Fathers are often depicted as bumbling and incompetent, if depicted at all, according to a study from the National Fatherhood Initiative, a nonprofit organization that monitors media depictions of family situations.

The group examined 102 prime-time shows on five American networks and found that 15 feature as regular characters fathers of teen and preteen children. Of those 15, only four shows received a positive rating from the group, and two of those four shows were slated to be canceled.

Such biased depictions of fathers, and the absence of fathers from so many shows, are cause for concern because "a substantial number of young men are now growing up clueless about what their primary role in the future family will be: that of a father," said Don Eberly, the organization's chairman. "At a time when children badly need fathers, the networks portray them as missing, confused, aloof or completely uninformed."

Film critic Michael Medved described the entertainment industry's battle for your mind in his 1992 book Hollywood vs. America: Popular Culture and the War on Traditional Values. "Hollywood no longer reflects—or even respects—the values of most American families," he writes. "On many of the important issues in contemporary life, popular entertainment seems to go out of its way to challenge conventional notions of decency."

He adds that the power of the entertainment industry "to influence our actions flows from its ability to redefine what constitutes normal behavior in this society."

Entertainers have "assumed a dominant role in establishing social conventions. The fantasy figures who entertain us on our TV and movie screens, or who croon to us constantly from our radios and CD players, take the lead in determining what is considered hip, and what will be viewed as hopelessly weird."

True at the time he wrote those words, they are even more true—and prophetic—seven years later. Some 2,000 years ago another writer—and prophet—cautioned us to think wholesome thoughts (Philippians 4:8). He warned we are engaged in a battle "not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against . . . the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil" that try to influence our thinking and ultimately control our behavior. (Sources: USA Today, Philippians 4:8; Ephesians 6:12, New Revised Standard Version.)