AFA has been alerted!


Well, this is amusing. Someone sent in a complaint to Donald Wildmon’s American Family Association about this post using my email address, which meant that the helpful people at AFA sent their response to me. Here it is:

Thank you so much for sharing this information with us. We are aware
that there are hate-filled groups out there that are trying to disrupt
our work for Jesus and we are taking steps to fix the problems they have
created with the pastor’s pledge.

We would encourage you to add these groups to your prayer list, what a
blessing it will be when God takes what Satan meant for evil and turns
it into good!

Again, thank you for your willingness to get involved.

Sincerely,
Anelese
AFA Staff <><

—–Original Message—–
From: anon [mailto:pzmyers@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2008 8:59 AM
To: faq
Subject: faq: fyi

This is an enquiry e-mail via http://faq.afa.net from:
anon

The SPAM at http://www.afa.net/pastorspledge/ you are experiencing is
partly due to this –

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/09/take_the_pledge.php#comments

I guess I’m on another prayer list now.

Comments

  1. Iason Ouabache says

    Tsk tsk… You guys need some lessons in trolling. Try a little more subtlety next time. ;)

  2. SC says

    Too bad they can’t devote all of their political energy to their prayer lists.

    PS:
    Rev.
    August
    Molly

  3. says

    We are aware that there are hate-filled groups out there that are trying to disrupt our work for Jesus

    For a minute there, I thought they were referring to the AFA…

  4. HappyKiwi says

    A small edit:
    “Thank you so much for sharing this information with us. We are aware that there are faith-deluded groups out there that are trying to disrupt our work for Reason and we are taking steps to mock the problems they have created by spamming the pastor’s pledge.

    We would encourage you to add such groups to your spam list, what a blessing it will be when Reason over-takes what’s stupid and puerile and sticks one up God!”

  5. Richard from Red Deer says

    It is odd how Jesus cannot seem to do anything for himself.
    With all the people praying for you surely it cannot be too long before God touches you and changes your evil atheist ways.

    Maybe they need some wine with that cracker.

  6. Ichthyic says

    Tsk tsk… You guys need some lessons in trolling. Try a little more subtlety next time. ;)

    … then you need to learn what trolling means, and the value of a non-subtle approach.

  7. Patricia says

    At the first twinge of godliness PZ, alert me and I’ll start the chicken soup and sugar tits. That bein’ prayed at can cause all sorts of indelicate symptoms.

  8. says

    A prayer mailing list seems a far more effective thing to do than just prayer; a mailing list would actually have an effect – it sends mail.

  9. says

    @kobra

    It really isn’t important. With an organization with as large of a cult following, we were bound to be caught sooner of later.

  10. Ichthyic says

    Oh no! Incoming prayer! Everyone duck!

    “He’s got huge, sharp– eh– he can leap about– look at the bones!”

  11. says

    post script: what are the strikeout tags. I tried to strikeout cult but it didn’t work. Anyone know the strikeout tags for HTML?

    (goes off to google)

  12. says

    With a million fervent prayers combined
    It won’t be long until you find
    The mighty force that lies behind
    The simple-seeming prayer.

    The “clasp your hands and kneel” routine
    Has power that is unforeseen
    By heathens (and by that I mean
    PZ), but which are there!

    So when they say “I’ll pray for you”
    Remember, it’s a heady brew–
    The Holy Spirit must come through,
    You must already know.

    And whether they are priests in collars,
    Pastors, Rabbis, even scholars,
    Remember–Prayer, plus five more dollars
    Will buy a cup of joe.

  13. HappyKiwi says

    In New Zealand the Exclusive Brethren christian sect tried to secretly influence our last elections by paying hundreds of thousands for advertisements against our center-left government. It led to a major law change. The EB won’t vote because they say they believe world governments are selected according to god’s will. At the same time they’re hypocritically prepared to shell out big money to influence the votes of others, and reject the obvious conclusion that god’s will seems to prefer a left coalition.

  14. Alan Chapman says

    In case nobody has been reading the news today, the despicable Jack Thompson, self-pronounced Christian conservative, was debarred and compelled to pay (some) damages by the Florida Supreme Court for inappropriate conduct. Thompson was an attorney who used the legal system to pursue a self-righteous moral crusade against the video/computer game industry (and other parties), forcing the unnecessary expenditure of millions in defense against his meritless lawsuits.

    The problem here is that he also believed he was working for Jesus, and that this superficial contrivance conferred him with the moral imperative to act.

  15. says

    In New Zealand the Exclusive Brethren christian sect tried to secretly influence our last elections by paying hundreds of thousands for advertisements against our center-left government.

    They tried something similar here across the Tasman, although the organisation forbids it’s members from playing any part in the political process (they aren’t allowed to vote), the leaders saw fit to donate to the Liberal party (for those overseas, the Liberal party is our conservative party) hundreds of thousands of dollars and were in the ear of John Howard. Hypocritical arseholes!

  16. themadlolscientist, FCD says

    As long as they don’t send any of those Klingons For Jesus after you, you’re probably pretty safe.

  17. AlanWCan says

    Posted by: Buzz Buzz | September 25, 2008 8:07 PM
    Oh no! Incoming prayer! Everyone duck!

    Oh no! Incoming duck! Everyone pray!

  18. says

    Has anyone figured out what free speech rights they’re supposed to be losing? The right to hate speech?

    Yes, if the liberals win you will lose some of your religious freedom and free speech rights. You will not be allowed to say certain things about a particular group.

  19. says

    Wow PZed! FIrst the crackers, now your minions are goofing on fundie pledge sites (or whatever they are)! Will atheist mischief never end!?!?

    Boy I hope not.

  20. Ichthyic says

    (for those overseas, the Liberal party is our conservative party)

    *sigh*

    why MUST you people insist on doing everything backwards and upside down?

    ;)

  21. Ichthyic says

    Ichthyic, to be fair, most country’s conservatives are very similar to the U.S. liberals…

    which removes the upside down part, but not the backwards part.

    :P

    (also, do note the emoticons being liberally used)

  22. says

    why MUST you people insist on doing everything backwards and upside down?

    I spent the first 20 or so years of my life thinking that liberal was the same as conservative. Took a lot of effort to deprogram that word association, though even now I won’t call myself a liberal in this country. It’s more accurate to describe myself as a libertarian in Australia, though describing myself as a libertarian on the web makes me seem like those anarcho-capitalist arseholes.

  23. Ichthyic says

    It’s more accurate to describe myself as a libertarian in Australia, though describing myself as a libertarian on the web makes me seem like those anarcho-capitalist arseholes.

    something is always lost in the translation.

    frankly, I’m very much looking forward to joining the rest of the world outside of the US that prefers to aspire to some form of reality.

    …still, I just don’t see why you all can’t just adopt the SAE system. Base 10 metric… phht. what’re all trying to accomplish? efficiency?

    :P

  24. says

    something is always lost in the translation.

    Yes! So many words experienced from hollywood have confused me at one time or another.

    A few from memory:
    * gas (as in fuel) -> petrol
    * pick-up truck -> ute (or utility vehicle)
    * sandwich (like at McDonalds) -> hamburger
    * cell phone -> mobile phone
    * fruit cup -> cordial
    * aluminum -> aluminium
    * fall (season) -> autumn

  25. says

    Ich, that was a cheap shot the likes I’ve never seen. I’m actually a bit pissed that they want them to spam prayer emails at me, as I have been a reverend for over 1 1/2 months now at a legitimate church. The church not be called the “united church of saint pharyngula”, but I’m a reverend nonetheless.

    also: did anyone know that in America the conservatives sport red, and the demoncrats blue? In almost every other country the color division is the opposite.

  26. says

    also: did anyone know that in America the conservatives sport red, and the demoncrats blue? In almost every other country the color division is the opposite.

    Given the staunch anti-communist leanings of the republican party, I always found that really odd. I assume they were red long before Marx made it cool ;)

  27. pcarini says

    also: did anyone know that in America the conservatives sport red, and the demoncrats blue? In almost every other country the color division is the opposite.

    Not to mention the conservatives held their big rally on Labor Day (which, in all fairness, is oddly timed here in the states)

  28. says

    I posted about this when I got the AFA action alert in my e-mail box.

    One of the AFA goons showed up and called me a “loser” and an “asswhipe”.

    Nice Christian values there…but I guess i should be happy that they didn’t threaten my children or my life.

    I got one of the nice ones, I guess.

  29. says

    god damn it, they purged 90% of them. SUBMIT MOAR HURRY!

    mine is still up though…they honestly can’t catch the “saint pharungula” bit, how sad.

  30. Patricia says

    Rev. Enshoku, You’re confused by all the glitter, but it’s OK. Strumpets and Sluts sport the color red. It’s part of the uniform of scarlet women.

  31. azqaz says

    Hey PZ, I’ll add you to another prayer list.

    Oh great and powerful Cthulhu, eater of dreams and destroyer of worlds, please eat PZ last.

    Cthulhu Fthagn

  32. Patricia says

    Come on buck up y’ll. If they try lobbing those prayer bombs at us PZ can ink em. The frelling sissies!

  33. Chakolate says

    I love the Rev. Wildmon. Really. He makes up these ‘urgent action alerts’ and sends them to all the people on his mailing list. They usually warn about people or corporations who do nice things for gay people and other reprehensible types.

    Since he always includes a link where I can go to write to the company in question, I always go and use it. I do erase his pre-typed message and type in one of my own, usually thanking the company in question, or encouraging my legislators to keep on supporting gays.

    I just wish the good Reverend would learn to accept his own homosexuality. It would save him so much turmoil.

  34. Patricia says

    Sorry Enshoku, but that’s what you get for mucking about with republicans and christians. *shudder* Rinsing my brain did nothing for me. I had to pound it on the rocks by the river, soak it in battery acid and then crank it through a wringer several times. Odd, the damn thing can still churn out perfect Church Lady speech.

  35. ChrisC says

    The Austrlian Liberal party ‘s name is not as silly as it sounds. Despite their conservative stance, their main policy platforms revolve around econmic liberalism. The party was named in 1945, after a merger of various conservative parties. Economic liberalism and a feverent anti-leftist stance were about all they had in common, hence the name Liberal Party (somehow the “feverent anti-left party” just doesn’t have the same ring to it…)

  36. says

    Hey patricia, since when was I mucking around with anyone? I don’t consider abusing a system to gain the title of reverend mucking around.

  37. Bride of Shrek OM says

    Enshoku

    I’m still on the list too- obviously someone on the other end doesn’t do too much checking. Pastor Pudenda from the Landover Baptist Church has made to cut too.

    Pastor Bridey Shrek, St Bruce of the Antipodes Church.

  38. Patricia says

    Gaining the title of reverend is such a load of hen shit that it pales in the face of sour owl shit. Anyone from anywhere can be ordained for free over the intertubes. Abusing the system my finely curved ass.

  39. pcarini says

    Pastor Bridey Shrek, St Bruce of the Antipodes Church.

    That is the most awesome thing I’ve read in a long time.

  40. Patricia says

    At least with Pastor Bridey Shrek we know that there will be the Book of Unmentionables, The Psalms of Passion, and the Chronicles of Corsetry. These teachings I can live with.

  41. FlameDuck says

    So if even God, in all his omnipotence, can’t prevent spam, what chance do the rest of us have. God:0 – SpamAssassin:1, hence SpamAssassin is the one true god! Oh ye of little faith.

  42. pcarini says

    … hence SpamAssassin is the one true god!

    What does that make Bayes, on whose theorem SpamAssassin is based (partially)?

  43. Patricia says

    The AFA could be alerted and offended if I named myself the High Priestess of Horse Shit. But I can stand firm that horse shit exists, and further more there are piles of it stacked in places all over the world. Hail Horse Shit!

  44. pcarini says

    At least with Pastor Bridey Shrek we know that there will be the Book of Unmentionables, The Psalms of Passion, and the Chronicles of Corsetry. These teachings I can live with.

    Not to mention that misinterpretation of those teachings would lead to either sexy consequences or hilarious consequences.

  45. Patricia says

    Oh now see here we go, descending into hilarious consequences.
    Ya try to quote book and verse of that and you just run smack dab into push up bras and leather panties with barbwire conchos.
    This is supposed to be a science blog, somebody needs to inject this thread with some pressure vs mass breast numbers. (Is that possible?)
    I can do some farm tit numbers for science – chickens = 0 tits. Horses = 2 tits. Hogs = 12 to 16 tits. Sarah Palin = biggest tit of them all.

  46. Ichthyic says

    … Welp, I’m off to bed and then will be meeting with Gary Hurd tomorrow morning, and later dragging him off to heckle PZ as he delivers his communist manifesto at the bookstore tomorrow night.

    ;)

    I’m bringing a good camera, so I’ll post pics sunday or monday.

    cheers

  47. 386sx says

    We would encourage you to add these groups to your prayer list,

    Why don’t they just pray for them to add these groups to their prayer list. They need prayer lists for their prayer lists. What a blessing it will be when God takes what Satan meant for evil and turns it into blessing!

  48. melior says

    We would encourage you to add these groups to your prayer list… …thank you for your willingness to get involved.

    Praying is the exact opposite of “getting involved.”

  49. Wowbagger says

    At least if they’re praying it stops them from actually doing something that could have any effect. Really, if all Xtians did was pray then we wouldn’t have to worry about them. Unfortunately, they only ignore the teachings of Jebus slightly less (or in some respects, more) than we do.

  50. John Phillips, FCD says

    This thread is full of win, especially Cuttlefish the magnificent. The two sluts aren’t bad either :)

  51. says

    Thank you so much for sharing this information with us. We are aware that there are hate-filled groups out there that are trying to disrupt our work for Jesus and we are taking steps to fix the problems they have created with the pastor’s pledge.

    I know its well played out but, BOOM!!!

    Anyone know the 800 number for Irony Meters R Us?

    I guess I’m on another prayer list now.

    So how do you think the great prayer sorter deals with all the prayers for smitings vs. the prayers for your salvation?

    Are you detecting any hints of the odor of Brimstone?

  52. BobbyEarle says

    Woodstein312 @22…

    Anelese is such a pretty name…. Too bad it belongs to fundie fruitcake.

    Anelese sounds like a, uh, “personal lubricant”.

    But I may be pronouncing it wrong.

  53. says

    I keep trying to register The Church of Saint Cthulhu of Pharyngula with various right wing religious groups, but they seem to catch on to that one. Who knew there were so many Arkham fans among the religious right.

    Ciao from the Bishop of the Elder Gods

  54. Nick Gotts says

    BobbyEarle@84,
    In the UK, there’s an anti-inflammatory of some kind sold, called “Ibuleve”. I’ve often wondered if this is a sly reference to the placebo effect.

  55. Ompompanoosuc says

    PRAYER LIST! ARGH! Not the prayers! We were just goofing! No need to use the prayers!

    Quick, I need 14 rolls of tin foil, a half gallon of Captain Morgan, some red chalk, some blue chalk, and candles scented like horse shit. We can get through this.

  56. Blaidd Drwg says

    Tulse, on the “Red state/Blue state” meme. It’s true that the distinction was artifically created by NBC, simply as a quick way to differentiate visually between which states were leaning which way. However, the Loony Right is now able to use this as proof that the MSM is *obviously* biased towards the left. See… since they colored the republican states as red, and red is the color of communism, the MSM is subtly trying to persuade the Amurrikan voters that the republicans are *really* commies, and the *Evil Dems(TM)* are really the good guys.

    It’s all a conspiracy, I tell you!!!

  57. SteveM says

    The “red state/blue state” scheme comes from the way NBC coloured the 2000 election map in broadcasts. As far as I know, neither party uses the scheme as their own official colour.

    It actually goes quite a bit further back than 2000. I remember watching the 1980 election on a little 9″ BW TV as a college student and getting very frustrated that while they were coloring the states in saturated red and blue, on a monochrome TV they were exactly the same shade of grey. As for the particular color choice, I think it is a mnemonic; Red for Republican.

  58. MH says

    SteveM (#90), RTFA that Tulse (#59) linked to. Before 2000, broadcasters did indeed use colour to denote which parties won which states, but they didn’t do so consistently. The 2000 election was the first in which all broadcasters used red for the Reps and blue for the Dems. That was because throughout the 2000 election, Reps used red signs, and Dems used blue signs.

  59. frog says

    On Liberalism and Conservatism:

    Remember, countries with multiparty systems have had regular party replacement. So “Liberal” in 1857 would have been a left party at the time (at least a party pitting the middle-class versus the upper-class), which would make it today a very conservative party.

    American forget that not every country has been locked in a two party system with the same bureaucracies in battle for a century and a half (Not healthy!)

  60. SteveM says

    SteveM (#90), RTFA that Tulse (#59) linked to. Before 2000, …

    Fine, it was just an excuse to tell the story about not being able to tell the difference between red and blue on a BW TV anyway.

  61. tsg says

    Quick, I need 14 rolls of tin foil, a half gallon of Captain Morgan, some red chalk, some blue chalk, and candles scented like horse shit. We can get through this.

    With 4cc of mouse blood and some dribbly candles, you could do the Rite of Ashk Ente.

  62. tsg says

    Ya try to quote book and verse of that and you just run smack dab into push up bras and leather panties with barbwire conchos.

    A barbwire river in Mexico?

  63. Natalie says

    Frustratingly, the colors used to be reversed – states that had gone Democrat would be colored in red, and states that had gone Republican would be colored in blue. I discovered this when I looked up the ’72 election on Wikipedia, and it had this illustration: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ElectoralCollege1972-Large.png

    Their articles on US presidential elections used whatever color-coding was in use at the time, and there was no explanation. Some smart person has fixed this, but it did confuse me at the time.

  64. KC says

    With respect to the OP, what’s absolutely stunning about this is that the person who signed up you is a) clearly aware of the fact that a prayer list is not going to convert you, and that b) the gesture was one simply to annoy and harass you. What does it say when a Christian doesn’t even have enough respect for THEIR OWN BELIEFS that they have to use them in that fashion, purely as a form of harassment? This realization, of course, is lost to them.

  65. Deepsix says

    Lame. They’ve already deleted all the good entries. Someone must have tipped them off about Landover Baptist.
    Of course, there are still a lot of church names that were left where I can’t tell if they are a joke or are real churches. “team JESUS motorsports”?

  66. says

    what’s absolutely stunning about this is that the person who signed up you is a) clearly aware of the fact that a prayer list is not going to convert you, and that b) the gesture was one simply to annoy and harass you.

    or c) thought PZ would get a kick out of it

  67. nankay says

    Woot..my home state has a few Landovers , a small Darwin joke, and an openly moking one still up. Don’t want to say where just in case they’re on this site.

  68. OctoberMermaid says

    Man, I like getting my name on as many prayer lists as possible. It’s like collecting bottle caps, only you get less to show for it.

    At this point, I’m just asking Christians to pray that I’ll end up on more prayer lists. I guess that’s sort of like wishing for more wishes, but I’ll see if Christ, our Lord, will allow it.

  69. tsg says

    We would encourage you to add these groups to your prayer list,

    How DARE they pray at me.

    I’ll show them. I’m going to sit with my hands folded muttering under my breath at them. That’ll teach ’em.

  70. GunOfSod says

    Kel you should try living in multiple countries. In the last five years I’ve gone from:

    Bog->Toilet->Salle De Bain->Bathroom->Bog->Dunny->Toilet

    Thats NZ to UK to France to USA back to NZ to AUS to Ireland

    Back to the Bog next year. Even though I live in the Bog at the moment, but it means something different in Ireland than in NZ.

  71. tsg says

    Kel you should try living in multiple countries. In the last five years I’ve gone from:

    Bog->Toilet->Salle De Bain->Bathroom->Bog->Dunny->Toilet

    Thats NZ to UK to France to USA back to NZ to AUS to Ireland

    Hell, I can go from:

    Bathroom -> Toilet -> Commode -> Terlet -> John -> Crapper

    without leaving the US.

  72. Teh Merkin says

    w00t:

    Reverend James T. Feltcher Jr.
    Beagle Hills Church of the Risible Lord, Est. 1859
    Anchorage, AK

    What a bunch of suckers.

  73. Julie Stahlhut says

    Not to mention the conservatives held their big rally on Labor Day (which, in all fairness, is oddly timed here in the states)

    Labor Day is not at all oddly timed. Ask my mom, who gave birth to her only child over Labor Day weekend.

  74. pcarini says

    Of course, there are still a lot of church names that were left where I can’t tell if they are a joke or are real churches. “team JESUS motorsports”?

    Dunno.. too plausible. team JESUS watersports would obviously be a joke.