I consider myself a liberal, but I don't understand the need of some people to antagonize people of faith. The Blasphemy Challenge is just such an example.
***update*** (sorry about broken link)
link to video
The premise of the Blasphemy Challenge is based on a verse in the Bible.
From the book of Mark, Chapter 3, verses 23-29:
So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: "How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. In fact, no one can enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house. I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin."
The key part of the verse is in verse 29:
But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin."
He then asks people to record a message denying the existence of the Holy Spirit and to record it on Youtube.
***update*** (sorry about broken link)
link to video of boy denouncing Christian God/Faith
***update*** (sorry about broken link)
link to girl denouncing Christian God/Faith
There are now hundreds of videos just like this. This seems to me to be an attempt to antagonize Christians. The premise of this stunt is to demonstrate faith that there is not God. It is exactly that, faith. There is a logical problem with this stunt that demonstrates its falseness and that is the way they have structured it. It uses Christian beliefs and teachings in order to deny God. It is not enough to simply say there is no God, they need to revel in it, and use the words from the Bible as a basis for explaining why and how they don't believe in God. This brings up the question, if there is no God, why do they need to use the word of God to justify not believing in God.
A whois lookup has revealed who is running this operation. His name is Brian Flemming and he lives LA. He registered the site in Dec. 2006, so it hasn't been up that long.
A quick Google search brings up his blog. It was kind of shocking to read his blog. Here is a quote from one of his posts from today.
As I write this, the count is 300 response videos. Dang, that's a lot of blasphemy. (And just for the record: If it turns out I'm wrong about all this and there really is a Hell, well, hey, my bad.)
I was raised Christian, I haven't gone to church for years, but reading this gave me a deep sense of loathing for what he has done. It strikes a chord of pure evil. It scares the crap out of me. Everything I was ever told growing up now seems a bit more real. It makes the darkness of the abyss palpable. I am on the far left of the spectrum and am not a church goer. The callousness with which he treats people denouncing God must be especially frightening to Christians. It will be viewed as an absolute abomination, not necessarily that there is an individual out there denouncing God, that happens all the time, but that there is an organized and dedicated resource, with access to our children, that has been specifically made to consign people to eternal damnation. Ponder this for a moment and think about what this means. When Christians of all stripes see this kind of thing, they are going to work to stop it, literally as if the devil were at their back.
Speaking as a person on the left, I do not condone or endorse or excuse it in any way. It is a hateful thing that is being done. It is something hideous and craven. I want no part of it. The only response I can give that is worth anything is the following:
I accept the word of God, that Jesus is my personal savior, the message of salvation, and I believe in the Holy Spirit.