The problem with theory A is that the person using death and disaster to score cheap points is no less reprehensible than the loony Godist in theory B.

If it's not a cruel spoof, maybe it's a combination of the loss of perspective that comes with blind worship, and the lack of editorial control over what gets published and how far and how fast it is distributed.

but Poe's Law always interferes with that:

“Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of fundamentalism that someone won't mistake for the real thing.”

But the person is real and the fact that she's taken the time to put this up is, to my mind, a little bit heartbreaking.

people like this have been around for as long as religion. It's not a phenomenon of modern times for this kind of opinion to be expressed in this way.

You shouldn't be scared though. That's fuel for people like this.

See my rage elsewhere about why this saddens me so much.

Words sometimes fail me. I think STD sums it up well - truly heartbreaking.

If it is fake, she's been doing it for a long while: there's almost a years worth of these things. I've had a flick through and her first video is about a job interview (no mention of religion), but the rest appears to be stuff like this. You question her sanity either way. Grim.

Deluded and fucked up it may be but I'm sure she is sincere. To refer to Japan as an atheist nation takes a very particular kind of religious delusion. 119 million shinto may beg to differ with her.

Why is it that Christianity seems to have the market cornered on proselytisers?

I thought it was real. I'd put money on it being a troll now.

A mentally ill young girl with sincere but rather offensive views. 20 years ago people like her would have been the 'manic street preacher' getting funny looks off passers-by, but thanks to Web 2.0 she has a worldwide platform.

But seriously. This young woman mentions hell a few times without realising that she is there, now. What is she, seventeen or something? We're all confused when we're that young, we're all rubbish at thinking properly. Most of us are at an advantage, though, because we know we're confused. She thinks she's certain, and her certainty has bent her moral compass like a pretzel. It's really sad. She's deeply, deeply unwell.

It doesn't make me angry, except at the people who've allowed her to get to this point. It doesn't make me scared, particularly - people this extreme aren't likely to get a mainstream political platform, not even Palin. It makes me sad.

I hope to fuck she's not:

a) Another one of those 'brave', 'risk-taking' 'transgressive' comics. I'm talking about the type who, when poking fun at religion, show how courageous they are by picking on a branch (in this Christianity) that doesn't have much of a recent track record for, oh, off the top of my head ... issuing fatwas on writers, killing film-makers, blowing up infidels ... y'know, that sort of thing.
I guess to satirise a religion with followers who did things like that would be in rather bad taste. No, it's much more 'cutting-edge' to stick it to those loony Christians.

But thankfully, it's more likely that this woman is:

b) A nutter who probably needs professional help.

who has taken her belief in her God to it's absolute level, fundamentalism if you like. It's not far removed from the seven virgin promise that supposedly encouraged the 9/11 suicide squad. Religion has immense power for good, it has immense power for bad. I'm off to Tesco for a chocolate pudding and some beer.

Intelligent, well educated and yes good people on the whole. But even though we get on we never discuss the fact that I'm not religious, a very lapsed Catholic to make matters worse (they see themselves as rebels against the established corrupt church). I've lived in sin, had casual sex, taken drugs and I have gay friends. They are family and I love them, but their branch of Born Again Christianity is so against my life that I wouldn't be able to be friends with them if I wasn't related. As it is it's difficult to cope with sometimes. Especially when they describe homosexuality as an illness that can be cured by prayer, or that the current troubles wouldn't have happened if people only believe in God.

Just to expand on the types of people they are, they are educated to degree level, one is a teacher, and the others all hold high ranking jobs in the fields they are in. They are not stupid ignorant people, but in a lot of instances they are completely blinded by their beliefs.

And the church they see themselves as part of has the pulling power to sell out large venues like Wembley Arena on a regular basis. These kind of views are not those of unwell people, these are normal people who are more than likely working alongside some of you on these boards, living next door, walking down the aisle of the Tescos that Dave Amitri featured the other day.

Don't underestimate fundamentalism as the beliefs of ignorant or unwell.

- because if it is a 'skit' (or indeed if it's real) someone has just posted her real name and address in the Youtube comments.

on the embedded clip in the OP and it says

This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by LaughAloneTV

20 minutes ago LaughAloneTV twittered:

We do not have any affiliation with TAMTAMPAMELA her video was claimed by mistake and when we tried to fix she had already closed her acc.

It's been taken down.

Now watching.

Have just watched. I can't be bothered doing the work that BigJimBob did, but as it ended I started to think "Troll."

However that may be my atheistic bias speaking here, me being unable to believe that anyone actually thinks like this really. As someone else posted people like Falwell, Robertson and Beck have said some truly distasteful things following natural disasters in the past. This is just as likely to be someone foreshadowing an offensive statement from a religious loon, prior to one taking place.

However without the offensive statement itself to satirize, you just have a load of old drivel.

The logic hurts. Maybe she is just "some nutcase." If so then I feel sorry for her. Her life must be awful.

...(a) (Although she comes across more self-centered, smug attention seeker than super-intelligent master of satirical wit)

I was at a Christening on Sunday and the minister went for a similar theme. Pretty inappropriate for the occasion. Afterwards he was asking us all if he'd managed to convert us. I was quite shocked that this sort of preaching still went on, I thought it was going to be the usual C&E 'do you believe in God oh no never mind have some cake'

http://uk.kotaku.com/5782029/this-woman-just-trolled-the-entire-internet

The scary thing is that it is so believable. With bishops and pastors saying that, for example, the New Orleans disaster or Haiti was god's punishment.

It may have been a parody/satire but no doubt there are people who do think like that.

there's no god - last night I saw a clip on the One Show where Burt Bacharach had produced Ronan Keating's new album.