I don't know if God hates Furries or not. However it has been clear for a long time now that Christians have a problem with Furries: When mixing faith with furries, things can get hairy, from "Religion News Service". Do you recall seeing articles about how "hairy" things get when faith and Trekkies, Star Wars fans, Tolkien fans, Anime fans, Golfers, Sports fans mix? Me neither. How are Furries so deeply in Dutch with Christians when, by all rights, there should be no issue since that is irrelevant?
Hund the Hound, a 33-year-old Ohioan, is a furry. He is also a Christian. For Hund and many other Christian furries, those two identities peacefully coexist. Not everyone would agree.
The furry movement, which grew up in the 1970s as part of the underground comic book world, engages in anthropomorphism -- assigning human characteristics to animals, in their case by creating avatar-like representations of self, called "fursonas" and in many cases making costumes to match. Hund the Hound's fursona is, well, a canine.
So far, so good: the article gives a factual run-down about Fur-dom. Now why would anyone disagree that these two identities can co-exist amicably? We are further informed:
Most furries, however, do not consider themselves to be religious, according to data from Furscience. When asked about their religious beliefs, one-third of furries flat-out identified as either atheist or agnostic. Three-quarters of furry respondents disagree with the statement "I am religious," according to Furscience's findings...
With its roots in underground comic culture, the furry community has long had associations with sexual experimentation, erotic content and gay culture. During the "burned fur" movement from 1998 to 2001, there was a concerted effort among a group of furries to "purify" its public image. Today, according to the Furscience website, furry fandom includes people of all ages and sexual orientations, with "adult" activities kept separate from other events. Still, its fanbase tends to be suspicious of the religious community.
Burned Fur was a disaster from the get-go and I've written extensively about it. This still doesn't explain anything really since the BFs weren't Christian, and you find no mention of that in their postings to Usenet. I have also not seen any references to the BFs as giving religion a bad name within Fur-dom. It's not there. The BFs caused Fur-dom a lot of problems, caused all sorts of bad publicity for which they refused to take responsibility. That was a long time ago, and we have younger affiliates who weren't even born yet while this was going on.
"'Given that most furries are LGBTQ+, this may preclude many from being religious, especially if the religion is at odds with LGBTQ+ people', said Furscience researcher Courtney Plante, an associate professor of psychology at Bishop's University" I would dispute the claim: while it's true that LGBTQ+ folks are over represented within the fandom as opposed to the PaL, most Furries are straight.
Hund said Christian furries need to understand why the LGBT furry community doesn't like Christianity. "It's been centuries of hate and hurt," Hund said.
Christian furries, he said, have a chance to present a different face of their faith to their fellow furries.
"I have my relationship with God, but that's between me and God," said Hund. "When others think of a relationship with God, they think of persecution from that church. That's not God. That's God's people doing a bad job." (At least he didn't play the No True Scotsman card.)
Attacking LGBTQ+ folks is bad enough, but it goes much farther than that: Exposing Satanism and Witchcraft.
First the Furries. What are they?
The furry fandom is a subculture interested in fictional anthropomorphic animal characters with human personalities and characteristics. Examples of anthropomorphic attributes include exhibiting human intelligence and facial expressions, the ability to speak, walk on two legs, and wear clothes. Furry fandom is also used to refer to the community of people who gather on the Internet and at furry conventions. See Wikipedia for more.
Subculture -- a cultural group within a larger culture, often having beliefs or interests at variance with those of the larger culture. Plain and simple to understand definition: a bunch if (sic) idiots running around acting out a fantasy. 1st Corinthians 13:11 "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."
Ahhh, right back to that "Peter Pan Syndrome"!
(Emphasis in original)
He defames Furries as "idiots". He accuses us of speaking/understanding/thinking like children. I already pointed out how Furries are still interested in what the PaL thinks you should have out grown by the time you turned 12, the playing dress-up, make belief, and still liking "childish" entertainments such as cartoons and comic books. Have out-of-the-mainstream interests, be seen as a weirdo. Nothing you can do about that, but if it's your expectation to sell Furries on your religion, this isn't exactly a good approach. The article gets much worse:
One of the articles Cynthia sent me is entitled "Pleasures of the Fur" and subtitled "Welcome to the world of "furries": the thousands of Americans who've gotten in touch with their inner raccoon, or wolf, or fox. Judging from the Midwest FurFest, this is no hobby. It's sex; it's religion; it's a whole new way of life." This article is from Vanity Fair a perverse publication that panders to deviates. It was penned in 2007 (Actually the article is from March, 2001).
Notice that the writer says "Americans who've gotten in touch with their inner". The inner what, is the question at hand? It is a demonic Spirit manifesting as a "raccoon, or wolf, or fox". Any animal they want to conjure up. Also note he says "It’s sex; it's religion; it's a whole new way of life" Yes! It is the religion of sexual perversion and a life which is contrary to the Word of God! 2nd Corinthians 5:16-17 "Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." As Paul says in Romans 1 and reiterates in this scripture, when you reject God, the flesh takes over and you become perverse and reprobate! This gets even weirder folks. Check out the other article. When animals attract: Inside Anthrocon, the Furry utopia.
The link is to another nasty furbash article. Here, Furries are accused of conjuring demonic spirits, of sexual perversion, of letting the "flesh" take over (whatever this means) and being reprobate. Yeah, that's how you make friends and influence people... NOT! Even more ignorance:
Once again you must go back to part two above and read what is written when people put on a mask or a costume. They literally are taken over by a demonic spirit that is attached to the mask or costume, or what has possessed them be it a Clown outfit, a suit of an animal, or if you dress up for Halloween!
When I commission a fursuit, does the demonic spirit come with it or do I have to pay extra? No dressing up, not even for Halloween. When you spread this level of ignorance, what kind of reception can you expect? His admitted sources include a Wikipedia article, an overly sensationalized article from Vanity Fair and a nasty furbash article. That's it! You can be certain he never actually spoke with a Furry, never visited any Furry sites, never tried for any sort of actual understanding. What we have here is a dour, kill-joy, drip who rains on everyone's parade while living in perpetual fear that someone, somewhere is having fun. Given that, who would want to be a Christian?
Let us not forget the most serious doctrinal deviation:
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
--Gen 1 : 27-28
This is the origin of Western anthropocentrism and supremacy. Many, probably most, Furs don't want dominion over the fish of the sea, birds of the air, and over every other living thing. We reject the idea that the other beings with whom we share the planet are ours to use, abuse, and discard however we please. Instead, we have this:
ANIMALS ALL THE SAME
Heather AlexanderWe walk on two legs, hold our heads up high
No other animal dare meet us eye to eye
We tell ourselves: "We're so superior"! "We've come so far!"
Too bad we have forgotten the animals we are!YEAH!
What is the difference between feathers and hair?
The hand print of a human or that of a bear?
We all roar with laughter, we all howl with tears
Show our teeth when angry, lay back our earsYEAH!
THE PASSION'S WITHIN YOU
WHISPERING WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE?
TAKE A LOOK IN THE MIRROR
WHAT ANIMAL DO YOU WISH TO SEE?We each meet our animal in its time and place
While gazing into its eyes, we see our own face
It'll teach us and guide us if we but call its name
For under one starry sky we're animals all the same!YEAH!
Animals are precious, without them we'd be lost
But we still conquer land and sea, regardless of the cost
We laugh in the face of Nature defying Her great plan
Now who's dumber? Animals or Man?
I have always said that, if Fur-dom taught me anything, it's that humans aren't so special. Fur-dom recalls an age old desire that goes back at least 40,000 years, and occurred in every culture. That is the desire to meet other animals on a more equal basis. Animal people (Furries) were considered to be gods, the subjects of myth and legend, and have appeared on cave paintings going back tens of thousands of years. This predates Christianity by orders of magnitude. As for anthropocentric arrogance, I recently heard pastor Greg Laury go on and on about made in God's image and how humans were sooooooo vastly superior to other critters. His other point was that we love our pets "too much". We take our dogs for car rides; we take them into restaurants (referring to service dogs, in France, it's quite common to see this) I hope he never finds out about Furries.
The When mixing faith with furries, things can get hairy article misses a much larger point: Christians did it to themselves. Christians find interesting ways to self destruct. It's been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. This one speaks volumes:
There are two possible explanations as to what's going on here. The fox dude isn't human, and for centuries Christians, especially Catholics, have maintained that the non-humans don't have souls. (Catholics have since changed that claim, but that's SoP for the RCC: watch to see where the crowd is going, jump in front of the line and claim they were leading the parade all along.) If this is what this is about, I'd expect different comments such as: "Christ came for humans only" or "You don't need salvation". "He thinks he is Christian", she says dismissively and contemptuously. "You aren't a true follower like us", he says. These aren't in thought bubbles, so is being said to Mr Fox. If the next scene was his standing up, slamming his book on the seat before he leaves, never to return, I wouldn't blame him. Christians are supposed to emulate Jesus Christ: how Christ-like are these two assholes? They are emulating the Pharisees here, and what did Jesus have to say about Pharisees? What they are demonstrating is the self righteousness, arrogance, and judgmental hypocrisy that sticks to Christians like white on rice. Furries haven't rejected Christianity: Christians drove Furries away. As far as I'm concerned, they don't get to bitch about it: they did it to themselves, so own it. That doesn't prevent their making up shit about Furries.
Folks who believe they have a mission to share the Gospel with the heathens, infidels, unchurched, certainly have strange ways of demonstrating the desirability of what they're selling. You can see examples all over You Tube, obnoxious, aggressive, pushy street preachers accosting and haranguing folks going about their business. One of the worst offenders is Ray Comfort. He says he isn't judging you before he judges you. He is extremely intellectually dishonest, manipulative (and by his own admission!) holier-than-thou and self righteous. There is no shortage of other Christians (Brylan Riggs) who don't hesitate to tell you if you aren't doing Christianity their way then you aren't saved; your conversion was false. They fill their channels with video after video excoriating other Christians over doctrinal differences with accusations of heresy and apostasy. Cock fights aren't so vicious.
Not all Christians are like this, but they are in short supply. During furwalks through a shopping district with high end restaurants, bars, jewelry stores and art galleries, the Jehovah's Witnesses are always there. However, they set up their kiosks and wait for interested parties to come to them. They have never gone out to inflict themselves, unbidden, on the other visitors. They leave us alone, and try to be helpful without all the god-bothering. Others, not so much. Sometimes an "I'm not interested" is good enough. All too often it takes a firm "Fuck off!"
As for how shit like this happens, the mutual animosity between Christians and Furries, it's an echo of the Burned Furs and the Great Internet Furry Flame War that went on for three years. All the bad publicity that resulted, that brought Fur-dom to the attention of all the wrong sorts of people, that resulted in the MTV Sex 2K lieumentary: Plushies and Furries, bullshit articles like Pleasures of the Fur that connected a nasty fetish to Fur-dom, is still out there even if there are affiliates too young to remember the events directly.
You also have Christian idiot-ology that assures them that the TrueBeliever™ has a monopoly on "the Truth™", that they are right and everyone else are "lost sinners", therefore, inferior. This leads to the intolerance, the arrogance, the self righteousness that convinces them that they know it all. They write screeds and upload videos, excoriating Atheists and Furries and it becomes painfully obvious that they never bothered to actually ask an Atheist or Furry (or anyone else on their shit lists) to understand what they actually believe, to understand their positions. Talking and more importantly listening, requires a measure of humility that the TrueBeliever™ just does not have. The instant you think you know everything is the instant you become incapable of learning anything. The end result is endless apologetic videos from Christians who lack the self awareness to see just how cring those videos are to outsiders.
Faith is very fragile so handle with care lest you break it.
