Responses to the House of Hell

Tuesday’s front page article on Ellettsville’s House of Prayer’s 12th annual Hell House left me with a host of questions like:

Why would someone who calls himself a pastor want to be quoted referring to another human being as an “old mangy biker scum guy?”

Why would a congregation pride itself in condemning someone because they died of AIDS?

Why would anyone feel they have the right to call a gay person “perverted, twisted, sin-infested”?

Why would any individual feel good about basing their personal belief in God on fear?
I’m more offended as a Christian by this so-called expression of faith than I am as a proud gay man.
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— Doug Bauder

I also attended the House of Prayer’s Hell House this weekend.

As an atheist, I consider the Hell House to be a place of brainwashing. There are positive messages out there that give people just as much happiness and purpose without scaring them into docility.

At a surface level, I think the House of Prayer church is maybe one of the better ones.

They avoid hating or discriminating against the typical targets of religious zealots. They accept homosexuals, depressed people, those with addictions, those with vices and those who don’t quite fit into society. They preach that God loves them.

Believers who fit any of the aforementioned categories unfortunately spend a lot of time being told that they are unwanted in heaven and unloved by God.

I don’t believe in heaven or God, but it breaks my heart that there are people who believe this.

As kind and accepting as they might be, the House of Prayer members still believe the outcasts from typical Christian churches are not “right.”

They believe God wants those “outcasts” to change. This alone is a dangerous thought, for it dumps unnecessary guilt and self-hatred upon those people who are considered “not right.”

This is wherein the danger of this church lies: in that its love is at least a little bit selective.

If they or any other church teaches God’s love is selective, depending on the guidelines, a great deal of the population could be excluded from salvation when salvation is their existential goal. It’s dangerous to tell believers they’re not right in the head, God doesn’t love them or they have to pretend not to be the way they are. That’s maybe even more mentally damaging than nihilism.

Though I attended the Hell House and consider the members of House of Prayer who I spoke with to be fine people, the experience only affirmed my view of the Christian religion as a tool of negativity. However many merits and benefits it might have for some people, it’s irredeemably unfair that others may not be allowed to
participate.

— Carly Jane Casper

As I was sitting in class the other day, I was trying to think of the most offensive thing possible. Then I picked up a copy of the IDS and my search was over.

I read about the “Hell House” that the House of Prayer puts on every year, and knew I needed to look no further.

I’m not the type to become offended by issues that don’t particularly concern me, but I couldn’t help it this time.

Reading the section about the church showing a guided tour of a man that was told he was gay directly by a demon was pretty bad, and the fact that he died of AIDS gave it that little extra push of “wrong” that I was looking for in my search to be
appalled.

Let’s get serious for a second; this place takes people through haunted house-like scenes that show stuff like dead homosexuals and abortions for the scared straight factor? Putting gay people on the same level as the Klu Klux Klan?

The Klan reference did make me laugh when I read that the demon said, “All these fools have done is bought into one of my biggest lies: racial hatred and prejudice.”

Well, I’m not sure if it’s the demon selling prejudice or if it’s the “preacher” portraying the demon, and for that matter, I’m not sure if the demon and this “preacher” aren’t on the same agenda.

In fact, they might have more in common than he realizes.

I’m not saying I don’t believe in religion or church or morals, but it might be time for some people to take a look at what they believe and what’s being “sold” to them.
Is it really the views of the devil, or just a man dressed like him?

— Vincent Calabro