There is a giant (anti-gay, anti-choice, pro-hate) evangelical church in my town that is currently running a giant ad campaign themed around God Loves Shrimp.

No, really.

I... don't even know where to go with that. I ... where are *they* going with that? When I saw the ads I assumed they were a with-it, liberal church, riffing on the protest slogan to point out that not all Christian bank on hate, but according to their website, *not so much*. How to you run a message series with that title (apparently actually *about* the way that Christ's sacrifice frees us from the old laws of the Pentateuch) and still preach in support of Focus on the Family? ...it's. just. And, yes, considering that the filename of the ad is "god_hates_shrimp", they know exactly what they're referencing.

You know that bible quote about the log in your eye? Yeah. That one. (I love that searching the internets for "beam in your eye" gets links to people talking about robots with lasers.)

To keep on the topic of my town and Christians, though, there's one thing that always makes me happy coming into town. If you're not American, you may be unfamiliar with the phenomenon of people who own land near a busy highway putting up three crosses so everyone who drives by has to see them, usually with a sign quoting John 3:16 or some other over-referenced-to-the-point-of-triteness Bible verse. (If you are American, you're probably all too familiar with it.)

Well, someone's done that on the road into Annapolis, but instead of three crosses, they've got a cross, a crescent, and a star. And instead of referencing John 3:16, they reference 1 John. (Alas, I don't remember the exact verse, but I think it was 1 John 2:11. Something along those lines, anyway; most of 1 John is like that.) I'm with that guy.

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	sandglass 2009-06-07 04:26 am UTC (link)
	Wow, that last sign must be fucking bad ass. Yay for Christians who actually follow their Christ. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	melannen 2009-06-07 05:57 am UTC (link)
	It makes me happy. I like the sort of Christians who live in hope that someday the song "They'll Know We Are Christian By Our Love" will be something other than ferocious irony. I suspect that a lot of people just filter the sign out, though. I'm pretty sure I'm the only person of my acquaintance who's actually bothered to look up the verse. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Ibowieh3 (Anonymous) 2009-06-07 07:13 am UTC (link)
	“but instead of three crosses, they've got a cross, a crescent, and a star” I was all alway Curious about that Star of Dave up on the hill. I thought it was a Military Grave yard or a non-denominal church. Don't have much time to look when at speed or in grid lock there. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	(Anonymous) 2009-06-07 04:55 am UTC (link)
	so, in an honest hermeneutic, abortion and sexual behavior is equivalent to dietary laws? otherwise I'm not seeing the irony. - Frey, who has no jf account (Reply to this)(Thread)

	(Anonymous) 2009-06-07 04:55 am UTC (link)
	eh, nevermind! (Reply to this)(Parent)

melannen
2009-06-07 05:35 am UTC (link)

The thing is that "God Hates Shrimp" is pretty widely used as a slogan by a certain segment of the liberal movement - to point out that according to the portions of the bible that (the less thoughtful end of) the anti-gay movement often fling around, it *is* in fact equivalent to dietary laws; the wording used is the same.

There are much more nuanced ways to have the discussion than quoting the Pentateuch at each other. But the sort of people you'd attract by referencing "God Hates Shrimp" - on either side of the discussion - are not, generally, the sort of people who are willing or ready to have that more nuanced discussion.

The tagline on their website is "Before Jesus, abomination. After Jesus, delicious." So they're apparently making the *very same point* the gay rights people are making with the shrimp reference, except, apparently, excluding homosexuality from the things that are no longer abomination. This confuses me. I can - maybe - see that they're hoping to lure in people with the tagline, talk about how the Bible, and the Old Testament in particular, have to be read thoughtfully and in context, and then segue from there *into* the more reasonable arguments.

But even given that, trying to lure people into the discussion using nothing but highly coded dog whistles - even if you're co-opting liberal rather than conservative dog whistles - is the sort of bankrupt, dishonest tactics that is never going to lead to reasonable, morally solid persuasion.*

And if the series actually isn't about homosexuality - which you'd be forgiven for thinking, going by just what's in the ad campaign and website - I'm just plain confused.

(I really was trying to comment on the tactics rather than the positions. If I was trying to comment on the positions, I would have had a lot more to say than "I am confused." ... or at least said that using much longer words and a lot more citations.)

*They're also bribing people to come with free movie tickets. I am sure this works. It just sticks in my old-fashioned, white middle-class, mainline protestant craw. I am afraid that a fair amount of my dislike of a lot of evangelical churches is my inbred, knee-jerk belief that a proper church should, above all, not be crass.

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(Anonymous)
2009-06-07 06:29 am UTC (link)

"God Hates Shrimp" is pretty widely used as a slogan by a certain segment of the liberal movement

Ahkay, I didn't know that, though I'm not deaf enough to be unaware of the original slogan. I checked out their website, but it's not enough, obviously, for me to judge the tone of the church or its pastor, ie, whether homosexuality would actually enter into the series right after they tackled shrimp. In the similar types of evangelical churches that I have experience with, they wouldn't even GO there - half naivete, half if-you-don't-speak-it. But if they're consciously inverting that slogan, they might be more with it than I first guessed.

I can - maybe - see that they're hoping to lure in people with the tagline, talk about how the Bible, and the Old Testament in particular, have to be read thoughtfully and in context, and then segue from there *into* the more reasonable arguments.

I have even less hope for that than you do, maybe. I don't think I'd want much to do with the way this church discoursed on sexual ethics or the law of grace -- but it seemed to me like they were probably more likely to maul the latter. From the advertising I'd have guessed just another simplistic ode to antinomianism.

a fair amount of my dislike of a lot of evangelical churches is my inbred, knee-jerk belief that a proper church should, above all, not be crass.

I'm completely with you here!

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melannen
2009-06-07 06:58 am UTC (link)

Yeah, I guess I was (falsely!) assuming that everybody would get the reference as quickly as I did.

It's hard for me to imagine someone coming up with that slogan and *not* realizing what liberals would immediately read into it. On the other hand, I'd never imagined that "teabagging" would manage to become a political catchword, either. So maybe they are just that insular.

If weren't that they're posting ads all over (a fairly liberal) town, I'd think that maybe it's *not* about the gays and it was intended as a wink-nudge reference just for their members. Unless the person who originally came up with it intended it as an in-joke, and the person who decided to put it on advertising it had no idea of the extra connotation... (this *is* a seafood-loving town.)

I suppose it's possible they think that the people with the "God Hates Shrimp" protest signs are sincere, too, and need to be shown the light. Anything is possible!

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	(Anonymous) 2009-06-07 07:50 am UTC (link)
	On the other hand, I'd never imagined that "teabagging" would manage to become a political catchword, either. HA, yeah. Good lord. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	(Anonymous) 2009-06-07 08:29 pm UTC (link)
	You've probably been fooled by a parody. Again. (Reply to this)