Author: Rebecca Heilweil / Source: WIRED
God is everywhere. And according to CBS, that includes Facebook.
In the network’s new show, God Friended Me, aspiring atheist podcaster Miles Finer (Brandon Micheal Hall) is just trying to endure his dead-end job—and survive his reverend dad’s upcoming anniversary sermon—until his fledgling radio show, “The Millennial Prophet,” one day lands him his dream gig: a slot on SiriusXM.
But when the apparent Almighty asks if he would like to connect on Facebook, Finer’s ardent faithlessness is thrown for a loop. While Finer initially attempts to ignore the seeming hack, “God” begins to suggest he “friend” strangers online. Miraculously, these unknown faces then begin to appear in Finer’s life: a tormented physician (Christopher Redman), then a young journalist (Violett Beane) wrestling with writer’s block. With the divine’s virtual thumbs-up, the characters realize they’re more “connected” than they thought, inspiring Finer to start mending their broken relationships.For all of its vagueness—two episodes in, viewers still aren’t sure if the account is the real celestial deal or a strangely uplifting catfishing ploy—the God of God Friended Me is an ecumenical, feel-good kind of deity. They surreptitiously direct Miles to do the right thing, like saving Dove from a grim attempt to commit suicide in a New York City subway station. As Suraj Sharma, who plays Finer’s best friend, Hindu programmer Rakesh Sehgal, explained to Entertainment Weekly, the show’s goal is to “put into perspective the multiplicity of perspectives when it comes to religion, or communication in general in today’s time.
” (The journalist character, meanwhile, is Jewish). But if God Friended Me’s mystery account is truly the God (or at least the God of Judeo-Christian tradition), the deity has almost definitely offended the dicta of multiple faith traditions, violated Facebook’s terms-and-services agreement, and perhaps worst of all, been totally unoriginal.People have been impersonating God for centuries as a strategy of political and religious…
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