Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for alt.brother-jed
Scott Eiler
Posting-Frequency: Every two months or so
Here is the list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for the
alt.brother-jed Usenet newsgroup. This FAQ is regularly posted to
alt.brother-jed, alt.answers, and news.answers . Its master copy is
available on the Web at http://www.eilertech.com/faqs/jedfaq.htm . Web
links are included there to home pages for everyone in the newsgroup who
has them, including Brother Jed himself.
The picture of Jed is from 1983, but it still looks remarkably accurate. At
least, compared to the picture he posts himself at http://www.brojed.org/.
If you have comments, either post to alt.brother-jed, or e-mail me, or
both. My address is sei...@eilertech.com.
Thanks, Scott
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Brother Jed Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) List
1. Who is Brother Jed?
2. Is this the same Brother Jed who was preaching on the campus of the
school I attended years ago?
3. Are Brother Jed's wife and kids brainwashed?
4. Where does Brother Jed get his money?
5. What is alt.brother-jed about?
6. Why is this group called alt.brother-jed if there isn't anything
posted here about Brother Jed?
7. Does Brother Jed ever post to this group?
8. Who is Lawyer Jim, and is he related to Brother Jed?
9. Who are the rest of these bozos who post here?
10. What is a "fundy?"
11. I practice a particular religion faithfully. Will I be offended if I
read this group?
12. Would you like to learn how to MAKE MONEY FAST???
13. Can I post about any religion on this group?
14. I heard that this was a group for making fun of fundamentalist
Christians. What the hell happened?
15. I've noticed that some of the people posting to this group seem to
believe in a Being who created the universe. Oh yeah? Can you prove
it?
16. I've noticed that some of the people posting to this group seem to
believe that there is no Being who created the universe. Oh yeah? Can
you prove it?
17. I've noticed some people on this newsgroup accusing other people of
being Pagans. I've even noticed some who claim to be Pagans. What the
heck is Paganism?
18. Are you all a bunch of wankers or what?
19. Why are there two FAQs for this group?
20. If the group were stranded on Gilligan's Island, what would the theme
song be?
Links
Disclaimer: The information in this document has been taken from reputable
sources (such as Jed's own books) and is considered as accurate as
possible. However, nobody's perfect. As such, nobody here takes
responsibility for incorrect or inaccurate information in this document,
beyond correcting the error.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Who is Brother Jed?
Brother Jed (George Edward Smock) was born in Brookings, South Dakota,
in 1943. His father was a Ph.D. in English from Cornell University,
and his mother was A.B. magna cum laude from Syracuse University. In
1946 the family moved to Terre Haute, Indiana, when his father became
chair of the English department at Indiana State University (ISU).
In 1960 Jed went to Indiana University and joined Delta Upsilon, which
held a well-deserved reputation as a hard-partying fraternity. After a
year and a half Jed dropped out and made a brief visit to southern
California, where poor success as an encyclopedia salesman convinced
him to return to Indiana to complete his education, this time at ISU
majoring in social studies and minoring in English.
In 1965 he got a job teaching U.S. history at Highland High School,
and in the next 2 years earned an M.A. in history from ISU. In 1967 he
made another visit to California, this time working as a junior high
school teacher in Berkeley-- it was here that Jed was first introduced
to marijuana and LSD.
As the "summer of love" drew to a close Jed returned briefly to
Indiana, but soon got a position as a professor of history at the
University of Wisconsin. In 1970 Jed returned again to Indiana, this
time to take a position as research assistant in a psychology
institute at ISU, where he studied drug use.
In 1971 he left on a journey to North Africa where he joined a commune
on the beach of Morocco, living a life of hedonism and depravity. In
the spring of 1972 he began to seriously read the Bible, and in March
of that year returned once again to Indiana. In August he met an old
high school friend Clyde Swalls, who had become a preacher. It was at
that point that Jed "met the King of Kings at Burger King" (became
fully converted to Christianity).
Since that time Jed has travelled the nation's college campuses
spreading the word to students. His early companions in that task were
"Holy Hubert" Lindsay, a quick-witted evangelist whom Jed had
encountered at Berkeley, and "Brother Max" Lynch, an ISU
mathematics-professor-turned-preacher. In 1977 while preaching at
Arizona State, Jed coined the nickname of that group, "the
Destroyers", in honor of the way they destroyed the complacency of
Christian churches around ASU.
In the following years Jed has been featured in _Newsweek_ and
_Rolling_Stone_, and has appeared on both Sally Jesse Raphael and
Donahue. Jed has written several books including an autobiographical
work, _Who_Will_Rise_Up?_ which was the source of most of the
information in this short bio. -- N.E.
2. Is this the same Brother Jed who was preaching on the campus of the
school I attended years ago?
Yes, although it's a good idea to make sure the person you remember
was really Jed since he's subsequently been joined by many regional
preachers. His first recruit, Sister Cindy Lasseter, later became his
wife in 1983 and has since borne them 5 daughters. Other additions to
the fold include Brother Jim Giles, Sister Pat Noordewier, and Brother
Paul Stamm (who is pictured in _Who_Will_Rise_Up?_ wearing a "Sodomy
Free Zone" sign on his backside). -- N.E.
For those currently on campus who want to keep an eye out for the
"real" Brother Jed: He is a dark-haired man in his early fifties who
wears glasses, and usually a dress shirt and dark pants. He is almost
always accompanied with at least two of his daughters, who all have
long hair and wear long skirts, but are otherwise pretty
normal-looking children. The last time I saw Brother Jed, he was also
joined by a young college-age woman named Sister Elizabeth (never got
her last name). -- E.G.
3. Are Brother Jed's wife and kids brainwashed?
In the spring of 1996 I was upset to be told by Evangeline "I hate
you, you're going to hell!". She was visibly upset by attempts of
several people to gently open her mind to the possibility that other
opinions were valid. Although I hesitate to use the word
"brainwashed", I believe that her parents have sealed off her mind to
any original thoughts or differing opinions. -- V.C.
I can't speak about the kids, but I met his wife (Sister Cindy) in
1983 before they married. She was preaching on the Michigan State
University campus, with Brother Jed also on campus but not present.
Sister Cindy presented her own beliefs forcefully, and stood up to
popular pressure (almost to the point of being forcibly unbaptized in
the Red Cedar River). In my opinion, she may be one of the few people
who agrees with Jed on every single topic, but she's not brainwashed.
-- S.E.
Jed and Cindy's girls are home-schooled with strong emphasis on
scriptural subjects. Many crowds have been amazed at the girls'
ability to recite Bible verses, and whenever possible Jed and Cindy
like to take their daughters along on their travels. While many
onlookers have expressed concern for the welfare of the children,
personally I think it's significant that the girls are usually
better-behaved and more articulate than most of the college students
they meet at their parents' very unusual job-sites. -- N.E.
Except for the extremely conservative dress, all of the girls seem
like pretty normal kids to me. When they accompany their parents to
campus, the older ones often help their Dad by passing out tracts and
buttons to the crowd. Little Evangeline often carries around a big
sandwich-board type sign which expresses succinctly her parents
religious philosophies. The ones who aren't helping out are usually
reading or playing nearby. The last time I saw the family on the Oval
at Ohio State in the spring of 1996, I was rather amazed at the girls
ability to rollerblade in ankle-length dresses. -- E.G.
4. Where does Brother Jed get his money?
Brother Jed heads an umbrella organization called Campus Ministries
USA, which attempts to defray the costs of the various members of the
old Destroyers. In addition to donations and sales of books and
videos, Jed also receives honoraria from speaking at churches and
conferences. If anyone is interested in helping, Jed can be reached
at:
Campus Ministries USA
922 W. Village Dr
Newark, OH 43055
This organization has a web page: http://www.brojed.org.
Obligatory Adverblurb: Copies of Brother Jed's books and videos are
available. The suggested donation for "Who Will Rise Up?" is $10, $5
for the shorter works ("Grieve Not the Spirit" and "Walking in the
Spirit"), and $35 for the video. -- N.E.
5. What is alt.brother-jed about?
Originally alt.brother-jed was dominated by critics who ridiculed him
on-line in much the same way as they did during his appearances on
their campuses. At this point the group has evolved into a more
serious discussion group focused on various issues raised by Jed and
his Destroyers.
Nowadays, discussion of all sorts of religions and religious
philosophies appears on alt.brother-jed. This occasionally does
include Jed-bashing and news of Jed-sightings, but it is no longer
limited to such. Common discussion topics have included the existence
of God, the nature of evil, Biblical literalism, whether or not
homosexual acts are sinful, whether Christianity is harmful, whether
the Old Testament God was just, and whether proselytizing is good or
bad. -- N.E. and E.G.
6. Why is this group called alt.brother-jed if there isn't anything
posted here about Brother Jed?
The group's name is mostly an honorary title, in respect to the man by
whom we have been touched and whose passion brings us all together,
Christians and non-Christians alike. -- N.E.
Also, discussions often center on the topic of confrontational
evangelism and whether it is effective. Brother Jed exemplifies this
type of evangelism, in a flashy way which gets people talking about
him and his beliefs. -- S.E.
7. Does Brother Jed ever post to this group?
Brother Jed has made occasional-but-infrequent forays online, much
less frequent in recent months, just enough to tell people where he'd
be preaching in the next few weeks and to slip in the occasional
e-sermon. His e-mail address is bro...@aol.com; if he ever wants to
change it, he'll have to move his own web page first. -- N.E and S.E.
8. Who is Lawyer Jim, and is he related to Brother Jed?
Lawyer Jim, real name James Elsman, is a fundamentalist who once
frequently posted to alt.brother-jed and claims to have "street
preached". As far as we know, he and Brother Jed are not related.
Except, of course, that they are both brothers in Christ. And it is
believed that they sometimes preach together, and that Lawyer Jim acts
as a legal consultant to Brother Jed. His e-mail address is
elsm...@aol.com. -- E.G. and S.E.
9. Who are the rest of these bozos who post here?
Quick introductions all around, so's everyone will know who's who the
next time Lawyer Jim starts slinging invectives around:
o Scott Eiler: Deluded Protestant Christian who's going to Hell
because he refuses to condemn everyone who's not a Christian here
o Nathan Engle: Incredibly annoying Taoist who never gets pissed
off no matter how much you threaten him with eternal hellfire
o Erin Glaser: Utterly hopeless demon Papist whose brain is
controlled by the Pope
o Frenchy: Even more hopeless Satanic Pagan with a history of
unknown numbers of lovers, STDs, abortions, and illegitimate
children
o Louis Lomasky: Incredibly well-read and knowledgeable but stupid
Hasidic guy who doesn't know a damn thing about Judaism despite a
lifetime of study, knowledge of multiple Biblical languages and
time spent in the Holy Land because he's not saved by the blood
of Jesus
o Rhonda Rubin: Self-proclaimed Jewish Smartass and eeeeeeevulll
lesbian
o Marlene: A third more evil than the average abj'er, because he
wants to be a girl
o Doug Berry: Another stupid Discordian doofus and ordained ULC
minister unsaved by the blood of Our Lord Jesus
o Ralphus: Whining baby-eating apostate who's gonna burn burn burn
o BeYontRy: Hellbound wiseacre who's old enough to know better
o Vince Conaway: Oh, why bother cataloging this one, he's just
going to Hell anyway like the rest of these sinners
Sorry if I missed anyone. ;) (F)
As the above summary shows, not everyone who posts here agrees with
Brother Jed's theology. We just post and argue here because we can.
B{D> (SE)
10. What is a "fundy?"
This term, occurring often in AB-J, is shorthand for "fundamentalist"
and is not necessarily intended to be derogatory, although some people
may mean it that way. When used alone, it generally refers to
fundamentalist Christians, but may be combined with other faiths to
mean anyone who is fundamentalist. It can be combined with
non-religious philosophies and with non-mainstream religions quite
easily as well.
The Microsoft Encarta 95* definition of "fundamentalism" is as
follows:
1. A Protestant movement holding the Bible to be the sole authority.
2. A movement marked by rigid adherence to basic principles.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*The American Heritage(R) Concise Dictionary, 3rd ed. Copyright (c)
1994 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Electronic version licensed from and
portions copyright (c) 1994 by InfoSoft International, Inc. All rights
reserved.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Fundamentalist Christians believe that the Bible should be taken as
literally as possible. For example, many fundamentalist Christians
believe that the world actually was created during a six-day period on
or about 4001 BC (a date arrived at by summing up the ages of the
Biblical patriarchs).
To contrast, typical mainstream Christians believe that the spiritual
aspects of the Bible, especially the teachings of Jesus, should be
taken literally, and that other aspects of the Bible may be treated
the same way as any other ancient book of source material. For
example, many mainstream Christians believe that the entire earth was
not actually covered with water at the height of the Great Flood.
Other mainstream Christians interpret the Bible even less literally,
taking its moral truths literally but accepting much of the rest of it
as symbolic or allegorical ways of expressing those moral truths.
As you can imagine, fundamentalist and mainstream Christians often
disagree and argue. Extreme proponents on either side of these
arguments sometimes say that their opponents are not truly Christians.
Moderates on either side try to avoid such statements.
Brother Jed falls in the "fundamentalist" category, somewhere near the
line between extreme and moderate. -- S.E. and E.G.
11. I practice a particular religion faithfully. Will I be offended if I
read this group?
Yes. But that shouldn't keep you away. And you need not fear offending
others. -- N.E., E.G., and V.C.
And bear in mind that nobody who posts here speaks authoritatively for
their entire religion. In particular, neither Brother Jed nor Lawyer
Jim represents all Christians, or all Protestants, or even all
fundamentalists. So don't use them as examples of "All Christians are
assholes". -- S.E.
12. Would you like to learn how to MAKE MONEY FAST???
No. If you try to tell us how, we'll send e-mail to your postmaster
and have your account cancelled. -- E.G.
13. Can I post about any religion on this group?
As long as the gist of the post has even an indirect relevance to
Jed's ministry the sky's the limit. -- N.E.
Or any other kind of ministry, for that matter. I'd say the majority
of posts relate in some way to Christianity-- either expressing
Christian beliefs, debunking Christian beliefs, or offering
alternatives to traditional Christian beliefs. But we've touched quite
a bit on Islam, Judaism, Taoism, modern and historical Paganism,
various Eastern religions, and of course a healthy dose of atheism as
well. -- E.G.
To the extent you can call atheism healthy, of course. -- S.E.
14. I heard that this was a group for making fun of fundamentalist
Christians. What the hell happened?
Sorry to disappoint you. You can still make fun of fundamentalist
Christians-- it's just that we talk about other stuff too. What
happened was that people started responding seriously to sarcasm. This
phenomenon snowballed, until most people who post to alt.brother-jed
actually take their posts seriously (even when they use humor).
Newsgroups are what we make them. Whenever anyone feels that the
group's sarcasm level has fallen too low they're cordially welcome to
correct the deficiency. -- E.G., S.E., N.E
15. I've noticed that some of the people posting to this group seem to
believe in a Being who created the universe. Oh yeah? Can you prove
it?
No. Religion consists of a set of personal beliefs which cannot be
proven. Many of us who have this belief try to support it, but we
can't prove it. -- S.E.
16. I've noticed that some of the people posting to this group seem to
believe that there is no Being who created the universe. Oh yeah? Can
you prove it?
See previous answer. -- S.E.
17. I've noticed some people on this newsgroup accusing other people of
being Pagans. I've even noticed some who claim to be Pagans. What the
heck is Paganism?
Paganism is, in general, the belief in the Supreme Being embodied in
the God and Goddess. We believe in the sanctity of nature, that the
God and Goddess are everywhere embodied in Mother Earth and Father
Sky. We have no sacred texts, no revealed guidance from the Gods-- the
Pagan path is a gnostic one, you must seek the truth for yourself. We
believe in the Wiccan Rede, "And if it hurt none, do what thou wilt."
This means that whatever action you do, so long as you are hurting no
one, no living animal, the environment, or even yourself, it is an
acceptable action. This also means you have to take serious
responsibility for the consequences of your actions-- harsh words, for
example, hurt others, as well as actions that don't take into account
the welfare and well-being of others.
The general Pagan idea of the afterlife is reincarnation. We believe
in a Heaven-like place called the Summerland, where it is always warm
and beautiful, although we consider it more of a "pit stop" until we
go on to our next incarnation as opposed to a permanent home for our
souls. We don't believe in Hell per se; we believe that if you led an
evil life you will be reincarnated in much more difficult
circumstances, to receive the lessons you obviously didn't learn in
your previous life and to pay back the negative karma.
There are many diverse sects and branches of Paganism, all with
different beliefs. Some honor just the Goddess; others just the God;
others give equal attention to both. Some are vegetarian, some are
not; some believe in reincarnation, some do not; some consider the
various gods and goddesses of each pantheon (Celtic, Greco-Roman,
Norse, Latin American, and Egyptian among others) to be all separate
beings, and some who believe in the "Unified Deity Theory" that all
gods and goddesses are merely separate manifestations of the One
Creative Supreme Being. It's as difficult to pigeonhole Pagans as it
is to do the same to Christians. -- F.
18. Are you all a bunch of wankers or what?
Questions like this are best addressed to the alleged wanker via
private e-mail. -- E.G.
19. Why are there two FAQs for this group?
This is the second FAQ to be created for alt.brother-jed. The other
one was created by Wayne Head (a.k.a. Pope Bongophelius Zed I), back
when AB-J was a forum for making fun of fundamentalists. You may want
to check http://www.eilertech.com/faqs/oldjed.txt to see the kind of
spirit that first made AB-J famous. That document reproduces the group
FAQ, as posted in February 1996.
In July 1996, one of the regular posters jokingly suggested renaming
the group to reflect its new emphasis. While most responses were in
favor of retaining the group's name, some of the rest of us decided to
write a new FAQ list which was more representative of the opinions
generally expressed therein.
In other words, you can think of the original FAQ as a "Heckler's
Guide" and this one as a "Discussion Guide." -- E.G. and S.E.
20. If the group were stranded on Gilligan's Island, what would the theme
song be?
"Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale
A tale from Brother Jed,
Some religious types and some alien dorks
The latters' brains were dead.
The mate was an anal preacher dude
The skipper anal too
The rest were a dirty heathen lot
A rotten hellbound crew!
The language started getting rough
The small N.G. was tossed
They argued all religious points
Like the man who'd once been Crossed.
The group's adrift in the midst of this uncharted cyberspace,
With Brother Jed
And Lawyer Jim
The alien dork
Disco Queen
The psycho witch
The Juggler and Erin too
Here on Brother Jed's grooooooup! ;)"
-- F.
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Links:
* There's a Brother Jed web forum, at
http://pub4.ezboard.com/ffreedomofspeechthecampusministryforum.
They're actually much more focused on Jed than we are.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Primary authors of this FAQ are:
* E.G. Erin Glaser Arlinghaus, Roman Catholic Christian. Original editor
of this FAQ.
* N.E. Nathan Engle, computer support staff for Indiana University
Bloomington Psych department. Electron Juggler, Mad Scientist, Taoist.
* V.C. Vince Conaway, Vince Conaway, a born-again pagan (eclectic) and a
Celtic musician trying to lose his day job.
* S.E. Scott Eiler. Renegade Hoosier resident in Massachusetts and/or
anywhere for a buck, computer programmer, Protestant Christian, and
freelance Bible scholar. Maintainer of this FAQ.
* F. Frenchy, Eclectic Pagan (and a girl, goshdurnit!), Internet
reporter, belly dancer from Hel, feminist extraordinaire but
egalitaire, annoyer of fundies, advocate of science and skepticism,
snickerer of $cientologists, Netnerd and general all-around Monty
Python addict.
Copyright © 2002, by the primary authors mentioned above.
-------- Scott Eiler B{D> -------- http://www.eilertech.com/ --------
"No, no, MONSTERS on the prowl, CREATURES on the loose. Creatures
just rampage around and get drunk and rowdy when they don't have
anything better to do. Monsters cruise for chicks."
-- Kurt Busiek, comic book professional, responding to a fan inquiry
about "Creatures On The Prowl".