"Searching the face of every person she meets for some glimmer of the divine? To be called to improve herself because she is an emissary of G-d? To wonder if she's crazy or really interacting with G-d on a personal basis? To be willing to act based on what she thinks G-d is asking her to do? What's not to like about this show?" --tymefornew on the TV boards
"...it annoys me because I wouldn't act that way if I were talking to God. OK, God is talking to me and telling me to do things that always seem to work out well for everyone. Why do they have her keep up the annoying "why are you interfering in my life" attitude? Plus I think I would have a question for him/her everytime he/she appeared, or at least have something constructive to say." --tinman62 on the TV boards
"Even though I'm Pagan, I *love* this show. ...the way it shows how even little, seemingly unrelated acts we perform can have huge consequences on the people around us. And I think it's great that God's concern is with people's relationships, not things." --Raksha on the TV boards
"I really love it especially because God seems to be more of an all-around God than exclusively Christian. And I think I remember "Him" saying that Hell doesn't exist or something along those lines." --pretzel_ip on the Religion Debate board
"'Joan spends the whole episode trying to pretend that she isn't having encounters with God, but God won't leave her alone.'
Been there; done that; got the T-shirt.;-) " -- Tawonda on the Lutheran boards "What strikes me most about it is Joan's response to God: she has a very real, intimate response to what God wants. Quite often, she reluctantly does what He wants... not knowing the full picture. She just simply has faith." --redkim on the Catholic boards
"It involves continuing and personal revelation. She talks WITH God, not just TO Him." --CorasMama1 on the LDS/Mormon boards
"I am an Atheist, I watched "Joan of Arcadia" and I liked it. ...I like that Joan questions, asks why, then chooses to listen of her own free will. I like that God has her helping people indirectly. "As an Atheist, I would definitely ask why and expect explanations if a being appeared to me claiming to be God. I also like that the show appears to be non-denominational, God is not one certain religion. ...I would like it far less if Joan just blindly did what God told her to do without questioning. "I liked a few weeks ago when "God" said that he appears to Joan in the form in which she can most easily listen to his message." --DoorNumber3 on the TV boards
"I was pretty struck, because that is exactly how God works. We think that he is doing this little thing in our lives, something that is not only good but makes us look good and then, wham, He turns a 360 on us." --greatestofsinners on the Christian Faith boards
"I'm so pleased that a show is actually portraying God and theology in a biblical way, not like Touched By An Angel used to do (I used to watch that but it started to make me gag so I stopped). I guess Joan's God will have to be a pan-religious mush and we probably won't get much talk about Jesus but I think they tend to portray the God that Jesus revealed to us." -- Pastor_Tom on the Lutheran boards
"I'm so very encouraged that God is the driving force that moves the central character of a network show. However, I have a looming frustration with the producers evident desire (at least from the premiere) to not commit to faith. The only character with any religious affiliation is presented as completely unable to answer any questions about God (a priest just stands mute with shrugged shoulders when confronted with the classic 'What's He thinking?' and 'Why does He let people suffer?' queries)." --gotemcity on the TV boards
"...it's all very vague and "God is love"-ish. I thought the writers threw in a very PC and 'see how inclusive we are' line from 'God' saying he comes off friendlier in the NT and Quran." --tinygriffon on the TV boards
"...this family appears to be Catholic, but they all seem quite clueless and inarticulate about religion ...when Joan asks her brother if he thinks that God can take the form of a person... well, DOH, honey, God becoming human (albeit via natural means, not like the show's story line) is what the Incarnation was all about! Even a marginal Christian knows that. If the writers intended to make this family a sort of Non-Religious/Non-Practicing Everyfamily, they should have left out the Catholic references altogether." --Tawonda on the TV boards
