Just Another Thing to Argue About

For those who live in other countries and may not know, the United States is currently sharply divided along ideological and political lines.  Many people, on both sides of the divide, are primed to be offended at the drop of a hat, even by a television program about the Bible.

The History Channel is broadcasting a ten hour minseries entitled The Bible.  Some have criticized the miniseries for its sporadically episodic nature, for its omissions, for its sometimes less than state of the art special effects, for its uneven acting, etc.  The USA Today newspaper ignored all of these to report that the “History Channel opens the gates of Hell.”

What the newspaper was talking about was the appearance of Mohamen Mehdi Ouazanni as Satan.  Twitter and the internet are buzzing about the fact that some people are convinced that Ouazanni as Satan looks like an evil dark version of United States President Barack Obama.

Mark Burnett and his actress wife, Roma Downey, are the executive producers of the series.  Burnett had this to say, “This is utter nonsense.  The actor who played Satan (is) a highly acclaimed Moroccan actor.  He has previously played parts in several Biblical epics – including Satanic characters long before Barack Obama was elected as our President.”

Downey added, “Both Mark and I have nothing but respect, and love our President, who is a fellow Christian.”   She was expressing the biblical view of government, that it is ordained by and put into place by God.