Religion is all over the place on network TV series now. Many programs just can’t seem to resist bringing it up, and the treatments are typically fairly sympathetic though by no means without nuance or sophistication. For example: following up on last week’s interesting comment at the end of the program, in which CSI team leader Gil Grissom suggests a sense of moral decline in America (see my article of last week on that episode), last night’s episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation moved thoroughly into spiritual and religious territory. The story concerns the investigation into the death of a woman found crucified in the sanctuary of a Catholic church, having been beaten previously and strangled by a rosary. Much suspicion is directed toward a Catholic priest and an automobile dealer, both of whom have known the woman since high school. The priest, it turns out, was having an affair with the woman. The church holds some very unhappy secrets, you see. But the episode is no slam at the church—it is instead a fairly sophisticated look at how flawed human beings try to live out their relationship with God, and how those who don’t have such a relationship get

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