Duck Dynasty Breaks Cable Records: Robertson Family Moves Hearts with Authentic Christian Faith

Duck Dynasty is one of our favorite television programs. Obviously, we are not alone.

The Robertson family, like most families, has eccentric members. They are given over to the inside humor between one another which is so often used as a means of showing affection, especially among men. The personalities are delightful. My wife and I have developed our favorites among the cast. The situations they face each week, and the lessons learned as a result, serve as a framework for communicating timeless values in a simple but effective way. There are real, human, redemptive values on display in each episode as the family faces the stuff of raising children, remaining faithful to their marriages, and supporting one another in the rough and tumble of real life. In addition, in almost every episode, they end with the extended family sharing a meal which begins with a heartfelt and sincere prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord.

P>CHESAPEAKE, VA (Catholic Online) - (Note from Deacon Keith Fournier, Editor in Chief of Catholic Online: I was driving to the parish I serve this morning when I tuned into a local radio station. Talk show host Laura Ingraham was interviewing Willie Robertson of Duck Dynasty. The interview only reconfirmed why I wrote this article and I am republishing it.) 

CHESAPEAKE, VA (Catholic Online) - My wife Laurine and I watched the premiere program of season four of Duck Dynasty last Friday evening. 

I know the program is scheduled for Wednesday evenings but, with my writing and editing during the evenings - and the invention of the DVR - our television viewing is limited and focused.

We often spend our Friday evenings watching a few shows together as we unwind from the week and prepare for the weekend.

Because of that, we were probably not numbered among the 11.8 million viewers who catapulted the show into television ratings history last week. The opening episode of season four broke all records. It was  the most watched non-fiction show in cable history.

Duck Dynasty is one of our favorites television programs. Obviously, we are not alone.

I can hear the response from some of my regular readers. Some will insist that the show has no plot and little substance in its often predictable episodes. I know that. In fact, that is one of the most refreshing things about the program for me. I am tired of the agendas of the Cultural Revolution winding their way into almost all network television programming. It is so good to not have to be on my guard while watching something on T.V. 

Duck Dynasty is simple, funny, light hearted and always enjoyable. After a week filled with intensity, the real kind that comes from just living life, I do not need the contrived intensity which one so often finds on television programming. Nor do I need the propaganda which is weaving its way into to so many programs.

When it first debuted, we were drawn to watch it because my wife's Mother came from West Monroe, Louisiana. After all these years we still miss her, and the idea of seeing the town she came from intrigued us. Then, the salt of the earth nature of the characters, along with the interplay between them, just captured us. It's a funny show, and it is really good to laugh.

However, the thing which keeps bringing us back is something unique in the contemporary smorgasbord of contemporary television - the actual presence of real values. These folks are salt of the earth people who simply love each other and receive all of life as a gift. They also love God in a naturally supernatural way which is communicated without the necessity of words.

The Robertson family, like most families, has eccentric members. They are given over to the inside humor between one another which is so often used as a means of showing affection, especially among men. The personalities are delightful. My wife and I have developed our favorites among the cast. The situations they face each week, and the lessons learned as a result, serve as a framework for communicating timeless values in a simple but effective way.

There are real, human, redemptive values on display in each episode as the family faces the stuff of raising children, remaining faithful to their marriages, and supporting one another in the rough and tumble of real life. In addition, in almost every episode, they end with the extended family sharing a meal which begins with a heartfelt and sincere prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord.

"My goodness", I remember thinking when I first experienced the program, "how refreshingly countercultural it is to see prayer like that in this age of self worship." The Robertson family is openly Christian. As the series unfolded my wife and I have became regular viewers. It is always recorded for Friday night watching.

In fact, we have found ourselves keeping up with the stories on the Robertson family, including the public witness of the faith of several members of the family. It is always unassuming, simple and encouraging in its delivery. 

Lifenews.com  recently ran a story concerning Jase and Missy, a son and daughter in law of the Robertsons, openly speaking of their commitment to abstinence before marriage and the defense of innocent human life in the womb.

CNS News ran the transcript of Phil Robertson, the father, grandfather and patriarch of the family, defending the child in the womb and exposing the evil of procured abortion, in his usual blunt but effective manner.

One of Phil's sons, Willie, is the CEO of the family Duck Call manufacturing business. He recently gave a beautiful presentation at an event sponsored by the Louisiana Family Forum promoting adoption and foster parenting. It is being run along with this article and is a You Tube phenomenon.

Willie and his wife adopted a bi-racial son. Their love for him, along with their other children, is truly inspiring. The insights they have learned through that love, about the love of God - and our adoption as sons and daughters of the Father in Jesus the Son - is touched upon in his talk.  Again, in a naturally supernatural manner, a Robertson conveys the values which give meaning to human life. 

I am glad Duck Dynasty is so popular. I hope the growing numbers of viewers begin to catch what the Robertson's have, living faith which has entered into every aspect of their life together. Boy, could the entire Nation use a good dose of that.

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