LYNDSI STEPHENS
Staff Writer
In February, a challenge was issued on the popular website youtube.com: if people submitted videos in which they denied God, they would receive a free DVD. The Blasphemy Challenge, as it is called, has been answered by Challenge Blasphemy, a Christian group dedicated to creating videos that praise God.
Youtube.com is an online community that was created in 2005. It quickly grew to become an internet sensation, selling to Google at nearly $2 billion dollars in 2006. Members submit and comment on videos, some original, and some clips from television shows, movies or music videos.
Youtube has become so popular that according to statistics on Alexa.com, a part of the Amazon company, it has even outgrown the popular Myspace.com. Every day, visitors to the website plays more than 1 million videos. Nielsen/NetRatings state that the website logs about 20 million individual users every month, putting Youtube at the forefront of the online entertainment industry. It also puts Youtube on the map as a popular destination for web surfers of all kinds.
So it’s no wonder that Brian Flemming chose that popular, free venue to issue the Blasphemy Challenge, a video asking people to publicly deny the existence of God by creating a video response and posting it on Youtube.
The Rational Response Squad (RRS) is an atheist group dedicated to combating “irrational emergencies of all kinds, especially the ongoing emergency created by religious faith,” their website proclaims. In exchange for videos submitted to the Blasphemy Challenge, the RRS sends participants a copy of Flemming’s documentary, “The God That Wasn’t There.” The RRS has donated $25000 to the cause.
As of mid-March, there were 1145 responses to the video that started it all. Some choose to respond by likening God to creatures such as the Easter Bunny or unicorns. Others respond in profanity toward Christians and Christianity. Other still explain why they do not believe, often citing examples of their own experiences in church. The Blasphemy Challenge has caught the attention of people from countries all over the world. Through articles in the Los Angeles Times, or television spots and more, the RRS is gaining followers.
The Blasphemy Challenge also has gained the RRS some competition as well. The RRS says that in his or her video, a person needs to say, “I deny the Holy Spirit” to receive the DVD. This statement is based off the verse in Mark 3:29 which says, “Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin.” To many Christians, to say that is committing the ultimate, unforgivable sin. So it comes as no surprise that the Blasphemy Challenge was met with the Challenge the Blasphemy Project, from challengeblasphemy.com.
According to the New York Times, website creators Mike Mickey and Steve Buchanan were so disturbed by the Blasphemy Challenge, they created their own site encouraging Christians to praise God.
Praises are submitted to challengeblasphemy.com, or are posted on Youtube as videos. There are responses in a few different ways, all of which are praising God. Some insist that blaspheming is not an unforgivable sin, and maintain that the blasphemers can be redeemed. Others give testimonies, or pray for those who posted in the Blasphemy Challenge.
Both sides are reaching out to gain the support of young people, particularly teenagers. The RRS began advertising on websites often visited by teens, including Teen Magazine, CosmoGirl!, Seventeen, Xanga, and more. The Blasphemy Challenge has been under fire by Christian organizations from its very beginning, but some are especially concerned with the focus on youth. As an article in Christian Examiner, a Christian magazine, put it, “’Blasphemy Challenge’ lures kids to renounce Holy Spirit.” Others feel that teens who participate are simply engaging in typical teenage rebellion.
It started as an internet phenomenon, and except for several television spots such as an interview with Flemmings on Fox News, it has for the most part remained on the internet. Besides the multitude of videos from both sides now on Youtube and the advertising on teenage magazine websites, bloggers from all over have caught onto the trend.
Weblogs, or blogs, are online journals that anyone can write. Since the Blasphemy Challenge was issued, many individuals have given their opinions on the subject. There are as many opinions as there are people, and thanks to the freedom of blogs, anyone can put their two cents on the internet, where it will be shown to others, quoted, and make its way further and further out into the world. Thus, the Blasphemy Challenge as well as the Challenge the Blasphemy movement reach out further everyday, to more and more people.
With the Blasphemy Challenge attracting the attention of all types of media, it seems that it has yet to finish making the rounds on the internet.
04-23-2007