Putting people through hell intentionally

How disgusting can the fundamentalist Christians get? It seems to be a question that we keep asking and they seem to keep finding more atrocities or disgusting ventures to engagte in or horrific remarks to make.

Newsweek discusses a recent venture by these born-again mental cases. Come Halloween they produce a thing called a “Hell House” where they depict the evil sinful lives of liberals, gays, the secular, etc. Of course in the end all these people end up in hell where the loving Jesus will roast them for eternity and have them tormented. Nice guy this Jesus.

In this “play” they use different rooms of the Hell House to depict the evils of not being a born-again nutter. Newsweek described the encounter as “a grotesque and shocking imagining of contemporary secular culture, an extreme version of the way some very conservative Christians may think the unsaved live. Reading "Harry Potter" turns a young boy into a school shooter. Going to a rave gets a young woman gang-raped. In its most graphic scene, "Hell House" depicts an abortion. Blood covers the walls, the woman screams in pain while her doctor smokes a cigarette. Tiny body parts are everywhere. Fifteen people fainted while watching that scene, says Lemon-Strauss. Even the diluted 2004 Hollywood version made Susan Thistlethwaite, president of the Chicago Theological Seminary, so irate that she wrote an editorial for the Chicago Tribune: ‘Don't justify exposing kids to horror ... and tell me that's religion.’”

The orginator of this Hell House is a fundamentalist minister, credentials which in and of themselves tell you he has to be insane. Keenan Roberts is the pastor of a Denver church. Denver is the mile-high city -- obviously not enough oxygen up their to feed the brain cells properly. Roberts says his only reason for doing this is to save poor sinners from wrath of his loving god. Yes, the only reason is to save souls. He sells the kits to produce the play for $299 each. He says he’s sold 800 of them which means that he’s taken in almost a quarter of a million dollars. But his only motive is to save souls.

Roberts is one of those who works himself up into an emotional lather and babbles incoherently and then claims it is the language of angels given to him by Jesus. He believes in faith healing and lots of other nonsense. Ten years ago when Roberts started this monstrous exercise he was charging $149 for the kit. So in ten years the price has doubled.

The Hell House movement within these churches is not new. Some of them hide the facts about the house and present it as a “haunted house” for amusement purposes. Individuals then only learn they are being subjected to religious preaching after they have paid for the tickets to enter. Yes, while their ONLY purpose may be to save souls they charge people for admission.

Religious Tolerance lists some of the other scenes sometimes found in these so-called plays:

A realistic reenactment of the murder of Cassie Bernall, a teenager victim at the Columbine High School in 1999-APR. She was allegedly asked whether she believed in God, answered yes, and was murdered on the spot. The incident never happened. But the story has taken on a life of its own, and is frequently referred to in conservative Christian magazines and radio programs. A person being sacrificed during a Satanic ritual. Women undergoing very bloody late-term abortions, complete with screaming, lots of blood, and particularly insensitive, uncaring health providers. This scene has been partly abandoned in recent years in favor of a portrayal of guilt and depression arising from Post Abortion Syndrome. Gays and lesbians being tortured in hell for all eternity because of their behavior while they were alive on earth. The dangers of "dabbling" in the occult and becoming demon possessed. Personal tragedies arising from pre-marital sex. Disastrous tragedies and loss of life resulting from drunk driving. A man has an argument with his wife and is later seduced by his secretary. Witches pressuring a depressed teen to murder his fellow students. A 9/11 ground zero scene.

Here is how Keenan’s manual describes how to stage an abortion. The participants are told to put “pieces of meat” “in a glass bowl to look like pieces of a baby” and told they should “purchase a meat product that closely resembles pieces of a baby.” He says they need to stir up a full “vat” of theatrical blood every night “Because a large amount of blood is used in this scene and in others...” And the medical staff performing the abotion are told be “cold, uncaring, abrupt and completely insensitive.” Right, your typical abortion.

In another scene a demon dances around the coffin of a gay man who, of course, had to die of AIDS. The demon tells the audience: “I tricked him into believing he was born gay! Have you ever heard something so silly.” One church advertised the play saying “come see the funeral of a homosexual AIDS patient”.

New Beginning Christian Center put on such a Hell House and the pastor bragged to the media: “We’re going to scare the hell out of people...” One witness to one of these projects said he was appalled when he saw two children in tears at the end of the performance. What I can't figure out is what is more terrifying, that they engage in such tactics or that they really believe this crap.