Dan Savage Is Right About Tony Perkins, But Just How Many Gay Bodies Are Evangelicals Sitting On?

Right Wing Evangelical Christianity has a lot to answer for.

Accountability is not one of religion's strong suits: witness the reaction of the Family Research Council to Dan Savage's charge:

On Mike Huckabee's program:

Mike Huckabee: “I found Dan Savage to be unnecessarily rude, vile, and angry. Just angry. He was not a happy person and he just takes out his venom on other people, but he’s gone to a level I’ve never seen.”
Perkins responded, “As my teenagers would say, he has some issues. He is a man with some real deep-seated issues … and Dan Savage is nowhere near, he’s a hundred and eighty degrees from the positions that we have taken. It’s wrong and I will tell you this, we are pursuing everything possible to deal with him because he is out of control.”

Note that Perkins did not answer to the responsibility the FRC has in teen suicides.

Refusal of culpability always leads to further investigation, and even though the Christian Right counters such investigation with cries of "PERSECUTION!", investigation is indeed necessary: a grain of truth can be supplanted in everyone's mind and counter-actions must be taken.

Walking Backward: A Much Wider Sphere Of Hate And Destruction

Going back to the origins of demonizing gays and lesbians is, to some, like going back to the Stone Age in America's Evangelical vs LGBT culture war, but it must be done to give scope to the current battle. Perkins' demonizing is following a tradition laid down by Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and Jesse Helms. So to get a clearer perspective it may be necessary to walk backwards - to a time even before the Age of AIDS.

In November of 2010, The Family Research Council was named a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The reason: disseminating false information about gays and lesbians in order to create animosity towards a specific group. Tony Perkins, of course, hit the ceiling, but he had good company: the evangelical American Family Association was also named a hate group. One strong reason for this: the rhetoric of the AFA's Director Of Issues Analysis (whatever that means), Bryan Fischer*. Fischer's celebrity stems from the fact that he has denigrated not only gays, but Muslims, feminists and African-Americans. 

In 1992, the Family Research Council came out with a video, the Gay Agenda in which was cited the discredited research of Paul Cameron. This video was widely distributed among evangelical church groups and conservative organizations. In that same year, minister-turned politician Mike Huckabee came out with the statement: "I feel [homosexuality] is an aberrant, unnatural, and sinful lifestyle, and we now know it can pose a dangerous public health risk." He also suggested that AIDS patients should be "isolated from the general population."**

From 1982 onward, the most favorite culture war battle cry was 'AIDS is a gay plague." The demonizing that resulted from groups like the Southern Baptist Convention is still far-reaching:

From OPEdNews (Demonizing America - Part 2: "Kill Them All! God Will Take Care Of His Kind!"):

Probably the most obvious (and the most vicious) holdout as far as demonizing PWAs is concerned is the powerful Southern Baptist Convention. Almost thirty years after the start of the epidemic, the SBC still cannot point to the sponsorship of any faith-based agency dealing with AIDS ...in this country. ...Today, they still follow Jesse Helms dictum that helping AIDS victims in Africa was fine because they were "all heterosexuals" while all AIDS victims in America were perverted sodomites.

(Of note: Tony Perkins is Southern Baptist and carries on its traditions extremely well.  In 1991, Mr. Perkins was cited during a political campaign for failing to report that he had knowingly purchased the mailing list of former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke.)

In 1980, the Traditional Values Coalition was formed by Rev. Lou Sheldon as a bulwark against what it deemed a "deviant lifestyle."*** And although discrimination against homosexuals had long been in place by the evangelical community, the formation of the Coalition marked the first organized attempt to demonize a group. 

Body Count

The number of fatalities resulting from the demonizing of people like Tony Perkins and the Family Research Council is impossible to calculate: to count the number of pulpits, televangelists, hate groups and hell houses that have caused people to be kicked out of their homes while they were sick and dying, that have caused adult and teen suicides, that have caused people to be bashed and killed, is incalculable. It is unknowable, because the nature of demonizing is too insidious to calculate.

And this is what Tony Perkins and his ilk count on: without direct cause and effect, the Family Research Council will continue to going skipping merrily down Unaccountable Lane.

* Wikipedia: "In August, 2012, AFA Director of Issue Analysis Bryan Fischer compared the children of gay parents to slaves, tweeting that "we need an Underground Railroad to deliver innocent children from same-sex households".
 ** This was several years after the CDC determined that AIDS was not transmitted through casual contact.
***Both Lou Sheldon and the Traditional Values Coalition were later embroiled in the Jack Abramoff scandal.

An Open Letter To Tony Perkins: Why I Celebrate Gay Pride Month And Not Self-Righteous Pride Minute

The month of June is Gay Pride Month. Now, I have not yet seen where they have declared Adultery Pride Month, I have not seen where they have declared the Drunkenness Pride Month.

- Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, in response to a caller on American Family Association radio.

To: Mr. Tony Perkins
From: Rev. Dan Vojir

Dear Mr. Perkins:

For twenty years, you and the Family Research Council have demonized the LGBT community, comparing homosexuals to drunkards, adulterers, drug addicts, child molesters and even Nazis.

Where is your pride? What's more: do you celebrate it?

I know where my pride is:

It is in the courage of the hosts who overcame the prejudice instilled by fear-mongering and righteous arrogance.

It is in the creativity of people who gave us quilts and red ribbons to instill compassion and courage against hatred and bigotry.

It is in the audacity of people who loved each other openly, thereby creating more love for fellow man.

It is in the beauty of people who had a higher percentage of caregivers than your "righteous" families.

It is in the vitality of people who kept fighting for the civil rights of themselves and others.

It is in the humanity of the thousands of people who gave enormous compassion to those AIDS victims whom you unceremoniously evicted from their homes, while they were sick and dying,  during the worst epidemic our country has ever seen.

And it is now in the President who came to terms with his own conscience and declared that love for one another is a human right, one that should be celebrated and not be restricted by laws.

Mr. Perkins, you demonize the people and the celebration of all these things because you cannot believe that people can be good without your distinct imprimatur, masking it, of course, as "God's will". But in what love, compassion, and humanity you demonize and hold in contempt, I and millions of others have a deep sense of pride.

And I ask you again, where is your pride? Perhaps ...

It is in your ignorance of the love two people can for one another, regardless of gender.

It is in your self-righteousness which overshadows respect for humanity.

It is in your intolerance towards people who are different from you.

It is in the disdain you feel for diversity.

It is in the man-made authority vested in you by a group of people who share in your pride.

It is in your acts of destroying rights, livelihoods and yes, families.

It is in your fear-mongering and pronouncements of a fictional "homosexual agenda"

For twenty years your pride has been placed in these things.

As I witness Pride parades and celebrations throughout the country, I see the joy at knowing who we are and who we have been. I witness the effervescent streak of humanity. I witness the survival of the human spirit, the kind of spirit that cannot be put down by the demonizing you and your cohorts so arrogantly proclaim to be the "Word of God."

Mr. Perkins, over the last few months I have been nurturing a Rainbow Garden to grow for Pride Week here in San Francisco. It resides in the Juan Bautista Community Garden in Park Merced. Far more than just a tiny bit of flowers and sparkle amongst the other more staid garden beds, it has garnered respect as a small quadrant of Pride in beauty, and beauty in Pride. People recognize it as a celebration of life, love and survival. They have pride in it, and, I am happy to say, pride in me.

Yes, I know where my Pride is, and after twenty years, the country knows where yours is.

I feel sorry for you, Mr. Perkins. Very sorry. When I conduct a small ceremony in the garden this Sunday in celebration of San Francisco's Pride Day, I will say a prayer for you.

Very Truly Yours,

Rev. Dan Vojir
San Francisco

So Obama's Evolved. Now What? A Boon To The LGBT Community Is Also A Boon To The Right, Christian Or Otherwise

The Bigotry Will Triple

One Comment on Truth Wins Out:"Once upon a time, a much loved/hated President from Illinois got down off the fence and came out in support of basic justice and human rights for a group of people who had been denied these things up to that point. Almost 150 years later, it happened again."

Andrew Sullivan: "[T]oday Obama did more than make that logical step. He let go of fear. He is clearly prepared to let the political chips fall as they may. That's why we elected him. That's the change we believed in.

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for a President to speak his mind, inalienable rights can be elevated ... or sometimes get f*cked. Yesterday, President Barack Obama stated, in his usual careful and diplomatic way, that he thinks same-sex couple should have the right to marry, and amidst the cries of jubilation (see above) there will be voices screaming to have him ousted from office immediately. This year's Values Voters Summit, hosted by Family Research Council's Tony Perkins and attended by uber-bigots (like Bryan Fischer of American Family Association) across the country, will be one monstrous Obama-bashing event and Presidential nominee-apparent Mitt Romney will be ballyhooed more than the Second Coming.


This year's Summit may even allow a Ku Klux Klan booth.* Who knows?




The above is the headline for FOX Nation, the blog for FOX News. It's indicative of what is to come. "War On Marriage"... is too strong for a "news" outlet and is the same phrase used by the Christian Right and NOM. The "Flip Flops" is an inept attempt to counter the usual criticism of Romney's politics.

And more (courtesy, Joe.My.God):

• Alliance Defense Fund: Today's statement is a tragic contradiction that promotes the creation of even more fatherless and motherless homes.
• Traditional Values Coalition: North Carolina just became the 31st state to affirm the sanctity of marriage. As if mainstream Americans needed any further reasons to reject Obama’s radical social agenda, we were most certainly reminded today.
• The Catholic League: The time has finally come to pass a constitutional amendment affirming marriage as an institution reserved to the only two people who can naturally produce a family, namely a man and a woman.

These sound relatively mild, but the wild is yet to come. Already false speculations are emerging: one is that the Obama campaign is depending upon gay money since gays, of course have more money than God.

The myth that gays have more disposable income, however, is dispelled by the fact that a higher than national average are caregivers for their partners and parents** - those people for whom straight relatives (mostly siblings) have little or no concern. If the Obama administration doesn't know that it might be disappointed in the level of campaign donations. However, it will not be disappointed by the level of campaign work by gays and lesbians, reaching perhaps the level of 2008.

Reality, however, has never bothered the Right when it comes to attacking the Left. In this, the ferocity of the Right cannot be underestimated: they will counter Democratic campaigns with organizations like the discredited NOM. They will double-down on sanctioned bullying in schools. They will trumpet lies against Planned Parenthood and the Girls Scouts.

All of Mitt Romney's sins will be whitewashed to the nth degree.

And their victory in North Carolina will embolden them to paint gay activists as godless but powerfully manipulative demons and Obama as the anti-Christ for helping them along.

All liberals - gay and straight, better hunker down for an exceptionally vicious war.


*On religious grounds, of course. Those are fiery CROSSES, aren't they?
** The national average is 17% while the average for gays is 21%.

The Day The Bullies Get Yanked Out Of School: This Friday's Day Of Silence May Have Unexpected Results

A holiday for bullies is a holiday from bullies! Thank you FRC!

Look, bullying should not be taking place in our schools, every child in America should be able to go to school—public school, private school, wherever—without the fear of threat or being intimidated, regardless of what the cause is, whether they’re overweight, whether their religious viewpoints, no child should be bullied because they are effeminate or because of their sexual orientation or whatever, it shouldn’t happen, but we cannot allow these programs like the Day of Silence to come into our schools as a cover for the promotion of homosexuality.

- Tony Perkins, Family Research Council

"You're going to hell!" has always been a favorite slogan of bullies, especially ones with a Christian Right upbringing. Places like Tennessee have addressed the problem of bullying by actually passing "pro-bullying" legislation designed to allow kids to be bullied, if the bully states it's on religious grounds and he or she is simply expressing their religious beliefs.

Each year, to counteract bullying in schools, GLSEN (Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network) encourages students in schools to have a Day of Silence in solidarity with those students who have been bullied because they are gay (or have been perceived to be gay). And each year, proponents of the Christian Right scream that it is simply a tool of indoctrination into the "gay lifestyle."

Each year, more and more students have been participating in the Day Of Silence, much to the consternation of people like Tony Perkins (Family Research Council - FRC), Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association and Linda Harvey of Mission America. Two years ago, Tony Perkins was prompted to counteract the DofS with a "Day Of Dialogue."

It fell flat.

Probably because the "dialogue" Perkins insisted on was rather one-sided: just tell your teacher that you think you might be gay and go to the counselor who will hopefully pray the gay away. End of "dialogue."

This year, the strategy has taken a page from National Organization for Marriage's playbook: boycott. Hell, that "liberal" school is just as bad as Starbucks, so don't patronize it: this is, after all, a shameful indoctrination on the part of the school, so, just yank your kid out for the day in protest! The problem with this strategy is that it is bolstered with lies and misconceptions:


Pastor Looomer of a Connecticut school board talking to Tony Perkins:

At past events, GLSEN was caught distributing pamphlets that promote everything from child sex to pornography. “If parents [knew] the inappropriateness of the materials, they’d be enraged,”

Uh, there's a problem here: GLSEN has never distributed any such pamphlets. Total fabrication.

Another anti-gay, anti-GLSEN piece of reasoning comes from Mission America's Linda Harvey:

-The Day of Silence encourages students to nurture prejudiced, hostile and bigoted attitudes against Christians and others with traditional moral beliefs, and to spread inaccurate and harmful information.

Hmm... the "inaccurate and harmful information" being that homophobia (and bullying) is fueled by demonizers? The disingenuous ramblings of Tony Perkins in his above statement are hollow because neither Mr. Perkins nor the Christian Right have ever been that inclusive in anything. Perkins, in fact, only takes a back seat to Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association when it comes to demonizing and singling out gays for special ostracism:

On this day, thousands of public high schools and increasing numbers of middle schools will allow students to remain silent throughout an entire day... to promote GLSEN's socio-political goals and its controversial, unproven, and destructive theories on the nature and morality of homosexuality.

Parents must actively oppose this hijacking of the classroom for political purposes. Pleasejoin the national effort to restore to public education a proper understanding of the role of government-subsidized schools. You can help de-politicize the learning environment by calling your child out of school if your child's school allows students to remain silent during instructional time on the Day of Silence.

So the bullies are to get their own special holiday. But what if the schools and communities are so relieved by the lull in bullying that they plead with Tony Perkins and Bryan Fischer to keep them home?

You Might Be A Right Wing Bible Thumper, If...: Foxworthy's New Bible Quiz Show Promises Unintended Laughs

You Might Be A Right Wing Bible Thumper if...

You have to give Jeff Foxworthy credit: he doesn't mind deprecation, especially self-deprecation. The man who coined the phrase "You might be a redneck, if...." and hosted "Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?" is getting set for some more deprecatory comments, even from some of his own fans.

Even without knowing much about the exact format of the program, The American Bible Challenge, it doesn't take a fifth grader to sense that the show will produce some very embarrassing, unintended moments.

From Punchline Magazine:

Part of the show will be centered around the contestant’s home lives, as the network explained their personal stories will be shared with the audience. Contestants will form teams and will represent “worthy faith-based organizations,” to which all cash won will go, according to GSN. The show pilot is scheduled to shoot later this month.

Foxworthy has promised to "to present the Bible in a fun and entertaining way."

That was done by pop historian Kenneth C. Davis in his book "Don't Know Much About The Bible."* It didn't go over well with Fundamentalists.

KJV, NIV or PPP (Pure Pulpit Pimp)?

So which version of the Bible will Foxworthy use for his questions? If he doesn't use the King James Version, he's going to rile some people. Then again, saying all those "thees" "thous" "sayeths" and "begats" will make for more archaic-sounding buffoonery.

Foxworthy will also be walking a fine line in other areas: will interpretation have anything to do with the questions? Will the Bible be presented as absolute fact? Will he skirt socio-political issues such as homosexuality? Will he lean towards the David Barton history and mindset of EVERYTHING being set in the Bible? How Dominionist will he get? More pertinent: will the contestants be culled from our most visible Christian Right leaders? Can you imagine:

JF: "The Old Testament mentions the Witch of Endor. Where is Endor?"
Cindy Jacobs: "Was it shaped like a dragon?"
Pat Robertson: "I don't know, but I think it signed a pact with the devil."

JF: What was the sin of Sodom?
Bryan Fischer: Making the first homosexuals, therefore the first N*zis.
Tony Perkins: Homosexual activists forced Lot's daughters to become lesbians.

JF: How many wives did King Solomon Have?
Robert Jeffress: I don't know, but he was definitely not a member of the Mormon cult.

Michelle Duggars: A lot! He must have had a zillion kids!

JF: Did God want the Israelites to slay all the Amelekites?
Ann Coulter: He only wanted them to slay their leaders and convert them to Christianity.
Sean Hannity: He didn't want to slay them at all, only waterboard them.

Other guests might include Chuck Norris, David Barton, Stephen Baldwin, Victoria Jackson, Michele Bachmann, Tim Tebow, Linda Harvey, Kirk Cameron, Rick Perry, Bishop Eddie Long... and anyone Southern Baptist. The possibilities are endless.

Unfortunately, they might be much more interesting than the people Foxworthy considers sincere and knowledgeable, turning American Bible Challenge into one boring romp, a forum devoid of meaning...or entertainment.




*I highly recommend this book for the simple reason that it brings out all the discrepancies. Some of Davis' historical standpoints have been challenged, but the fact remains that Fundamentalists and Evangelicals hate him for calling them out. E.G.: there are TWO creations, the New Testament was not written by Matthew Mark, Luke and John and God couldn't seem to get his Son's birthday right.

Transcending Christmas, Pt. 2: Who Owns Christmas - Rick Perry, Tony Perkins or... FOX News?

Christmas trees have become big news

 this season if only because the 

"war on Christmas is heating up.

And FOX News is leading the charge.

Because, only FOX News can determine who should celebrate Christmas. That's right. FOX News OWNS Christmas. Or at least it thinks it does. For example: the controversy about Rhode Island's Capitol "Holiday Tree" was kept alive recently by FOX attack reporter, Jesse Waters. Waters accosted Gov. Lincoln Chafee, asking him why the tree was called a "Holiday Tree" instead of a Christmas tree. Chafee was not quite as ruffled as Waters wanted him to be when he sited the state's religious dissident founder by saying:

“We’re trying to uphold the values of Roger Williams and make sure that the purity of theology is kept free from the pollution of government.”

Needless to say, Waters didn't get it and kept hounding the governor, asking "What holiday are you celebrating?" 

FOX also owns Christmas with egregious books like The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You Thought by John Gibson. (Gibson is the host of FOX's "The Big Story.")

Simply put, by featuring the "war" on Christmas so frequently and consistently, FOX wants to show us who REALLY owns Christmas.

SOLE PROPRIETOR?

Of course, plenty of other entities claim ownership of Christmas, not the least of which is the Family Research Council of the (now ubiquitous) conservative political convention, the Values Voters Summit. As we all know, the grand high exalted mystic ruler of the FRC, Tony Perkins, wastes no time in his views on who owns Christmas. It not only belongs to people who tell you where it should be celebrated, but to people who bloviate on where it shouldn't be celebrated:

Imagine celebrating the holidays at a graveyard--or the sight of a mass execution. That's what the Harris County Democratic Party's doing by holding their Christmas party at an abortion clinic. And not just any clinic, but Planned Parenthood's Houston mega-center. When reporters broke the news, the city's liberal mayor, Annise Parker, tried to defend the idea by saying, "It's not about the building; it's about people's lives." She's absolutely right. This is about lives--specifically, the millions taken in abortion clinics like this one! Even moderates like Andrew Breitbart said, "One doesn't have to be a dedicated pro-life activist to find the idea of this event kind of sick." After all, Christmas is a celebration of birth-not death. We rejoice in the baby who came so that we might have life-and life more abundantly.*

Last year, we wrote an article on Tony Perkins' "Christmas Card" to donors/followers of the FRC (Stranger Than Fiction: Tony Perkins' Christmas Card") in which he politicizes Christmas, albeit over-texted with Scripture. No doubt about it: TonyPerkins and the FRC have a serious stake in Christmas.


Rick Perry Is Not "Strong", But He Owns Christmas Too


Rick Perry's ad "Strong" earned him a record-breaking 665,000 "dislikes" on YouTube not only because he  slammed gays in the military and the absence of prayer in public schools, but he stated that kids "can't celebrate Christmas" in schools.** The ad instantly gave way to a dozen parodies (see the most stinging one below - "I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm an a**hole"). The bombastic attack on the Obama administration chose to hang on to Christmas as demonstration of ownership. 

So it seems that any "war" on Christmas, any inclusive attempts with "Holiday Trees" and "Happy Holidays", any celebration of Christmas in the "wrong" places declares the owners of Christmas to be the ones who insist on...control. We've noted that Christmas has, in effect, transcended itself, morphing into a universal Christmas Spirit. By controlling Christmas, these same people also attempt to control the Christmas Spirit. 


Perhaps the one person who realizes this manipulation is John Stewart of The Daily Show as the video below demonstrates. Stewart, of course, pokes fun at the whole ridiculousness of the "war", but in his comedy lies the truth: people may think they own Christmas, but the ownership of the Christmas Spirit? 


I don't think so. 

* Some rather sticky points against Perkins' rhetoric: some people actually do celebrate part of their Christmas placing wreaths or "blankets" of evergreens on loved ones graves. Secondly, Andrew Breibart is not and never has been a "moderate."

** CBS News:"Based on checking the schoolhouse scene in Iowa and Texas and consulting an array of national experts, it's clear that school officials are not permitted to organize prayers or focus on a single religion in connection with Christmas, but kids may pray and also celebrate the holiday on their own," the site's article reads.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

The Tears Of A Bullied Boy Go Viral: But Are They Enough To Move The Bully-Enablers?

Are The Tears Fake? At This Point, Who Cares?

Just as Jamey Rodemeyer's suicide touched off a firestorm against bullying by posting his "It Gets Better" video, so too has this latest one from Jonah Mowry. He posted his video back in August, but in the past 24 hours, it has gotten over 550,000 views on YouTube, not only because it was mentioned by Perez Hilton, Joe Jervis (Joe. My. God) and Michelangelo Signorelli, but also because it was posted by thousands of viewers on the facebook pages. 


It's the kind of video that dares you not to cry along with young Jonah: he never says a word, but relates his story through music and flash cards because he's trying to summon courage while tears are streaming down his face. Some people might consider it a ploy, an almost cloying plea for attention, but they would be dismissed as heartless. Some others might consider it a put up piece - too histrionic to be real, but Jonah answered the naysayers in a follow-up video thanking people for their support. That video (Thank You Everyone - 3) unfortunately, has been removed fromYouTube by Jonah for reasons that one can only speculate, but he disclosed the fact that spammers and bullies bombarded it's posting. 


So far, Jonah's parents have not come forth with a statement about the video, provoking comments like "where's the parents in all of this?" The 14-year-old may have a good relationship with them, but so far he has not given evidence on whether or not they reported the bullying to Jonah's school. In the video, his accounts of cutting (self-mutilation) go back 8 years.   


ON ITS OWN


The video is so powerful, however, that cries of "fake" are rendered moot: Jonah's emotions are clearly raw, demonstrating that an appeal for attention is not what's at stake here: even a fictional appeal can transcend itself and result in something good. And the good that it has done is touching hearts is enough for many people. 


If it is a fake, then, it is a fake appeal as a WORK OF ART.


The outpouring of sympathy, admiration and encouragement has definitely been one-sided ... so far. Elements of America's Christian Right will need to react (positively or negatively) if they are to seem "compassionate" at all. But compassion is sometimes not their forte: Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association may try to cast Jonah as the "real bully" since the teen must be considered part of the "homosexual agenda." Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council has flatly stated "We're not the cause of teen suicides," belying the fact that arbiters of morality has been the cause of hundreds of millions of suicides in the last 3000 years. Yesterday, the eponymous Christian Historian David Barton declared homosexuality to be completely "unnatural". 


One might argue that pharisees have never known when to shut up and leave well enough alone.  


In a brilliant open letter to the Christian Right, John Shore of LGBTQ Nation dares them all to respond:

Tell me that your belief system didn’t help but the hot tears on this kid’s cheeks. Tell me that the bullies who torment this kid aren’t in any way encouraged or empowered by your tacit approval of their actions. Tell me that the shame this kid feels about himself has nothing to do with the shame that you believe all gay people should feel for themselves.
Tell me that you can’t comprehend the connection between your conviction that God finds homosexuals repulsive, and the fact that this kid finds himself so repulsive that he habitually cuts his own flesh.
Tell me, please, how you love this kid. Tell me how you understand his pain. Tell me how when he cries, you cry.
Tell me how you want to do everything in your power to make sure that no one, ever again, feels free to in any way victimize a young gay person.
A Christian myself, I am pleading with you to be honest with me about this.
Tell me, please, how none of this kid’s anguish has anything to do with you.
I’m listening. I really am.
We all are.

Yes, we all are waiting, but the answers to this appeal will be lame, speaking of a "love" that transcends the needs of teens and even humanity. So we are not waiting with baited breath - or even anticipated amusement - but an impending sense of ennui. We will monitor the responses (or non-responses) of:


Bryan Fischer - Tony Perkins - Pat Robertson - Michele Bachmann - Bill Donohue (Catholic anti-Defamation League) - David Barton - Linda Harvey (Mission America) - Lou Engle ("The Call") - James Dobson - Peter LaBarbera (NARTH) - and yes, Ann Coulter. Maybe Cindy Japan-is-shaped-like-a-dragon Jacobs will chime in, babbling incoherently. 


And we will have to look for the response of Jonah's parents to his sudden celebrity. Jonah has not actually mentioned any support or antagonism from his parents. Perhaps this is the most glaring omission so far, prompting many to postulate that it was a fake. 


Whatever the responses from the Right, they're sure to be virulent and definitive.

Using Prayer As Pepper Spray: How Cindy Jacobs and The Christian Right Hope To Wipe Out The Evil OWS Movement

Inflicting On People: Imprecatory Prayer, Lunatic Prophecy and a God-Awful Fashion Sense.

In light of recent developments in New York City as it relates to the Occupy Wall Street Movement—particularly the November 17 ‘Day of Action,’ which drew upwards of 30,000 protesters into the streets—we are calling believers nationwide to help raise up a wall of intercession for peace and safety in the streets of New York City.

I guess it's time we stopped laughing at Cindy "Japan-is-shaped-like-a-dragon" Jacobs, because this woman epitomizes the Christian Right's demonizing of the OWS movement. In a very real sense, Jacobs brings about the schism that has happened in America's Christianity concerning social justice: morally, you're either with the 99%, or the 1%; with the people who have sided with social justice or the people who abhor it. 

And there are Christians who are struggling in their support of OWS. Why? Probably because the movement is suspicious of most overt Christians these days. The face of American Christianity has too long been dominated by the likes of Focus On The Family, the Family Research Council and their political minions like Mike Huckabee, Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann that Americans forget about progressive Christians and their advocacy of social justice. What America has seen from its religious community is a group purporting that "personhood" comes in the form of a corporation as well as a zygote. Pundit (and part-time historian/rodeo clown) Glenn Beck spearheaded the crusade of the Christian Right when he made "social justice"* pejorative in the minds of conservatives and Tea-Partiers everywhere. 

The ever-righteous Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association went so far as to sick his Rambo Jesus on the OWS protestors by having Him come down from heaven and whip everyone at Zuccotti Park. And one erstwhile pundit posited that the OWS had an "unbiblical fetish for equality." 

Yet there are socially responsible Christians out there who are not afraid of voicing support of OWS:

When they stand with the poor, they stand with Jesus.

When they stand with the hungry, they stand with Jesus.

When they stand for those without a job or a home, they stand with Jesus.

- Jim Wallis of Sojourners (Huffington Post)

Last week, Christian churches in New York offered shelter for OWC protesters and demanded that Bloomberg re-establish their camp in Zuccotti Park. And "protest chaplains" have been established across the country. (facebook link HERE). But more than sanctuary and chaplains, the fact that Christian communities have joined with other faiths in support of the movement is probably the most galling of all the latest events to the Christian Right: Christians have been joined by Jews, Hindus, Buddhists and (shudder!) Muslims (see video below). Even the Vatican came out with a statement supporting the ideology of OWS while not exactly siding with the protestors.


Desperate Prayers

Intercessors throughout New York City have teamed up to provide round the clock prayer and fasting coverage for New York City as we see a surge of the Occupy Wall Street Movement....These intercessors report that they have made some ground in uprooting the spirit of anarchy that has been birthed through this movement, but they need more intercessory prayer support to complete the mission.

Throughout all of the imprecatory prayers of the Christian Right against the OWS movement, there is a sense of desperation flying against an image it cannot sustain: that of the church that needs to maintain its power base - and that power base has money. Tony Perkins' FRC and Bryan Fischer's AFA must appease their donors. Cindy Jacobs must reach out in solidarity to corporations. Robert Jeffress must adhere to the tenets of his Dallas congregants.** 


So now there is a second Great Schism within Christianity: one of morals versus money, one of "social justice" versus maintenance of wealth. . There is the image of a revolutionary Jesus of the poor and a Rambo Jesus of the establishment.  There is the protester and the prayer monger. There is the Jim Wallis side and the Cindy Jacobs side. 


And for all the silly machinations of people like Cindy Jacobs, the prophecies of anarchy, the prayers against the "witchcraft" of the OWS, (and even the awful outfits), the Christian Right will keep the schism, the pepper-spraying and imprecatory prayers alive because they have a lot to lose.  


*American Thinker calls "social justice" evil.
** There may be an irony in this schism: it (slightly) parallels the break between the Baptist Church and Southern Baptists. One fought for social justice through abolition of slavery, while the other fought to keep slavery - and its donors. 

The Morality Of OWS: U.S. Marine Sgt. Shamar Thomas vs. The Christian Right Establishment

(Author's note: This article has just hit #1 in OpEdNews! Please help me spread the word by clicking on to the link and telling everyone to do the same - it's more important than promoting this blog. Thanks for your wonderful support)

 As Occupy Wall Street (OWS) passes the one-month mark, people on both sides are proclaiming their stance on its morality, but one very imposing African-American ex-marine has captured the hearts and minds of people everywhere.

This weekend, United States Marine Corps. Sgt. Shamar Thomas from Roosevelt, NY faced down over a dozen NYPD officers and gave them hell about their brutality that has been plaguing the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement.

As he posted on his YouTube video:

I was involved in a RIOT in Rutbah, Iraq 2004 and we did NOT treat the Iraqi citizens like they are treating the unarmed civilians in our OWN Country. No one was brutalized because our mission was to 'WIN the hearts and minds.' why should I expect anything less in my OWN Country.

As a man who loves his country and its citizens, Thomas may have intended to point out the particular immorality in the NYPD's handling of the protesters. But an underlying sentiment was stronger: the morality of OWS itself.

And according to some of today's Christian leaders, the OWS is very, very IMmoral:

Renew America claims that President Obama will take the ultimate reins of power, using OWS as a pawn in his attempt to take over America. They are afraid that the Obama administration will cancel the 2012 elections in order to establish a dictatorship.

Pat Robertson said that OWS was a "cruder expression of Obama."

Bryan Fischer alleged that Nazis were working to bolster the Occupy Wall Street movement in tandem with Democrats and Communists.

At the Values Voters Summit, Tony Perkins (Family Research Council) and his band of "social conservatives" actually prayed for Divine intervention:

"May God prevent these radical organizers from stirring revolution and distracting voters from the elections and keeping watch on our elected leaders."

Maybe they thought God would smite the protesters with a plague or a tiny tornado to whisk away the tent city.

But now that we have people like Rev. Jesse Jackson in the fray, the OWS scenes across the country (and the world) have come to look more like the class struggle that it was intended to be. The latest question may now be: to what extent are churches going to be involved?

PROGRESSIVE CHURCHES JOIN THE FRAY AND WITHDRAW MILLION$ FROM BANKS
No doubt, there will be some harsh words to be said from conservative churches (like the Southern Baptist Convention) to progressive ones such as Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in San Jose, CA: it withdrew over $3 million from its Bank of America accounts and deposited the money in a local credit union. The reason given was not only solidarity to OWS, but a fiery rebuttal to all the foreclosures endured by it parish of 7200 people. St. Andrew Episcopal Church in Saratoga, CA is following suit with a withdrawal of $150,000 from Wells Fargo. Both are part of PACT (People Acting in Community Together) which now represents 25 congregations and 50,000 people.

The dichotomy will not be lost on the general public: various religious institutions will either be for "social justice" or against it.

Of course, the entire fracas boils down to money: those who need it, and those who want to keep it. The Christian Right's denominations may become one in supporting the 1 percent because, that is, after all, where their money comes from. It also behooves them to keep people poor and nix secular social programs since the poor used to depend upon church charity for survival. In effect: victory against the OWS movement would be a win-win situation for people like Tony Perkins, Pat Robertson, and rising conservative Southern Baptist star Pastor Robert Jeffress.

If the country has a sense of deja vu in all of this, it may be because it's now expecting to see scenes involving protesters and water hoses. Sgt. Thomas has made us look back and wonder on which side morality will stand.

Texas Hates (Heathen) America And (Deceived) Oprah: Rick Perry's Prayer Fest And What It Means To The Rest of The Country

Everyone's talking about Texas Gov. Rick Perry's prayer rally, The Response. Is it a Texas state-sponsored revival meeting? Spiritual warfare? A gay-bashing contest?


Perhaps it's just what it seems at the outset: a Holy-Roller-Only event intent on telling people that Texas is a Christian state intent on purging itself of "evil" (i.e. everyone else).


Of course, the rally is open to people of all faiths, but....

...[Don] Wildmon, AFA's* president, stressed the Christian nature of the event and said people of other religions were "free to have their own events." He insisted his group did not hate anyone, but he said that people who do not embrace Christianity were headed for eternal damnation.

"It's not just Jews or Muslims," Wildmon said. "It's anybody that rejects the free gift of salvation through Christ. The Bible teaches there's heaven and hell. Those who believe go to heaven. Those who don't go to hell."

It would seem at first that a call to prayer by the governor of a state would not draw very many religious for an obvious slap-in-the-face to the 1st Amendment, but the Christian Right is still a desperate lot, no matter how many politicians it owns: the likes of Lou Engle, Cindy Jacobs, Bryan Fischer and David Barton are planning to attend with all the fanfare they can muster. And at the outset, every comedian can envision what the prayer fest would look like: more a convention of wingnuts than a prayer rally. OK, let's try a hand at it:

• Cindy Jacobs might give a lecture on "The Shapes of Different States - Which Ones Are Demonic and Which Are Angelic."**
• David Barton could conduct a seminar discussing "Sam Houston As A Founding Father"
• Bryan Fischer would talk about "How To Build a Wall To Keep Out Gay Immigrant Stormtroopers."
• Lou Engle might  speak on the subject: "From Gulliver To Gullible: Invading Small Third World Countries With THE WORD While Keeping Them Out Of The Twenty-First Century."***

Sadly, this rally is very serious in its intent to promote Seven Mountains Dominionism to the point of making it a (unofficial) religious tenet for the State of Texas.


Just look at some of the other sponsors/people in attendance:

• "Apostle" Doug Stringer , The Response's "ministry and Mobilization Coordinator who has flatly stated, like the late Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, that 9/11 was caused by the acceptance of homosexuality in this country.
• Former Senator Sam Brownback, now governor of Kansas, whose close connections with former C Street roommate, Lou Engle and staunch opposition to any gay rights has garnered a profile that one could consider far right.
• Televangelist James Robison, the man from whom Mike Huckabee took his ques before he was Governor and who recently spearheaded a meeting to strategize how to prevent Obama from being re-elected.
• Native American "apostle" James "Jay" Swallow, founder of the Two Rivers Native American Training Center - basically a Christian Military Training Camp - and has conducted seminars such as "Demonic Spirits" and "Spiritual Warfare." The particular irony of his attendance cannot be overlooked: the AFA's Bryan Fischer has said that Native Americans had long ago "disqualified themselves from the land." 
• International House Of Prayer (IHOP), a Pentecostal organization with strong ties to Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, Mike Huckabee and Lou Engle. It has been instrumental in structuring The Response much like Engle's rallies for The Call.
• Pastor Jim Garlow, the chief architect of California's Proposition 8
• Pastor John  Hagee,  the man who came to prominence during McCain's 2008 campaign by calling Rome the "Whore of Babylon". Hagee's bizarre anti-semitic views (he is a founder of CUFI - Citizens United For Israel) lead one to doubt that any Jewish people will be in attendance.  
• Che Ahn, pastor of Harvest Rock Church in Paszdena, CA. At one time a supporter of the controversial group People Of Destiny International, Ahn is also a stalwart of Lou Engle.
• Pastor Stephen Broden, an advocate of the overthrow of the government by violent means, if necessary.
• Peter Wagner - leader of Seven Mountains Dominionism  and chief "Apostle" (International Council of Apostles) Wagner and his associates are extremely anti-Roman Catholic and anti-Mormon. He, like Cindy Jacobs, advocates the burning of statues of saints, Buddhas, and any other non-Protestant Christian relics or figures. (reminds one of destruction of the Buddhas of the Bamiyan by the Taliban)
• Mike Bickle, who preaches that Oprah is the precursor to the anti-Christ (see clip below) and that the "Harlot Babylon" movement will involve acts of compassion and kindness.

The main source of concern about The Response is that it is sponsored by the American Family Association (see footnote) and its chief talking head, Bryan Fischer. Mr. Fischer has become so virulent in his tirades about gays, Native Americans, Muslims and African Americans, that appearing on his daily radio show has become a litmus test for extreme Right politicians.


The Sum Of Exclusions


Considering what The Response will pray for and who will be praying, is it reasonable to suppose that Perry's revival will turn off almost as many people as it will turn on? Looking at the Texas demographics in wikipedia, seems to indicate that Perry is willfully alienating half of his state: Catholics comprise 28%, Jews comprise 2%, Mormon 2%, Islam 1%  No Religion 11% Jehovah's Witnesses 1%. Throw in the hefty gay populations of Dallas, Austin and Houston, along with churches and denominations that welcome LGBT Christians you have a figure hovering at the 49% mark. 


Unfortunately for Perry, the list of people scolding him for sponsoring the event is pouring in as fast as the Right Wing notables themselves: Jewish, Islamic, Catholic, LGBT groups are coming out loud and strong against the governor.

Critics also accused Perry of using a religious event to boost a possible presidential bid.

"I want to be clear that my criticism of the governor doesn't stem from my lack of appreciation for religion, rather it comes from my deep respect for religion and from not wanting religion to be prostituted for political purposes," said C. Welton Gaddy, a Baptist minister and president of the Washington, D.C.-based Interfaith Alliance. "I think the people of Texas elected him to be the governor of the state, not the pastor of the state."

Houston Mayor Annise Parker (a lesbian) takes a more reasonable and practical bent:
I'm glad to have anybody's dollars coming to the city of Houston. They can come back on a monthly basis if they'd like as long as they spend money.

Now there's an elected official who looks out after her own. ALL of her own.

Pray For Our Beloved Country

When intolerance and bigotry brazenly get together in order to show who they are targeting in the "Name of God", the rest of the country should know the whys and wherefores of such an event as The Response: like any other disease, it can spread. Rick Perry's marriage of church and state may seem foolhardy for Perry, but it is an emboldened move by Dominionists who need a stronghold like Texas from which to strike at local and state governments. 


Extremists such as Cindy Jacobs and Peter Wagner could be discounted if it were not for the fact that they are joined by so many other extremists willing to make America a "Christian Only" country on the road to theocracy. And The Response needs to be scrutinized closely not only for the people in attendance, but for the people excluded from attendance. 


So while Rick Perry and his gang of Dominionists pray for America, maybe the rest of America should be doing the same. 

* American Family Association has shown the country why it has been named a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center in keeping on Bryan Fischer who excoriates gays, African-Americans, Native Americans, Muslims, illegal immigrants, non-Christian immigrants and all other non-Christians in general.

**  And why Florida "spiritually stimulates" her
*** ... and in the fourteenth where they belong

San Francisco Is Doomed!: Will the "Tales of the City" Bastion Of Love And Compassion Withstand The Coming Onslaught Of Righteousness?

de

"If God doesn't destroy San Francisco, he should apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah"
"OK, so it won't burn down in the traditional sense, but where is that earthquake when you need it???"

"It's an odd thing, but anyone who disappears is said to be seen in San Francisco. It must be a delightful city and possess all the attractions of the next world"

The first two quotes were from religion-based blogs. The third was from that classic reprobate,  Oscar Wilde.

"Your city is remarkable not only for its beauty. It is also, of all the cities in the United States, the one whose name, the world over, conjures up the most visions and more than any other, incites one to dream. " - Georges Pompidou

Understatement has its purpose I suppose, but when it comes to certain topics, understatement always eludes me. So when I saw the musical Tales Of The City at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater, I knew that understatement would be impossible: after all, I actually LIVED through all of it. I even topped Michael Mouse in some respects.[1]

It's not a great musical by Broadway standards, but what makes it superlative to San Franciscans is that it is as true as it is heartfelt: it tears down barriers and replaces them with freedom, love and understanding. It's San Francisco at its best.

Of course, it will be reviled, boycotted, demonized, and deemed absolutely criminal by all the Bryan Fischers, James Dobsons, Beverly LaHayes, Lou Engles, Herman Cains and Tony Perkinses of the country. And since the musical's premier is in San Francisco during Gay Pride month and before San Francisco's million-in-attendance Gay Pride celebration, those people will be working feverishly to revile, boycott, demonize and deem absolutely criminal the city of San Francisco itself. 


Thankfully, every year the City has managed to rise above all the vitriol and deliver an astoundingly loud "FU!" to those who don't admire it for what it is: the country's most accepting and compassionate city. It rises above the vilification, above the overt attempts to "save" it. It rises above the hysterical preachers (Lou Engle has called gays in the Castro "Those people who embrace the darkness"). This year, however, might prove more difficult to be celebratory than in the past: the Christian Right is ramping up the vitriol with impunity. It realizes that an attack on San Francisco is a powerful punch against the current Obama administration, the MSM, Hollywood, and every single liberal on the planet. It will try desperately to counteract the reactions to the Gallup poll that discovered over 50% of Americans are in favor of same-sex marriage. It will revel in photos of the Pride parade showing "perverts" and it will fervently hope that last year's violence at the Pink Party will be repeated - in fact, escalate into chaos and even more bloodshed. [2]

Yes, that last statement was meant to alarm: the Christian Right is becoming more violent in its hate speech, comparing gays and lesbians to N*zis, linking them to pedophilia, incest and bestiality. Granted, they use archaic stereotypes and dismissed "research," but they are mobilizing the fringe as never before with videos, ads in newspapers, politicians and a string of radio hosts who use those same politicians brazenly to promote a neo-Reconstructionist agenda. And the fringe is reacting: hate crimes against the LGBT community are up. Violence is just around the corner: it just needs a verbal spark to set off one individual, one group.

"San Francisco has been wicked from the very beginning"

I stumbled upon an ironic video while googling "San Francisco Sodom and Gomorrah". It supposedly focuses on the firebombing of a church when anti-gay preacher Lou Sheldon was supposed to speak. Edited by an evangelical Christian, it sets out to tell people how absolutely horrible and sinful San Francisco and its gay community are. In the process, however, if you count the lies and distortions you come up with, you realize that the primary purpose was to make people totally fearful of homosexuals.[3] It reeks of  "This could happen to you!" In addition, it features Scott "Pink Swastika" Lively, one of the architects of the "kill the gays  bill" in Uganda. In their momentum focusing on gay political power, they forget the oppression gays had seen well into the 80s.

Perhaps this White Night Riots incident can put things into perspective:

wikipedia:

The second stage of the violence was a police raid/riot hours later in the predominantly gay Castro neighborhood, which vandalized the Elephant Walk bar and injured many of its occupants.^[34] After order was restored at City Hall, SFPD cars carrying dozens of officers headed into the Castro District.^[35] Officers entered a gay bar called the Elephant Walk, despite their orders not to do so. They shouted "dirty cocksuckers" and "sick faggots", shattered the large plate glass windows of the bar, and attacked patrons. After fifteen minutes police withdrew from the bar and joined other officers who were indiscriminately attacking gays on the street. The incident lasted nearly two hours.[4]

I was there, at both City Hall, then later in the Castro. You haven't lived until you've seen 50 riot-helmeted cops marching toward you, shields touching each other to form a wall of plexi-glass armor ready to throw tear gas. It was sooo much fun! 

"But the Christian Right didn't cause the riot!" Perhaps because, at the time, the big CR was not as powerful as it is today. Its rhetoric not only kills indiscriminately, it owns politicians: just look at some of the proposed draconian laws in Texas.

Besides linking the LGBT community to pedophilia, incest, Nazism, witchcraft and bestiality, it has now focused on the idea of "recruitment," especially in schools. It's really a non-issue, but Tony Perkins of the disingenuous Family Research Council has sounded the alarm of "recruitment" in schools if anti-bullying education is enacted. 

Mr. Perkins will doubtless take umbrage with this passage from Tales of The City:

[In a letter written to his mother, Michael (Mouse) Tolliver telling her that he is homosexual]. 


No, Mama, I wasn't "recruited." No seasoned homosexual ever served as my mentor. But you know what? I wish someone had. I wish someone older than me and wiser than the people in Orlando had taken me aside and said, "You're all right, kid. You can grow up to be a doctor or a teacher just like anyone else. You're not crazy or sick or evil. You can succeed and be happy and find peace with friends - all kinds of friends - who don't give a damn who you go to bed with. Most of all, though, you can love and be loved, without hating yourself for it."[5]

So will the beautiful, wicked City-by-the-Bay be able to prevent possible extreme attacks? No. Nothing can prevent hate crimes perpetrated by zealots spurred on by the Religious Right. Zealots have, in fact, become the new home-grown terrorists, oblivious to the parallels their preachers have to radical Islam's imams. And will it survive the amped-up volume of rotten rhetoric? Yes. The performance of a show like Tales of the City is certainly a testament to that: San Francisco will survive because basic humanity, love and compassion will always survive, despite the efforts of some to make the very soul of The City extinct.

Alright, this piece may go down as just another rant, so as to end it with a more PC tone I will force myself to understatement: the attackers  (he says with teeth gritted) against the glorious City of San Francisco are ... not … very…nice … people.

1 Before the "Jockey Shorts Dance Contest" started, I was a go-go dancer in the infamous End Up's cage. I lasted more than three months. I was popular … as well as hungry.
2 I always seem to be close to crimes in The City: I was very near the Pink Saturday homicide (and I  was in a Castro bar during the White Night Riots), so I was able to ask police about it: it was gang-related and had nothing to do with the gay community or the Pink Saturday Party. The Christian Right, however, omits this fact, hoping that their profile of gays as violent will be proved correct.
3 FYI: Harry Hay did not intend to replace Judeo-Christian principles with his own ideologies. Furthermore, gay politics has never been as powerful as the video might leave you to believe. Gays have always been creative in their vociferousness, leading most to believe that they have enormous amounts of power. 
4 Police also shouted "sieg heil!" and "bonzai!" When they herded us all onto the intersection of 18th and Castro they were astounded at the number of patrons in the bars - approx. 1500. When we started to shout "Go Home! Go Home!" the 50 policemen reasoned that the crowd was unsustainable and ... went home. One bartender at the Elephant Walk couldn't go home: after having scalding hot water poured over him, he was clubbed viciously enough to lay in a coma for over six months. 
5 Interestingly enough, this is the same letter Maupin published in the San Francisco Chronicle, telling his own mother that he was homosexual.