Calvary Chapel Opposes Free-speech

There is a Calvary Chapel USENET (Internet news) newsgroup called alt.religion.christian.calvary-chapel.

The newsgroup was started by Calvary Chapel of Old Bridge's Music Minister, George Hillman, with the approval of the Calvary Chapel leadership. The newsgroup "took a turn for the worse" when people arrived and started asking pointed questions about Calvary Chapel's theology and church government. For the Calvary Chapel leadership, this was the first time that people actually had a chance to discuss issues relating to Calvary Chapel in an open and free manner without fear of reprisal.

In response, Calvary Chapel tried to shut down the newsgroup. The last time that anyone tried to shut down a newsgroup was two years earlier when the Church of $cientology tried to shut down a newsgroup that got out of control.

This action earned Calvary Chapel the "Kook of the Week" award. Free speech advocates from all over the Internet flocked to support the newsgroup. The end result backfired because the newsgroup ended up being carried by more newservers than ever before.

To check out the history of this newsgroup, see Deja.com. To learn to post anonymously to the newsgroup, check out this site. Try a post to alt.test first to be sure you know how to post anonymously.

It was reportedly beginning to hurt the leaders inside CC who had started the newsgroup. After all, they had bred this monster which was "out of control" (the worst thing imaginable in a top down hierarchy). It harmed their prestige that they had not for seen the consequences and they were pressured to shut down the group. Fortunately, for all of us, that was not allowed to happen and you can now ask your questions free of retribution. Just don't expect an answer. If we had gotten some answers, this page never would have existed. Since they do not control the door to the newsgroup, they cannot show you to it.