Recently Glee head-on tackled the subject of religion, saying nothing new, but typifying the place of faith in our pop driven society. It’s a step up from how they’ve previously addressed the subject, mainly jabs at abstinence programs and Glenn Beck.  From the title we knew it was going be cheesy, but there are a few things worth noting.

First, the idea of the defining characteristic of churches is that they are anti-gay is so deeply embedded in the pop-consciousness, it’s a given. The action in the episode is driven by a main character’s active choice to disbelieve in God because of the pain and persecution he has experienced in his life.  The whole episode seems to be screaming, “we need to know how to deal with the pain in our lives, and the religion you’ve fed us isn’t doing the job.”

The episode struggles with prayer and the sovereignty of God.  One character, assuming Jesus acts in the world like genie asks for three wishes.  When he gets them, and they don’t work out well, he questions his faith.  In the end, he decides to choose no faith over a God who fails to answer his every whim.  When the inevitable REM song hits, one wonders how many of the young people in the church are walking away from a similar misconception of God.

Most interestingly, the episode ends with a demonstration of how the act of worship can be evangelistic.  Seeing others truly pray and sing to God doesn’t lead to an immediate conversion, but it does allow him to begin to find hope.

And if the church can’t offer hope, what are we doing here?