But this one... The Ohio Restoration Project, kinda freaks me out. Is it real? I want to think it isn't. It's all way too over the top. Take a long look at it. The graphics are almost too kitschy, for one, and the calls for action are ludicrous. Plus, the catchy slogan "America Has a Mission to Share a Living Savior With a Dying World" adds a ridiculous coda at the bottom of each page.
Check out their objectives:
- 2,000+ Ohio Pastors participating in seven key city Pastor Briefings (March – September)
- Christian Minutemen mailing list enlarged to 300,000 and 100,000 e-mails.
- 2,000+ Ohio Ministers become Patriot Pastors and attend major gathering in fall of 2005
- 30,000+ Christians sharing in a OHIO for JESUS Rally in early 2006.
- 4 Million Voter Guides distributed in the fall of 2005 for first the May Primaries in 2006 and then for November 2006.
- Video production and distribution of Patriot Pastors Briefing for 7,497 Ohio Pastors.
On the other hand, the address and church name do seem to match up, and if you check Google Maps, the address corresponds with the Fairfield Christian Academy in Lancaster, OH. They link to the Center for Moral Clarity, which links back to them, and they're a real enough, if insane and Taliban-like, organization. So that means...
...uh oh, that means it's real. But wait! Look at their forums. Some of those posts have got to be fake, especially the first one on the thread linked.
So I'm terribly confused. I am completely unable to tell if this web site is an outrageous, brilliant fraud, or if it's horrifyingly real.
A little help here?
4 comments:
Its like those old reses comercials, but without the delicious outcome. "HEY! You got your religion in my politics!"
"No, you got your politics in my religion!"
These are two great (somethings) that don't taste great together.
Running the site through the WHO-IS database tells me that the site was created on Jan 30, 2005 by Malcolm Lanham of Lancaster, Ohio. His email address is tied to fairfieldcc.org.
I think it's an awesome fake that's fooled some real folks.
I want to believe that, Suz! Don't you think the "who is" lookup kinda gives it further credibility, though?
Actually, I want the Fundies to keep it up, to get wackier and wackier. It's the only way "normal" people will wise up and see how loony tunes they've gotten.
This is absolutely real. There's one starting up in Texas as well -- the Texas Restoration Project. They've only just now put up the Ohio RP's Web site and purchased the Texas RP's Web site (though it isn't active yet).
Gov. Perry in Texas spoke a couple of weeks ago at a "Pastor's Policy Briefing" here in Austin for the Texas Restoration Project. 800 people showed up and the TRP paid for all their food, overnight hotel stays and whatever else. There's a lot of money going through this organization and, so far, they've been very good about not giving out information about themselves.
Keep up the good work!
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