Against Good Omens

It's been one of the most predictable go-to storylines throughout the history of Augoeides - you know, along with evangelists saying dumb things and creationist evangelists saying really dumb things. The fact is that there are some Christians out there who have such nonexistent senses of humor that they consider satire and comedy dangerous in some mysterious way that they can never quite articulate. The latest comes from a Christian group that I have never heard of called "Return to Order" who are calling on Netflix to cancel the new Good Omens television series.

The six-episode series premiered on Amazon prime last month, and is adapted from the 1990 fantasy novel of the name name, written jointly by Gaiman and Pratchett. “Good Omens” stars David Tennant as the demon Crowley and Michael Sheen as the angel Aziraphale, who work together to fight the powers of Heaven and Hell and prevent the looming apocalypse. In addition to McDormand as God (praise be), “Good Omens” features Jon Hamm as the Archangel Gabriel and Brian Cox as Death; as well as appearances by Michael McKean, Miranda Richardson, Mireille Enos, and Nick Offerman.

In the petition, titled “Tell Netflix: Cancel Blasphemous ‘Good Omens’ Series,” a Christian group called Return to Order calls the series “a mockery of God’s order and religion.” Among their gripes are the fact that “an angel and demon are good friends,” “God is voiced by a woman,” and “The Antichrist…is portrayed as a normal kid that has special powers.” The petition concludes with a demand to “Stop promoting evil!” No stranger to controversy, Gaiman took the petition in stride. “I love that they are going to write to Netflix to try and get #GoodOmens cancelled. Says it all really,” the author tweeted. The user who directed Gaiman to the petition joked: “I think Mr. Gaiman and Mr. Pratchett would be very pleased with this complaint.”

Good Omens in fact airs on Amazon Prime, so how Netflix is supposed to do anything about it is anyone's guess. But nobody - especially me - has ever accused these humorless imbeciles of being smart. Good Omens is a parody of the Christian apocalypse. It's comedy, not theology. It also has some very funny bits, and I really appreciate that it was made into a television series. The story is great, and even though I like a lot of Terry Pratchett's other work I was never able to get past the first couple chapters of the book for some reason.

But of course I would like it - I'm a heathen afflicted by the dire sin of enjoying a laugh now and again. These Return to Order folks (or, I suppose, folk, since this could very easily be one particularly dour person and not a group of any kind) should give it a try.