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Christian urban legends (CULs)More neat stories of
events that never happened
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This essay describes CULs that we have uncovered from Internet mailing lists, Emails from conservative
Christians, Urban Legend web sites, etc:  |
The razor blades in the Halloween apples hoax: As the end of
October approaches each year, anti-Neopagan articles are published and
sermons delivered by some conservative Christians. These often take
the form of of attacks on Wiccans. Often, Witches are blamed for
distributing adulterated apples and candy at Halloween: apples with
imbedded razor blades; candy coated with poison, etc. The accusations
appear to be unfounded. More details.
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The Nazi Holocaust never existed: This is not a rumor that is
necessarily believed only by Christians. However, all of the North
Americans
of whom we are aware, who publish books or manage web sites which deny
the Holocaust, happen to be Christians. Some claim that the Nazi death
camps were simply internment sites, and that no systematic killing of Jews,
Roma (Gypsies), Jehovah's
Witnesses and homosexuals occurred.
Others believe that members of these groups were actually rounded up
and methodically executed, but that their numbers total a few
thousand, not 6,000,000 or so. There is overwhelming evidence that
mass genocide did occur prior to and during World War II in Europe
that wiped out about one third of all Jews in the areas occupied by
Germans.
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Y2K Prophecies and Hysteria: Late in the 1990s, many Bible
prophecy experts changed their emphasis from looking towards the second
coming of Christ to actually predicting Christ's arrival in the near future.
By early 1999, most conservative Christian bookstores had arranged displays
of books predicting end-of-the-world scenarios
and Y2k disasters in the year 2000 and/or early
in the new millennium. There were predictions of an asteroid destroying
human life on the planet, of a complete collapse of the world economy, a
power grab by a world government, the arrival of the antichrist, a universal
money system that would prevent persons from buying goods and services
unless they pledge allegiance to the Antichrist, and the second coming of
Christ. By the fall of 1999, there are signs that some skepticism was
beginning to sink in. 1,2 George O Wood, general
secretary of the Assemblies of God suggested that one way to dampen
the hysteria would be to have anyone who makes a second-coming prediction
"first post a $1 million bond to be forfeited to the cause of world
missions if their 'prophecy' does not come true on time." Several conservative authors
reaped massive profits while many believers
needlessly experienced hysteria and panic attacks. The year 2000 has passed
into history. None of prophecies came true. In fact, one common
property of all of the TEOTWAWKI (the end of the world as we know it)
prophecies down through history is that none has ever materialized. We have
prepared a list of
TEOTWAWKI predictions in our near and
far future. 3,4 We
don't expect any of them to come true either.
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The Beast of Belgium: This legend involves a three story high
computer that takes up a full city block in Belgium. It is called "The
Beast" and allegedly is operated by the European Common Market.
It is said to be capable of tracking every human on
earth. It is all said to be part of a scheme to identify every person on
earth with a marking on either their forehead or the back of their hand.
Scanners in each place of business would read these identification marks and
control all commerce. The story appears to have originated in a novel by Joe
Musser called "Beyond a Pale Horse." It was later made into
a movie "The Rapture." The theme is obviously based on
passages in the Book of Revelation. There are internal clues which show that
the story is not true. With modern computer technology, the volume required
would be very much smaller than a three story building that filled a city
block. It makes no sense for the
European Common Market to be tracking people outside of Europe. 5
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Bible codes: Three professors at Hebrew University in Jerusalem
used an equidistant letter sequence analysis method to find hidden
codes in the Book of Genesis. They reported some amazing finds that
greatly exceeded what one would expect from pure chance. Some authors
capitalized on the findings, and made a great deal of profit for themselves, by
uncovering what they claimed to be hidden messages in the Bible which warned of "the assassination of Yitzhak
Rabin in 1995 to a Los Angeles earthquake in 2010." 6
Other
researchers attempted to replicate the analyses and found nothing. It turned
out that "hidden codes" can be found everywhere: in U.N. Convention
on the Law of the Sea, in Tolstoy's "War
and Peace," or in any sufficiently long text. It was fairly
obvious that the Bible codes were a hoax. They relied on the
assumption that the original Hebrew text had been transmitted without
error from the time that they were first written to the present time.
In fact, there are a number of different editions of the Hebrew
Scriptures -- all different.
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The new Jonah: This legend involves a man, James Bartley, who was
allegedly lost at sea during the late 19th century, during a
whaling expedition in the South Atlantic by the ship "Star of the
East." Bartley's boat capsized. He was thrown into the sea and
later remembers being swallowed by the whale. The whale was killed and
harvested. Bartley was found alive 3 days later by the crew who were cutting
up the whale. Some versions of the story say that his skin was bleached
white (or blue) by the stomach acids of the whale. This is obviously a story
that parallels the experiences of Jonah in the Bible. If true, it would give
scientific support for the possibility of Jonah's experiences. This author
recalls having heard the story almost 60 years ago. The story is partially
true: The Star of the East did exist, and Bartley did serve on it.
But there was never a person lost overboard while he was a member of the
crew.
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Gay/straight violence: Matthew Shepard was a gay University of
Wyoming student in Laramie, WY. He was tortured, abandoned, and
crucified at the hands of some homophobic young men.. He ultimately died
of exposure. 7,8
One perpetrator was Russell Henderson who is serving two life sentences after having
pleaded guilty to the kidnapping and murder. Henderson was a Mormon, and
was presumably motivated by the church's teachings on homosexuality.
9 He
has since been excommunicated by his church.
This tragedy
spawned several urban legends "which...attained a degree of currency
in right-wing political and fundamentalist religious circles." 8
The legends were similar to the real Matthew Shepard story, except
that the sexual orientations of the perpetrators and victim were reversed. The
legends had a number of homosexuals beating and murdering a heterosexual.
The Magnus Hirschfeld Centre for Human Rights in NJ systematically
tracked down these stories and found them all to be founded on
groundless rumors. One example is the mythical murder of David
Alexander Shaw, aged 22, of Edmonton AB, Canada. 10 He was alleged to have been killed there on
1999-JAN-5. A person, Sandy, who alleges to be one of David's parents,
posted a series of Emails to an "Old Catholic Talk"
internet mailing list. They read, in part:
"...Apparently David got into trouble with some fags at the
University. David is a good Christian boy (man) and he told some queer about
how such was a sin to God. Last night a gang of these sick perverted animals
waylaid my boy and beat him up, and raped him. I am sick at heart, I am disgusted,
I don't know what I am. Do I seem angry? I am. This is what happens because our
society dosen't [sic] treat these homosexuals for the sick and perverse people they
are. We have coddled them and encourged [sic] them in their pervesity. [sic] We have
insisted they are just "normal" people born to be that way. We do
so totally ignorning [sic] God's Word in the matter. And this is the result
I think...For those of you who support homosexuals, you disgust me. I am
sickened that you would abandon Scripture and Tradition. Don't bother to
e-mail me. I have no sympathy for any of you. Imagine defending these
animals who seek prey in their sinful lust. Sick, disgusting, and as our
Bible says, an abomination unto the Lord. Get right with God and give it up....
A subsequent letter stated that Davey had been raped and assaulted in a
parking lot by five homosexual animals armed with sticks and a
steel rod. He was taken to Divine Mercy Hospital in a coma with undetermined
internal injuries. The parents allegedly "do volunteer work at a
Vancouver Aids [sic] Centre." Some members of the "Old Catholic Talk" list commented:
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"Another tragedy to be marked up to the cause of secular-humanist support
for perverts and sinners."
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"Homosexuality is not, in my opinion, a lifestyle or a choice, it is
A mental and moral illness and must be treated as such."
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"They almost cannot help themselves as their moral choices are deteriorated
beyond normal recognition. Like animals they prey upon their victims,
ever vigilant to latch up a new member to their perverse lifestyle."
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Various responses to the request for information commented that there are some
clues that suggest that the letter is a fraud:
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There is no Divine Mercy Hospital in Edmonton -- or in Canada for
that matter.
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"AIDS" is spelled incorrectly; this is a strange spelling for
a person who works in an AIDS clinic. |
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Although such a murder would be featured in Edmonton's main newspaper,
no article appeared. (Edmonton has fewer than 20 homicides per year among
their 1 million population; a killing is an unusual event that would be front-page news,
perhaps for days). |
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The event was not reported to campus security. |
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Edmonton police confirmed that there was no such incident. |
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Alberta Report magazine, a right wing publication with links to
anti-gay organizations did not cover the story.
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David Shaw does not appear in the Edmonton phone directory; he was not
registered with the University of Alberta. |
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The temperature at the time of the alleged rape/murder was -25 degrees
Celsius or -13 degrees Fahrenheit. This is far too cold to be committing
such a crime. |
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The language (fags, animals, sick, perverted) seems strange for an AIDS
volunteer to use, even under stress. 8
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Related menu and essay on this web site:

Additional religious urban folktales can be found at:

References:
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"Haunted Kansas: Stull Cemetery; Rural Kansas," at:
http://www.prairieghosts.com/stull.html
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Richard Abanes, "Why we must reject millennium madness,"
Charisma & Christian Life magazine, 1999-JUL.
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Jim Lafoon, "Why I'm not afraid of Y2K", Charisma &
Christian Life magazine, 1999-JUL.
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"End of the world predictions for our future,"
an essay on this web site
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"The Beast of Belgium," at: http://ship-of-fools.com/
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"Controversial 'Bible Code' debunked by team of scholars,"
APonline, 1999-SEP-10.
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"Welcome to Matthew's Place," at: http://www.matthewsplace.com/
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"Matt Shepard," at: http://www.uglw.org/
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Katherine Rosman, "Mormon Family Values," The Nation, 2002-FEB-25,
Page 3, at:
http://www.thenation.com/
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W.A. Courson, "Urgent request for confirmation,"
The Magnus Hirschfeld Centre for Human Rights, at: http://www.truthtree.com/

Copyright © 1999 to 2009 by Ontario Consultants on
Religious Tolerance
Creation date: 1999-APR-5
Last update: 2009-JAN-13
Author: B.A. Robinson


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