To say that viewing reruns of a television sitcom can be a religious experience may sound as sacrilegious as whistling in church. Yet thousands of Christians across this nation are doing both.
THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW premiered Oct. 3, 1960, stayed a top 10 favorite throughout its eight years and has been in syndicated revival ever since. Now, however, devotees regard it as a source of more than light entertainment. Bible study teachers use its 249 video parables as course material.
Andy Taylor, the widower sheriff who enforces the moral code of an apocryphal North Carolina town, stands transformed into a spiritual guide for those who believe humorous storytelling can come with a meaningful message - even when it's done via the often vapid medium of commercial TV. And Barney, Opie, Otis, Goober, Gomer, Floyd, Ernest, Helen, Thelma Lou and Aunt Bee serve as acolytes along with comical path to enlightenment.
The first school of Mayberry theology started in Huntsville, Ala., in June 1998. Twickenham Church of Christ parishioners Joey Fann and Brad Grasham offered an evening class at which groups watched an episode of TAGS (fans' shorthand for the show's title) and discussed what could be learned from the characters' experiences.
"I believe the show is filled with the basic morals and Christian principles taught by the scriptures," Fann explained to the CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE. "Each show tended to have a good moral theme that was brought out by the story line. Basic values such as character, personal responsibility, honesty and integrity were routinely exemplified by the show. I believe these characteristics to be uncommon for most television shows past and present."
The homespun flavor of TAGS, fans note, cannot be attributed to a simpler era. The show aired during a tumultuous decade of assassinations, riots, protests and war. Audiences responded to it because it protectively held on to the core values they didn't want society to forget or lose in good times or bad.
Unlike most TV comedies, TAGS did not extract laughter by having characters insult each other. The scripts weren't loaded with one liners. Without being preachy, TAGS used situational humor to show us that a sense of decency and spirit of community are not hard to achieve. A little love, forgiveness or encouragement can indeed bring about a happy ending.
"Mayberry may be fictitious but its lessons are not," Pat Allison, who taught a TAGS class at a church in Tullahoma, Ala., told the Associated Press.
One-bullet Barney's boastfulness reminds us all of the dangerous slope we create out of pride. Aunt Bee's flirtations with an old beau make us realize that love can make us blind to another's failings. Andy's admonitions to his son about honesty make all parents pause as they, took, think about when and why they shaded the truth.
The episode in which Opie accidentally kills a mother bird with his slingshot is perhaps the most poignant, memorable and studied. It is a lesson about growing up and letting go. Opie raises the baby birds he has orphaned. And, painfully, he must release them when they are mature enough to care for themselves.
"The cage sure looks awful empty, don't it, Pa?" he asks Andy.
"Yes, son, it sure does," his father says - soon noticing a lot of chirping outside Opie's window. "But don't the trees seem nice and full?"
