If you register for free, you will be able to post threads, vote on polls and lots more. If you have problems with the registration or logging in, please contact the administrator.
Johnny Vegas's Guide to... Evangelical Christianity. Channel 4 11pm
Now first lets get it straight, JV iffb. Got that ? Ok, we shall continue.
I cant decide if this is going to be quite good or ffs. Decide with me OTF
Quote:
Johnny Vegas is better known for dry humour than for religious devotion, but in this first programme in The Beginner's Guide series he revisits the question of the faith he abandoned in his youth.
It may be hard to believe but, before becoming a comedian, Johnny Vegas – real name Michael Pennington – was planning to be a priest. Brought up a Catholic, he went to a seminary school at the age of 11. It took him only 18 months there to decide that the priesthood was not for him. Since then, he says, he’s been ‘celebrating sin’.
Revisiting religion
But now, aged 35 and with a young son, he is starting to explore his troubled relationship with religion again. Could evangelical Christianity save his soul? To find out, he embarks on a journey to the USA’s heartlands of Christian fundamentalism – but not before topping up with one last night of excess in Las Vegas.
After that, his first stop is the Grand Canyon, to meet a minister who preaches creationism. According to him, the world is not millions of years old but was created by God in seven days, just as it is described in Genesis. The possibility that the Bible may not be true does not come into this equation. The appeal of the Biblical story, he says, is in its compactness.
The end of the world?
Creationism is relatively harmless, says Johnny, and will probably result in nothing worse than a few confused schoolchildren. However, as well as believing in the literal truth of the first book of the Bible, these fundamentalists are also waiting expectantly for the last book to come true.
The book of Revelation predicts the end of the world and the return of Christ. Unimpressed by the creationist’s simplistic approach, Johnny Vegas proceeds to Denver to meet a Vietnam veteran who has found God. He tells Johnny that the end of the world may soon be upon us, but not until the Jews return to Israel.
Family values
In Colorado Springs, ‘the new Jerusalem of the evangelical movement’, Johnny joins a family of religious migrants to experience what it means to be an everyday evangelical Christian. Their certainty and encouragement strike a chord with him.
The final stage of his journey takes Johnny to a remote house in the hills above Colorado Springs. Removed from the buzz and distractions of the city, Johnny is drawn to a Christian life. But how will he fare once he leaves this world and returns home to England?
‘I saw very, very good people,’ he says, ‘but I didn’t want to be like them.’ Acknowledging that his experiences Stateside have generated more questions than answers, Johnny says: ‘It’s left me at the very start of a longer journey of personal discovery.’
09-11-2007, 10:48 PM
Johnny Vegas's Guide to... Evangelical Christianity. Channel 4 11pm Post #2
Johnny Vegas's Guide to... Evangelical Christianity. Channel 4 11pm 
Linear Mode
