Amanda.Greene@ReligionNews.com

Last night's episode five of the third season of Downton Abbey was full of spiritual and values debates.

 

Watch Downton Abbey, Season 3: A Scene from Episode 5 on PBS. See more from Masterpiece.

And here are the spoilers.

Can a woman of ill repute (Ethel) be redeemed once she's left prostitution behind? The ladies of Downton said yes as they refused to leave Mrs. Crawley's house when the enraged Lord Grantham burst into their luncheon. 

When Mr. Carson objects to his staff helping Ethel prepare the lunch, a member of his staff points out the biblical reference to Jesus eating with Mary Magdalene. 

And it was a fight Lord Grantham should have known he could not win -- the Protestant versus Catholic debate over the christening of his granddaughter.

During one dinner, Rev. Travis, the Anglican priest in the village was summoned to try to influence Tom, husband of the late Lady Sybil, to baptize the child into "their tribe" as Lord Grantham puts it. 

But Lady Mary points out that, before she died, Sybil told her she wanted the baby baptized Catholic in line with Tom's Irish roots and wishes. And most of the family gang up on the good cleric asking if God was displeased with entire countries that have different, non-Protestant belief systems. 

Robert Crawley still balked: "There hasn't been a Catholic Crawley since the Reformation!"

And then there is the morality play about lying and professional honor between the Dowager Countess Violet Crawley and the Dr. Clarkson as she says: "Lie is so unmusical a word."

Did you have favorite moral/spiritual moments from Season 3 of Downton Abbey? Tell us here!