158 thoughts on “KFC”

        1. From the looks of these ladies’ ample torsos, they probably need to us all the butt cushions for themselves.
          Okay, I’m just being mean. 😛

        2. Yeah, you kind of are. When you’re blind and on the road all the time, exercise gets a little difficult.

        3. Yes, and I do apologize. 🙁 Poor dears, hope their health is reasonably well.

        4. “From the looks of these ladies’ ample torsos, they probably need to us all the butt cushions for themselves.”

          WTH?

        6. Too bad George didn’t also tackle you and tape your fingers to your ass to keep them away from the keyboard.

  3. The singers are blind, so I’m guessing they travel around doing “special music” concerts at churches, and this was a “love offering”.

  5. Two weeks ago, I was diagnosed with diabetes.

    I wasn’t going to say anything about it here, but … diabetes is just about all I can think about when I see this picture. That KFC bucket just pushes the thought to the forefront.

    I don’t wish to be cruel with this comment, but maybe fundamentalists (and, believe me, me) need to think a lot more about one of the deadly sins.

    Now … since I didn’t listen to the video to the end, does anyone know what the collection is going to?

    1. Now that I think about it, it’s obvious who the collection is going to. Facepalm!

      I did not play the video far enough to realize the singers are blind.

      The Admiral’s comment below is exactly right.

    2. All the best as you deal with your disease.

      While a case against gluttony can be made from Scripture, gluttony’s place on the list of seven deadly sins would have no impact on a fundamentalist. The seven deadly sins are Catholic in origin I believe and thus not emphasized by fundamentalists. They would not trust a Catholic’s estimation of which sins are greatest, plus they reject the idea of separation sins into those which damn and those which are merely venial.

    3. Well, your comment IS cruel, but not to the fundies. You were diagnosed not with “diabetes” but with Type 2 diabetes (or so I assume from the nature of your comment). There is a huge, enormous difference between Type 1 diabetes (which has less than nothing to do with gluttony or even diet other than in managing it) and Type 2 diabetes, which is quite often linked to diet and a sedentary lifestyle.

      People with Type 1 diabetes often get criticized and teased because they are somehow seen to have sinned or were supposed gluttons, but it’s not true, it’s not fair, and it’s not right.

      It’s cruel.

      1. Thank you for this. My husband has Type 1, but wasn’t diagnosed until his early 20s. He’s in excellent shape, but he gets grief from even random strangers about how if he would just exercise and eat better, he could get rid of his insulin. Maddening. 👿

        1. I’m sorry he has to deal with that. My sister has Type 1, and the comments she’s gotten have been jaw-droppingly ignorant. Even as a child, she was picked at by adults, of all people.

      2. My Grandma had gotten type 2 diabetes. She was 5’6″, about 130 lbs, and lived on a farm. No sedentary lifestyle, and also, never ate a whole lot of sweets. So even type 2 can be brought on by factors other than diet or sedentary lifestyle.

        1. Yeah, which is why I said “often” rather than “always.”

          Bottom line? Not your body, not your business. I’m amazed at how many adults seem to think that other people’s bodies and health matters are their business and that they have the right to comment on them. This thread is the perfect example.

    4. I apologize.

      The semiotics of this post are all over the place, its ironies on display but unmentionable. Let’s note the one of identifying blind singers as the “Enlighteners.” The idea that blind people have special spiritual insight is ancient–Tiresias is one example, and manifested in modern times by the blind fortunetellers around Jackson Square in New Orleans and around plazas in Central and South America. As are also the blind and otherwise disabled who congregate outside of cathedrals and other places begging for alms. Well, if the offering is for the singers, and the children, not the adults, bring up the alms/ offering, what message is being communicated? What is being taught … especially when the alms box is a fastfood fried chicken bucket?

      In this instance, the free will offering should, at the very least, be taken with an actual offering plate.

      I realize my initial comment can come across as cruel. However, these women make their living reinforcing the patronizing and demeaning attitudes of the adults enjoying a different kind of minstrel show. We feel good for the charity we’ve shown at no real cost to our lives.

    1. You sir have made me snort at work…I think i’ve laughed for 5 minutes straight

  7. I know that you think this is funny -thus the post- but I think this is just the heart of the Father being manifested in the midst of His kids!! Two “apparent” blind gals singing their hearts out to the Lord with a recycled KFC bucket in the back…. I love it!! Their expression of worship is fabulous and the KFC bucket is just a reminder of how the very plain and simple are still honored by the Father. Man oh Man is our Father diverse and I, for one, am delighted about it!

    1. KFC used to, and perhaps still does, give buckets–empty, unused buckets–away for fundraisers.

      We wouldn’t want the checks ruined by grease.

    2. And yet this church isn’t a plain and simple building. It’s a rather large and “elaborate” (at least for the IFB) sanctuary with a rather fancy pulpit. It’s not genuine, just a ploy.

    3. My thoughts exactly!

      These songs touched my heart, and blessed me right down to the soles of my feet!

  8. “An now folks, these two ladies will sing until $____ has been put in the bucket.”

  11. Are the singers blind? If you are going to use a KFC bucket for an offering, at least cover it up with construction paper or flannel graph or something, unless they are paying you to advertise.

  12. I’ve seen at least one other fundy church do this where they have the kids go trolling for change during a special to drop off at a bucket of some sort at the front. I thought it was rather odd, but I’m sure after a while it’s a rather unique but probably cute activity for the small kids.

  13. First, I’m glad these ladies are serving their Lord and using their talents. But it seems to me that the reason that they are singing together is because they are blind. It’s like a marketing ploy gone wrong and that’s what makes me sad.

    These ladies really aren’t that good. In fact, in places they are downright terrible. But the audience reaction to these ladies (all the hooting and hollering) just seems to reinforce them as being some sort of celebrity with awesome talent.

    It’s almost like, we know you’re not that good, but because you’re blind we’ll make you think that….I find that outrageous and horrible, because there are wonderful blind artists out there (Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder etc) and they were good because they were good…not because they were blind.

    1. I guess I belong in the “make a joyful noise” camp. Now, as a disclaimer, I attended a church that really did have a spectacular music program with incredibly talented people, but at the same time, no one who *wanted* to sing was ever denied the opportunity.

      I’m glad these ladies felt confident enough to get up there and sing their hearts out. The KFC bucket is a little odd, but someone else already mentioned they are often used in fund raisers, so I’ll assume that’s what’s up here.

      1. I appreciate that too. It’s the style that bugs me (not that I am sophisticated). Then you have the men trying to out yell each other in the background… gag a maggot.

        1. Well, the congregation is something else entirely — I will definitely grant you that. 😯

      2. I can understand the joyful noise thing to a degree. Actually the lady on the right has a decent voice and actually had a little more feeling to her singing that one usually hears at a IFB. The lady on the left on the other hand…

        1. there was definitely a distinct difference in the voices.

          Woman on the right has a legit bluegrass singing style and a very respectable vocal talent for that particular genre.

    2. “Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder etc”

      Ronnie Milsap – singer and piano player, had hit songs in the 1970s, 1980s

      1. Jose Feliciano, Blind Willie McTell, Blind Lemon Jefferson, etc.

        But, again, all of these musicians were good because they were good, not good because they were blind.

    3. Using their talents? Are you serious?
      This is some of the worst bawling I’ve ever heard– and I’ve heard– and even done myself– a great deal of bad singing.

      My ears made it through two whole minutes of the “singing.”

      I agree with those who’ve said that being blind doesn’t make you musical, and being blind doesn’t make you more spiritual than seeing people.

      This act kind of reminds me of the McCarther sisters, a pair of conjoined twins (linked at the head) who had a gospel singing career in the 1970s. Even the McCarthers themselves admitted they didn’t sing very well, but they nonetheless drew crowds.

      http://www.monstropedia.org/index.php?title=Yvette_and_Yvonne_McCarther

    4. The fact that they’re blind does give them a pass on those outfits they’re wearing, though. 😈

  14. Sometimes my wife and I entertain the thought of moving to the mountains… This is the eraser of such thoughts.

  15. The Enlighteners sang at a bunch of churches I attended growing up. They used tapes (“can music”) at churches where it was allowed (contemporary, traditional, etc.), and sang only acapella at others. My pastor at the time told us he saw them when he was preaching at a church in another state… they had put in one of their more upbeat tapes to sing and realized it was the wrong tape for the wrong church and stumbled all over themselves trying to explain it away. It was quite comical.

  16. My wife went to college in the Appalachia Mountains and she said that KFC buckets are a standard collection bucket.

    2. I have lived in Appalachia for 24 of my 37 years and don’t think I have never seen this.

      I have seen collection buckets used for the fire department guys that stand in the middle of the road and ask for money, but never a church. Unless I’m forgetting something.

      1. I’ve seen coffee cans on a back table where a tape rack is or in the library, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a KFC bucket used. Every church I ever remember being in used normal offering plates, or in the case of a Roman Catholic church, a net on a pole.

    3. I’ve seen it in several churches down south (souther than Appalachia), and it migrated north. The pastor of this church (I know him), probably picked it up from my old church in Ohio.

    4. I just thought this congregation was being frank about its reverence for fried chicken. 😕

  19. “This is my chicken. Fried perfectly and with 11 secret herbs and spices. Do this in rememberance of me.”

    Colonel Harlan J. Sanders.

      1. Except you eat from this spicy or original recipe or drink from these Pepsi products you shall have no part of our potluck.

  20. CLEARLY – this congregation needs to avoid KFC and CLEARLY – bucket sized foods need to be banned.

  21. Two thoughts immediately came to mind:

    Dr. Earl Holloway telling the CC Choir to “Use your lips, beloved.” (to avoid singing like that) and

    This gives a whole new meaning to “Singing for your supper!”

  22. Not to stereotype but….i count at least 13.

    BTW check out that pulpit!!

  23. Not sure what the big deal is. It is a KFC bucket for collecting money. So what. In the book of Acts people laid money at the apostles feet. Am I missing something here?

        1. Yeah, what’s next?
          Putting ad billboards around the sanctuary, as if it were a soccer stadium?
          Selling advertising space on the choir robes, a la NASCAR?

  24. Maybe it’s just me, but the lady on the left almost looks like she’s got five o’clock shadow, probably a trick of the light. 😕

    1. Or, you know, she could have PCOS or another hormonal problem that has triggered abnormal hair growth.

    4. Panada Rose, you need a timeout. Such cruel comments are for your own amusement because we certainly aren`t laughing.

      1. Apologies, wasn’t trying to be funny. Just wondering why she looked like that. truce? 😳 🙁

    5. Holy hell dude (or lady). The first comment or so I was able to write off. This is completely inappropriate even if you weren’t aware they were blind.

  25. I have to say that I’m disappointed at the personal nature of some of the comments here. I didn’t post this video to open a free-for-all on personal ridicule for these two ladies. I also didn’t realize they were blind until somebody else pointed it out.

    What struck me about the video is the marriage of consumerist culture (KFC Bucket) and the sacred (communion table). For such an ostensibly separated group fundy churches are still prone to the follies of the post-modern culture at large. They apparently don’t even know what kind of message they’re sending by the symbology they’re using.

    If you want to critique the performance for it’s musicality then feel free but don’t lower yourself to cheap shots.

    Thanks.

      1. The same goes for me. Maybe I shouldn’t have made that crack about their clothes. And their weight and appearance are beside the point.

        But their singing is truly awful. They are apparently professional or semi-professional performers, not just a couple of congregants who felt inspired to stand up and belt one out, so I think their musical qualities are fair to criticize.

    3. There’s something vile about the product placement, to be sure, and it’s only compounded by the fact that these two women are singing with such genuine conviction in apparent ignorance of the subtle message the whole picture portrays.

      It’s almost like they brought these women up as some sort of sick joke.

    4. These women probably grew up in a time (and place) where there were little employment opportunities for the disabled. Somewhat like the Blind Boys of Alabama. It’s good to know disabled people today have more options.

    5. Forgive me for asking, but why is the table considered sacred? It is a table. There is no spiritual significance placed on the table, just as there was no significance placed on the utensils utilized at the last supper.

      1. Wow. This can only come from a person with extremely little awareness of ecclesiastical history. There are still extremely vigorous debates about whether to place the table or the pulpit at the center of worship.

        1. The story (that IDK if can verify something so old) is that parishes/churches that were moving from Catholic to Protestant would often have to saw down their gates separating the audience from the presence of God represented by the table or pulpit, and move the table and place a pulpit at the center instead of at the side.

          Here’s a vigorous defense of pulpit centric worship I found on a quick search: http://onepassionministries.org/the-reformation-of-the-pulpit

          A main criticism of older generations of more modern churches is that they don’t have much at all at the center of their worship without either a pulpit or table. I don’t think it’s valid, but symbolism in the sanctuary always carries enormous implications.

        2. “Wow. This can only come from a person with extremely little awareness of ecclesiastical history.”
          Thanks for the assumption. I still want to know where the spiritual significance is of elevating the status of the table to something it isn’t. Christ didn’t do it, Paul and Peter didn’t do it. If churches put their offering plates on that table, it is wrong? What if a church had nothing else but a folding table to use, draped a nice tablecloth over the top of it, used it for communion, then broke it down, moved it outside and used it to hold food for a church picnic would it be wrong? All I am saying is the table is just a table. The important thing is the communion and why we partake of it. It isn’t the table, the little cups, the plates that hold the bread.

        3. Sorry, I sometimes overdo my rhetoric and use overblown language.

          I don’t think there’s any body of believers that I’ve ever heard of that didn’t give special place & function to the sacraments/ordinances of the church whether you identify as few as 2 or as many as 7 (I’m unaware of anyone identifying more than 7) they all have communion/mass/eucharist & baptism as occupying a very special place in church function and how we identify with the risen Savior. Church sanctuaries are generally designed to reflect the theological beliefs of where the various functions of the church should be prioritized, whether missional/evangelistic/sacramental/preaching or other placing things like the communion table or pulpit or nothing are ways to communicate symbolically what the church should be striving to live organically.

        4. In fairness church isn’t the only places that symbolism is fading as an art form. I suspect eventually most if not all will be devoid of symbolic designs. But IMO it’s very fair to criticize churches that embrace the symbolism of pulpits & communion tables for what they place on them (whether it’s american flags, or KFC buckets or KJV 1611 inscriptions).

        5. Last comment on the subject for now. I can easily see the case for non-denom modern churches that do away with the symbols making the argument that like the latin mass or the altar rails in the past that embracing symbolism forms a barrier to God by it’s existence in the sanctuary.

          I think that churches that don’t hold that as their position on symbolism in the sanctuary have the right to treat their symbols flippantly (as the one in this video does, and many do).

    6. Yeah, I thought this comment thread, was going to trail off into what “The eleven herbs and spices” recipe consists of, and that one of the ingredients is mono-sodium glutamate, that’s why KFC is a huge global food, because many, many people, throughout the World, love food that’s seasoned with MSG.

      And how MSG is overrated, and it makes the food from the nearest Chinese take-out joint seem tasty, yet somehow off, and it makes me feel funny.

      Then the strangeness of the KFC pieces that they serve, it’s shape and size, how it’s too consistently white with every piece. Their silly boneless ad campaign, etc., etc..

      1. It’s kind of beside the point of this discussion, but Colonel Sanders* figured out how to get more pieces out of a chicken by cutting it in odd places. That’s why KFC “pieces” are different from the usual ones.

        As long as I’m digressing, I’ll note that I once saw a KFC restaurant with a sign out front saying “Yes! We have livers!”
        Well, that’s good, but I assumed they did. Wouldn’t they die if they didn’t?

        *He wasn’t really a colonel. Also, he started the business in Indiana, but he thought “Kentucky” sounded better.

  26. There certainly is something … great… about the performance. 😈

  27. I’ve lived in WV my entire life and have seen KFC buckets used as donation buckets many times but never at church. I’ve never seen the kids collecting money and tossing it in thing, either. I have, unfortunately, heard worse singing, though. It’s all so weird and tacky.

    1. I have lived in WV my entire life as well, and have never seen a KFC collection bucket.

    2. I don’t quite get it. Buckets and other containers without logos can be had for a dollar or less at any dollar store and at many other stores. So it isn’t a money-saving thing.

      Maybe the people are just so used to having KFC around that they feel more comfortable in its presence?

      1. The weird and tacky part, to me, is that the children are throwing money in the bucket as they sing. It reminds me of street performers with their guitar cases open… not that there is anything wrong with that. I just don’t think it seems appropriate during a time of worship.

  28. And when He sees me, He sees the blood of the Lamb
    He sees me as worthy, and not as I am,
    He views me in garments as white as the snow
    For the Lamb of God is worthy,
    For He washed me, this I know!

    I loved it! Thanks Darrell!

    I Praise Him today, because He is worthy!!!!

    1. I love sincerely done folk music, precisely because it doesn’t require a specific, highly refined vocal style, and in fact is better when there is specific personality in the voice rather than being a cookie cutter pop or classical voice with all the heart trained out of it. This was certainly not that bad, and the words were pretty good!

      Now I of course would have been tempted to put some fried chickin in the bucket, cause that’s what its for.

  30. I wonder how much of our perception of fundamentalism comes through our sight. I would love to read thoughts on this. Or any of our senses for that matter. For example, this video would only be sound to me. And without someone else telling me, I would not have known the women were blind, nor would have I known corporate logo over a communion table issue.

    2. Fundamentalism is very visual. For instance, we look to see if we meet dress code — suits and ties for guys, appropriate skirts/blouses/dresses (and in many cases, nylons) for women. And let’s not forget hair length/color. Then there’s the issue of makeup and jewelry, not to mention tats. There are some people who think that vehicles need to polished every week. Let’s not forget our houses need to spotless and without dustbunnies. Guys should not look at store ads because they might see wimmin in lingerie or bathing suits. You can’t go to the mall because VS is there and that’s way too much temptation. You can’t go to the beach or to a swimming pool either, lest you see people being half-nekkid. Oh, and you always have to smile because you should always be joyful. Crying or being sad is forbidden. So yeah, it’s very visual.

      1. Interesting. You reminded me of a post a couple of weeks ago regarding memories of fundy-life. Many people were recalling visually. Some were recalling smells too.

    3. This is something that I (in retrospect) appreciated about the choirs, special music, and vespers in a Roman Catholic mass: the “performers” aren’t in front of the congregation, where visuals distract, but rather (usually) behind the congregation in an elevated “choir loft” where they can be ‘heard, and not seen’. Ditto the organist.

      Because the music flows over you, and not At you, the distractions are minimized, and you are left with the sounds alone to move your soul to worship. It’s for this reason that I usually keep my eyes closed throughout the music portion of our church services. I really don’t care what the singer weighs or wears, I want to get the meaning and spirit of the song.

  31. This is the one of the rare videos that I could not bring myself to finish listening to. When the first song ended, I was grateful, but then the music started again with a new song, and I couldn’t take it.

    I guess I’m missing something here; most churches I have been in have offering places sitting on the communion table, so having a bucket there is not a problem – I guess the issue is using a KFC (secular, commercial business) on the communion table, which is supposed to be set apart for spiritual stuff.

    I’ve been in some churches in which children bring an offering, and they collect the offering in some kind of bucket. Often, the children bring rolls of pennies; sometimes it is a competition about which offering weighs more (boys vs girls). This is the first time I’ve seen a KFC bucket, though.

    If seems a little tacky to me; why not spring for a nice, anonymous bucket instead of using the KFC bucket?

  32. Looking again, it’s hard for me to tell if the ladies had poor eyesight, are truly blind, or just prefer to stand still. Now if they were DEAF… 😛

  34. There are few things in church that I hold sacred; communion being one of them. Several years ago a local boys camp (correctional) attended our church service on a communion Sunday. A DEACON thought it would be funny to “surprise” the pastor. Instead of the communion bread, he put mini marshmallows in the trays. FACE PALM Most people were absolutely mortified. An older gentleman behind me asked his wife, “What are they using for the juice – Pepsi?”

    1. You know, I have a completely irreverent sense of humor, and even I find that “surprise” appalling with its complete lack of respect. 👿

    2. Somehow Communion doesn’t seem like the right time and place to be making a funny.

  36. When I saw the picture, I assumed that Darrell was pointing out the “corporate sponsorship” on the Communion Table at the “Old Fashioned Altar”. As for the offering, it is my guess that it is a Dollar Offering. I have been in churches that have the kids go around and collect (shake down from the adults) dollar bills and drop them into a bucket, large jar, or some other collection device. These dollars usually help offset the cost of some kind of kids ministry like VBS, help with camp scholarships, AWANA, or similar. Since it was kids going back and forth, I assume that is the offering.
    A chicken bucket will hold a lot of dollars than an offering plate without them overflowing into the floor, and psychologically you want a bucket that doesn’t fill easily so people will continue to give until it is full.
    It could have been a love offering, but the use of kids reminds me of the dollar offerings I have seen.

    1. That is exactly what I thought too.

      I saw KFC buckets used as offering buckets a lot in WNC. But mostly in bigger gatherings where the offering was indeed so large that an offering plate would have have held it all. Plus, KFC buckets are light, so easier for the ushers to carry.
      It really had nothing to do with the fact that the buckets were from KFC.

  37. I grew up in a church where lil ole ladies would sing their hearts out….it wouldnt be perfect pitch but it was sincere worship….I got nothin but respect for anyone that does it. I now go to a larger church and everything is practiced and perfected to the nth degree….I kinda miss my country sisters n brothers…in fact I was singing some of those old songs to myself today while I was cleaning my stretcher outside the hospital….you gotta understand that im a 3rd day, day of fire kind of guy when it comes to music…but every once in a while I go back to my roots.

    I have found the way
    I have found the way
    Glory halleluliah
    I have found the way….

  38. Did anybody else notice at the end a woman in purple came up to take the microphones and when she was leaning down by the woman on the left she shoved her arm out of the way? Guess she wasn’t happy with the singing.

    1. I already addressed that. I didn’t realize that when I posted the video.

      But either way the focus wasn’t on the ladies singing but on the KFC bucket which I just found really confusing. Apparently some people find that kind of thing to be normal and that confuses me even more.

      1. It is odd, especially given the fundy emphasis on outward appearances and doing everything “decently and in order”. Then again, having people run up in the middle of a concert to put money in the bucket isn’t exactly orderly.

      2. Yeah, the KFC bucket was a mainstay at my childhood IFB home. Not in the main auditorium, but in our countless “old fashioned sawdust trail camp-meetin’ tent revivals”.

  41. I liked the singing except for a few parts where they did not harmonize well and a few very off key notes. Besides that, I enjoyed the worship they offered and could see the joy in their hearts (where?) down in their hearts. The KFC thing was kinda weird I will admit. I really didn’t see anything wrong with this except the KFC bucket. The songs had great lyrics and had a powerful message. Plus, I think the style of music is cultural to that area so like I say..I don’t see any real issue here.

  42. I drove by the KFC headquarters in Louisville KY the other day. That has nothing to do with anything….just a fun fact.

    Its odd that people can come on here and make fun of a fat preacher but not the weight of these women If they were not blind would it then be fair game? Or is it because the fat preacher is going on and on about every other sin except gluttony and is therefore a hypocrite?

    1. I definitely think it is the hypocrisy. “For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged” (Matt. 7:2)

      2. “For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged”

        And yet, I still think that most people who take potshots at a person’s physical appearance (facial hair, body size, wtfever) are making themselves look petty and childish. There are so many, so very many, things with which we can disagree with these IFBs, so many abusive behaviors we can condemn, but apparently those aren’t nearly as fun to criticize as a person’s waistline. 🙄

    2. I want to go on record by apologizing about the two ladies’ appearance: I know I said some unkind, if unintended things. They can’t help being what they are, even if they’re Fundy, and it is a shame they are blind and rather heavy.
      Their singing, on the other hand… 🙄

  43. Using the KFC bucket for the offering, and having people come up during the service… is a “camp-meeting” thing. I have experience with this going back 26+ years ago.

    In our camp-meeting there was usually one night devoted to raising the thousands needed for all of the big-name singers and preachers.

    The appalling thing is that the lead evangelist would hold a mic and have people tell what they were giving, or hoped to give (e.g. next weeks paycheck, a double-barrel shotgun, $5 because that is all that I have to my name)

    My father would visit the meetings, but he always checked with me first because he didn’t want to show up on the night they were pushing the “beggar’s bucket” (his words).

    The whole thing was a contradiction to several scriptures and is beyond me how no one seemed to see that. Everyone was always thrilled if someone got “saved” during the offering. 🙄

  44. I found the KFC bucket on the altar/communion table disrespectful & the kids constantly running up to put money in it extremely distracting.

    As for the ladies’s singing: culturally appropriate & great lyrics. Something about it feels wrong to me; almost as if they’re viewed as novelty entertainment instead of a genuine ministry. *This is my opinion, and does not necessarily reflect the true spirit of what’s happening in the clip.*

    1. Yes, novelty entertainment.
      Or, as J. Heller said, “these women make their living reinforcing the patronizing and demeaning attitudes of the adults enjoying a different kind of minstrel show.”

      I’ve commented here before about the similarity of Fundy, Evangelical, and Pentacostal evangelistic styles to a circus or a freak show. I think this is a case in point.

      1. Why is it novelty entertainment? Because they are blind?
        Are they part of the fundy “freak” show because they are blind and singing in church? Seems cruel to make the comments you made.

        1. If they were good singers, their being blind wouldn’t enter into it.

          When Stevie Wonder plays, nobody makes a big deal out of him being blind– the attraction is that his music is good.

          But since they aren’t, I conclude that much of their act’s appeal seems to derive from the fact that they ARE blind, or at least that a different critical standard is being used from what would apply to sighted singers.

          That different standard calls to mind what Samuel Johnson said about a dog walking on its hind legs: “It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.”

          Even so, this is sort of low-rent as sideshow attractions go. A blind singer isn’t really all that amazing or rare. A blind sharpshooter, or an armless pianist, or a juggler without hands– that would be more amazing.

          I don’t see how it’s cruel of me to say that they’re using their blindness to sell their act when they themselves advertise it on the very top line of their web site’s home page:
          http://theenlighteners.com/index.htm

          Now, I realize that a few of the people who’ve commented here think that The Enlighteners are truly good singers. There we have an honest difference of opinion. As some regulars here will be aware, my musical tastes are nothing if not broad, but I find The Enlighteners’ performance anything but enjoyable and anything but edifying.

        2. It’s a matter of style. I don’t feel like I have the footing to pass some sort of anti-fundamentalist carte blanche judgment on these women, or the people that enjoy their ministry.

  45. On the buckets: speculating here, but churches don’t normally just have KFC buckets on hand for a collection, especially when they have offering plates. The normal way to get a bucket is to just see a manager in charge, identify what one wants the bucket for, and off the person goes with the buckets the store can spare. I’ve seen buckets at charity carwashes, churches, tent meetings, even street corner shakedowns for a fireworks show. It’s just a guess, but it would fit the way things are done if the singers brought the bucket with them. The church agrees to a freewill offering, and they have the bucket.

    I doubt there is any kind of corporate policy on giving buckets away, except for staying away from anything too political. Giving the buckets is probably decided at the franchise level. However, in 2010, the company did a fundraiser for the Komen Foundation: http://voices.yahoo.com/kfc-unveils-pink-buckets-breast-cancer-cause-5832744.html. That did not go as they had hoped.

    Though my mention of diabetes caused offense, there has also been this moment of cognitive dissonance: http://www.foodpolitics.com/2011/06/the-latest-in-cause-marketing-kfc-pepsi-and-diabetes/

    1. I’ll assume you read neither my comment nor the link you posted. Type 1 diabetes (juvenile diabetes) is NOT caused by a poor diet. Nothing in your link said that it was (perhaps you didn’t notice?) The outcry was due to the sugary beverages, which are obviously not healthy for anyone and certainly not someone whose body no longer makes ANY insulin.

      Hope this helps you better understand. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/type-1-diabetes/DS00329/DSECTION=risk-factors

      1. Agreed, Type 1 diabetes is not caused by dietary factors. But still, isn’t it sort of beyond the pale to link fundraising for juvenile diabetes aid to the sale of “Mega Jugs” of Pepsi?

        Whatever the cause of the diabetes, it could kill a person with severe diabetes to drink the contents of a Mega Jug.

        1. “The outcry was due to the sugary beverages, which are obviously not healthy for anyone and certainly not someone whose body no longer makes ANY insulin.”

          So … yeah. I said that.

      2. The KFC/Komen Foundation joint promotion raises eyebrows, too, given that a high-fat diet is a suspected risk factor for breast cancer, and a known risk factor for colon cancer.

  47. Hmm…strange, but I just don’t have a problem with any of this.

    I liked the singing, and I’m glad these ladies didn’t throw in the towel on life and sit around being pitied. It’s kinda inspirational.

    And the KFC bucket? Shrug. Fundies do a hell of a lot worse…like, for instance DESTROYING PEOPLES’ LIVES.

    The worst thing about fundamentalism is the abusive and destructive doctrine. Anything not directly tied to that I don’t know where to start criticizing.

    Keep the sweet blind ladies and the KFC Bucket. Burn the doctrine and the massive ecclesiastical sense of entitlement.

  49. I can’t even stand the IFB crowd – AT ALL! I don’t want anything to do with them! I met these ladies about 15 years ago and I have NEVER forgotten the way they made me feel. I have NEVER forgotten the sweet spirit. I have NEVER forgotten the 1 on 1 conversations my wife and I had with the lady on the left and the struggles they have and have had in the ministry. The advantages and criminal things that have been done to them because they were blind is incomprehensible to me. I love and admire these ladies and will NEVER forget them! This is much different than the “I would love to forget” the way the IFB has made me feel!

  50. They are actually pretty darn good singers, for those of us (like me) who like the “brother where art thou” variety. KFC buckets are great!

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