Religious News: They're All Nuts!

To celebrate the Lord's Day, BBC2 is showing Louis Theroux: America's Most Hated Family In Crisis tonight.
Louis Theroux writes about his decision to make a second film about the fun-loving "God Hates Fags" Westboro Baptist Church on BBC News;
"Normally I don't do follow-ups. But I'd made an exception in this case because of an e-mail I'd received from one of the fire-breathing young zealots I'd interviewed on my first trip, announcing she'd left the church. She cited our conversations as one of the influences.
"She had now changed her life, found a boyfriend and had zero contact with anyone still inside the church, including her family. A little research revealed that several others I'd met on my first visit were also now apostates. This included Steve's own daughter, Lauren..."
Theroux acknowldges that "the Phelpses thrive on publicity" - why else would they let him make another film - and there are many American journalists who believe the best policy is to ignore these attention-seeking whores of babylon.
Fagburn believes they are such a good/bad ad for evangelical Christianity we should drown them in the oxygen of publicity.
I bet the Phelps family's international infamy inspired Terry Jones, the nuts Koran-burning US pastor.
Or as The Daily Telegraph neatly summed him up in a headline yesterday; 'Pastor Terry Jones: A homophobic used furniture salesman with a love of controversy'
Why not just leave it at that?

• Just watched Louis Theroux - again the WBC only make sense as a sick satire. Apart from all the hurt they cause and those poor fucking kids...

Pastor Terry Jones: The Wrong Kind Of Bigot

Bigoted nutter magnet, the English Defence League, claim they have now withdrawn their invitation to bigoted American Christian nutter, pastor Terry Jones, to speak at a rally in Luton.
'A far-right group has shelved plans for the US preacher who ­threatened to burn copies of the Koran to speak at their rally – as he is “too racist and homophobic”' according to the Mirror.
Fagburn is loving that "too..."
It seems to be an invention of the Mirror though, and the "homophobic and racist" quote that appears in most papers today, such as The Guardian, does not appear in the EDL's public statement on their website.
The relevant passage is a bit less direct; "...we still have some reservations about Pastor Jones and we do not agree with all of his opinions or indeed all he stands for.
"The EDL is extremely proud of its diverse support base including it’s primary base of geographical divisions from all across England encompassing much ethnic diversity. In addition we have specific divisions drawn from groups particularly threatened by encroaching Sharia: a Lesbian Gay Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) Division [There is no evidence of such a "division" existing - Fagburn]; a Jewish Division and recently a Pakistani Christian Division. The EDL also enjoys the active participation and support of many former members of the Armed Forces. In light of our strong commitment to these groups and some of the Pastor’s statements and associations, we feel it inappropriate to offer Pastor Terry Jones an invitation to attend an EDL demonstration."
The admirable anti-fascist group Hope Not Hate point out; "Of course this is all complete nonsense. The original EDL posting last week claimed they were “proud to announce” his visit. In interviews over the weekend it was clear that Pastor Jones knew very little about the EDL and that he had accepted their invitation to come over.
"In truth, the EDL was forced to backtrack because the media took up our campaign and shone the spotlight onto his cranky and extremist views. Under pressure from some of its own members, the EDL leadership eventually realised that the crazy Pastor was even too extreme for them and would quickly become an embarrassment."
And if the EDL think you're embarrassing...