Landover Baptist Church
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The Landover Baptist Church is a fictional[1] Baptist church based in the fictional town of Freehold, Iowa. The Landover Baptist web site and its associated Landoverbaptist.net Forum are a parody of fundamentalist Christianity and the Religious Right in the United States.
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Origin
The site was created by Chris Harper,[2] who obtained his Master's Degree in English Literature from George Mason University in 1993 after being expelled from Liberty University (founded by Jerry Falwell) in 1989 for producing a satirical radio show which Liberty's administration found offensive.[3] Harper frequently appears at atheist conventions playing the character of "Pastor Deacon Fred Smith".[4] The website is owned by a company called Americhrist, Ltd.
Description
The fictional Landover Baptist Church is a parody of fundamentalist, Independent Baptist churches and Biblical literalism. The church is supposedly located on a 35-acre (140,000 m2) campus in Freehold. The fictitious church grants all authority to its Pastor Deacon Fred Smith, in accordance with its interpretation of Romans 13.
The church claims to have 28 paid pastors, 412 full time staff members, 11 fully-equipped chapels, 7 sanctuaries, a 100,000 seat amphitheater, 12 television studios, 2 radio stations, an academy, a university, 2 gated communities, 27 developments, 3 office parks, as well as a shopping mall, amusement park, golf course, retirement community, foundation, fire and police department, circus camp, resort center, retreat center, and a number of fitness centers, swimming pools, hot springs, and cemeteries.
Protests against the Site
The site has raised the ire of several diverse Christian groups, mainly the targets of the sarcasm of the site. These various groups are advocating different methods of protesting or shutting down the site including petitioning various places (such as the web site's ISP and Congress) to have them shut down or put on blocking or filtering lists.[5][6]
See also
References
- ^ Terms of Service - "The Landover Baptist Church is a complete work of fiction."
- ^ Chris Harper: Welcome to Jesusland!
- ^ Chris Harper author biography on Hachette Book Group USA site
- ^ Chris Harper as "Pastor Deacon Fred Smith" at Youtube
- ^ http://objectiveministries.org/shutdown/
- ^ http://theforce.net/jedicouncil/editorials/070999.shtml
