reviewed by Mark Hadley

Talking about John Safran is a good way of dividing people into generations. Most people over 40 are more likely to confuse him with some household make-over host, and be disturbed when the error is rectified. But for a younger generation Safran is fast becoming something of a ‘tell it like it is’ televisual guru. His no-holds-barred examination of the music industry – Music Jamboree – earned him two AFI awards. His follow-up production, John Safran vs. God, promises to be no less forgiving.

John Safran vs. God is an eight-part examination of mainstream creeds, fringe cults and quasi-religious organisations for SBS. It’s a magazine style program that leaves plenty of room for trade-mark Safran pranks like door-knocking Mormons and attempts to identify which Australian politicians are most likely to be vampires. But behind the usual array of ridiculous accusations and one-sided rants is a strangely serious quest into the heart of religion.

John Safran throws down the gauntlet when it comes to unreasoning belief. But surprisingly his critical approach transforms a program that might have only mocked Christians into an unexpected ally. Take John’s approach to atheism. He heaps scorn on viewers who snigger at Christians for believing in a Creator God just because they own Stephen Hawkins’ A Brief History of Time – especially when they are incapable of explaining it to anyone. In his words, “You’re too stupid to be an atheist”.

The segment to look out for is John’s attempt to ‘Road Test A Religion’. Two or three days participation in a religion by a satirist like Safran might simply have been used to fuel his penchant for send-ups. But audiences will be surprised by how seriously John takes his experiments. He meekly accepts ritual beatings, quaffs dubious hallucinogenics, sacrifices goats and submits to the violent rigours of a Christian exorcist – all in the name of an honest examination. In doing so he earns 10 out of 10 for effort.

The different faiths examined suffer or succeed according to their representatives. Sadly, Christianity is symbolised by the comfortable liberal Catholic stereotype of ‘Father Bill’. His reaction to The Passion of the Christ was to be “… very unhappy with Mr Gibson for dragging me back to Golgotha!”

The only alternative arrives in the last episode – Bob Larson, a hyped American exorcist who makes his living rooting out demons from every cranny of the human soul. This last individual seems to lead John all the way to a personal conversion, but it’s hard to take seriously the affirmations of Australia’s most ingenious prankster – especially when his renewal doesn’t seem to have affected the post-production of the rest of the series.

However, Safran’s search for God is ultimately undermined by a persistent need to see religion as a collection of rituals, rather than a relationship. John is totally absorbed with evaluating what the various denominations say a person must do to draw near to God, but spends no time considering what God has done. It’s no wonder then that every religion he investigates comes across as incomprehensible, unsustainable or simply irrelevant. A more accurate title might have been John Safran vs. Religion because sadly God is nowhere to be found. But that wouldn’t have stirred up nearly so much attention.

This review first appeared in the October 2004 edition of Southern Cross Newspaper.