If you want to get an idea of the mentality driving the religious right, look no further than the reaction some fundies are having to a new show due to air this fall on Oxygen.

Preachers of L.A. delves into the lifestyles of five prominent Southern California preachers--Noel Jones, Deitrick Haddon,  Clarence McClendon, Wayne Chaney, Ron Gibson and Jay Haizlip.  Check out the trailer here.

The five pastors aren't the least bit shy about defending their opulent lifestyles.  Gibson, for instance, says that he has as much right to a mansion as Jay-Z.  

Well, a bunch of fundies aren't the least bit happy about it.  According to Charisma magazine, they're trying to get the show canceled.

A group that calls itself Christians Against Preachers of L.A. has launched a petition on change.org against the show, which highlights the luxurious lifestyles of the six Southern California megachurch pastors.

“Biblical prosperity is not about wealth building. This is a poor representation of the Kingdom of God,” the petition states. “These preachers’ lifestyles are NOT promoting Christ ethos but rather their cars, homes, relationships, and their justification on why they want viewers to see them as having fleshly desires as everyone else does.”

The petition, which began last week in an effort to get the Oxygen Network to cancel Preachers of L.A., has garnered more than 60 signatures and is hoping for 100 total.

Oh, boo-hoo-hoo.  It would be one thing if the show was inaccurate, but to say it should be taken off the air because it portrays pastors negatively?  Your thin skin is showing.  And it says a lot about Charisma--the self-proclaimed mouthpiece of the charismatic movement--that they're highlighting this effort.  

You may have noticed that whenever someone puts together anything that's even the least bit critical of a fundie outfit, they wring their hands and scream, "You're oppressing us!"  If you'll remember, a few weeks ago Virginia lieutenant governor candidate E.W. Jackson declared that the media has no right to call him out on his wingnuttery because he was speaking as a pastor.

I've seen this first-hand.  Many of you know that back in my days at Carolina, I was tricked into joining a campus ministry affiliated with one of the more notorious dominionist/NAR groups, Every Nation.  Whenever I spoke out against them, the response I usually got from them wasn't that I was wrong.  No, no.  It was that I had no right to tear them down.  

If you've ever wondered why the religious right thinks we have no right to criticize them, this is why.