Landover Baptist Church

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The Landover Baptist Church is a satirical web site that serves as the home of a fictional Baptist church based in the fictional town of Freehold, Iowa. The Landover Baptist site and its associated Landoverbaptist.NET forum is a parody of Evangelical Christianity and the religious right in the United States of America.

1 Founder
2 Views
- 2.1 On race
3 Gift shop
4 Controversy
5 Book
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Founder

The neutrality of this article is disputed.
Please see the discussion on the talk page.

The Landover site was created by Chris Harper (head writer and Chief Editor, aka "Pastor Deacon Fred"). Mr. Harper is a former student at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University. ^{[citation needed]}

He has used his "Pastor Deacon Fred" persona when giving public speeches for organizations such as American Atheists [1] and Houston Atheist Society.

[edit] Views

The site professes many beliefs attributed to the Religious Right. The site proclaims, for example, that the King James Bible as written is the literal word of God. They often take it to a further extreme, for example; included are such proposals as; that sissy boys should wear signs that say "I'm a Sissy Boy Who Plays With Dolls"; that men who wear thin, colored underwear are either European or homosexual, "and in America there is no difference between the two"; that the spherical Earth model was a hoax perpetrated by "someone in a communist rocket ship"; and that George W. Bush was appointed directly by God to the office of President of the United States of America to do battle with heathens and other un-American individuals.

[edit] On race

The site also says that it upholds very racist views. It says that it believes that Native Americans were the first terrorists in American history, and that black people (on Landover Baptist called "Coloreds" or "Negroes") should still be slaves and be segregated from whites. It also says that it holds strong anti-Catholic, anti-Semitic (despite employing Jewish lawyers), and anti-Muslim beliefs.

[edit] Gift shop

The website also has its own giftshop for the purchase of "Christian" products (such as thongs and bumper stickers promoting the church, even gifts for the "unwelcome heathens"). * Landover's 100% Real Gift Shop

[edit] Controversy

The site deals with controversy in a section that features hate mail from people who have been offended by the material on the site. While the majority of letters are from individuals who do not realize that the site is a parody (despite a disclaimer stating otherwise which users must "click through" to send mail [2]), others are from people who are offended by the site's portrayal of Evangelical Christianity. No part of the site was meant to be taken seriously. There is even a link at the bottom of every page that brings you to the Terms of Service. It states "Landover Baptist Church is a complete work of fiction. It is a satire/parody."

[edit] Book

The first book from Landover Baptist writers was released on September 12, 2006 from Time Warner Books. It is called Welcome to Jesusland (Formerly the United States of America): Shocking Tales of Depravity, Sex, and Sin Uncovered by God's Favorite Church, Landover Baptist.