Church of England Wants Help from Holy Homer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Church of England has turned to Homer Simpson for help with recruiting teenagers.Clergy are to be advised to set up screens in churches to play\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/orthodixie\/2007\/06\/church-of-england-wants-help-from-holy-homer.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Church of England Wants Help from Holy Homer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Church of England has turned to Homer Simpson for help with recruiting teenagers.Clergy are to be advised to set up screens in churches to play\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/orthodixie\/2007\/06\/church-of-england-wants-help-from-holy-homer.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Orthodixie\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-06-29T05:34:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/orthodixie\/files\/blogger\/_iTncioBQZNk\/RoTh3Z4OoVI\/AAAAAAAAAR4\/bR5jXcV7YZc\/s320\/homer-simpson4.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fr. 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{"id":1041,"date":"2007-06-29T05:34:00","date_gmt":"2007-06-29T05:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/orthodixie\/2007\/06\/church-of-england-wants-help-from-holy-homer.html"},"modified":"2007-06-29T05:34:00","modified_gmt":"2007-06-29T05:34:00","slug":"church-of-england-wants-help-from-holy-homer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/orthodixie\/2007\/06\/church-of-england-wants-help-from-holy-homer.html","title":{"rendered":"Church of England Wants Help from Holy Homer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Youth groups could be asked to think about God\u2019s love for humanity after watching Lisa Simpson give a Valentines Day card to the most unpopular boy in her class.<\/p>\n

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has said in the past that he is a fan of the cartoon series.<\/p>\n

The number of people under the age of 16 attending worship in the Church of England on a Sunday fell from 180,000 in 2000 to 157,000 in 2005.<\/p>\n

Owen Smith, a 24-year-old youth worker at St Margaret\u2019s Church in Rainham, Kent, came up with the idea of using the smash hit cartoon show.<\/p>\n

He has written a book advising church organisers to screen extracts that will be distributed to churches nationwide later this month.<\/p>\n

He said The Simpsons was an \u201cunexpectedly rich\u201d resource for exploring Christian themes and theological concepts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis incredibly popular animation engages with everyday issues, from gossip, fighting and sibling rivalry, through to identity issues and citizenship,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A church spokesman added: \u201cSome of the source material might seem a little bit unusual, but the book suggests Biblical passages and group activities which we believe will help see the cartoon from the Christian perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source<\/span><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Yes, I\u2019ll take Christian Themes and Theological Concepts for a thousand, please \u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Doh! Wrong show!

Thanks to FWD from Fr Miguel.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"