by Nomad
What could be better for a phony war on Christianity than a series of mock arrests of innocent preachers? And even better than that? Why, video taping the staged event- without bothering to tell the congregation- and uploading them to YouTube without any explanation.
Best of all, the local sheriff and his deputies were more than ready to assist in the making of this propaganda.
During last Sunday's sermon, parishioners
at Greater Bethel Baptist Church in
Akron Ohio must have been stunned and outraged as armed deputies from the
Summit County Sheriff's office marched into their church.
The members of the
congregation were told that the police- with a camera crew in tow- had come to
arrest their pastor, Reverend Melford Elliott. Other churches in the area were scenes
for more arrests, which included the Rev. Robert Golson, pastor at Prince of
Peace Baptist Church; and the Rev. Vincent Peterson, pastor at Providence
Baptist Church. In the video, sheriff deputies are shown handcuffing the pastors who continued to
preach before placing them in the backs of patrol cars.
Little did any of the church-goers know that they were actually unpaid
extras in a
staged event, the making of a film, part of a project called
"Defending the Faith." The website says that the goal of the
dramatization is to make people more aware of what it takes for pastors to
defend the Christian faith beyond preaching on Sundays.
According one source:
A seven-minute YouTube video created by the KAZ radio television network documents each arrest, with the theme song to the reality legal series "Cops" playing in the background. In each arrest, sheriff's deputies enter the church with the KAZ film crew in tow, approaching the pulpit during the pastor's sermon and telling him he is under arrest for "defending the faith." The pastors go willingly, but often respond by saying they will continue defending their Christian faith until they die.
After the mock arrests, Edra Frazier, marketing coordinator for the project explained to members of the church that the whole thing had been the making of a marketing tool.
Sheriff Steve Barry and his deputies had agreed to participate. Deputies on the video gave realistic interviews, portraying themselves as conflicted about arresting the pastors. It' all very authentic and convincing.
One thing they had forgotten to mention to the police. As part of the marketing, however, the video of the arrests were
immediately uploaded with any explanatory information that the events were simulated
arrests.
by Nomad
by Nomad