Davey and Goliath

When I was a kid, Davey and Goliath was a popular children's TV show. Some of you may remember the program. If not, you have probably seen it spoofed on The Simpsons. It was a stop-motion claymation series from the late 50s and early 60s done by the same animator as Gumby. It featured a young boy named Davey Hansen, his talking dog Goliath, as well as his mother, sister, and various friends. The show reflected conservative values and traditional American family life. The program usually has some kind of a lesson or moral - though Jesus was seldom specifically mentioned.

The show was, however, a great commercial for Lutheranism - as it was produced by the Lutheran Church in America (now part of the ELCA). The opening and closing sequences prominently displayed Luther's Seal, and the theme music was A Mighty Fortress is our God. The family's pastor, "Pastor Miller," appears in the show, always in a black suit and clerical collar. The family's church appears as well, with an altar, candles, a cross, and Pastor Miller wearing alb and stole during services.

Like I said, when I was a kid, D&G was popular. It was watched by Lutheran kids, Protestant kids, Catholic kids, and non-church-going kids as well. The show was (obviously) clean, uplifting, and had a lesson about kindness, compassion, obedience, etc. One of the episodes (Good Neighbor) is actually a retelling of our Blessed Lord's Parable of the Good Samaritan.

I was gratified to run across two DVD collections of D&G at the local Big Lots store. I paid a dollar or two for them. My three-year old Lion Boy loves Davey and Goliath. He knows all the episodes, and navigates his way around the DVD menu to watch them. They are by far a better alternative to the garbage that passes for "children's programming" these days.

The ELCA is planning a renaissance of Davey and Goliath. In fact, they did recently reintroduce the characters in a special. It goes without saying that the old LCA traditionalism and conservatism has given way to the new ELCA universalism and politically-correct agenda (there are new Jewish and Muslim characters now). Here is a clip produced by the ELCA showing their big plans for D&G.



I'm glad that Leo only has access to the "legacy" episodes.

I can just imagine what future shows will reveal about the Hansens under the auspices of the ELCA. Let me go out on a limb here:

Mom and Dad have gotten a divorce, as Dad revealed he is a gay, a cross-dresser, and now lives with Davey's "second dad," a Wiccan minister and hair dresser (which explains dad's dreadlocks). Mom has just been released to a halfway house, but unfortunately is now addicted to meth and is turning tricks for "Officer Bob" - who was fired from the police force for brutalizing minorities and stealing coke from the evidence room. Davey's sister Sally is now a lesbian pro-abortion activist and "performance artist" with a full-body tattoo who is paying her way through college by pole dancing. The Hansen's church is, of course, "progressive" and "emerging" and has a woman pastor, liturgical dancers, a coffeehouse, and U2 services. Pastor Miller is now the bishop, and appears on the show at Christmas and Easter to debunk the incarnation and the resurrection, and to pontificate on the fact that all religions worship the same god. Being the only character with any sense, Goliath has run away from home, and become the family pet of a certain LCMS pastor who was inexplicably fired from his successful and popular radio show during Holy Week. Thus Goliath is no longer ever mentioned in the new series, and in fact, is now a pariah to both ELCA and LCMS officials.

"Oh, Davey!"

But thanks to the miracle of the DVD, we can join the Hansen family before their disintegration into hedonistic antitraditionalism and their church's slide into full-blown heresy.