Monday, September 24, 2007

God Hates the World (He Hates You!)

A musical message from Fred Phelps' congregation, via YouTube.

This would be simply stupid and comical if it weren't recognizably just an amplified form of the literal worship of hatred and sadism that has hijacked segments of most major religions. As Harold Bloom memorably put it in The American Religion, reading the words of certain fundamentalist religions makes you realize that their authors and adherents should never be left unattended with small children or helpless animals.

For a corrective, one might consider actually reading the Bible, rather than just waving it about like a mute leather-bound idol (to steal another memorable image from Bloom).

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I must say that I'm still skeptical that this isn't some anti-Christian group dressing up like Fundies (no make-up, etc.) to make Christians look bad. Who would be able to prove it a phoney?

Religion and religious people are, of course, expected to vocally discern right from wrong. This song (if meant to be serious) just trivializes that role.

Then again, the fundies constantly trivialize the issues. Why are lifestyle issues inherently more important than the use of depleted uranium in warfare, kidnapping, and torture? So maybe the singers aren't actors...

Pablo

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately, it seems to be the real thing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westboro_Baptist_Church

http://www.adl.org/special_reports/wbc/default.asp

http://www.godhatesfags.com/

And if you look carefully, you'll notice that the face of the older woman in the center of the group appears briefly in one of the news clips shown in the background.

For a different perspective: http://www.satanlovesfredphelps.com/

Felix