Barney, a Dinosaur Demon? Pastor Says He’s Too New Age

As if Sheryl Leach didn’t have enough problems.

Although some people think Barney, Leach’s creation, is obnoxious, most believe he’s harmless. But not the Rev. Joseph Chambers, who worries that Barney is a New Age demon leading America’s children astray by introducing them to the occult.

In his new booklet, “The Purple Messiah,” Chambers cites an episode in which Barney conjures up Mother Goose--who pops out of a book of nursery rhymes--by uttering “Shimboree, shimborah,” a common expression heard on the TV show. This sequence, Chambers claims, is a seance.

“I’m not on a crusade,” insists the Free Pentecostal pastor, who heads the Paw Creek Ministries in Charlotte, N.C., and describes the series as an insidious attack on families. “They transcend the real and get into New Age philosophy. It’s absolutely antithesis to the Bible.”

For instance, families never appear, leaving Barney to provide the “comfort, joys and instructions” of everyday life. “Mama is kept apart, so (Barney) is a secret. The real family is excluded,” he says. “And to a Christian, Jesus should be a child’s next best friend.”

Chambers also accuses Barney of endorsing too much diversity. “When it comes to a moral lifestyle, I’m not for teaching people that pedophiles and homosexuals are on the same level” as parents, he says. “The program is a politically correct extreme of the liberal-left agenda.”

As he writes in his booklet, “when you mix captivating entertainment, catchy songs and emotionally satisfying music with a message that glorifies the creator of all of it, you have the making of a cult. Barney has become the leader of a children’s cult.”