be relocated to Poland or Ireland where God seems to have a much more favorable reception. Meanwhile, I will say my prayers on Sunday morning and come 9 pm focus more of my attention on Mr. Bates’ freedom, the looming financial crisis for Lord Grantham, and the hilarious one liners from the witty Dowager Countess and Lady Isobel.

Love One Another - Brian