A lot of you may remember James Robison as one of the more prominent religious right leaders from the early 1980s. He pulled back later in the decade, saying that he didn't like the person that his demanding schedule was making him. In the process, he mellowed quite a bit, turning his focus to church unity and chucking his Southern Baptist roots in favor of the charismatic movement.
Well, so much for that. It turns out that Robison has returned to the culture wars. He recently co-authored a book called Indivisible: Restoring Faith, Family and Freedom Before It's Too Late with the Discovery Institute's Jay Richards. He's spent this week promoting the book on his show, Life Today. Yesterday, he declared that he would not allow those who believe in "secular theocracy" the freedom to keep preaching it. Watch the whole thing here, if you can stand it.
I have to say that this is truly saddening to me. Robison was one of the few televangelists I liked. But I've done some digging since finding this video on PFAW's Right Wing Watch, and it turns out that he's been active on the religious right front for some time. For instance, in November 2010 he hosted a meeting in Dallas at which plans were laid to replace Obama with a social conservative.
Late Sunday, a group of fundie leaders announced plans to hold a prayer rally at Philadelphia's Independence Mall on September 28 and 29 under the moniker "America for Jesus 2012." It looks innocuous on the surface--it's billed as "a solemn assembly to summon together the whole body of Christ to pray for the church and our nation" and intercede against "the symptoms of widespread moral depravity and economic meltdown."
But then one gets a glimpse at the national leadership team. It includes a who's-who of fundie leaders--including Jim Garlow, Ron Luce, Cindy Jacobs, Lou Engle and Harry Jackson. The presence of Luce, Jacobs and Engle is a pretty clear indication that this "solemn gathering" has the backing of the New Apostolic Reformation, the fascist movement that thinks it can actually bring about the Second Coming by taking over the world. In a major understatement, People for the American Way calls this gathering "nonpolitical in name only." It isn't exactly a coincidence that this is taking place 40 days before the election.
Further evidence of this gathering's right-wing underpinnings--the group's national chairwoman, Anne Gimenez, is the wife of John Gimenez, the guy who put together the infamous Washington for Jesus rally in 1980. In fact, the rally is sponsored by the Gimenezes' organization, "One Nation Under God, Inc."
Don't let the dorky sweater vest fool you. Beneath that benign-looking garment beats the heart of an extremist, a radical more akin to the Islamic fundamentalists of the Taliban and the ultra-orthodox Jews of Israel than to mainstream Americans. If Rick Santorum and his fundamentalist fans ran this country, we'd have a Bible-based theocracy thrust upon us, a dictatorship of the most divisive, judgmental and intolerant among us.
If you haven't noticed, the religious right has operated in a rather consistent cycle since the 1980s. Get a little bit of power, overreach, get smacked down, climb back up in a few years. Well, there's yet another sign that the overreach is underway. Brian Barcelona, a fundie activist in the Sacramento area, has recently launched One Voice, a movement dedicated to restoring government-mandated prayer in the public schools. And it turns out that Barcelona has close ties to Lou Engle, the so-called prophet behind TheCall.
Barcelona claims that nothing less than a miracle has happened since he started a prayer group at Elk Grove High School in Elk Grove, a Sacramento suburb, back in 2009. Since then, he's started similar prayer groups at eight other high schools in the Sacramento area. He's trotted out the usual shopworn lies about all that's happened since Engel v. Vitale,, Abington School District v. Schempp and Murray v. Curlett ended government-mandated prayer, arguing that those decisions meant that students can't pray at all. However, as People for the American Way points out, the mere fact it's even spread this far proves he's blowing smoke.
He's formally launching his push with a rally in Sacramento on March 31. The location hasn't been determined yet, but odds are it will probably be at either Hornet Stadium or Hughes Stadium (Power Balance Pavillion is hosting a Kings game that night). According to his schedule, further rallies are planned in Hayward, Bakersfield and San Diego--and he's also partnering with Engle in TheCall Southern California on September 1.
The standard fundamentalist attack on the environmental movement is that it exalts the creation over the creator. But now one of the leading fundie critics of environmentalism is taking a new, and if possible even loonier argument.
Many of us remember the Dr. Seuss book and movie The Lorax. It's being adapted into a computer-animated feature film that's due to come out next month. The EPA is helping promote the film--something that doesn't sit too well with Cal Beisner, head of the Cornwall Alliance, a fundie-oriented climate change denial outfit. He claims that the EPA's sponsorship of this movie amounts to--wait for it--government endorsement of religion.
"What you've got there is the mixing of taxpayer dollars into the promotion of a clear ideology that has a particular religious flavor to it," the Cornwall Alliance spokesman concludes. "And frankly, I think that this is a violation of the separation of church and state."
So let's see if we're getting this right. Teaching kids to take care of the planet is somehow promoting religion? Downright comical. Apparently it hasn't occurred to Beisner that maybe, just maybe having dominion over the earth carries a responsibility to take care of it.
[note: this short post is an addendum to two extended reports (1, 2) that detail Harold Caballeros' extensive participation in C. Peter Wagner's New Apostolic Reformation.]
On October 5, 2006, Harold Cabballeros, founder and senior pastor of El Shaddai Church in Guatemala City, and member of C. Peter Wagner's International Coalition of Apostles, spoke at the "Spirit in the World: The Dynamics of Pentecostal Growth and Experience" symposium sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation and hosted by the University of Southern California.
At approximately 13:47 into his keynote address, Caballeros stated,
"In 30 years, Guatemala has gone from 1.2 percent, Christians in the population, to 40 percent today: an amazing growth, an amazing growth curve that now puts Guatemala along the line of South Korea in the number of conversions, I mean the number of born-again believers in the world. Not only that, but 60% of those believers today are Pentecostals."
The growth of evangelical Protestant and born-again Christianity over the past several decades in Guatemala has indeed been very impressive. But most estimates would have placed the 1976 Catholic segment of the population of the country as having been in the majority, rather than 1.2 percent.
It is hard to avoid the impression that Caballeros does not consider Catholics to be Christians.
Caballeros was one of two keynote speakers for the dinner event which launched the three-day symposium. The other keynote speaker was Luis Lugo, Directer of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.
An extensive report has been posted at Truth Wins Out (TWO) on the rebranding of Exodus International, the discredited and financially strapped pray-away-the-gay organization. The report is titled "The Exodus SmokeScreen" and subtitled, "Exodus wants you to believe it has changed its ways and gone mainstream. The problem is, it's not true."
""I am offended as a mother; as the daughter of a cancer patient; as a Christian woman; as a fundraiser and donor of time and money to three organizations promoting cancer awareness, research and patient advocacy; and as a long-time patron of the skating rink."
The incident led Miller to write a letter to the Better Business Bureau, complaining about the owner's reaction.
"This isn't about breast cancer awareness," Lott said. "It's about Jesus."
The Democrats in the Delaware state House of Representatives are in full damage control mode over a tribute given back in January to C. Peter Wagner, a prominent leader of the New Apostolic Reformation. It would seem inconceivable at first glance that a legislative body owned by Dems (they have an 11-seat majority in that chamber) would give any sort of honor to one of the proponents of a fascist brand of Christianity. Nonetheless, Wagner is openly touting this as an endorsement of his efforts to raise up an army of "overcoming" Christians who, in submission to self-proclaimed "apostles" and "prophets," will take over the world and put down all resistance to it in order to bring Jesus back.
Earlier today, the state house Democratic caucus put out a statement--which I got in an email along with several others who have written about this snafu--saying that Wagner is seriously misinformed.
Under the House tribute process, each individual Representative is responsible for making a request on behalf of his or her constituency. Discretion for what constitutes an acceptable request is left to each individual Representative rather than subjecting each tribute to a review that could be interpreted as partisan or vindictive. The Speaker of the House is elected by the entire House and his signature appears on each tribute. That signature is a formality and is electronically applied.
To be clear, in no way does a tribute represent nor should it be interpreted as an endorsement by the Delaware House of Representatives. The House does not vote on tributes. They are requested and sponsored by a specific Representative or Representatives.
Unfortunately, Dr. Wagner seemingly has mischaracterized the intent of this tribute to be an endorsement by the Delaware House of Representatives. We want to be absolutely clear that the House of Representatives does not endorse Dr. Wagner or his organization.
Additionally, the Delaware House of Representatives does not endorse any religion or present one above another. It is not uncommon for individual Representatives to request tributes to honor members of the religious community much in the same way that nonprofit and civic groups are recognized. Multiple faiths have been recognized through these tributes throughout the years.
The statement puts the onus for this tribute on the state rep who requested it, Danny Short, a Republican from Seaford. However, the Dems bear a measure of responsibility for this epic fail as well. As has been made embarrassingly clear, the current process of legislative tributes opens the door for the state to be made to look foolish at best and horrible at worst. This situation is firmly a case of the latter. It's not unlike Sun Myung Moon hornswoggling several congressmen and senators into witnessing him crowning himself as Messiah.
Those of us who have watched the New Apostolic Reformation have come to expect bizarre claims. Well, today C. Peter Wagner made one of the most bizarre claims yet. He sent out an email to his supporters claiming that the city of Seaford, Delaware and the Delaware House of Representatives had actually given him commendations for his efforts to commission "apostles" in the state.
(F)or a year or more I have been in touch with apostolic leadership in the state of Delaware, the first state admitted to the union, about the possibility of organizing key apostles in the state and having their government recognized by the state. I was honored to be invited to sit with six of these leaders for an extended meeting on January 19, 2012. Preparations for this meeting had been going on for several months. Those present agreed to constitute themselves as the Delaware Council of Apostles, and they appointed one of their number to serve as Convening Apostle.
Three of the six had not yet been publicly commissioned as apostles, so a public meeting for commissioning was scheduled that evening. Much to my surprise, a good bit of field work had been done to assure the approval of the State of Delaware. As part of the ceremony, I was officially welcomed as an apostle and authorized to help commission apostles to the state. The mayor of Seaford (a committed believer) read the Commendation from his office and presented me with the key to the city. This was followed by a Tribute complete with the seal of the Sussex County Council, a Tribute with the seal of the Senate of the State of Delaware, and a Tribute from the House of Representatives of the State of Delaware read personally by the representative of the district.
The commendation was supposedly introduced by State Representative Daniel B. "Danny" Short, a Republican. There's just one problem. In all likelihood, it isn't true. A search for "Peter Wagner" on the Delaware General Assembly Website turned up absolutely nothing, and there is no reference that Short ever sponsored such legislation on the list of bills he's sponsored. And it's pretty hard to believe such legislation would have seen the light of day in any event, since the Democrats pretty much own that chamber (26 Dems, 15 Repubs).
In yet more proof that the New Apostolic Reformation is trying to make itself heard in a big way this year, late yesterday several leaders of that movement got together to announce a new "prayer effort" targeting the entertainment industry: TheCRY Hollywood. The formal launch will be a prayer rally to be held at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, followed by a two-day "This is That Conference" at Angelus Temple.
The people behind this are pretty much a who's who of the NAR/Latter Rain: Lou Engle, Stacey Campbell and James Goll among others. It's being organized by Faytene Grasseschi of Canada, who has led several "CRYs" north of the border since 2002.
The blueprint for this looks like it was lifted almost verbatim from what Engle's doing with TheCall.
TheCRY (Hollywood) is a prayer movement that gathers believers from every denomination, ethnic background and generation for a full day of prayer, fasting and abandoned worship. Those who come to TheCRYs believe in the power of prayer, fasting and speaking the love of God over a city, nation or sphere.
Prayer leaders (aka: speakers), worship leaders (aka: musicians) and artists all come at their own expense and serve freely recognizing the day is a corportate offering to the Lord as we, with one heart, pray for Him to move in entertainment media.
The leadership of TheCRY Hollywood is made up of several seasoned leaders from the Hollywood area and beyond. These leaders will lead in prayer, worship and share inspiring sound bytes throughtout the event that will direct the gathering back to prayer.
Sounds like something that anyone can get behind--but as we well know, the NAR/Latter Rain has a thing for taking perfectly laudable gestures and contorting them into something sinister.
CBS and other media outlets have pounced on a Rick Santorum claim, that America's colleges and universities are hotbeds of anti-religious "indoctrination", but Newt Gingrich has been saying that for years.
As Santorum declared in a January 25, 2011 church appearance in Naples, Florida, "If they taught Judeo-Christian principles in those colleges and universities, they would be stripped of every dollar. If they teach radical secular ideology, they get all the government support that they can possibly give them. Because you know 62 percent of children who enter college with a faith conviction leave without it."
One of the leaders of the effort to write a gay marriage ban into North Carolina's constitution is Patrick Wooden, the pastor of Upper Room Church of God in Christ in Raleigh. In the past few days, the yeomen at People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch have decided to turn the hot lights on him. What they found is cringe-worthy, even by wingnut standards.
Last week, Wooden appeared outside the Southern Poverty Law Center with several other prominent religious right leaders to protest the SPLC's designation of their organizations as hate groups for their anti-gay hankering. A few days before that event, Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth about Homosexuality invited Wooden onto his radio show on WYLL in Chicago. Wooden proceeded to prove just why the hate group label is well deserved. Besides the usual religious right spiel about gays being a danger to the very fabric of civilization, he suggested that middle-aged gays have serious health problems later in life. Hear it for yourself. Listen to the whole thing (if you can stand it) here.
Earlier this week, LaBarbera invited Wooden onto his show again, where Wooden doubled down on the ugliness and bigotry. He claimed that gays stick cell phones and other objects up their rears, and even claims to have seen a gay man die from losing his bowels. Nope, this isn't snark. Listen to the whole thing here.
As a black tongue-talker myself, even now listening to this makes me shudder. Fundies claim to love gays--just not their lifestyle. Apparently Wooden has an awfully funny definition of "love."
If Public Policy Polling's early numbers are accurate (and there's little reason to doubt they are) Newt Gingrich will likely take the lead in national polling this week. In light of this, there's something that's developed over the last month that we need to tie around Newt's neck like an anchor. Specifically, one of his most prominent endorsers, the American Family Association, is now giving succor to the outright dangerous quackery of AIDS denialism.
Earlier this month, AFA policy chief Bryan Fischer's guest on Focal Point was prominent cell biologist and AIDS denier Peter Duesberg. For those who don't know, Duesberg believes HIV doesn't AIDS, and that HIV is an elaborate hoax cooked up by researchers who want to keep their grants--claims Fischer strongly endorsed. The full interview is still available on the AFA's YouTube channel (part 1, part 2) and was featured prominently on the front page of the AFA Website. Later that week, on the Rightly Concerned blog, Fischer argued that Magic Johnson is proof positive HIV doesn't cause AIDS.
We already knew that the AFA is a prominent supporter of pseudoscience--after all, it's one of the biggest proponents of creation "science." However, the AFA's foray into AIDS denial is several times more dangerous--for the simple reason that it's actually been proven to kill people.
Anyone who's studied the religious right can't help but notice a pattern to how they've operated over the last three decades. They get a little bit of power, only to overreach and get smacked down hard. Then they slither back into the shadows and wait a few years to build back up again. Wash, rinse, repeat. Well, if a video captured by People for the American Way is any indication, the overreach is beginning in earnest.
You may remember that Cindy Jacobs is spearheading a prayer initiative for this election called Fast Forward. Well, last week at a rally to launch the event held in Washington, the Family Research Council's national prayer director, Pierre Bynum, was on hand to represent his organization, and openly called for non-Christians to be banned from holding office. Watch for yourself.
The folks at PFAW's Right Wing Watch have dug up evidence that indicates Jacobs is working hand-in-glove with the FRC on this "Fast Forward" drive. The FRC has been in a sort of informal alliance with Jacobs, Peter Wagner and other prominent dominionists for some time, and it looks like this appearance by Bynum pretty much cements it.
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