Fact vs. fiction?
Saucy TV show creates P.R. dilemma for church
RELIGION NEWS SERVICE
January 21, 2006

The Episcopal Church, in a bid to double its Sunday attendance by 2020, has revamped its Web site, updated its logo and tried to bill itself as open to all at any point in their spiritual journeys.

So you'd think that a prime-time television drama about an Episcopal priest - with vestments, bishops, sermons and stained glass - would be a welcome gift worth millions in free advertising.

Except the Vicodin-popping Rev. Daniel Webster and his dysfunctional family in NBC's saucy new "The Book of Daniel" drama isn't exactly what the church's public relations department had in mind. Some Episcopalians, embarrassed by Hollywood's image of a mainline Protestant denomination where the theology is lukewarm and a philandering bishop rummages through Webster's desk in search of drugs, wish the show would simply go away.

But others, sensing that the only thing worse than bad publicity is no publicity, say the show should be used as a vehicle to introduce people to the real church, warts and all. The rest