Remember this video?
I recently received the following email in response to my posting of the above video on YouTube that Mr. Downing filmed during our “Southern Exposure” Tour:
AMILLENNIAL has sent you a message on YouTube:
Subject: BAPTIST PREACHER SINGING
IT IS OK NOT TO BELIEVE, OR DISAGREE
AND IT WOULD BE BETTER TO JUST LEAVE IT ALONE, THAN TO MAKE FUN OF IT.
THAT KIND OF SINGING, AND PREACHING, AND WORSHIPPING COMES FROM A LOT OF HARD YEARS.
AND ALSO I GUESS YOU ARE MAKING FUN OF THEM WHEN YOU CALL THEM REDNECKS, YOU NEED TO LOOK UP THE WORD REDNECK AND GET THE REAL MEANING. NOTHING MORE THAN A HARD WORKING MAN, THATS BEEN IN THE SUN.
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Dear readers know that I love comments and correspondence. So, far be it from me to leave even our Pentecostal readers/viewers without a response. For those of you not familiar with Pentecostals, Pentecostals are the branch of radical, fundamentalist Protestantism from which Appalachian rattlesnake-juggling sects derive. They’re the ones who speak in tongues and fall on the floor, writhing under the influence of the Holy Spirit… or, more likely, their own psychosomatic disorders.
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Below is my response:
Thank you for your correspondence. I always enjoy receiving comments and feedback.
First of all, we maintained a respectful distance from this congregation and did not interrupt the service in any way (even though there was a “welcome” sign outside). Here is the link to the still images of the church and interior if you are curious what it looked like.
Secondly, I forwarded your comments to the photographer and his response addresses your second paragraph quite aptly, I believe.
“I think my only response might be that if that’s the best they can do after ‘a lot of hard years,’ then perhaps they’d be better off trying something else, or doing nothing at all. Or not doing it with their backs to the sun.”
Lastly, I actually do know the historical origins of the word “redneck”. However, language and words evolve. For example: I am a happy person, but I would not describe myself as “gay” because that word means something very different today than it did fifty years ago. Likewise, “redneck” no longer refers to someone that simply spends long days toiling in the sun.
No reply has been received…
The Velvet Rocket 
In all seriousness, this still fucking delights me.