Jack Van Impe, Hal Lindsey and similar professional Nostradamus clones, have plenty of job security.  All they have to do is sit back and watch the current President. If he fails they respond, "Didn't I tell you guy was no good."  If he suceeds they respond, "What do you expect, after all, he's the anit-Christ."  Others in the current job market do not enjoy such employment security.  Some in the Religous Right have come up with simple solutions to solve the current economic crisis.

In previous posts I have called for mainstream Catholics to offer remonstrance - an earnest presentation of reasons for opposition or grievance against the reactionaries now fomenting schism within the Church; and against a U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that increasingly sound more like its most theocratic ally inclined members. And there is no better example than the bishops' opportunistic efforts to hold health insurance reform hostage to their antiabortion agenda.

Well, spring is in the air, and that can mean only one thing. It's time for a member of Congress to introduce a resolution proclaiming the first weekend of May "Ten Commandments Weekend." This time, the resolution comes from Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA).

TV evangelist Pat Robertson's 80th birthday is on Monday, and to mark that momentous occasion, the Virginia legislature decided to pass a resolution lauding him a great American, visionary leader and all-around swell fellow.

The resolution is full of the "whereases" and flowery language that are common in this type of thing. It lauds Robertson's creation of the Christian Broadcasting Network, Regent University, the American Center for Law and Justice and the Christian Coalition.

The mainstream media has plenty of time and space to devote to Sarah Palin's Hollywood hi-jinks, but apparently has little interest in delving into her fantastic religious connections.  

A few weeks back, I interviewed Rachel Tabachnick about a movement of religious conservatives called the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). The story, which appeared at Alternet on Monday, March 1, was given the rather tantalizing title, "Heads Up: Prayer Warriors and Sarah Palin Are Organizing Spiritual Warfare to Take Over America". The subhead was also a juicy tease, advising that the NAR was likely "the largest religious movement you've never heard of" (http://www.alternet.org/news/145796/).

All-in-all, the piece was probably the most extensive article/interview yet published on this movement. While the piece didn't go "viral," it did provoke an interesting response. Within a few days, it became one of the "Most READ," "Most EMAILED" and "Most DISCUSSED" articles at Alternet.

A number of websites and blogs linked to the story, including such popular sites at The Huffington Post, Daily Kos, TruthOut, and Beliefnet. A host of lesser-trafficked blogs including God's Poetry Factory, God Discussion, End Bigotry in Venango County [Pennsylvania], The Oread Daily, and "The Christian Radical," also linked to - or ran --  the story.  

There were tweets, Reddits, and Diggs.

The mainstream media, however, didn't pay it any mind.

Last week I wrote about Prime Minister Netanyahu's participation at John Hagee's CUFI rally held in Jerusalem on the evening of Joe Biden's arrival in Israel.   Since that time Netanyahu has claimed that the announcement of new housing units in East Jerusalem was accidental, and the ambush of Biden unintentional.  But there has been almost no mainstream press acknowledgement of Netanyahu's participation at the CUFI rally, an event which  indicates his willingness to blatantly snub the Obama administration and peace talk attempts.

I have written another more detailed article titled A Serial Obstuctionist for Zeek, an online publication of the Jewish Daily Forward.  This incident deserves more exposure for several reasons.  

Glenn Beck's recent admonition that people who attend a church that teaches social justice should leave -- was anti-Catholicism. This was obvious from a wide range of perspectives --from a Jesuit scholar to a liberal newspaper columnist and a neoconservative evangelical blogger.

Yet perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this tawdry episode was that stepping forward to defend Glenn Beck was none other than Bill Donohue leader of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.

It's that time of year again.  It's time for the annual Blog Against Theocracy, April 2-4, 2010.  

The prime mover of this blogtacular is our friend Blue Gal, who is a front pager at  Crooks & Liars. The idea is simple. Post a blog against theocracy somewhere that weekend, send the link to Blue Gal, and she'll feature it at Blog Against Theocracy Headquarters -- along with hundreds of others.  

Talk to Action has been honored to participate in the past, and this year is no exception.

 

Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State has an op-ed today at AOL News discussing how, campaign promises and the complaints of civil rights groups not with standing, the Obama administration continues to provide federal funds to organizations that engage in religious discrimination in hiring.

When you scrape the fuzzy mold of the term "faith-based" off of the language used to cloak rank religious bigotry and violations of civil rights laws -- as well as the enabling behavior of the Obama administration -- another tentacle of creeping Religious Rightism in the Democratic Party is cast in sharp relief.

From his dining room table in 1977, the decidedly anti-gay Rev. Donald Wildmon built a multi-million dollar ministry and media powerhouse. Now, although he has retired, AFA's beat goes on.

You wouldn't recognize him if you ran into him on the street; you couldn't pick him out of a lineup; you've probably never seen him on television. Nevertheless, over the past thirty+-years, he has been one of the Religious Right's most effective campaigners against whatever he perceived to be indecency on television and in the movies. He was feared by corporate leaders, and, along the way, he became one of the country's predominant and persistent scolds.

Now, after thirty-three years at the helm, the Rev. Donald Wildmon, an ordained United Methodist minister who founded the National Federation for Decency in 1977 to fight indecency on television (it changed its name to the American Family Association (AFA) in 1988), and American Family Radio, has called it quits as chairman of the organization.

Today an imam delivered the opening prayer before the Virginia House of Delegates - and once again the Religious Right is having kittens.

Three Religious Right groups - the Traditional Values Coalition, the Virginia Anti-Shariah Task Force and Act for America -- say the imam, Johari Abdul-Malik of the Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, is tied to terrorism. But those claims are false. In reality, I suspect these groups are just angry because someone other than a non-fundamentalist Christian is reciting the prayer.

Yesterday (Monday) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to hundreds of Christian Zionists in Jerusalem at an event organized by John Hagee and Christians United for Israel.  Moments after I finished watching the live stream of the two hour extravaganza, I received an e-mail news notice stating that U.S. Middle East Peace Envoy George Mitchell had just announced new Israeli-Palestinian "proximity talks" or indirect  talks with the U.S. serving as the intermediary. I had a feeling of deja vu.  

In 1998 Netanyahu had traveled to the U.S. to meet with President Bill Clinton concerning peace efforts.  However, before meeting with Clinton, Netanyahu spoke to hundreds of Christian Zionists assembled by Jerry Falwell and John Hagee at the Mayflower Hotel.  In a blatant snub of Clinton and the peace efforts, John Hagee led the crowd in chants of "not one inch," referring to no withdrawal from the West Bank settlements.  With little fanfare and almost no press coverage, Netanyahu and Hagee have pulled the same stunt again. Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Israel yesterday. Links to videos of the event can be accessed at Max Blumenthal's article, Hagee and Netanyahu's Lovefest on the Eve of Biden's Arrival in Israel. Also see my article at Zeek titled A Serial Obstructionist.

It's been a year since President Obama lifted the Bush administration's restrictions on the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.  Nevertheless, religious opponents of the research still claim that embryonic stem cells have yet to yield any treatments. They insist that adult stem cell research will render embryonic stem cell research unnecessary.

Well, guess what?

Repent Amarillo, a Texas ministry which refers to itself as an "Army of God,"  is making news for its spiritual warfare and vigilante tactics.  The ministry has "spiritually mapped" the city targeting businesses deemed as evil, Masonic Lodges, the Islamic Center, a Buddhist Temple  and even an Episcopal church accused of being "gay friendly."  (I have looked at the map several times but just noticed the shooting sounds that start after the music ends.)

Repent Amarillo is headed by David Grisham, a part time pastor and security guard at a nuclear facility, but the ministry is part of  RAVEN International headed by Troy Bohn whose RAVEN Amarillo site takes credit for the spiritual mapping and other activities. According to their biographies at RAVEN (which stands for Restoring A Vision & Evangelizing Nations) both Bohn and RAVEN leader Alex Hill were part of Amarillo's Dayspring Dream Center affiliated with the LA Dream Center led by Matthew Barnett.  Bohn and Hill developed Dream Center ministries in Amarillo such as "Adopt-a -Block," before starting RAVEN International as an evangelizing arm of the ministry.

On Feb. 24, a tragedy occurred at SeaWorld in Orlando, Fla. A six-ton killer whale known as Tillikum pulled trainer Dawn Brancheau underwater to her death in front of a crowd of horrified spectators watching a show.

Brancheau's tragic death has led to some soul searching: What should be done with Tillikum? Is it ever appropriate to keep killer whales (also known as orcas) in captivity? Is it right to expect these animals to perform for our amusement?

Some time ago, I filled out a survey from the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) in connection with an academic study they were doing of the religion blogosphere. Talk to Action is not exactly what I think of as a religion blog, but it is not exactly not a religion blog either. In any case, I filled out the survey, and sent it in.  The survey was part of an interesting Ford Foundation-funded study, The New Landscape of the Religion Blogosphere which has just been published.

It is a worthwhile read for those who are interested in the role of the blogosphere in religion in public life, academia and journalism.  Several people,including me, were asked to briefly comment at the SSRC's blog, The Immanent Frame. You can check out our comments  here. Most of us talked about what blogs have meant for our work, for writing, and even for religion. But significantly, the first thought from the editor of the blog First Thoughts, was to say that religion bloggers really ought to be subject to ecclesiastical authority.   First Thoughts is the blog of the religiously neoconservative journal, First Things.

Yesterday Alternet published an article by Bill Berkowitz including an interview with me about the New Apostolic Reformation, or the "largest religious movement you never heard of."  Despite the growing political clout of its leadership, the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) continues to operate under the radar of the mainstream press as well as most progressive media. Hopefully this interview will prove to be another stepping stone in making the movement more recognizable to the public.

I recently called for mainstream Catholics to offer remonstrance -- an earnest presentation of reasons for opposition or grievance against the reactionaries now fomenting schism within the Church.  Today, I will discuss some living role models.  

A few years back I received a letter from Baylor University stating it decided to discontinue its "unclothed anatomical figurine drawing class".  It was a euphemistic way of saying they had closed down the nude model co-ed art class .  Baylor's latest spin is calling Ken Starr, their new president, a Democrat.

Yesterday, I published a commentary at Women's eNews titled: U.S. Religions Quietly Launch a Sexual Revolution. Its about how the Religious Institute, a progressive religious think tank has issued a 46 page manifesto about breaking the silence in religious communities about a host of sexuality issues; and although many mainstream religious institutions have a long way to go, many have also come a long way.

Unsurprisingly, the manifesto was immediately denounced by Religious Right leader Dr. Albert Mohler, the fundamentalist president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Bishop Harry Jackson, a full-time fighter against gay equality, has raised a fair amount of money from national Christian conservative organizations to combat same-sex marriage in Washington, D.C.  

Over the past few years, Bishop Harry Jackson has been more than a trusted ally of the Religious Right. As an indefatigable fighter against equality for gays and lesbians, he's gone well beyond the call of duty. These days, from his church headquarters in Beltsville, Maryland, Jackson has led a coalition of mostly African American religious leaders in a major battle over same-sex marriage with the District of Columbia's City Council.

On Dec. 19, Washington, D.C. officially legalized same-sex marriage by a D.C. Council vote of 11-2.

Case closed? Probably.

But that hasn't stopped Bishop Jackson.

The infamous "C Street house" is back in the news.

A group of clergy in Ohio, aided by a tax lawyer, has written to the Internal Revenue Service today asking the federal tax agency to examine the house's tax-exempt status as a church.

Erwin Lutzer, pastor of the Moody Church in Chicago, just published a book named, WHEN A NATION FORGETS GOD.  The book contains an endorsement from the Natonal Religious Broadcaster's president, Frank Wright.  Wright's organization has been connected to Dominion theology by some groups in the nation. The theme of he book is stated on page 134; "We have witnessed increasing hostility against Christainity from society in general and from state institutions in particular."

In a crowded universe of conservative mandates, declarations, and statements, two more, `The Mount Vernon Statement,' which aims to unify the three legs of the conservative movement, and the soon-to-be-finalized `Contract From America,' which wants nothing to do with social or national defense issues, may end up dividing the conservative movement.

If it seems that mandates, declarations, and statements are flying out of the offices of conservative movement leaders faster than participants in short track skating at the Winter Olympics, that's because they are. In the past few months, desperate for an identity other than "Just say No-ers," conservatives have become quite adept at issuing documents declaring the tenets of principled conservatism.

We are pleased to welcome Devin Burghart as a guest front pager. Devin's report on the efforts to fuse elements of the Religious Right with the Tea Partiers is crossposted from the blog of the Institute for Research and Edcuation on Human Rights, where he serves as vice-president. -- FC

Nashville -- The rancor and division among Tea Partiers that erupted in the weeks leading up to the first Tea Party National Convention were nowhere to be found inside the expansive biosphere-like confines of the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center. Squabbles set aside, at least for the moment, the real business of the February 4-7 convention was three-fold: culture warring, movement building, and campaign winning.

Organized by Judson Phillips, a Nashville attorney, and his wife Sherry, Tea Party Nation (or TPN) is one of several different Tea Party factions vying to be the voice of those angry white voters wanting to “take America back!”

For months I've been trying to figure out what to make of the "tea party" movement.

Is it merely another band of anti-government, low-tax activists with a libertarian populist edge - or will it become the next wave of the Religious Right? Do the tea partiers intend to stay focused on issues like smaller government or will they take on social issues?

Rick Scarborough comes up with a document aimed at fusing the Religious Right's social agenda to the Tea Party movement

In the end, despite the laughs generated by Sarah's Palin's hand-o-prompter speech to the National Tea Party Convention in early February, there wasn't a heck of a lot noteworthy about the event. Prior to the convention Tea Party groups from around the country aired their displeasure with what appeared to be a money-making venture. However, despite the inside-the-Tea-Party-turmoil, the convention did manage to attract some 600 Tea Party supporters from across the country; it received a bevy of mainstream media coverage; and, it had its fair share of outrageous moments - Tom Tancredo's immigrant-bashing opening remarks being chief among them.

One convention development that might have slipped past the mainstream media's coverage was a new effort by some longtime Religious Right leaders to hoist them-selves aboard the Tea Party bandwagon.

Talk2action.org cofounder Bruce Wilson and I are now regularly contributing articles to Zeek, an online publication of the Jewish Daily Forward.  Almost two years ago Bruce and I began collaborating and sharing our voluminous collections of video, audio, and printed material on Christian Zionism, as well as our analysis of current theological trends in this millennialist movement.  I was proud to have played a small role in assisting Bruce with his John Hagee video that was aired by Countdown with Keith Olbermann on May 21, 2008, and drew international attention within twenty-four hours.

The exposure of Hagee's "Hitler as God's hunter" quote was followed by John McCain's rejection of Hagee's political endorsement. However, it failed to ignite the serious dialogue that we expected. We hope that our contributions to Zeek and other publications will highlight the role that Christian Zionist activism plays in obstructing a peaceful two-state resolution in the Middle East and in disseminating anti-Jewish memes and conspiracy theories. Christian Zionists have approached political leaders in numerous nations to encourage them to support Israel on the basis of biblical prophecy.  Political activism to advance the hands of the prophetic clock is not only a threat to Israel's future but to secular democracy and religious pluralism around the globe.

Following are summaries and links for the Zeek articles.

I've been following a situation in Lancaster, Calif., involving R. Rex Parris, the city's mayor.

Parris found himself in a bit of a hot spot when, during a speech to religious leaders, he asserted, "We're growing a Christian community, and don't let anybody shy away from that."

The story of the assasination of Dr. George Tiller by antiabortion militant Scott Roeder has taken a revealing turn.  The AP is reports that in a 1996 cable TV interview with fellow antiabortion miltant David Leach, Roeder discussed his anti-government militia views.  

Although there has been reporting on Roeder's involvement in the farther reaches of the Religious Right, this would be the first detailed examination of the depth and breadth of the views that have animiated his politics for many years.