It's the Web's latest flash-in-the-pan viral video sensation: a gay-bashing ditty titled "The Bible Says" from a Houston-based Christian rock group called Evening Service. (It was most recently available here.) Most reactions to the song, whether angry or agreeable, have presumed its authenticity, but it's looking more and more like this bit of hummable hate speech is just a cleverly-wrought hoax.

For those who haven't been able to catch the clip before its Web hosts pulled it, the video features a self-avowed reformed homosexual named Donnie Davies belting out laughably offensive lyrics, all to the musical stylings of an '80s-style hair band. (A sample: "Read the Bible/ You'll be sure/ To enter heaven/ There's no back door ... 'cuz God Hates a Fag.")

According to his website, Davies is affiliated with Love God's Way Ministries, which describes itself as a Houston-based Christian youth guidance center. Love God's Way claims to operate a program called C.H.O.P.S, an acronym for Changing Homosexuals into Ordinary People. (In a follow-up video, Davies claims C.H.O.P.S is about to be unleashed on gay kids nationwide.) The group has also compiled a list of "safe" and "gay" musicians. Cyndi Lauper is "safe," but the Scissor Sisters, Frank Sinatra, and, for some reason, Ghostface Killah are "gay." (Elton John is listed twice. Morrissey is classified as "questionable.")

The unintentional humor of it all strikes a few commentators, including Andrew Sullivan and Dan Savage, as too perfect to be true. They may be onto something. Neither Donnie Davies nor Love God's Way responded to inquiries from Radar, but scrutiny of their websites raises some red flags. For one thing, both sites were registered by Domains by Proxy on October 25, 2006. The company allows clients to register domains while safeguarding their anonymity. (DonnieDavies.com was registered even more recently, on Dec. 2.) A copyright on the Evening Service website dates back to 1999, though searches on both Lexis and Internet Archive turn up no hits from before this week—a strong indicator the sites just went live.

Then there's the matter of Jason Bolicki, a gay director whose name surfaced on YouTube among commenters speculating on the video's origin. Reached for comment at his home in Chicago, Bolicki denied any association with the video but said he laughed out loud when he saw it "a couple weeks ago." How'd you see it a couple weeks ago when there's no record of the video existing before January 23? "Hm. Well, maybe I have the timing wrong."