Nine of ten Americans believe in God, and a recent TV Guide poll found that more than two-thirds of respondents want to see more spiritual content on television. Given that Hollywood claims to reflect reality, and that we are a highly religious nation, it's appropriate to ask how realistically prime time TV portrays matters of faith.
Religion is a scarce commodity in prime time TV, appearing about once every four hours.
Even though depictions of religion last year were, overall, positive, prime time has too often presented distorted, unfair views of both clergy and laity. These are the primary findings of the Parents Television Council's study of how network entertainment TV has handled religious issues from 1993 through 1996. The total number of religious depictions jumped to 436 in 1996. There has been a near-fourfold increase in this category over four years. There now have been three consecutive years in which positives have easily outnumbered negatives.