As Tim Tebow has relentlessly reminded us, religion is just a competition to show how much closer you are to your deity than everyone else. But nobody is closer to Jesus than America’s Best Christian, Mrs. Betty Bowers.

A church in Sweden is using techno music to kure young people to services. Damn does that seem annoying! via

Where’s techno viking when you need him to shut this shit down?

Oral Roberts was the first televangelist and one of the most recognizable leaders for religious fundamentalism in the United States. The worldwide audience for his TV show was in the hundreds of millions. His followers claimed he was more famous than the Pope.

As a faith healer, Roberts banned from his church those whom he couldn’t cure, citing lack of faith.

At one point Roberts demanded $8 million to continue his ministry, saying he was going to hang out in his holy tower, a huge cross he had constructed, until he got the money or God was going to bring him home. At the last moment he got paid.

Oral Roberts was the Elvis of television evangelists, turning his religion into a million dollar business for politics and profit.

Randy feels a strong bond with his deceased uncle because they share much of the same experiences- growing up in a evangelical family, getting married and having children at a young age and then coming out as gay later in life.

Listen as Randy takes us inside one of America’s most famous religious families.

What drove his uncle to suicide and what inspires him to write letters in his memory.

Meeting Tammy Faye Bakker for the first time.

Why many gay men in Dallas love First Lady Laura Bush, despite her husband’s anti-gay politics.

And did Oral Roberts ever hear the famous joke about the “two gay guys named Bob?”

If you enjoyed today’s show, please help keep Feast of Fun alive so we can bring more shows for years to come. Donate

[Originally posted on 08.01.11]

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Fun redub of Jesus healing a leper.

This pic of a young girl from the Westboro Baptist Church wearing a Glee t-shirt at a recent protest has gained a lot of attention on the internet. The person who took the pic says “She told us she didn’t know anything about the shirt, but that her sister gave it to her when they headed out this morning.”

I wrote to Shirley Phelps-Roper of Westboro Baptist Church to see if they watched the TV show Glee and she responded- Yes. And what’s more, the middle name of the little girl in the pic is Gleeful. I’m not really sure if her actual middle name is Gleeful but I like the sentiment.

This is her full response- “Yes. We see so many people looking on Twitter. How sweet is that? It’s just the way to put the discussion before every corner of this nation. We could not write this script. The Lord our God did this!

We are so thankful and happy, how could that sweetheart NOT wear such a shirt. Her middle name is Gleeful.”

Since the holiday is upon us, I also asked her if the celebrate Christmas at WBC-

“As for Christmas, I’m thankful you asked. Christmas is pagan idolatry. We flee from idols, as God hates them. Put a bright line of separation between you and idols! We don’t do any of it. We take no part in it.”

Wait for it.

Comedian Jamie Kilstein on “The Green Room with Paul Provenza” delivers his thoughts on the marriage equality. The punchline is the best!

America’s best Christian Betty Bowers is back with a scathing new video taking a look at people’s hypocrisy when it comes to following their own religious beliefs. Written by Andrew Bradley and narrated by Deven Green, check out some these awesome moments like seeing Betty in a tank and the best quote of the video:

“You know what makes Jesus resent the crucifixion? You! Because he told you to give everything you own to the poor. Of course, He WAS poor. To which rich Americans responded: you knew I didn’t like to be read orders, but I would like to order a new red Porsche!

After all, if we give all our money to the poor, they’d be rich and we’d be poor, so we’d have to give it all right back to us! We just save a step and keep it. Trust me. You can’t be both Capitalist and Christian if you don’t have the stones to outsmart commie Christ.”

A photographer comments on the photo he took that was used for a religious book.

-via

Is FOX really trying to say the Norway Shooter isn’t a Christian extremist?

You may know Martin’s boyfriend and life partner Mike Ruiz, who was FOF’s guest, see FOF 1002.

The interview is in 8 episodes of about 5-6 minutes each.

Pastor Eddie Long

The four alleged victims received an undisclosed amount of money and in exchange for their silence in the matter.

read more

There’s nothing like a little Ronald Reagan to put the fear of God in the hearts of children. Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee is promoting “Learn Our History” videos produced by a company he owns. They are trying to make entertaining and religiously infused history lessons by demonizing people of color and exulting Reagan as the savior of the world- fun stuff for any kid, huh?

The “Surfing Madonna” is painted on public property so some people feel as though it should come down because it’s religious in nature. But others love it and see it only as art. What do you think?

Read more

Betty Bowers examines our relationship to God.

Not once, not twice, not three times but for a total of four times, a homophobic priest get hit with four, count them, four pies!

“Oh my God, I can’t even begin to think of how vengeful he’s going to be on America, because we have a lot of Atheists here in America,” she says. “I mean Japan is a fantastic place to start.”

This Ukranian Catholic Byzantine priest was caught drunk driving and the police officers who arrested him have posted a video of the priest offering blow jobs to get released from jail. You kind of feel sorry for him, he appears so pathetic in this video that it makes you think that maybe if his church wasn’t so hateful that he’d be a better person.

Remember what we learned from Russian gay rights activists Nikolai ALexseyev- the church in the East was in bed with the KGB.

Catholic Byzantines aren’t under the governance of the Pope in Rome but they are recognized as receiving the sacrement of Holy Orders and can perform a Roman rite mass. They can also be married to woman before they enter the priesthood but not after.

via

Looks like the choir finally spoke up and said we are here, we’re queer and if you want us to continue being the choir directors you better shape up!

Delano Squires reports a common theme at the forum:

The church, the one place that should represent the epitome of love, was often the most uncaring and unsafe place for these individuals when they were at their most vulnerable. Bishop Kwabena Rainey Cheeks, the openly gay pastor of Inner Light Ministries, a nondenominational church in Washington, bluntly declared that “the most dangerous place for a gay and lesbian person is the black church.”

Let’s keep this ball rolling and bring acceptance to all churches.

–read more

One of the most controversial guests we’ve ever had on this show is Shirley Phelps Roeper, the matriarch of the Westboro Baptist Church, the group best known for picketing funerals of dead soldiers by holding up signs saying “God Hates F*gs.”

One consequence of the Church getting so much negative media attention at these awful protests, is, believe it or not, the advancement of LGBT equality because their hate-mongering forces people to either side with them or stand up for LGBT rights. There’s no sitting on the fence. So are these guys nuts or are they pulling the ultimate prank by exposing hypocrisy and religion as a tool for discrimination?

Shirley and Margie Phelps talk to the press in front of the Supreme Court.

Their spat with Anonymous started when a message was posted on Anonymous’ blog warning the Westboro Baptist Church to cool their rhetoric or get hacked, but the church responded- do your worst, we can’t be shut up. Anonymous then denied the blog post was official even though they later did manage to hack into the site.

Anonymous Bitch Slaps the Westboro Baptist Church - click here to read the letter.

But, Shirley Phelps Roeper says the Church has no plans to sue any hacker and would only like to thank them for all the attention.

She’s also pleased as punch that her First Amendment court case involving the protest at the military funeral made it all the way to the Supreme Court and you’ll love hearing what particular protest sign made arch-conservative Justice Antonin Scalia’s blood boil.

Plus:

Does God Hate Wikileaks? Starbucks? Wisconsin? Unions??

Why does Shirley Phelps spank her kids?

What does she think of the Oscars?

And we take your questions.

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Shirley Phelps says -God hates James Franco and Anne Hathaway. But is it the Oscar's long run time he's really angry at?

Westboro Baptists Church has often protested the Oscars and in years past I’ve asked the church’s spokesperson Shirley Phelps-Roper about who they were going to wear on the red carpet but this year, I asked her opinion of this year’s hosts of the Oscars, James Franco and Anne Hathaway and this is what she had to say-

“James Franco and Anne Hathaway both unabashedly use the platforms God gave them to push the filth that this nation loves. Franco is famous for his role as Sean Penn’s fag partner in Milk and recently commented on the fact that he’s played 3 fag characters: “Maybe I’m just gay” – as though he were describing his preferred method of cooking eggs, instead of committing a horrible, soul-damning abomination against God. God hates him for that!

Anne Hathaway has a fag brother, and instead of telling him the truth about what God requires of him, she does the opposite, encouraging him in his rebellion. She played in “Brokeback Mountain,” using that film to pretend that not only is there nothing wrong with fags, but that adultery and fornication are A-OK as well!

These two are perfect for the film industry to put forward as the face of Hollywood: nothing but whores and fag-enablers, worse than worthless, because they actively hate on their fellow man. They’re going to Hell, and they’re taking you with them.

Be crystal clear. If one has the Romans 1:18-32 curse of God upon them wherein they burn in their lust for a same-sex abomination, they are likely in less trouble with God than those rebels that would justify THEIR misconduct, by enabling that poor cursed soul in their sin. Refusing to love their neighbor, by God’s standard, warning them to FLEE the coming wrath! Make no mistake, that wrath is in sight now!”

The Dude comes down to impart his wisdom on you

Can you imagine a religion based on a movie? Well, if Scientology can be based on a work of science fiction then why not a religion based on the movie “The BIg Lebowski?”

When Oliver Benjamin saw the hit movie, he had an epiphany and is now the “Dudely Lama” of The Church of the Latter-Day Dude in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

This form of Dudeism is really a type of Taoism that preaches non-preachiness and practices as little as possible.

To be honest, at first I really didn’t like the movie because, believe it or not, I was “The Dude” to my circles of friends and I resented the usurpation of my nickname. But, I’ve grown to like the movie over time and I’ve come to realize that the Lebowski carries the title better than I do.

- read more about it

A wonderful fantasy scene from the movie-

In Taiwan, gays turn to Ta Yeh to answer their prayers and deliver the man or woman of their dreams. I supposed he would be the equivalent of a gay Venus or Cupid in Western culture.

At the Shrine of Ta Yeh
We knocked and the door was opened by a man visiting the priest. At the time I wasn’t really sure who the priest was as there were five men in a living room like office. None of them really looked like a priest to me and none of them spoke to us. Then a young man who introduced himself as the apprentice of the priest said he would give us a tour and explain how to worship the rabbit god once we told him this was our first time there. Then we asked him if we could take pictures and he said yes. My friend thought that was unusual as usually priests don’t like people taking pictures of altars.

The apprentice led us up some stairs to the second floor. It’s basically just an old very plain house but I didn’t see any sign that anyone is living there or sleeping there. It appeared to be only for worship. We were lead into the first room. In Taoist temples it’s customary to first pray to the normal three gods at a regular altar first and then move to another room to pray to the specific god of that temple. We were told a 100 NT donation was appropriate (a little more than 3 US dollars).

There was a donation box. The donation wasn’t required though. It was just optional. I put our money in and then we picked up three incense sticks each. We had to bow to each god with the lighted incense sticks and then stick them in the right bowls with other incense sticks. One god and a tiger statue were under the table so we had to stick two out of the three incense sticks under the table.

The image of one god looked pretty gay to me so I thought that might be the rabbit god but I was told it was just the drinking god. We then put bundles of fake money on the altar. Later we were supposed to return after worshiping the rabbit god and burn these bundles of money on the balcony.

I didn’t want to do this as I’m always complaining about how bad the pollution is from all the money burning festivals and ghost month money burning. Burning our own fake money was optional anyway but everyone else there did it.

The temple was crowded. There were three sets of lesbians and two gay couples there also and we were all taking turns. Then we went to the actual rabbit altar to light incense sticks and there they had these paper things that looked like fake books. They told us that the books were burned once a month and that we should write our message to the rabbit god on a book and when the book is burned he will get the message. There were already many of these books on the table as you can see from the picture with lots of writing on them in pen.

There was a lesbian couple before us and they took a long time, about twenty minutes bowing to the rabbit god and writing on their books. Then it was our turn and we lit the incense, bowed etc. Then we went back to the first altar and took the picture with the FOF T-shirt on it. Then we took the picture of FOF t-shirt on the rabbit god temple. When I did this I accidentaly knocked a bunch of the books on the floor which according to my friend was a big taboo, but no one caught me.

I wasn’t going to wear the T-shirt and my Taiwanese friend wasn’t either because both of us are English teachers and in the closet. We would both immediately be fired if it is known here that we are gay. Both of us love teaching and being in the closet is the price we pay to be able to do our jobs.

Anyway, we asked the apprentice to wear the T-shirt. It took a little convincing but he agreed to do it. When he actually said yes, it kind of surprised me. After we took the picture of him, we went back downstairs and the priest invited us to sit and talk with him. He doesn’t speak any English. I told him about the Feast of Fools podcast and I even asked him if he would do an interview if someone in Chicago could translate. He said he would be happy to and he gave me his card, or rather the Rabbit Temple business card. I will send it out to you on Monday.

When I realized who the priest was I was kind of taken back because he looks like a 15 year old boy. If you ask me he looks younger than his apprentice. My friend told me he was probably in his 30s though. I found this pretty disappointing as I was envisioning a sexy silver fox priest.

The priest seemed busy with his other guests so we didn’t stay long. We thanked him and prepared to leave. The priest then asked me if he could take my picture in front of the rabbit altar. I had to say yes and the apprentice took my picture standing next to my friend. We then told him we were in the closet and to please not use the picture. He told us no problem. He didn’t mind though that we use his picture. I thought that was very cool of him.

My biggest impression of my time at the temple was from the lesbians, especially the ones that we waited for while they were at the rabbit altar. I could tell this was serious business for them and they really needed this rabbit god’s help. They seemed really sincere and just seeing this couple at the temple made the whole thing really serious and real for me.

For these people it wasn’t a joke. Being gay in Taiwan is extremely hard for most people. It’s ridiculed and goes against all family traditions, especially the one that says you have to get married. When I saw the lesbians I felt I was watching something really sacred. It wasn’t just a temple in a house, but a special place.

Have a look inside of this multi-billion dollar cult, fascinating and amazing photographs.

Sure she’s crazy but I can’t help thinking she looks like Nancy, the sewing lady from PBS- see below:

This pastor seems to be pretty thoughtful and I love his comment about fat Christians- that’s why they build mega churches isn’t it?

From their website:

“Faith In America’s mission is to educate the public about the harm caused to LGBT Americans when religion-based bigotry and prejudice is used to justify condemnation, discrimination and violence.

We have faith in American’s ability to understand that we all should live in a society where gay people are fully accepted and are worthy of the same rights as all Americans.”

www.faithinamerica.org

Our tranny gal-pal Tracy Tyler genuinely believes she’s had many past lives. She was once an actor in Shakespeare’s theater company, later a singer at a piano bar in a New Orleans brothel and then a cigarette girl at a swanky club in the 1940s.

Many people believe in past lives and reincarnation but is it for real, a mass delusion or just a colorful metaphor that gives insight into who we really are right now?

Join us for this and all the hot news:

Brent Corrigan- it doesn't get better than this

Adult film star and twitter genius Brent Corrigan takes offense with the “It Gets Better” campaign.

“It Gets Better” maxes out it’s own YouTube Channel.

And yet another political gay sex scandal- Indiana Republican Andrew Miller gets caught pulling a Larry Craig in a public toilet.

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