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Lou Engle's TheCall Detroit Enjoys Antigay Allies in High Places
On Friday November 11, 2011, TheCall cofounder Lou Engle will hold one of his music driven stadium rallies at Detroit's enormous Ford Field, a venue capable of seating 70,000 people. The moderate media attention the controversial upcoming event has so far attracted seems mainly due to a planned counter rally led by local pastors including Rev. Charles Williams Senior, pastor of the historic King Solomon Baptist Church. One of the flash points of controversy is the event's stated objectives, which include combating Islam. As Right Wing Watch, a project of People For The American Way suggests, Lou Engle may be misrepresenting his views on Muslims to local pastors participating in the event. Right Wing Watch's Brian Tashman notes,
Engle and other leaders of The Call, such as Rick Joyner and Jerry Boykin, have repeatedly discussed their plans to use the rally to convert Muslims. In the past, Engle has claimed that Muslims have been "fueling the demonic realm" and are beholden to "spiritual dark powers," and has pledged "to expose the dark under-belly of Islam." Another flashpoint is a perceived pattern of anti-LGBT agitation on the part of TheCall and its cofounder Lou Engle. But TheCall Detroit is more than a stand-alone stadium event; it fits into a wider political organizing campaign spearheaded by a initiative called Transformation Michigan, which has been holding a rolling series of organizing conference calls through 2010 and into 2011. Transformation Michigan is a state-level political organizing effort of the New Apostolic Reformation, whose apostles and prophets have been frequent guests on the Transformation Michigan conference call series. One of the guests in the series has also been Michigan Republican State Senator Mark Jansen, who has been near the forefront of legislative efforts against gay rights in the Michigan Senate. Senator Jansen not only just voted in favor of the now-notorious pro-"religious bullying" amendment to Michigan's anti-bullying bill but earlier in the year also sponsored a senate resolution (SCR 9) to block extending state health care benefits to domestic partners of state employees. SCR 9 passed in the Senate but failed in the Michigan House. Outside of the United States and European nations, especially in Africa, far more dramatic assaults on LGBT rights are possible. As the Rev. Charles Williams Senior told a local Fox News affiliate, "Any man who stands in Uganda and promotes a policy that would kill thousands of homosexuals [there] I think, obviously, is on the outside of what the real call for our Christian mission should actually be," Rev. Williams was referring to a notorious May 2010 event held by TheCall cofounder Lou Engle, in which Engle, amidst international condemnation, staged one of his TheCall rallies in Kampala, Uganda--where a notorious pending Anti Homosexuality Bill, still pending before Uganda's parliament, would impose the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality" and create an antigay police state in which citizens would be legally required report to government authorities suspected homosexual activity, or else face substantial prison sentences. Engle has denied supporting the legislation, dubbed the "kill the gays" bill. But during the Kampala rally, Engle's fellow apostle, Ugandan Julius Oyet--who helped co-author that so-called "kill the gays" bill and even says he helped to pick Ugandan politician David Bahati to introduce it in parliament--told a journalist working for the BBC, "Lou Engle is a strong ally... we invited him [to Uganda]. That's why we call it 'The Call'. For more information on TheCall Detroit and surrounding issues, see: "Audio and Video Documenting the Demonization of Others in TheCall Detroit Preparations" - http://www.talk2action.org/story/2011/11/8/131338/002 "Preparatory Conference Calls for TheCall Detroit Confirm Emphasis on Islam, Freemasonry" - http://www.talk2action.org/story/2011/11/5/215236/631/ "TheCall Detroit Participants Deny That Event is About Demonization of Muslims and Others" - http://www.talk2action.org/story/2011/11/4/16854/7487/
Detroit News
WJBK Fox 2 Detroit
Deseret News (AP article also in other papers)
WXYZ (ABC)
Michigan Radio
Michigan Messenger
"Prayer Rally Organizers Target Muslims, Freemasons"
Metro Times Blogs
Mlive.com
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