jeevey
Rock n' Roll Doggie Band-aid
Well, I think it's important to recognize that they are a church and they are in fact Baptist. One of the features of Baptism is its autonomy, which has good parts and bad. One of the bad is that anyone can use the name for any purpose. You can be kicked out of the convention but you can still call yourself a Baptist church. And it's really important to recognize that this is a church and that their craziness is expressing a real theological belief. It's important to recognize that religion can be really, truly bad: that there is such thing as bad belief. Religion can be such a powerful force for good that people can be reluctant to admit that. They want to say that its an expression of the individual person, or a perversion of the real religion, that the 'real' religion is not like that. But the fact is that these people are acting out their real beliefs about the nature of God. It's not just a perverted or unfortunate or mistaken one. It is real religion, just as sincere as all the good ones, and it is actively evil.