Mark Silk, at Spiritual Politics has picked up on my notice of the Hagee-Rodriguez embrace and zeroes in on what's certainly one of the most notable aspects:

"The key thing to understand about the Hagee trajectory is that his Cornerstone Church has made its way by evangelizing Mexican-American Catholics in San Antonio. That's why he was on the Catholic League's radar screen in the first place. NHCL is, of course, chock full of former Catholics too, and whatever the organization feels about Israel, Cornerstone Church belongs in it. The CUFI connection is ethno-religiously overdetermined."

Following the evolution of evangelical discourse as it re-defines homosexuality as evidence of "fallen creation", Terri Murray looks at how the Christian right have shifted their rhetoric to adapt to empirical research showing that homosexuality might just be 'natural' after all.  Evangelicals have morphed their own thinking into a form that resembles Catholicism's "love the sinner, hate the sin" formula... but do these arguments work?  

US News and World Report's Dan Gilgoff has charitably provided evangelist Ray Comfort a media platform in the form of a US News & World "exclusive" through which Comfort defends his efforts to distribute, on college campuses, up to 175,000 copies of Darwin's Origin of Species that include a creationist "special introduction" to the book.

How serious of a thinker is Ray Comfort ? Readers can decide for themselves. In the video on the right, Ray Comfort explains that bananas, which he suggests are divinely ordained, are optimally formed to fit the human hand, support creationist ideas, and rebut the Theory of Evolution. In the lefthand video short, evangelist Chuck Missler explains how Darwin's theory is disproved by a jar of peanut butter.

These video shorts have proved popular to both creationists and adherents to Evolutionary Theory, perhaps for different reasons. As a side note, peanut butter and banana sandwiches were one of Elvis Presley's favorite foods.

While Ray Comfort, in the the video below, suggests that the dominant banana of world commerce, the Cavendish banana, is the result of divine design, that's incorrect. Cavendish bananas are the product of human botanical tinkering. The Cavendish is a sterile hybrid developed several decades ago after the former banana of world commerce, the Gros Michel variety, fell to a ravening banana fungus. In the world of Comfort evangelism, there are layers of absurdity within layers of ignorance, like nested Russian dolls.

The organization "Atheists of Florida" sponsored a billboard promoting atheism in Lakeland, Florida.  I, however, have some concerns.

The following is my own transcript of a 20 minute phone conversation between Richard Nixon and Billy Graham, on February 23, 1973.
As far as I am aware this is the only publicly available, complete transcript of the conversation. An Mp3 recording of it can be listened to here. I have tried to reproduce the dynamics of the conversation as faithfully as possible.

Well, there's a change in this case.  After the judge gets immigration documents and so on from the parents, he will send her back.

The first day of Fall could be considered the official launch date for the annual war on the war on Christmas, which represents a significant part of the the American Family Association business model (see mailer, below). A new front in the ongoing war on the war on Christmas has just opened in Texas, and on conservative websites there's talk of boycotts against businesses that spurn the Christmas holiday. However, there's some evidence that over the decades the vigilance of right wing Christian watchdog groups such as the AFA has grown slack; in 1960, amidst the Red Scare and hyper-patriotism that characterized the burgeoning Cold War, the war on the war on Christmas started in July.

The two-decade shift in the launch date of the yearly war on the war on Christmas raises disturbing questions - are Christian watchdog groups such as the Rev. Tim Wildmon's AFA themselves infected by creeping secularism ? By 2060, will the yearly war on the war on Christmas not get going until November ? Curious minds want to know.

Today it is reported that the judge excused the school officials who violated the agreement they had over separation of Church and State.

Well, they're at it again in Florida.

The FDLE just completed an investigation and found "no credible reports of threats" against Rifqa Bary.

I've despaired of ever seeing anything critical or exposing Dominionism hit the mainstream press.  There is now an exception.

The term extremism is currently in vogue to describe hate groups and other malcontents listed as such by knowledgeable monitors like SPLC and others in the T2A sidebar, but while we all know what a bigot is, the standard for extremist is vague. Pressing public opinion or the Department of Justice to adopt the term for creating lists is a mistake. If organizations or individuals advocate violence to deprive others of full and equal protection of the law, I think we can come up with a better, more accurate term. Extremism, as I say, is an extremely imprecise term. Who gets to decide who is extreme? Homeland Security? That's reassuring. FBI agents and former CIA spooks turned extremist experts? Why not, they did so well as terrorism experts.

Misbehavior is misbehavior and should be dealt with accordingly. If crimes are committed, they should be prosecuted. But demonizing those disillusioned with the American government cuts a wide swath.

The extent of our misrule is so entrenched and pervasive, that handing wiretap and detention powers to secret agencies -- to harass anyone who is fed up with government corruption -- will only help the American aristocracy in keeping democracy down. The fact of the matter is that we have been abandoned, and no amount of state idolatry can change that. Several of the authors here and in the sidebar have delineated the spectrum of the Far Right, including dominionists, in order to help us better understand the anti-democratic movement in America in all its dimensions. Clouding that clarity with demonizing terms like extremist does no one any good.

Where Do We Stand in the Bright Light of History?
Netroots Nation
August 14, 2009

Thank You, Professor Ledewitz, for initiating this discussion of a progressive vision for church and state -- and Netroots Nation for hosting it.

Professor Ledewitz invited this panel to surface objections to his proposal -- and to offer our own ideas as well.  I will do a little of both.   And while I think there are some things about which we undoubtedly agree, I want to focus on our areas of disagreement, which I think will be far more interesting, and I hope, useful for all of you.

Unlike Professor Ledewitz I see history as a living part of the story of who we are and where we are going.   But one of the challenges we have faced as progressives has been the absence of a sufficiently common narrative of that history that takes into account the realities and struggles of the past, identifies common principles that have taken us this far and helps us find ways of articulating them in ways that powerfully reminds us of who we are, were we came from, and where we are going.

Historian Robert Rutland writing about the framers of the constitution and how they approached the matter of church and state, observed that the United States was founded,
"on purpose, in the bright light of history."

Note: the sermon excerpt video and transcript below, from a January 18, 2009 sermon by pastor Steven Anderson of the Tempe, Arizona Independent Baptist Church, begins at approximately 21:30 into Anderson's  one hour, four minute sermon. The context is pastor Anderson's discussion of King David's Psalm 58, which called down a divine curse on David's foes.

[Below: Steven Anderson's January 18, 2009 sermon, which he has titled, on YouTube, "Barack Obama Melting Like a Snail". The sermon excerpt concludes with an impassioned declaration from pastor Anderson, that "Barack Obama is WHITE"]

The local paper reports that students in Gainsville, Florida are wearing T-shirts with "ISLAM IS OF THE DEVIL" printed on them.

The young ex-Muslim girl who ran away from her parents will be allowed to stay in Florida.  The news article has strong indications that this is purely political.

In her recent article, Sara Robinson argues the United States is well on its way to becoming a totalitarian, fascist state. As evidence of this inevitability, she cites current town hall disruptions and threats received by public officials.

Not to quibble with her observation that we have been on a dangerous trajectory for some time, but the anti-democratic movement in America is bi-partisan, and is already well-entrenched. Both Obama and Bush are part of it.

While GOP thuggery is a deplorable means of exercising political influence, self-immersion in political panic or fascist hysteria is not what's called for. To her credit, Ms. Robinson soberly examines some of the attributes of rising fascism in response to social decline that deserve consideration, but fitting recurrent misbehavior -- mobilized for political purposes -- into a fascist framework is perhaps not the most effective analysis.

Addressing the underlying causes of disatisfaction, such as widespread institutional and market fraud, while less amenable to a partisan agenda, is nevertheless more strategically sound in defending democracy. Not to impune Ms. Robinson's motives, but there is a partisan aspect to her critique.

The anti-democratic movement, as Sara notes, is a serious threat to our freedom and well-being; framing that threat with inappropriate models, however, can lead to confusion about how to address that threat. The habit of linear thinking is not always conducive to public health.

GOP-sponsored vigilantism has happened before. It is an integral part of domestic terrorism aimed at ethnic minorities and other sub-populations targeted by White Nationalism and Christian Fundamentalism. Catholics, Jews, Blacks, and Native Americans have all been targets of vigilante violence. So have immigrants, feminists, and environmentalists.

Inciting mob behavior to threaten its political opponents has repeatedly been used by the GOP to prevent discussion on issues of social importance. War, abortion, guns, Gay rights, elections, even health care are topics for which vigilantes can be recruited.

Vigilantism, however, is not synonymous with protest, demonstration, or dissent. It is not a legitimate expression of grievances; rather it is an expression of hostility toward the perceived loss of power or privileges. The threshold level is to intimidate opponents through implied threats, followed by vigilante violence, succeeded by paramilitary operations.

On occasion, right-wing terrorism in the US has resorted to using weapons of mass destruction. Their networks and movements have even been profiled.

None of this is new.

George Sodini, the 48-year-old misogynist who shot up a Pennsylvania Gym full of women on Aug. 4th, killing three women before turning the gun on himself, believed God wouldn't judge him by his actions.

While I am not Catholic, I accidentally ran across this article which is of interest to us on this blog - it involves Vatican actions that concern attempts at political control...

by Carolyn Jessop and Laura Palmer

On The Issues Magazine

Had I not escaped one night five years ago with my eight children from the manipulation and control of the FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), I would have been one of the women in that infamous "prairie-style clothing" on that Texas polygamist compound that was raided last year. My children would have undoubtedly been among the 439 seized in the raid.

I know because my ex-husband, Merril Jessop, runs the compound in Eldorado, Texas and is one of the most powerful men in the FLDS. I feared that if we were ever moved beyond those compound walls--and it was meant just for the elite in the cult--my chance of ever freeing myself and my children might be over.

<h2> Living on Guard</h2> In The Religion of Fear, Jason C. Bivins examines conservative evangelical culture as it intersects with America's love affair with spectacular violence and the popular culture of fright that has given birth to "a rich and powerful fear regime".

[ed: updated from diary section]

Over the last 20 years, a consolidation from the small protestant church has given way to the "Mega-church" where community fellowship goes to die, and prosperity-gospel-rock-concerts are born. Just like the business world, when giant multinational corporations gobble up the mom & pop, a leveraging of hegemonic power soon arises to ensure dominance.

An investigating detective read an entry from a three ring binder, written shortly before the crime:

"I know now what I have to do. There are three demonic spirits in (Dr. Loher), one assigned to me and one to each of my children.

"I have to create three portals of exit so they can leave . . . I have to destroy (his) phones and computer since he has communicated with me through them while in possession of these demons."

A Central Florida organization, "The Community Issues Council" has funded a number of billboards attacking the separation of Church and State, using "Quotes" from some of the Founding Fathers.

James F. Linzey is a prominent, active duty chaplain in the United States military. Linzey has stated that he was the command chaplain for the Operation Iraqi Freedom troop mobilization prior to the US invasion of Iraq.

In 2005 Linzey went on a speaking tour, under the auspices of an entity known as the Prophecy Club. In one of Linzey's Prophecy Club talks, which was recorded and sold by the club in VHS video format, Linzey claimed that "The Rothschilds", and European bankers who all have Jewish names except for "The Rockefellers", control the US economy through the Federal Reserve and are scheming to bankrupt, and enslave through debt, the American middle class. As an article on the website of the  Jewish anti-Defamation League entitled Jewish "Control" of the Federal Reserve: A Classic Anti-Semitic Myth states,

"Most of the owners of the largest banks in America," wrote the late Sheldon Emry, an early leader of the racist and anti-Semitic `Identity" church movement, "are of Eastern European ancestry and connected with the Rothschild banks."

In the literature of bigots, the name Rothschild is a trigger for the most explosive of anti-Semitic tremors, and it usually sets off a litany of other Jewish names. In his recent book Called to Serve, Col. James "Bo" Gritz, the 1992 Presidential candidate of the extremist Populist Party, charged that "eight Jewish families control the FED" (Federal Reserve System).

In 1983, the charge that Rothschild banks and other international banking concerns, mostly with Jewish names, controlled the Federal Reserve was published (probably from earlier sources) in the newsletter of a local Pennsylvania chapter of the National Association of Retired Federal Employees (NARFE) -- not an extremist group. The article stated that the Federal Reserve System "is not a Federal entity but a private corporation owned in part by the following: Rothschild banks of London and Berlin, Lazard Brothers bank of Paris, Israel Moses Seif banks of Italy, Warburg bank of Hamburg and Amsterdam, Lehman Bros. bank of New York, Chase Manhattan bank of New York, Kuhn, Loeb bank of New York, Goldman Sachs bank of New York."

Not only did Linzey promote this classic anti-Semitic conspiracy theory in his 2005 Prophecy Club talk, Linzey even cited writing by the very Christian Identity writer noted in the ADL story, Sheldon Emry, as evidence supporting his banking conspiracy theory.

But in a series of radio show appearances Linzey made in concert with his Prophecy Club tour, Linzey went on to claim that the International bankers he said ruled America were conspiring to send a wave of 5 million Mexican and illegal alien killers across the border into the United States, to rape Caucasian American women and their teenage daughters, and kill American Caucasian men and so alter the country's ethnic and racial makeup. Linzey claimed the Mexican/illegal alien rapist/killer army would slaughter 25 million Americans in what would be a "Holocaust."

In the radio show appearances chaplain Linzey describes joining The Minutemen vigilante border patrol group, befriending Minuteman founder James Gilchrist, holding a religious service for Minutemen members, and patrolling the US/Mexico border for the Minutemen effort.

In his 2005 Prophecy Club video Linzey declared,

"Remember, the demons believe in Jesus Christ. They believe in the truth -- see that's Jesus Christ -- and they tremble. And so the demons inside these greedy world bankers are trembling that Americans would come to find the truth about what they're all about. They are as scared as little tiny mice running up and down the curtains in the cathedrals. Now, they're in the cathedrals. They're in the churches. They're controlling pulpits. That's how mainstream Protestantism has declined. Because they invaded the churches, and the mainstream Protestant churches stopped hearing the truth. So they want to squelch the truth by taking over the church. Now, this is not in my notes, but I was inspired by God because these are demonic, dastardly creatures from the pit of hell, and we need to stomp them out."

Below are transcripts from two radio shows James F. Linzey appeared on during April and March 2005.

An 89 year old, vehemently antiSemitic  Ron Paul supporter has been named by police as the gunman who opened fire in the Holocaust Museum shortly after noon today:








Gunman, guard shot at Holocaust museum




A person reportedly walked into the museum with a gun and shot a guard









NBC News and news services




updated 6 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - A gunman exchanged fire with security guards inside the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on Wednesday. One security guard and the gunman were taken to a hospital.

Law enforcement officials identified the suspect as James Wenneker von Brunn, born in 1920, from the Eastern Shore of Maryland, NBC News reported. NBC said he may have had connections to hate groups or anti-government groups.

I didn't think my work on the religous right would converge with what I'm doing on the narcoguerra in Mexico...but here it is: the Faith-Based Cartel.