Evil wears many masks in this world, but none so dangerous as the mask of righteousness. The American Family Association (AFA) is a group of Christian Fundamentalists who have come together in a common belief that the world we live in has been corrupted by immorality. They have decided to fight back against this corruption by trying to re-instate the "proper" religious morals given to us by the Bible. These moral views are narrow minded in the extreme and are often full of hate and prejudice. They often voice their beliefs that abortion is wrong, that homosexuality is a sin, that separation of church and state is a violation of their rights, that the media isn't biased enough in favour of Christianity and much more. The more I read articles from their website (http://www.afa.net) the more angry and horrified I become. So why do I keep going to their site? It's like a train wreck. I don't want to see, but I can't turn away. I was thinking of ranting about them in my Rant and Roar section, but there is just far too much that I have to say. That's why I have created this section. Every so often, I will chose an article from their website and analyze it. I don't know if they store their articles on their website or if they remove them after time, so you might encounter some broken links.
Check out some previous AFA articles and reviews
This one is so absurd even I have trouble believing it's true! Basically, some yahoos down in psycho town have decided to BURN Harry Potter books. My God how I wish that this were a joke...
(AgapePress)
- A pastor in New Mexico is planning a boook-burning this
Sunday evening, and Harry Potter is on the menu.
Jack Brock
is pastor of Christ Community Church in the south central
town of Alamogordo. Like many conservative Christians, he
believes
Harry Potter is "nothing but witchcraft ... evil hidden
behind the face of
an innocent boy with little glasses."
Ummm, has Pastor Brock even READ the Harry Potter books?! I'm willing to bet large sums of money I don't have that he's never read through a single Harry Potter book. I mean, let's get some perspective here. They don't even sacrifice virgins to the Dark Lord Satan until the third book!
Brock tells the Alamogordo
Daily News
that the witchcraft in the Potter books is
capturing the minds of young kids who
have a hard time dividing between fantasy
and reality. He also says the magic
portrayed in the books is misleading
I get the feeling that a lot of things are capturing the minds of kids who can't tell the different between fantasy and reality. When you can't tell what's real and what's not, lots of things catch your attention. Hell, cartoons with talking hippos capture the minds of kids who have a hard time dividing between fantasy and reality! The solution is to teach these kids the difference between fantasy and reality, not to kill the hippos!
I also like how he says that the magic portrayed in the books is misleading. As if he's comparing it to the REAL magic that kids are performing these days. "The way Harry performs that divination charm is not even close to the way my son does it! How misleading!" It's MAGIC people! There is no 'correct' way magic is suppose to work in fiction novels! It's fiction, as in not real.
It's [magic] all
evil," Brock told the
newspaper. "What [author J.K. Rowling] has done is make
Harry look
good and [the villain] evil, but they both come from the same
source.
You can't call good evil, or evil good. That's what it is all
about."
I'm starting to wonder if Brock is the one who can't divide between fantasy and reality. And what does that even mean? How can you divide between fantasy and reality?! And why is all magic evil? I mean, most people would call the miracles that God and Jesus performed magic. Are they evil?.
Last Sunday, Brock delivered a
sermon entitled "The Baby Jesus or
Harry Potter?" And Brock is following up on that with a
"holy bonfire"
this Sunday night at 6:30 in which the church will publicly burn
Potter
books. He says other material, including pornography and heavy
metal
records that exalt Satan, will go into the fire with them. The
evangelical
pastor says it is all an effort to encourage Christians to remove
everything from their homes that prevents them from communicating
with God.
Holy shit! I'm not even sure how to BEGIN talking about how wrong and disgusting this is! I mean, I always assumed that as time went by, we as a society have learned from the mistakes and horrors of the past. I keep thinking "people are so much smarter and accepting than they used to be." Then, some religious wacko comes along and really shatters that belief. People, they are BURNING books! I mean, I can't stand people who compare every small thing in their life to Nazi Germany, but the comparison here is WAAAY too easy to make. We're not even talking about censorship of books, we're talking about BURNING books! What the fuck is WRONG with these people?! And the most frustrating part of all is that these people are not burning books because they contain some belief or ideology they don't share or agree with. It's a work of FICTION! They are burning a book about kids who go to a magic school because some obscure passage of the Bible tells them that magic is somehow related to Satan in some way. These people are NOT sane and should not be allowed to roam free in society. It's not Harry Potter that's corrupting youth, it's people who burn books and music because they don't agree with it. And how exactly does Harry Potter prevent them from communicating with God? I mean, they're not suppose to EAT the books, so I don't see how it would inhibit talking or any other form of communication. To sum up: these people make me ill.
Brock says he is not worried
what others in the community will think
about him or his congregation. "As far as I'm
concerned," he told the
Daily News, "the
church is not out to make people look good ... we're
making a statement against evil."
And that statement is: "We're complete psychos!" Evil is probably laughing its ass off right now. Hey, while they're at it, why don't they start killing non-Christians seeing as how they're all going to hell anyway. That way, no one will be able to corrupt Christians away from God. I'm sure THAT would be a great way to fight evil also. You don't fight evil by burning books. You don't fight ANYTHING by burning books. You know, I wonder how these people would react if a bunch of Jews got together and started burning the New Testament. Brock would be so mad that his head would pop off.
Evidently Brock's plan has some
local citizens thinking. The Otero
County Unitarian Universalist Fellowship is reportedly planning a
non-
violent protest and vigil near the church before and during the
book
burning. And earlier this week, protesters appeared at a major
intersection in Alamogordo brandishing signs that read "God
Hates
Book-Burners" and "Book-burning? Shame on our
Town."
In a statement published by the Daily
News, the Fellowship describes
the burning as "censorship in its worst form." The
group says there are
"much more important issues than burning books that advocate
evil
exists and must always be confronted by the advocates of good, no
matter what the price."
The same report says the Otero
County Democratic Party has voiced
concerns of censorship over the book burning and plans to
participate
in the non-violent protest on Sunday night.
At least the Unitarians don't seem insane.
Check out some previous AFA articles and reviews
<----- Back to my homepage