Betty Bowers is the fictional central character on the satirical website BettyBowers.com. The character is a parody of a hypocritical American Christian.
The character and the content associated with the character were created by writer Paul A. Bradley. Betty Bowers is currently portrayed by voice actor and comedienne Deven Green, appearing both in photographs and numerous satirical videos.
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According to Bradley's fictional satirical biography of Mrs. Betty Bowers, she proclaims herself "America's Best Christian".[1] Bowers operates several Christian ministries with names like "Bringing Integrity To Christian Homemakers" (B.I.T.C.H.)[2] and "Baptists Are Saving Homosexuals" (B.A.S.H.).[3] She is a member of Landover Baptist Church,[4] which she claims is "God's favorite church". Bowers is depicted in "photographs" as prim and proper, usually with a look of disdain or disapproval on her face.[5]
The character, as well as the content of the website, was created by Paul A. Bradley, who is also one of the lead writers for the websites LandoverBaptist.org (a parody site concerning religion) and Whitehouse.org. Bradley is the sole author of all material on the Betty Bowers site, as well as the author of What Would Betty Do? (Simon & Schuster 2002), based on the same character. Bradley was also a co-author of The White House Employee Handbook (Penguin 2004) and Welcome to Jesusland! (formerly the United States of America) (Time Warner 2006). The character Betty Bowers appears in all three of these books. [6]
Via the Betty Bowers website, the character is used to make satirical statements regarding the Religious Right, homosexuality and gay rights, creationism, religious fundamentalism, and the Republican Party, among others. The content of the website and site "newsletters" varies; sometimes the satire is a tongue-in-cheek spoof of its intended target, whereas other pieces may have content that is directly critical of those targets.
Bowers also has written several movie reviews, most notably for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone,[7] Hannibal[8] and The Passion of the Christ.[9] She claims Harry Potter is a "one-way ticket to hell," and that it is a terrible movie due to its depiction of witchcraft, while commenting that Hannibal is a wonderful depiction of God's true nature and that The Passion of the Christ is a great family film.
The character's surname, along with that of fellow Landover Baptist member Brother Harry Hardwick, derives from Bowers v. Hardwick, the 1986 U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding a Georgia sodomy law.
