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OMG? 'Yahweh' gets Facebook page
New social media page under God's name enrages religious Jewish users who say it ridicules religion. Owner insists he fails to understand the fuss
A new Facebook page is causing holy mayhem on the Internet, as it claims to be none other than God's very own social media page.
The page, which sports the name "Yahweh," has invoked the wrath of religious Jewish Facebook users, who see the use of the name as offensive.
The fact that the page seems hell-bent on ridiculing the Jewish religion only adds fuel to the online fire.
What's in a Name?
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The page has so far garnered over 5,000 "Likes" and most of its posts attempt to poke fun at various issues from the bible.
The "About" section, for example, reads: "I'm everywhere and I can do anything! Yes, even create a rock that I can’t pick up – and then pick it up."
Status updates include statements like "Will now try to break personal record set 5,772 years ago, and create the world in only five days," and photos of people praying at the Western Wall, with the caption "Me and the kids, having fun."
Many atheists who have "liked" the page encourage its owner's endeavor and sympathize with the sarcastic humor and religious-jabs posted on its wall.
Not surprisingly, the page is also riddled with threats and curses from users who oppose it. Those range from outrage over the page's existence to outright threats of physical violence against the page's owner.
'What's the big deal'?
The page's owner is a former religious man, who – some may say not surprisingly – is also one of the administrators of a parallel page called "Atheists, how do you do."
Asked about the reasons that made him open a page he must have known would irk so many people, he said that the decision was formed after a page bearing a similar name was closed by Facebook, following users' complaints of content abuse: "It made me really angry and I decided to protest," he said.
The page
"I really don't understand what's the big deal here," he added. "I've tried asking some of them but they haven’t bothered answering yet."
As for ridiculing the Jewish religion on the page, he said: "I'm fighting religion with its own tools. I don’t know of any other way in which you can deal with religious claims, which I find to be irrational.
"I don't try to hide my beliefs – I truly believe that the world would be a better place without religion," he said.
He also posted a poignant question at those cussing him out: "How can you be so sure I'm not 'Yahweh,' the one true God? You don’t doubt page after page of fairytales written in the Torah. Is an online page by God that unbelievable? Explanation, anyone?"
While he knows repeated complaints of content abuse may soon mean that this page, like its predecessor, will be shut down, its growing popularity has prompted him to seek some assistance in running the page.
The result? A post reading like a job listing seeking "angels," whom he needs in order to "Help out around the page, so I can get on with running the world and reading all those notes left on the Western Wall."
Many were not amused. Death threats, he said, have become common. "The funniest ones are those who say 'God will punish you.' How will he punish me? I'm him."
