Kentucky church sparks backlash after bizarre skit showing the devil being executed by firing squad at youth event
A church in Kentucky has sparked backlash after a bizarre skit showing the devil being executed by a firing squad at a youth event went viral.
The video was filmed at a vacation bible school held by Mt. Olivet Baptist Church in Lexington and posted online, prompting a firestorm from commenters concerned about the skit potentially promoting violence and traumatizing children.
Pastor Dewayne Walker defended the skit, saying in a video posted to Facebook Monday, “The clip you saw was simply killing the devil. I’ll be honest with you, if I could kill the devil every day and raise him up and kill him again, I’d do it. He’s the one we hate.”
In the video, a group of people dressed in camouflage and carrying air rifles walked down an aisle, with a crowd of kids and adults on either side. As the group reached the stage at the front of the room, Walker can be heard saying, “Take him out, blow him up.”
Kids joined the chant as the group of pretend soldiers fired compressed air at a person dressed in all black lying on the steps of the stage.
As the person in black flailed from the pretend gunfire, kids could be heard screaming. The person in black was then dragged outside.
Walker started to count up from one, asking the kids, “What’s after four?” As the pastor reached the number eight, a loud bang sounded from outside.
When the clip was posted on Reddit last week, the skit was criticized as “hideous.”
“This is intentionally inflicting trauma on children. What is wrong with these people??” one Reddit user commented.
“Adults are subjecting children to realistic violence, encouraging them to participate, and glorifying both,” another said.
Kathi Crowe, a volunteer with the Kentucky chapter of the gun violence prevention group Moms Demand Action, told FOX 56 in reaction to the skit, “Like many who live here, I found this unbelievably disturbing.”
“Subjecting kids to a full-scale simulated tactical raid and firing squad is just an appalling abuse of that space, and a major breach of trust that can’t go unaddressed,” Crowe said.
Reverend Leah Schade, a seminary professor and ordained minister in Lexington, told LEX 18 News, “If I had sent my child to that [Vacation Bible School], I would be horrified.”
“I myself was traumatized thinking about all the children who witnessed this enactment of violence.”
