GCB

I don’t know what this says about me, but I find myself laughing out loud at GCB on ABC.  Good Christian B____es (Lord knows, I wouldn’t say it, much less write it, now would I?) is the title of the novel.  GCB is the title of the TV show, abbreviated due to complaints from not only Christian organizations (understandable) but also women’s groups (understandable) and the great state of Texas.   So, my initial reaction was, “I need to check that out.”  When is it on?  Sunday night, of course.  What is it?  It’s like a cross (let me rephrase that — a grafting) of Steel Magnolias (by Robert Harling, who writes for the show) and “Harper Valley PTA.”

Let’s be honest.  I’ve seen them, in real life I mean — the GCB’s.  Haven’t you?  Hel_ . . . make that Heck . . . I’ve even been one.  Haven’t you?  Come on now.  Let’s get real.  Gossip that masquerades as prayer requests.  Blaming the devil for stuff he never even thought of, as one character did after a slanderous remark:  “The devil put that in my mouth.”  Conveniently taking scripture out of context and twisting the truth.  Saying anything as long as you add, “Bless her heart” as a tag line.  Condemning others for doing publicly the exact same thing we ourselves do but have the common decency to keep it secret (so as not to destroy our witness).

Good Christian Bitches (sorry, it just had to be said; after all, it is a title) — is it an oxymoron?  Yes, but not in the way one would first think.  “Good” and “Christian” are perhaps more oxymoronic than the other phrase.  Who is good?  Not one.  We’re all guilty.  Not one of us is in a position to judge another.  Did it really take a potty-mouth TV show to point that out?  Maybe.   Some folks see this show as just one more example of Christian-bashing, of which, indeed, there is plenty.  But maybe . . . dare I suggest it? . . . dare I do it myself? . . .  can we take just a moment to see ourselves in the mirror of satire without getting our good Christian knickers in a twist?  Or are we afraid of our own reflection?

Last night the gun-totin’, scripture-quotin’ gals were going at one another, using scripture verses as their weapons of choice.  Finally, one got the better of the other.  That prompted my favorite line of the episode:  “She out-Christianed you.”

Not to worry . . . she’ll be back next week.  You can’t keep a good woman down.