 Neuhaus characterizes this portrayal as an "unknowable but visible God, who sees and is seen and is among us always, in all kinds of forms, participating in our everyday life but not interfering with humanity's free will, and who nonetheless calls us into service".This portrayal was criticized in the first series for being ecumenical, almost to the point of being secular.The creator of the series, Barbara Hall, set out how God would be portrayed in some directives to the series' writers, named the "Ten Commandments of "Joan of Arcadia"".