Friday 18 June 2010

Jesus wants you to know He's not that into you.



After attending this event last Friday, I puzzled and procrastinated for a week about how I'd blog about it.

Part of the challenge was finding the perfect photo to grace my observations. Thanks to Edstock at The Galloping Beaver, I was finally able to bring forth a worthy post. The picture above is the 'before' one, since "Touchdown Jesus" was struck by lightning and burned down this week.

That raised-arms pose was ubiquitous at the Ottawa Civic Centre as 99% of the crowd - most of them pallid christians of European ancestry - swayed to soft rock melodies whilst chanting lyrics such as "Jesus' blood washes white as snow" & "worthy is the Lamb of God" and. It felt like a watered-down rave for middle-aged pentecostal evangelists and assorted charismatics.

After the religious entertainment portion of the evening was done with (including a bizarre choreographed version of first contact between Aboriginal and European folks that glossed over the history of forced religious conversions), Elijah Harper was invited to the stage. His words brought tears to my eyes and elicited a rousing Hallelujah! - he spoke powerfully to the reality of the First Nations people living conditions, spirituality and strength. It was the highlight of the evening, imho.

And. Also. Too. A lot of money was on display, in the state-of-the-art television recording and broadcasting installations. Before the religious pageant started, Faytene Kryskow sauntered through our seating area, in not-kewl hoi polloi territory. Apparently the group sitting in the seats below us had not been given the VIP status they deserved.
David Mainse established the nation's first Christian television show, Crossroads, in 1963. In 1977 he launched 100 Huntley Street, now Canada's longest-running Christian TV program.
As Faytene led Mainse and the dozen or so people in his entourage to reserved seats close to the stage, she apologized for the oversight, blurting out that the Aboriginal volunteers involved in the organization of the event "did not know who the important people were".


Oh really, Faytene? Shouldn't Jesus be the Most Important One to know?

6 comments:

Bina said...

And this is why religiofascist wingnuts are doomed to fail. They think the Important People are themselves. The white ones, that is. The rest don't count.

"Inasmuch as you have done it to the least of these my brothers, you have done it unto me." --Jesus

deBeauxOs said...

Two young women, ostensibly members of Faytene's Yoot groupies (aka Kryskow-Jugend) won my respect.

In spite of the fact they had VIP access passes dangling from their necks, they chose to sit with their Aboriginal friends in the NOT-Very-Important-People section.

Bina said...

Which makes me wonder why they all were there. I suspect it's only a matter of time before the cult disillusions them.

The glossed-over history ain't helping, either.

Anonymous said...

Was it just me, or did Ms. Kryskow put on her little girl voice for her presentation of her painting?

And was it just me, or did anyone else notice the less than charming side of David Mainse, the politically willful authoritarian?

I wasn't there deBeauxO's; I watched some online, thank you for speaking up.
BD

WardoftheState said...

Really glad you posted on this deBeauxOs. I loved having a insiders view. I loved the part "the Aboriginal volunteers involved in the organization of the event "did not know who the important people were"."

Did you find out where they got all the $$$ from to host the event?

deBeauxOs said...

WardoftheState - I think most of the money comes from religious rightwing private donors and benefactors, including those who support the Miracle Channel.

Welcome, Bene Diction - does Faytene not pitch her voice to that little girl timbre as one of her many guises when she's performing?

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