The season 4 premiere was a great encapsulation of American Protestantism

I know this show is not entirely anti religion, but I do think it portrays a sense of how Christianity has changed in America and how devoid a lot it is of any real spirituality or even belief system. The gemstones essentially believe that everything they do is correct because god says so. Even any moral failing they have can be waived away. Eli can con people during Y2K, because god says so. Now we also see that gemstones can be decent and even morally conflicted as well, which is why the show is so good. One of the scenes in the season 4 premiere that I loved was when Elijah was sitting bedside with the young dying solider, who is worried he won’t get into heaven because he killed people. Elijah, even though he knows nothing about god, says that god changed his policy on that. It’s a great line that accurately sums up the mindset of mega church preachers like the gemstones. They don’t have to feel bad about their greed and all of the wealth they hoard, because god changed his policy on that. It’s something I see a lot with evangelicals today in America. God is just an extension of their own beliefs and can be anything they want at any given time. This is not meant as some sort of attack on Christians, more the relationship with America and how it has changed as the country has gotten older.