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Bad Religion

Loralyn Galvan
Dr. Hawkins
ENC 1101
24 September 2009
Bad Religion
The episode of Family Guy entitled: "The Father, The Son and The Holy Fonz" deals with the theme of Celebrity Worship. Celebrities and popular culture have in a sense overshadowed traditional religious worship. Peter's worship of the Fonz relates the Fonz with Christ and the establishment of a church dedicated to this television character. It is a perfect illustration of the power of pop culture over religion.
Peter tries several religions but does not find fulfillment in any of them. Like many people today he does not relate to many of the outdated beliefs and strict practices of these faiths. When Peter's father, Francis asks Peter to look inside his heart to find his faith, Peter then turns to the Fonz. For Peter, the Fonz becomes this higher power. Peter then forms The First United Church of the Fonz. This church is modeled closely after Catholicism with one important difference instead of following the bible and worshipping God, Peter uses episodes of the popular show "Happy Days" in which the Fonz was a main character as his sacred scripture.. Peter thus makes a new religion that many people can relate to as it is fresh and new. This episode is a clear indication of a new direction for public opinion in regard to religion. Another important religious theme in "The Father, The Son and The Holy Fonz " that I would like to quickly point out is how it comments on fad religions. Peter creates his religion on a whim attracting many supporters until Brian and Francis lure away his followers with other fad religions. This in a sense shows how easy it is to create a religion and how quickly people eat up these fad religions It only takes one person to come up with a basis for a religion and as Peter proves, it does not have to be a very smart person at that!
The Family Guy episode entitled "Holy Crap" deals with misinterpreting the bible or taking it out of context. We see this...