The Charisma Of Religion

The Age

Saturday October 16, 2004

SOPHIE CUNNINGHAM

According to American charismatic preacher Bob Larson, John Safran is a breeding ground for the devil and, as an exorcist, Larson's the man who can cleanse him. The result is that the final episode of John Safran Vs. God (SBS, 8.30pm, Monday) becomes the most extraordinary half-hour of television you might ever see. Inspired by Safran's self-referential style I would like to quote my first review of this show: "You, John Safran, are a funny and smart guy, but the only spirit you're ever going to get is the holy spirit of the AFL. But you've got seven more episodes to convince me I'm wrong."

OK, I'm convinced. Only a guy who has a genuine interest in the existence of God could find himself in a scene uncannily like that in The Exorcist, minus the spinning head and masturbation (that was an earlier episode).

Larson is appalled at the list of Safran's exploits, which are, admittedly, mind-boggling: getting a fatwa placed on Rove McManus; eating peyote; meditating at a Zen Buddhist monastery; attempting to join the Ku Klux Klan by convincing them he didn't much like the Jews with whom he went to school; holding down a goat while it has its throat cut in a voodoo ceremony; singing Amazing Grace, badly, with the Harlem gospel choir; and wearing Mormon underpants (Larson: "That was not a smart thing to do").

According to Larson, even reading your horoscope invites in the devil, so someone with Safran's CV could have "every demon on the planet" inside him. Larson reading the list of Safran's sins is funny but the laughs stop pretty soon after. "I am blown away by how much of this comes down to your Jewishness," he begins, before making Safran repeat after him, "I forgive Hitler, then hissing, 'God's people prostituted themselves. You're a spiritual whore,' " and beating him with a Bible. Larson's invitation to black members of the audience to force out African demons is a moment of shocking and complicated racism. And Safran? He's frothing at the mouth, biting people, thrashing around the room and speaking in a spooky deep voice.

This episode does not have Safran offering his thoughts on the experience, partly because, as he said when I met him, "There wasn't much else to say." I couldn't help wondering whether losing his demons had left him all wrung out. "I can't remember a lot of it," he confessed. "It was like being drunk."

He did, however, have photos of the bruises he received from the Bible beatings. When I suggest there is much in this series that was brave, he disagrees, though he concedes he could be naive about the danger he put himself in. If he carries through on his next idea for a series, relationships, he might be in even more danger.

We need the kind of interrogation Safran gives to religion, fundamentalist and otherwise, as watching the documentary Indira Gandhi: The Killing of Mother India tonight (7.30pm, SBS) shows. Gandhi was a megalomaniac, but she did believe in a secular state. Her fate was to be assassinated by religious extremists.

HIGHLIGHTSTHE KARAOKE CHALLENGE

7pm, Saturday, SBS:

State-by-state sing-off to find Australia's karaoke champion.

FRIENDS

7.30pm, Monday, Channel Nine

Phoebe's wedding.

SEX AND THE CITY

9.30pm, Monday, Channel Nine

A dramatic discovery for Samantha.

ENOUGH ROPE

9.30pm, Monday, ABC

Guests are Olivia Newton-John and Indian writer Arundhati Roy.