A FEW years back, a comical Christian fundie called Gwen Shamblin came to my attention via the lunatic Weigh Down programme – an outrageous bit of quackery that purports to melt away pounds of ugly fat through the power of Jesus.
Gwen Shamblin
I was reminded of Shamblin after learning recently that America’s most obese state – Mississippi – also happens to be the most religious.
Mississippi is home too to many churches that practice exorcism – and has a particular appetite for exorcising the “demon of homosexuality”.
What a shame that they don’t have the same enthusiasm for exorcising the “demon of gluttony”!
On the other hand, they might just try EXERCISING!
Anyway, back to Shamblin. With her skinny white arse, big hair and improbable teeth, this charlatan is still at it – and clearly raking in the dosh, hams over fist.
Her website appears far more sophisticated than it was when I first stumbled upon it. And it’s utterly hilarious.
Here’s a sample:
We have been created with two empty, needing-to-be-fed holes in our body. One is the stomach, and the other is the heart.
So, major fail on anatomy there.
Anyway:
The stomach is a literal hole in our body which is to be fed with the proper amount of food. As for the heart, I am speaking figuratively of our deep-down feelings.
Oh, figuratively! I get it.
Trying to feed a hurting, needy heart with food or anything on this earth (alcohol, tobacco, antidepressants, sexual lusts, money, the praise of other people, etc) is a common error. The person who attempts to feed a longing heart with food will stay on the path to overweight …
Here’s how Weigh Down can “help”:
Weigh Down is showing people, on a daily basis, how our God can transform their hearts and minds so that they can rise above the magnetic pull of the refrigerator! Instead of emphasizing the caloric content of food, the Weigh Down Workshop encourages you to focus on your natural, internal hunger control. But more importantly, your focus will be trained to turn toward the will of God as it relates to food!
God did not put chocolate or lasagna or real blue cheese dressing on earth to torture us, but rather for our enjoyment. However, He wants us to learn how to rise above the magnetic pull of the refrigerator so that food does not consume our lives!
I think you get the gist.
Hysterical Shamblin may be, but she’s also a major bloody menace. The worrying thing about her programme is that, according to this report:
Weight loss advice was overshadowed by the rhetoric implying that overeaters are courting eternal damnation. In class videos, Shamblin was self-righteous, her tone dictatorial … Goals are set, and if they are not met, members are told they will go to hell. Guilt and shame are used to keep the members in line for overeating.
Is anyone else here thinking Majorie Dawes, the hypocritical, fat-fighting fascist in Little Britain?
Marjorie Dawes
Shamblin is also leader of the Remnant Fellowship Church in Tennessee, and in 2007 she and a bunch of 67 church members tried to sue the Reverend Rafael Martinez, who runs a website dedicated to warning the public about cults, for gazillions of dollars.
The suit alleged that Martinez defamed the plaintiffs by making statements that the church’s practices were “dangerous and destructive” and indicating that church doctrine advocated “extreme fasting” and “extreme discipline for children”, including spankings and whippings.
Martinez moved successfully to have the suit dismissed. The Tennessee state court granted his motion in April 2007, but also granted the plaintiffs permission to amend their complaint. Rather than amending it, the plaintiffs chose to voluntarily withdraw it.
Hmmm …
You can read the entire sorry saga here.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
August 19th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
"America’s most obese state – Mississippi – also happens to be the most religious."
This makes sense. It comes back to education – and I'll bet Mississippi is also the least well educated.
Lack of education leads people to religion, but it also often means poor diet. Not only are the less educated more likely to be poor (and therefore can't afford healthy food) but they're also ignorant about WHAT to eat. They really don't understand that deep fried french fries doesn't equate to healthy potatoes!
August 19th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
According to those diagrams my biology teacher was wrong: the human heart is not just a blood pump! You have to hand it to these fundies, they do have a bizarre imagination.
August 19th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
"Guilt and shame are used to keep the members in line." So no change there then!
August 19th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
I also note that "Trying to feed a hurting, needy heart (sic) with…antidepressants… is a common mistake." This is the evangelical position, and I am well-acquainted with it as I have said before. I know that antidepressants may have been overprescribed in the Western World, but this insistence that "believers" should refuse to take drugs because "Jesus has the answer to all our problems" has led to incalculable mental suffering, and, of course, suicide. Indeed, as religion is often the cause of the conflict in the first place, continuing with the barmy charade just makes things worse! There are instances where people are so incapacitated by their mental state that psychiatric help, including the use of drugs, is essential, and these charlatans should be ashamed of themselves for pretending otherwise!!
August 19th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
I have only ever found an honest, decent, highly qualified practitioner for weight loss and this is it. And, she is an atheist. If you want to lose weight this is the place to go:
<a href="http://nondietweightloss.blogspot.com/” target=”_blank”>http://nondietweightloss.blogspot.com/
I mean it.
Broga
August 19th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
Another unqualified moron trying to push religion in place of legitimate aid to people who have mental health problems. I detest that BS. Of course when that doesn't work they always blame the victim. "Oh, you're not praying hard enough. You're not letting gawd into your heart." They never accept the fact that BS fairy tales aren't the answer to chemical imbalances in the brain.
As to the chronic weight problems in the American South. What can be expected for a region where *everything* is deep fried–meats, veggies and even the candy bars? I kid you not–I'd never heard of deep-fried pickles, turkey or Snickers Bars before I moved to the Mid-Atlantic (how I survived more than a decade atop the Bible Belt is another story). They also have the highest number of fast-food restaurants and lowest number of gyms per capita in the nation.
The woman is nut. She's just pushing another variation of the Alcoholics/Narcotics Anonymous structure. Transfer your addiction from a physical substance to Gawd. I've seen countless instances where people with substance addictions came out religious whackos thanks to those 12-step programs. They're useful only for the puppetmasters, not for the clients/patients.
August 19th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Your last paragraph raises another interesting point, Buffy. One very strong argument used by the evangelicals is this: "Just look at the change that the Gospel can effect in the lives of drug addicts, drunks, violent criminals, and so on!" It's very compelling, and as I have seen the results myself I always found it difficult to answer. That was until the proverbial penny dropped! It's not just the Gospel that is able to bring about this change: these people – and ESPECIALLY these people with personality problems – are going to have a transformation in their lives whenever they adopt ANY ideology which gives them a focus for their life. This is why Islam can produce the self-same results, as can political ideologies like Communism. It has nothing to do with that "God-shaped void in their hearts" and everything to do with finding a purpose for their existence, the lack of which, in many cases, their addictions have been blotting out.
August 19th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
That "hole in your soul" is nothing more than a yearning for security. Human beings have never been completely secure in this world and probably never will be. Insecurity makes us feel bad, but without it we would never have survived as a species. Without the adrenaline surge at the sound of a roar or the unexpected snap of a twig, we would have ended up blithe, contented tiger or bear food.
Among the various other ways humans have tried to ease their insecurities, they have invented gods. These gods are big enough and strong enough to protect us against anything Man and Nature can throw against us, we think. But they just make the problem worse than ever. Now we have to be more afraid of the gods than we ever were of Man and Nature.
August 20th, 2009 at 12:07 am
I LMFAO at that picture of Ms Dawes! However, she is a much more likeable character than the fundies in question!
August 20th, 2009 at 8:02 am
The problem as I see it, is the "Brain shaped void" in their heads…
August 20th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
I observed – as an anthropologist might – a Christian Fat Fundy a couple of years ago. What a performer she was. Thighs like tree trunks, rubbing together as she waddled, obsessed with her looks and with her face plastered with all kinds of crap, on top of that she smelled like the perfume counter in a store. Convinced that she could not lose weight because she had "a very unusual metabolism" and "the lord had given her this" and after "prayer and guidance from her minister" she knew she must accept her weight. All this shouted magaphone like to a couple she was sharing a table with. She looked to be about 22 stone. That is an estimate but she was about as broad as she was tall. Meantime, she ate more for the hotel breakfast than I would eat total over two days, shovelled fatty food into her gob which a speed that would have left my labrador panting with envy, treated her skinny husband like a servant and he seemed to be required to admire and keep his trap shut when she was talking. All the usual, "Wow, isn't this FANTASTIC." crap in loud Texas type twang.
August 20th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
She sounds like the woman who announced to her friend that she was on TWO diets. "Why's that?" asked the friend. "Because I don't get enough to eat on one!"
August 20th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Reminds me of a wonderful line from Absolutely Fabulous.
Eddy declares: "There's a thin person inside me waiting to burst out."
Her mum replies: "What dear, just the one?"
August 20th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
I think of it often, Barry. Delivered with such precision too, by June Whitfield, who must be the best comic actress this country has produced!
September 26th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
Interesting post! Thanks for the perusal .. but just one correction. The American state I believe you are referring to is Tennessee, not Mississippi. That is where Shamblin's empire is located – in Franklin, just outsided Nashville, Tennessee. I am the minister being sued, and I live about a two hours drive south east in Cleveland, Tennessee. Just an FYI .. Rev. RDM
September 26th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
Sorry, I just clicked on the link in the article and saw where your reference to Mississippi came from. You can delete both of these posts if you like.