Over the last few years, Dr. Johnston has risen to a level of national prominence within the ranks of the Constitution Party while maintaining a family medical practice. Dr. James P. Johnston of Ohio's Genesis Health Care System appears to be a pleasant-enough young physician, and it wouldn't be surprising if his patients were unaware that -- dropping the "James" and operating as Dr. Patrick Johnston -- their family doctor has spent most of the last decade in highly unsavory company. These days the relatively smooth phraseology of Johnston's "conservative" political philosophy is socially acceptable enough to blend right in with that of the Ohio GOP, but until he began his forays into "legitimate" politics with a highly visible presence in the Constitution Party -- and before Ohio decided that GOP stood for "God's Own Party" -- Johnston was a lot less careful about what he said, and about where he published it. In what might have been an effort to assist Johnston's assimilation into public life, the Army of God has scrubbed his name from its list of "Heroes of the Faith," an honor roll featuring such anti-abortion luminaries as executed shotgun murderer Paul Hill, James Kopp, the "Atomic Dog" who killed Dr. Barnett Slepian from ambush, and John Salvi, the "hero" who murdered two clinic receptionists in Brookline, Massachusetts. Since the list is largely composed of violent criminals serving prison time for violent crimes, one wonders what Johnston did to qualify for inclusion. Maybe inciting others to murder was enough. From Johnston's lengthy advocacy of the "blessing" of Bible-based murder, What the Bible Says Should Be Done to Abortionists:
"[T]he land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it." Executing murderers was the only way to "put away the guilt of innocent blood." And although Talk to Action's own Michelle Goldberg witnessed Johnston's denial that he also has called for the execution of gays and lesbians, the Wayback Machine tells another story.
Homosexuality, incest, pedophilia, and bestiality are capital crimes, this keeps sex where God designed it to be, in the marriage bed, and it provides a strong impediment against sins that are particularly addictive and destructive (Have you ever noticed that Saudi Arabia doesn't have an AIDS crisis?) Johnston's Web site used to feature this photo of Johnston's wife, Elizabeth, "great with child surrounded by homos." But today, as they embark on their new political partnership with the Ohio GOP, both Patrick and Elizabeth Johnston have cleaned up nicely. In 2005 Johnston's personal Web site was restyled as Right Remedy: A Ministry of Dr. Patrick Johnston and Family. The site used to be called "Where the Truth Hurts," and it used to hurt just to look at it -- although, even then, Johnston linked to his current political allies such as the American Family Association and Focus on the Family. The family practice physician from Dresden, Ohio is very big on family values. Even when he assists Operation Save America with its annual siege, or accompanies the Army of God on its now-customary assaults upon the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists -- events for which he serves as organizer -- Johnston usually takes his wife and children along for the fun. Last year the Johnston family turned out in force for the ACOG's annual meeting in San Francisco, as chronicled by the AOG's Joshua Graff and posted by Neal Horsley, publisher of the infamous Nuremberg Files. Also present for this festival of Christian love were fellow AOG stalwarts such as Jonathan O'Toole (below, left), who invaded a private session of the ACOG's 2004 annual meeting in what the medical group's former president, Dr. Harry Jonas, called an act of domestic terrorism.
About a half-dozen protestors walked into a meeting session, titled "Innovations in Contraception and Abortion." They somehow penetrated the meeting's private security personnel and forced their way into the gathering. No, O'Toole can safely leave that to Patrick Johnston. Another AOG "Hero of the Faith" present in San Francisco was Robert Ferguson, like Johnston a proponent of "Bible-based" murder.
Bob Ferguson [said] he felt it was important to show the abortionists the consequences of their actions and instill some fear in those who perform abortions. Ferguson said the abortionists should remember that there could always be another Paul Hill or James Kopp who will do more than just talk. This is the face of so-called "pro-life" activism that neither the executive committee of Constitution Party, nor the Ohio Republicans who now welcome them as allies, want to show to the voting public. And this is the face of Ohio State Representative Tom Brinkman. Like the 17 other Republican legislators who now welcome the public participation of the Army of God in a legislative process that will determine the fate of the women of Ohio, Brinkman's public face is smiling. I wonder whether he and his abortion-abolitionist colleagues would smile at this.
Abortionist Barnett Slepian now in eternal hell fire. Or at this.
John Bayard Britton, dead and in eternal hell fire. But maybe Tom Brinkman and his GOP colleagues would smile after all, because for as long as these people embrace the Army of God as a political ally, they embrace its works as well.
Ohio's Rx for Murder | 12 comments (12 topical, 0 hidden)
Ohio's Rx for Murder | 12 comments (12 topical, 0 hidden)
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Left Behind: Eternal Forces: Installments of Jonathan Hutson's Talk To Action expose series
on the "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" video game have been viewed by up to 1/2 million people. See our site section featuring Over 35 original articles covering the controversial "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" video game that has provoked a boycott by a coalition of religious groups and a letter writing campaign urging Walmart to stop selling the game. Media inquiries click here(image: detail from Francoise Dubois' rendition of the Bartholomew's Day Massacre reveals the actual nature of religious warfare)
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