It was funny — I was recognized by a few folks along the parade route (for the blog). I guess next year I should march with a Pam's House Blend banner, but it would look kind of silly with just me and a sign, unless I could rustle up a few Blenders to march.
Anyway, we had a few fundie protestors again. It was hilarious. For your amusement, I took some video of the protestors from Operation Save America. They were the truly unhinged amateur hour crowd.
Photos and a short clip of former Village People singer Randy Jones are over at my pad. Talk about a blast from the past…
***
ENDA
John's posted on it, but if you want to read my take on the ENDA dustup, there are posts over at my pad to check out.
On Friday I happened to be in DC at the Out and Equal Workplace Summit -- right when the ENDA issue blew up. I was slated to appear on a panel that was relevant to the developments -- Workplace Equality in the American Spotlight -- so it was definitely apt timing to talk about the issue of trans inclusion with attendees charged with inclusion and diversity in corporate America. My post on the conference is here.
Oh my goodness! Flogging the gay boogeyman isn't filling the coffers these days. Time for a happy dance...MSNBC:
Focus on the Family announced Monday that it is laying off 30 employees and reassigning 15 others. It also announced that founder James Dobson had been cleared of accusations that he jeopardized the group's nonprofit status by endorsing Republican candidates.
Most of the layoffs are in the organization's Constituent Response Services department that answers mail and telephone requests.
A drop in projected revenue played a part in the layoffs, and the growth of e-mail and Internet-based communications is behind the reassignments, said Gary Schneeberger, vice president of communications.
It's only 3% of the workforce, but Daddy D has been announcing on his radio show that donations are off. May the trend continue. How about this spin?
"Organizational change, while healthy and positive, is always difficult when it involves a staff reduction," [Focus president and CEO Jim] Daly said in a news release. "Building flexibility into our internal operations is vital to staying engaged with and relevant to our constituents. The adjustments we're making this week, though difficult, will allow us to better serve the families that rely on Focus on the Family in the future."
On Friday there will be a formal display of the full flowering of fundie creepiness in Daddy Dobson's territory (Colorado Springs) - a father/daughter purity ball -- complete with a dinner dance, ballet performance, live chamber music, a procession of the young women who will lay white roses at the foot of a huge wooden cross they and their fathers will dance in the ballroom -- and daddy with participate in a covenant signing ceremony pledging to protect her virginity.
In a "counter-cultural" event, fathers and daughters from across the nation are gathering tomorrow for the annual Father-Daughter Purity Ball in Colorado Springs.
Created in 1998 by Colorado Springs parents Randy and Lisa Wilson, the event has birthed a "purity ball" movement across the nation that has attracted international media attention. Journalists from Britain, Canada, Italy, Finland and Norway will cover Friday's gathering at the Broadmoor Hotel.
"This event is about restoring fatherhood one of the most critical issues facing our culture today," said Randy Wilson. "Research shows that the most important man in a daughter's life is her father."
The fathers will stand before their daughters and recite a pledge together:
"I, (daughter's name)'s father, choose before God to cover my daughter as her authority and protection in the areas of purity. I will be pure in my own life as a man, husband and father. I will be a man of integrity and accountability as I lead, guide and pray over my daughter and my family as the high priest in my home. This covering will be used by God to influence generations to come."
There's not much left to say after this, is there? An obvious matter to point out -- is that we don't see any ceremony of this kind between mother and son, since I guess junior is either supposed to be chaste by default -- certainly he's not spilling any seed, right?
Unfortunately for dear old high priest dad, purity pledges aren't exactly keeping little Janie from carnal exploration. In March 2006, Byron Weathersbee, a chaplain at Baylor University in Waco, Texas (a school affiliated with the conservative Southern Baptist Convention), conducted a study on the effectiveness of abstinence ed and virginity pledges in Christians.
* 100 percent professed faith in Christ * 99 percent attended church * 84 percent grew up in church * 87 percent grew up in a two-parent home * 62 percent of males had premarital sex * 65 percent of females had premarital sex * only 27 percent of fundies surveyed managed to stay completely chaste, not engaging in intercourse or Clintonian "non-sex" acts.
The WaPo reported that those virginity pledges touted by head-in-the-sand organizations like True Love Waits and the Silver Ring Thing are doing nothing to stop STDs either Among the 20 percent of kids that took a virginity pledge, 61 percent of the consistent pledgers and 79 percent of the inconsistent pledgers reported having intercourse before marrying or prior to 2002 interviews. Almost 7 percent of the students who did not make a pledge were diagnosed with an STD, compared with 6.4 percent of the "inconsistent pledgers" and 4.6 percent of the "consistent pledgers."
And look at the Lone Star State, bastion of abstinence-only education. It ranked among the 10 worst states in the nation on almost all factors related to teen pregnancy including: · Teen birth rate 47th · Percent change in teen birth rate 44th · Birth rate for younger teens 48th · Percent teen births that are repeat births 44th · Teen births as a percent of all births 40th · Percent of births to teens receiving late or no prenatal care 44th.
Hope they all have a great time at the fantasy purity ball.
L-O-S-E-R. Boston resident Stephen Dunne has asked a federal court to dismiss his ridiculous lawsuit that claimed his religious rights were violated when he was presented with a question on same-sex marriage. His 268.866 score on the November 2006 bar just missed the passing score of 270 points.
This is the question that offended Mr. Dunne:
"Yesterday, Jane got drunk and hit (her spouse) Mary with a baseball bat, breaking Mary's leg, when she learned that Mary was having an affair with Lisa. As a result, Mary decided to end her marriage with Jane in order to live in her house with (children) Philip (and) Charles and Lisa. What are the rights of Mary and Jane?"
In July I blogged about this suit, after Dunne launched a website, christianlawsuit.com (it only goes to his dismissal document now), he put up a batsh*t insane statement:
My dream is to become a Lawyer, but I cannot defile my Christian faith simply to pass an examination. I will not pay the price that the Defendants are forcing me to pay in order to practice law in Massachusetts. There is no price tag on my faith. It is not for sale.
He also modestly proclaimed:
I am challenging the constitutionality of Homosexual Marriage and Homosexual Parenting in Massachusetts. In 2003, four unelected judges legalized Homosexual Marriage in Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health, 798 N.E. 2d 941 (Mass. 2003). I sincerely believe that this ruling is profoundly undemocratic and un-American.
I have preemptively fired the first shot that has been heard around the world.
Uh, not really.
A question of this nature was not included in the most recent bar exam, so Dunne tries to claim victory much in the same way the American Family Association's Don Wildmon likes to think Ford is being hurt by his fundie boycott:
In court documents, Dunne said he wanted to drop his suit because the July bar exam didn't include what he called the "patently offensive and morally repugnant" gay marriage question. He characterized that as a "corrective action" by the board.
In a move to quickly smack down that assertion...
[I]n court documents filed yesterday, the board's attorney said the board has "not agreed to limit the content" of any future bar exams. The board's decision not to include the same question on the July exam "merely reflects their standard practice of not repeating questions on successive bar examinations," the court filing said.
...The board maintains that the question was a legitimate one regarding current Massachusetts law.
My goodness. Don and Tim Wildmon are really running out of ideas. This is the latest knickers-in-a-twist action alert -- Have you patronized blasphemy lately? -- shaming Hollywood, of all places, for "using God's name as a cuss word." Isn't Hollywood already a den of sin and deviance? Why is the AFA wasting bandwidth with this idiotic appeal:
Did you know that there was a time when the entertainment industry was bound by a code that forbade them from using any blasphemy in a movie? The "Hays Code" stated:
Pointed profanity--this includes the words "God," "Lord," "Jesus," "Christ" (unless used reverently), "H*ll," "S.O.B.," "d*mn," or every other profane or vulgar expression, however used--is forbidden.
Hollywood is no longer restricted by the code. Many of today's movies don't simply blaspheme the name of Jesus. They go one further. For example, the award-winning Blow, directed by Ted Demme, is a typical R-rated film. The name of Jesus Christ is blasphemed eleven times in the movie. Three of those times, for some reason, the "F" word is used in the middle of His name.
So, how can you (as one person), make a difference and influence the powerful Goliath of the entertainment industry? The answer is in your own hands. In 2005, roughly $8.8 billion was spent on movie tickets in the U.S. How much of $8.8 billion do you think came from those who call themselves Christians? According to The Barna Group, it was a massive $6.94 billion. Over 70% of the box office intake comes from people of faith.
With more than 170 million professing Christians in America, we have a powerful sling that can hit Hollywood between the eyes and leave a deep impression on its money-making mind. They are causing an entire generation to hate Christianity, and to use the name of Jesus Christ to express disgust.
On the AFA web page for the alert, there's a hilarious video where an interviewer asks people if they would go to see a movie where the Lord's name is taken in vain, and almost everyone said they would, proving to the AFA that Americans - even "Christians" -- have had their minds polluted by the devil-loving moviemakers out there.
Don and Tim also ask if you want to find out if you're heaven or hell-bound, asking readers if they want to take a test to determine whether you are a good person.
Also, take a look at an amusing list of Blaspheming Movies, including: The Invasion, Rush Hour 3, Bratz: The Movie, The Bourne Ultimatum, The Simpsons Movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Transformers and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
I thought I had seen it all from the moralizing, anti-gay, bible beating mouthpieces, but I think this may take the cake. As commenter Justabillnoted in another thread, we've had these Republican Sexual Hypocrite reveals in the last month and a half: * Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID), cruising for potty sex, somehow "mistakenly" pleads guilty. * Diaper David Vitter (R-LA) admits he's a "bad", "naughty" and "nasty boy" with hookers. * Glenn Murphy, Jr., the recently elected chairman of the Young Republican National Federation, caught sexually assaulting a sleeping man. * former White house spiritual advisor and fallen megachurch pastor Tweaker Ted "I'm completely heterosexual" Haggard asking whatever fans he has left for money. * former NC Republican lawmaker and Christian Action League president, Coy C. Privette -- caught at the no-tell motel with a sex worker -- also guilty. * Mark Foley is back in the news, he won’t turn over his former congressional computer to investigators. * Rep. Bob Allen, another Republican, caught asking to blow an undercover officer and willing to pay $20 for the pleasure; currently coming up with an excuse for the day (scary black men, thunderstorms) for his same-sex appetite.
With the hypocrite closet bursting open, and its occupants falling out on top of one another, there's not a lot the Moral Values SetTM can do except wring their hands and fret about the state of things, right? They rallied the faithful in the evangelical pews and placed their faith in -- and cast their votes for -- publicly pious, "family values" politicians and community leaders who now are destroying the right-wing campaign to retake the secular culture back from the godless heathens, wanton women who dare to want to control their womb and sexuality, and the homosexuals.
"It seems like the people who are the most vocal, the most condemning, the most judgmental, seem to be people struggling deeply with their own personal conflicts, and that's where the scandals come from whether it's the church or politics. It's fairly routine. Find someone banging the drum of hysteria around an issue, and you'll find someone, generally speaking, who is wrestling themselves internally."
However, you would be wrong if you thought the fringe right couldn't come up with a "better" rationalization for all the moral falls from grace, as it were.
Should private behavior matter in public leaders? Some political observers say yes, arguing that morality is the only way to ensure a politician's voting record stays consistent with his or her personal values. But others say the recent revelations only prove hypocrisy, and some politicians say public expectations can be unreasonable.
Note to readers: bookmark this post; you will want to refer to the following mind-blowing quotes from this article time to time.
First up, Jim Smith, editor of the Jacksonville-based Florida Baptist Witness:
"If someone's walk doesn't match their talk, of course it's relevant. But a politician's conduct "also has to be evaluated in light of other considerations, and we aren't electing saints here," Smith said. "All of us are fallen and subject to sin. We're not looking for perfection. But we do want integrity."
They accuse the left of moral relativism and hair-splitting? On to Father Tony Palazzolo, priest and pastoral consultant at the Diocese of St. Augustine:
"Is it a one-time indiscretion, or a pattern? Was there an apology? Repentance? It seems to me your religious values determine how you make a decision about right or wrong and good and bad, and if you're willing to compromise those values in your private life, it seems the same thing would hold true for a person's public life."
How about this, from John Stemberger, of the Florida Family Policy Council Inc. (he's working to pass a same-sex marriage ban amendment in the Sunshine State). The article notes that he suggests a "sliding scale" when evaluating a politician's fall from grace.
"If I'm going to hire a plumber, their primary job is to do it right, and I'm not too concerned with their character and moral life. When does it become relevant? To be a lawmaker and then a lawbreaker means there has been a violation of trust. Character does matter."
Oh, so it only matters if you're caught breaking the law. What this is really about is going back to the good old days where "forbidden immoral acts" occurred on the DL on Saturday night, and you turned up in church in your Sunday best the next day -- and no one knows you broke your marital vows by blowing that guy in that highway rest stop, potentially exposing your spouse to STDs. That's correct "Christian" behavior.
My personal favorite comes from Ralph Reed, the former executive director of the Christian Coalition, associate of Jack Abramoff, and frequent talking head when the MSM wants a rep from the far right:
Let's be clear what voters of faith are saying. They're not saying that every single politician who professes a conservative viewpoint should live up to that standard. It's really the opposite. None of us are perfect, and we all fall short of God's grace. A lot of times that gets lost when someone's failing becomes politicized."
Yes, working to elect people to deny tax-paying, law-abiding LGBT citizens civil rights while those self-loathing pols cruise for gay sex makes perfect sense.
One frustrated Florida pol wants more reasonable standards for hypocrites. Republican State Senator Jim King of Jacksonville has been fighting off rumors that he was frequenting t*tty bars.
"I live a pretty good Christian life, but in the eyes of some people I'm being disrespectful because sometimes I like to drink wine with dinner. That's frustrating. Elected officials are expected to live a totally different life than their neighbors."
Stay out of our wombs and bedrooms and then we'll stop talking about the moral hypocrites when the stories hit the front pages.
What on earth is that headline about? You'll recall that Ted Haggard, the former male escort client and meth purchaser, has started a new life in Arizona. The former head of New Life Church -- and graduate of a miraculous Dobson-approved three-week de-gaying program -- is also asking followers for a handout in a boldly insane letter (his $138K New Life severance will be cut off after the end of the year). In it he says:
Any help we can get with this will be greatly appreciated and, I believe, rewarded in heaven.
Haggard asks that checks be sent to an outfit called "Families With a Mission" in Colorado Springs with a separate note indicating the funds are for the Haggard family...
then Families With a Mission will mail us 90% of the funds for support and use 10% for administrative costs,
There's one problem. Actually several. Dan Savage at Slog passes on this mind-blowing news:
Hm. Weird -- who knew you could get a tax deduction from dissolved charity?
And it gets weirder: There's only one name on file with the Colorado Secretary of State in connection with Families With a Mission: Paul Huberty.
Huberty is the "registered agent" of Families With a Mission and the registered agent's mailing address -- POB 63125, Colorado Springs, CO 80962-3125 -- is the same address Haggard included in his letter to his supporters. Another address on file with the Colorado Secretary of State for Families With a Mission is 855 Pebble Creek Ct., Monument, CO 80132. That's the charity's "principal office mailing address."
Sigh. As with these fundie stories, you know we have not yet reached the moral values bottom of matters. Slog reader Dave Coffman did some investigating in public records and found out that Paul G. Huberty was convicted of "sodomy and indecent acts" with "a 17-year-old female who accompanied appellant and his family to Germany as his legal ward" (PDF here) while he was in the military and stationed there. When he moved to Hawaii, he had to register as a sex offender.
When Huberty left Hawaii, the forwarding address he left is -- you guessed it -- the address for the now-dissolved charity Families With a Mission.
You'd think the unnaturally homo-obsessed Mayor of Fort Lauderdale would have taken a breather from his 24/7 campaign to destroy tourism there, but sadly, Jim Naugle hasn't gotten the message. he's continuing to assert that there is an epidemic of gay male sex going on in the public beach restrooms.
After failing to convince the city to spend $250K on robo-toilets to prevent all the imaginary man-on-man action (the police can account for only two arrests in three years), he has gone on a public crusade that only further gives Fort Lauderdale a black eye.
For instance, the mayor recently held another press conference, this time flanked by fundies to promote "healthy public places" (video here and here). At his side:
* the Rev. O'Neal Dozier of Pompano Beach's Worldwide Christian Center ("Everyone, regardless of his place on the political spectrum, should agree that public sex-whether it be in parks, restrooms, department stores, or bathhouses - endangers lives and fuels the public health crisis we face in Broward."); * Dr. John Diggs of the Massachusetts Physicians Resource Council * infamous radio fundie Janet Folger of Faith2Action ("The mayor is doing what most families want. We don't want to be known as the AIDS capital in the country."); * Gary Cass, president of the Christian Anti-Defamation League * Pastor Willie McBride of Lauderdale Christian Center in Plantation.
Also in this HealthyPublicPlaces.com coalition supporting the mayor, some familiar names -- Americans for Truth, Christian Anti-Defamation Commission, Christian Interactive Network, Concerned Women for America, Coral Ridge Ministries, Faith2Action, Stephen Bennett Ministries, and the Worldwide Christian Center.
Diggs handed out copies of his discredited paper, "The Health Risks Of Gay Sex," which goes into details that they love to obsess over, with headings for "gay sex" such as Anal-genital, Oral-anal, Human Waste, Fisting, Sadism. Never mind that heterosexuals practice such things; that would ruin Diggs' party. Debunking of this paper can be found here.
Activist Anthony Niedwiecki was interviewed for the Sun-Sentinel article on the press conference wrote this about Diggs:
He basically attributed every sexually transmitted disease to men on men sex, including anal cancer (not a STD, but he repeatedly referred to this) and HPV. When asked by a reporter why they are not addressing the increase in HIV cases among African-American and Haitan-American heterosexual women, the population that has seen the highest increase in Broward over the past few years, he blamed it on gay men on the "down low". He essentially blamed gay men for every new disease out there and on every new incident of HIV transmission. As I told one reporter, I felt like it was August 21, 1985.
As Anthony noted, in Broward County women make up a third of HIV cases diagnosed in the past 10 years. It begs the question why this crowd is fixated on imaginary gay men having sex in a beach restroom, rather than communities where they need to focus their attention.
Fort Lauderdale ranks # 6 among gay vacationers last year -- and the demo represents 11% of the $8.5 billion that rolls into Broward County's coffers annually. Naugle is flushing it all away. The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau has been alarmed at the fallout from the homophobic mayor's tirades, and has sent out letters to try to stave off a boycott of the area.
According to Waymon Hudson of Fight Out Loud, on Thursday the tourism board shared with Naugle the blowback that is already occurring:
Board members said that each time the mayor speaks they receive hundreds of E-mails from potential visitors to Ft Lauderdale, saying they plan to take their money elsewhere. One board member said a 200-person group was scheduled to stay at a prominent hotel in Ft Lauderdale. In light of Naugle's comments, they have placed the reservation, along with $250,000 in revenue, on hold. These concerns have come from not only gay and lesbian travelers, but from other tourists as well. They have said they no longer see the Greater Fort Lauderdale area as a welcoming or safe place to travel.
What did Naugle say in response?
"I am the Mayor that's not going to back down. One of the things that my dad taught me is that it isn't always about the money, it's about doing what's right."
And he's going to take all of you folks in Fort Lauderdale down with him.
I watched the third part of CNN's documentary with Christiane Amanpour, "God's Warriors" and it will have the fundies hopping mad. Parts one and two dealt with extremist movements in Judaism and Islam. Last night's installment took a look at religious fundamentalists in the U.S., the "Christian" right wing. The transcript is here.
Amanpour conducted the last TV interview with Rev. Tinkywinky at Liberty University the week before Falwell died. He again recanted the apology he made for saying "the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians" were responsible for 9/11. He calls his young Liberty University scholars "pit bulls for Christ;" his goal is to graduate as many fundie lawyers as possible, to infiltrate and influence the judicial system in favor of God's law.
Michael Jensen has a great piece up at AfterElton about this part of the doc series. A snippet:
It would be hard to imagine a documentary examining the impact of Christian fundamentalists on American culture that didn't include a look at the part played by gay issues. Fortunately, God's Christian Warriors doesn't disappoint and the result is a fascinating and often frightening look at the religious right that any progressive -- but especially any gay progressive -- would be well advised to watch.
...While watching Amanpour interview some of these fundamentalists, I hoped she would ask just what would happen to gay people should they get their way: stoning to death, as suggested in Leviticus? After all, fundamentalists claim the Bible should be the foundation upon which America is built and that would be the logical conclusion.
...If looked at through the prism of understanding what the religious right wants for America, however, then the documentary can be considered a success if even only a few Americans -- especially gay ones -- wake up to what these Christian fundamentalists aspire to. And for anyone paying attention for the last twenty years, no explanation is needed as to what it is the religious fundamentalists want for America.
As God's Christian Warriors makes amply clear, their goal is an America that is governed by biblical principles; principles that leave no room for gay people to co-exist in any meaningful way except by going deeply back in to the closet.
CNN has done a fine job on this series; I am curious how the documentary is being received by fundamentalists, considering it is quite harsh (but accurate) about the violent history of the religious right regarding abortion activity, showing the shootings of doctors and bombings of clinics -- acts Falwell condemned when the topic was raised by Amanpour. I'd venture a guess that being lumped in with extremist factions of Islam and Judaism is going to cause a massive uproar in the fundie press shortly.
Oh wait...take a look at the drivel already up at WingNutDaily.
And the headline of the related story, which has all of the expected hysteria: CNN airs 'one of the most distorted programs' ever Documentary compares Jews, Christians to Muslim terrorists
CNN will proabably re-air all three parts over the weekend. Check listings.
My, my, it is a busy week. I can hardly keep up with these guys...
Former NC lawmaker, retired Baptist minister -- and now-former Christian Action League president -- Coy C. Privette pleaded guilty yesterday to six counts of aiding and abetting prostitution. He has to perform 48 hours of community service and receive counseling.
* he paid for the hotel rooms under his own name on six occasions; * the prostitute took pictures of her with the former minister using her cell phone camera.
That left Privette with little other choice than to admit the hanky-panky. Outside the courtroom after the hearing, Privette passed out a statement that sounds vaguely familiar, right out of the Conservative Sexual Hypocrisy Manual.
Privette said he is going to dedicate considerable time and effort to "repair" himself.
"I am already seeking professional attention to this end," he said. "As I undergo much needed personal and spiritual reflection, I sincerely ask everyone to keep me in their thoughts and prayers on my journey to earn back the trust that I have lost."
A sad irony of the story is that the sex worker involved was arrested for prostitution by authorites, even though she cooperated with them on the bust, which involved a forged check case investigation.
According to the prosecutor the case started June 27 when a Cabarrus County bank refused to honor a check being drawn against Privette's account because it seemed high and called Kannapolis police.
A police investigator interviewed Tiffany Summers who said she had received the check from Privette. She also said she had sex with Privette on a number of occasions in two hotels.
For a touch of fun, take a look at the statement on morality on the Christian Action League's web site...
We are in the General Assembly of North Carolina with a full-time presence promoting legislation that is consistent with a Christian worldview. We advocate for those measures that strengthen the family and oppose legislation that would erode the family structure. We are the voice of conservative evangelical Christians in the State Legislature.
We discourage the promotion and use of beverage alcohol and other drugs, pornography, sexual immorality and other sinful practices that not only undermine the spiritual lives of those who participate in them, but also undermine the strength of our State and National character.
If it wasn't bad enough that his singing and songwriting skills leave much to be desired ("Girls, he’s lying when he says he needs it. Boys, she’s going to give you a disease."), but he's also a "former homosexual" (he "lived in the homosexual lifestyle for nearly twenty years" and repented). Yes, an ex-gay -- though I don't think anyone will pay him to go professional in that regard.
Without further delay, view the live performance (with a mocking audience) of his epic ditty, "It's Not OK To Be Gay! (It's not OK to be a homo)"
Beware -- this outlandish song will stick in your head.
"Jesus loves the homosexual, but he doesn't love homosexuality. This is about holding each other accountable." -- Dave Daubenmire, the founder of Minutemen United and Pass the Salt Ministries, who thinks breaking into church services to rail about the homos share "the word of God" is appropriate. (more on him below)
A "Christian" extremist group has decided to take their anti-gay message on the road and try to shake some sense into renegade churches that dare to be gay-affirming.
Members of the organization, Minutemen United, have crashed services at the First Baptist Church in Granville, Ohio every Sunday since July when, the church landed on the Minuteman hit list for hosting "Love Makes a Family," the Family Diversity Project's traveling photography exhibit of LGBT families. (Columbus Dispatch):
On one of the first Sundays, six people came to the church's 11 a.m. service and addressed the congregation during a time designated for prayer requests and comments.
[Senior pastor Rev. Kathy] Hurt said a man, who introduced himself as a minister from the New Beginnings Church in Warsaw, Ohio, started to give a sermon about how the church was acting against God's word by accepting homosexuals.
The other church on the Minuteman list was Columbus's King Avenue United Methodist Church in Columbus where the Rev. John Keeny said: "They rebuked me as a pastor for preaching that God's love is for everyone."
Alex Blaze of The Bilerico Project hits the nail on the head about these "Christians":
But this comes down to respect for people's religions, and the Religious Right always declares themselves on the side of religious freedom promulgating paranoid fantasies of police rounding up pastors after hate crimes legislations gets passed or school teachers locking away students with Bibles or whatever. But then when it comes to anyone who disagrees with them, suddenly the word "freedom" gets exposed for the window dressing that it is.
And about that Daubenmire fellow. Let's just say that he shouldn't cast stones, as his son was convicted on a child pornography charge.
Not only that, he's yet another fundie with a very odd fixation on homosexuality. He forced himself to attend a Gay Pride parade in Columbus and made these keen observations (something I blogged about back in July):
The homosexual leadership, those who work iniquity, has done a great public relations job. They have convinced us that Tommy and Billy who live down the street are the real face of homosexuality. Sadly, as those who walked into the den of iniquity with us on Saturday can attest, the under-belly of sodomy is a despicable thing to see. A friend once told me that I should never go to a meat packing shop and watch hot-dogs being made. If I did, he warned me, I would never eat another hot-dog as long as I lived.
The same can be said for the sodomite parade. The "meat" on display will forever change the way you view homosexuality. Sin has no boundaries, no clutch, and no emergency brake. Once you dip your toe into the pool of sin, especially sexual sin, there is a magnetism that will not let go. The debauchery parading down our public streets is abominable.
CNN's upcoming Christiane Amanpour documentary on religious extremism in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, "God's Warriors," airs starting on Tuesday. Right here in the U.S. we have an example of one of those warriors, Ron Luce, whose call to action to retake America from the "virtue terrorists" (gays, pro-choice supporters, etc.) is "Battle Cry," a youth crusade that Amanpour visits at its stop in San Francisco.
Luce screams intolerance cloaked in nifty pyrotechnics, Christian rock music, and big-screen graphics to the teen-packed venue. The evils of secular society and pop culture have forced him to tell his young charges to be ready and "armed with faith, prepared for battle." Luce talks about "virgins being raped on the sidewalks."
Rolling Stone did a piece on Luce and his movement back in April, "Teenage Holy War."
They rise, heartened; the crowd, en masse, swears off "harlots and adultery"; the twenty-one-year-old MC twitches taut a chain across the ass of her skintight red jeans and summons the followers to show off their best dance moves for God.
Someone please tell me how delusional (or cravenly manipulative) do you have to be to put on a show this outrageous:
[T]hese 4,000 teens are about to become "branded by God." It's like getting your head shaved when you join the Marines, Luce says, only the kids get to keep their hair. His assistants roll out a cowhide draped over a sawhorse, and Luce presses red-hot iron into the dead flesh, projecting a close-up of sizzling cow skin on giant movie screens above the stage.
"When you enlist in the military, there's a code of honor," Luce preaches, "same as being a follower of Christ." His Christian code requires a "wartime mentality": a "survival orientation" and a readiness to face "real enemies." The queers and communists, feminists and Muslims, to be sure, but also the entire American cultural apparatus of marketing and merchandising, the "techno-terrorists" of mass media, doing to the morality of a generation what Osama bin Laden did to the Twin Towers. "Just as the events of September 11th, 2001, permanently changed our perspective on the world," Luce writes, "so we ought to be awakened to the alarming influence of today's culture terrorists. They are wealthy, they are smart, and they are real."
Even as he tells kids to swear off pop culture, Luce doesn't swear off capitalism, cashing in for Jesus by making money selling Battle Cry books, t-shirts, and videos.
When you have cult of personality BS going at this level, you know the power over these kids has likely gone to Luce's head. At this rate, how long will it be before he's caught with a hooker, or at a rest stop blowing some guy, or, heaven forbid, molesting an underage kid? It's only a matter of time with folks like this if the current trend holds.
Do these people ever tire of dipping into the same sleazy well? Hat tip to Right Wing Watch again for this incredible nonsense out of the mouth of Vision America's Rick Scarborough about the HRC/LOGO presidential forum. In his eyes it's a slippery slope to Santorumville:
This week every single Democrat candidate participated in a first ever homosexual sponsored debate carried live on a homosexual television network.
...So far this political season we have had Frosty the Snowman asking questions over YouTube and now the "Gay Debates" to see just which candidate is willing to grant the most favor to a lifestyle which historical Christianity calls sinful. What's next? The Cross Dresser Debates? Or perhaps the NAMBLA (North American Man/Boy Lovers Association) Debates? Or here's one for the ages -- The Bestiality Debates. Not possible? That's what I thought about our leaders attending a debate sponsored by homosexuals twenty years ago.
Need I tell you at the bottom of his article he begs for cash: "Make a donation to support the ongoing work of Vision America Action by clicking here. Your donation will immediately impact the future of our nation."
He obviously needs the cash. His "70 Weeks to Save America" Campaign is in debt. 70 Weeks is Rick's tour with Alan Keyes and a cavalcade of bible-beaters traveling around the country to hold rallies in advance of the 2008 election to focus on "biblical and family values, and religious liberty." Some video for your entertainment:
Former NC lawmaker, retired Baptist minister -- and now-former 