The article makes an oblique reference to it, but it's worth noting that Fred Rogers graduated from a theological Seminary and his television show was his Presbyterian ministry. Mr Rogers is at the same time a sort of stereotypical Christian character (imagine
The Simpsons' Flanders without the satirical comedy aspects) and also not the image of a Christian minister that we usually see in the mainstream media and popular culture.
Mr Rogers may be most intentionally-Christian cultural influence that wasn't widely noticed as "Christian", in the lives of millions of people -- for both many people who don't think Christianity is a part of their lives as well as for many people who do.
I write this not to proselytize or to suggest that you should become Christian if you respect Mr Rogers, but as a reminder that the image you have in your mind of an X (for whatever X that is a large weakly-connected community) should not generalize to all X, and some very X-ey people might not look X-ey at all.
The article also shows that there is often a lot of hard work and educated insight behind things that look very simple and basic.
Mr Rogers may be most intentionally-Christian cultural influence that wasn't widely noticed as "Christian", in the lives of millions of people -- for both many people who don't think Christianity is a part of their lives as well as for many people who do.
I write this not to proselytize or to suggest that you should become Christian if you respect Mr Rogers, but as a reminder that the image you have in your mind of an X (for whatever X that is a large weakly-connected community) should not generalize to all X, and some very X-ey people might not look X-ey at all.
The article also shows that there is often a lot of hard work and educated insight behind things that look very simple and basic.