When The Waltons premiered on television, It was the first show my conservative Christian parents allowed us kids to watch. Normally, the TV was off limits except for major sporting events and the nightly news.

My dad was convinced Hollywood was corrupting the morality of our "Christian nation," but he made an exception for The Waltons, which we all watched together weekly, as a family.

Looks like Dad might have made a mistake. 🤣

But really, the values on display in the series were always aspirational and inclusive, I think. Enough to satisfy any but the most judgemental Christian as well as more progressive people.

Perhaps the most subversive element of the story (and I say most only because it was so prominent) was how Olivia accepted and supported her husband despite the fact that he appeared to be either an atheist or an agnostic.

My dad (who was a Baptist minister at the time) grumbled at that, but not too much. Most of his own family were Catholic, which was anathema for Baptists, even more so than today. Some of his family seemed to have no religious beliefs at all.

So John and Olivia loving one another and getting along — well, that was a pretty big deal, and something a lot of Americans like my dad were facing in real life.

Later, as our relationship grew closer after I became an adult and eventually his final care giver, we found ourselves in a similar situation — me an atheist, him still a dedicated and very conservative Baptist.

Yet we got along and loved one another despite it all, just like on The Waltons.