May 31 2012

Teaching Bigotry to Kids

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I’m sure you’ve probably seen this video by now. It should disturb the hell out of you. It’s a 4 year old singing “Ain’t no homo gonna make it to heaven” in church — to the wild cheering and laughter of the congregation, which gave him a standing ovation. Disgusting.

Children singing in Church to enthusiastic… by f100001838231867

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26 comments

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1

Gregory in Seattle

May 31, 2012 at 11:05 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment

Brainwash them when they’re young….
2

carolineborduin

May 31, 2012 at 11:05 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment

Let’s hope the poor kid isn’t gay.
3

calebt

May 31, 2012 at 11:07 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment

I remember my church being bigoted against the LGBT, but it was a softer, kinder bigotry. The most you could expect was the occasional hellfire and brimstone sermon and the solemn shouts of “Amen!” from some in the audience.

This is deeply disturbing because the joviality shown by the audience represents a kind of low in human decency I haven’t seen outside Westboro Baptist Church*.

*Actually, as evidenced by the Louis Theroux documentary, the folks at WBC actually are capable of feeling troubled by consciences if you separate them individually from the group and ask them pointed questions.
4

24fps

May 31, 2012 at 11:08 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment

Poor little monkey doesn’t even know what that means. Worse than Toddlers and Tiaras.
5

unbound

May 31, 2012 at 11:18 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment

Groupthink at its finest. I wonder how much deeper that church will lead its flock into hate…
6

Modusoperandi

May 31, 2012 at 11:33 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment

I will stand and fight for that insufferable little snot to say stupid crap like that, but I won’t like it.

Hopefully, when he grows up he realizes he’s been told to look up to and obey small, scared, ignorant, politely vicious people who are lying to him about just about everything, and he gets the heck out of town so that his kids don’t risk being what he was.
7

ArtK

May 31, 2012 at 11:34 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment

Oscar Hammerstein put it very well back in 1949.

Sad that it’s still true.
8

raven

May 31, 2012 at 11:35 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment

Crosspost from JC’s WEIT notblog:

What is going on here is real simple.

Fundie xianity is based on pure hate.

No hate, no fundie xianity.

They use it as an organizing principle and motivating force.

This is standard tribalism and it is very old.

I doubt if they really give two hoots about the gays. They just have to have an outgroup to hate.

We’ve all seen it. Hate the Jew, Moslem, black person, Asian, atheist, Catholic, gay, Eastern European, Southern European, German, Bosnian, Sunni, Shi’ite, Hindu, etc.. ad infinitum.

The targets change and different tribes have different targets, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that your tribe has someone to hate.
9

John Hinkle

May 31, 2012 at 12:01 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment

@raven

No hate, no fundie xianity.

They use it as an organizing principle and motivating force.

At the very least it keeps them distracted from the real problem: their religion is a myth.
10

greg1466

May 31, 2012 at 12:14 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment

Truly disgusting. And yet, I have to point out that he is most likely correct. Of course what he left out is that no one else is going make it to heaven either.
11

Skip White

May 31, 2012 at 12:30 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment

Of course, how does the 4 year-old understand what a “homo” is? How does one explain to a small child why “homos” are bad, without going into a long, rambling, graphic, tittilating description of gay sex? And would that description count as child abuse or corruption of a minor?
12

tacitus

May 31, 2012 at 12:31 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment

This is the official response from the church website:

5/30/12 – The Pastor and members of Apostolic Truth Tabernacle do not condone, teach, or practice hate of any person for any reason. We believe and hope that every person can find true Bible salvation and the mercy and grace of God in their lives. We are a strong advocate of the family unit according to the teachings and precepts found in the Holy Bible. We believe the Holy Bible is the Divinely-inspired Word of God and we will continue to uphold and preach that which is found in scripture.

And how does whooping and hollering to “There ain’t no homos in heaven” being sung by a little boy too young to understand what he’s singing about exemplify “the mercy and grace of God,” exactly?

You can tell by their reaction that they know this kid was singing something shocking–something that they know they themselves wouldn’t dare to say almost anywhere else in public. It’s the exact same reaction stand-up comics get when telling a particularly dirty or outrageous joke. They all know that “homo” is an offensive term for gays, and (death threats excepted) it’s wonderful to that they are being held accountable for their behavior.

The good news is that the kid is still likely to grow up having a gay friend or two, and may even have a chance to attend their weddings one day.
13

tacitus

May 31, 2012 at 12:41 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment

Oh, and the original lyrics for that song are supposedly “I’ve told you time and time again, you can’t make it to Heaven while you sippin’ on gin, and I’ve told you once, I’ve told you twice, you can’t make it to Heaven with a sweetheart and a wife.”

Something tells me there wouldn’t have been as much whooping and hollering if the kid had been singing about alcohol abuse and adultery given the likelihood that several people in the congregation are indulging in one of them, or both.
14

hexidecima

May 31, 2012 at 12:46 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment

“The Pastor and members of Apostolic Truth Tabernacle do not condone, teach, or practice hate of any person for any reason.”

Quite a lie there. We see in the video itself that this is not true in the least. To claim that someone will not get into heaven for what they are is indeed teaching hate and bigotry.

“We believe and hope that every person can find true Bible salvation and the mercy and grace of God in their lives.”

Ah, the claim of having “true” Bible salvation, aka believe as we do or you are damned to hell. So much for mercy. I do like how Christians can’t quite decide if they beleive in “grace” or not. If they do, it only means that those that this god chooses have any chance at all, and of course biggoted idiots like this are sure that they are the “chosen”.

“We are a strong advocate of the family unit according to the teachings and precepts found in the Holy Bible.”

Oh yes? Then polygamy should be absolutely fine. So must be treating women as property or at best second class citizens less worthy than men. And well, kiling a disrespectful child should simply be de rigueur, since the bible says this must be done.

“We believe the Holy Bible is the Divinely-inspired Word of God and we will continue to uphold and preach that which is found in scripture.”

aka they believe the holy bible as they have decided to interpret it and cherry pick it is magically of a god. They have no evidence that their version is any better than anyone elses but they want to make believe they are in their ignorant arrogance.
15

NitricAcid

May 31, 2012 at 1:47 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment

Skip#11: I’m sure that it has been explained to him in childish terms, such as “homos is boys that act like girls”.
16

Aliasalpha

May 31, 2012 at 6:14 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment

@Hexidecima

And well, kiling a disrespectful child should simply be de rigueur, since the bible says this must be done

Maybe thats how they got this kid to sing the charming little ditty. “Remember little jonny, disobedience brings death”
17

Michael Heath

May 31, 2012 at 6:40 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment

I would be surprised if there were even one evangelical or fundamentalist church in the U.S. which didn’t systemically abuse its children, starting with indoctrination. This clip is merely a provocative example of the type of abuse inflicted upon the children of conservative Christians. The systemic abuse of these children goes almost wholly un-reported.
18

dan4

May 31, 2012 at 9:39 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment

@11: How does one explain to a small child why “homos” are bad, without going into a long, rambling, graphic, tittaling description of gay sex?”

You can describe homosexuality without describing gay sex. There are virginal gay people, you know. I thought it was only the ANTI-homosexual types who automatically associated “homosexuality” with “anal intercourse.” Unfortunately, I was wrong.
19

Ichthyic

May 31, 2012 at 9:53 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment

Actually, as evidenced by the Louis Theroux documentary, the folks at WBC actually are capable of feeling troubled by consciences if you separate them individually from the group and ask them pointed questions.

exactly what one would predict if the group mostly consists of authoritarian personalities.
20

Ichthyic

May 31, 2012 at 9:57 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment

We believe the Holy Bible is the Divinely-inspired Word of God and we will continue to uphold and preach that which ~~is found in~~ we cherrypick from scripture.

fixed
21

Artor

June 1, 2012 at 1:23 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment

dan4 @18
You may be right, but these are homophobic fundies we’re talking about here. They’re obsessed with gay sex like it’s all they ever think about. It’s hard to imagine them giving an explanation without the “adult” involved getting sweaty and red-faced in a disturbing manner. You know they can’t even imagine celibate gays. It’s all about the hot, steamy man-on-boy action you know. Just listen to a Bryan Fischer clip if you dare. It hardly matters which you view, he’s probably fantasizing about gay sex somewhere on it.
22

Ichthyic

June 1, 2012 at 2:33 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment

Childhood Origins of Adult Resistance to Science
23

dan4

June 1, 2012 at 3:33 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment

I’m wondering if having this children sing this delightful ditty (yes, I’m being sarcastic), and then videotaping it for wider distribution was some sort of bizarre “set-up” by this church; by this, I mean they wanted to create a situation where they would bait homosexuals to criticize a young child in order to further their anti-gay views/agenda/rhetoric (i.e., “You see how evil and corrupt and wicked the homosexuals are! They even stoop to attacking a four-year-old boy! Does their depravity know any bounds?!”).
24

dan4

June 1, 2012 at 7:47 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment

correction:’…this child…”
25

Ben P

June 1, 2012 at 9:32 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment

I’m wondering if having this children sing this delightful ditty (yes, I’m being sarcastic), and then videotaping it for wider distribution was some sort of bizarre “set-up” by this church; by this, I mean they wanted to create a situation where they would bait homosexuals to criticize a young child in order to further their anti-gay views/agenda/rhetoric (i.e., “You see how evil and corrupt and wicked the homosexuals are! They even stoop to attacking a four-year-old boy! Does their depravity know any bounds?!”).

While it sounds facially plausible, I don’t think it’s the case. Odd little ditties like this seem common in some churches.

When I was in college and in a world religions class and we covered christianity, we had a video of two probably 12-14 year old girls singing a song entitled “I ain’t no kin to a monkey.”
26

Skip White

June 1, 2012 at 2:42 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment

@dan4, #18,

Yes, I was being sarcastic in order to indicate that the folks who’d have small children sing such songs focus solely on the private sexual acts of others as the end-all, be-all criteria for one’s sexual orientation. Hence the inclusion of the word “tittilating.”