Saturday, March 05, 2005

Jesus freaks and Roehmosexuals

Many younger people don't realize that America's current fundamentalist plague originated in the hippie movement of the 1960s. But it's true. The transition from flower-power to Jesusmania was marked by poorly-drawn underground comics, Bible readings at communes, Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell, and the truly horrifying Truth of Truths.

(The last-mentioned monstrosity was an alleged rock opera, featuring Jim Backus as the Voice of God. "Oh, Jehovah -- you've done it again!")

Orange County Weekly presents a fascinating glimpse of this history. An excellent article focuses on the rather sad tale of Lonnie Frisbee, an acid-dropping potheaded Jesus lookalike who became first a convert and then a converter -- without bothering to shave, bathe, or forego weed:

A conservative-Christian intellectual swears that when he was a young man, he saw Lonnie -- like Jesus -- actually make a blind man see. They call that being "anointed" by God.

His ministries enrolled thousands of kids. Some were so turned on they’d soon set out to become preachers themselves; many today are evangelical pastors at churches around the world.
Alas, as the trippy Jesus Freak movement gave way to the uptight Religious Right, the evangelicals turned against Lonnie Frisbee.

Lonnie (forgive the familiarity, but I can't bring myself to refer to him as "Frisbee") utterly alienated his flock by dying of AIDS in 1993. Turns out he led a double life: While serving as the chairman of JC's Department of Grooviness, he was covertly cruising the gay bars of Laguna Beach.

Stories spread that he’d hypnotized people all along. He was trashed in a 1997 book titled Counterfeit Revival. Evangelicals knew better than anyone how easily the public would accept Frisbee as just another disgraced preacher. It even gave birth to a new philosophy that deemed any “sexual problem” like Frisbee’s as the worst sin of all, worse even than murder.
The most fascinating aspect of the O.C. Weekly piece comes by way of Chuck Smith Jr., son of the conservative Orange County minister who first brought Lonnie to the Lord:

"Lonnie’s misfortune is he got caught," says Junior, Capo Beach Calvary Church’s pastor, "because there are a lot of charismatic homosexual ministers—right now."
Some of you may recall an earlier piece I wrote called "Prancing Preachers," in which I poked fun at James Dobson, the minister who "outed" Spongebob Squarepants. If Dobson can scry unmanliness in a cartoon character, what would happen (I wondered) if we placed TV preachers under the same scrutiny? Many televangelists (I argued) hew closer to gay stereotypes than do the objects of their vituperation.

I mean, look at Jim Bakker: The man wept incessantly, dressed in pastels, and married a classic fag-hag. Maybe his infamous encounter with Jessica Hahn was just his attempt to hide the truth from himself?

Okay, I admit that I wrote that earlier post in order to have some impudent fun at Dobson's expense. But now, after reading the O.C. Weekly piece, I'm beginning to wonder if I've stumbled onto something. Does the true face of the fundamentalist leadership resemble Ned Flanders -- or Waylon Smithers?

At this point, perhaps we should answer the disingenuous question posed by Ann Coulter in her response to Gannon-gate:

Are we supposed to like gay people now, or hate them? Is there a website where I can go to and find out how the Democrats want me to feel about gay people on a moment-to-moment basis?
Actually, Ann, the progressive line has long been consistent. We have nothing against gays. But we don't like covert gays who preach against overt gays, as Guckert/Gannon did and does. The problem isn't homosexuality -- it's hypocrisy.

2 comments:

Barry Schwartz said...

Ned Flanders, despite his infantile religion, does not resemble the fundamentalist leadership. Ned Flanders is an allegorical (Al-Gore-ical?) representation of the Democrats and their supporters. Look how Homer Simpson heaps indignity after indignity upon poor Ned, and yet Ned does nothing about it.

The fundamentalist leadership is more like that parasite Waylon Smithers. Definitely more like Smithers.

Anonymous said...

I wish Ann had asked me that question. I could have answered it for her:

Yes, Ann, there is a website that tells you how you should feel about gays, but it's address is a secret only known to gays, and they'll only tell you if you befriend them.