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August 5, 2007 - August 11, 2007 »
July 29, 2007 - August 4, 2007
August 3, 2007
TVC: Calif. Non-Discrimination Bill 'Aimed at Silencing People of Faith'
Anti-gay group claims civil rights act "should more appropriately be called the 'Christian Persecution Act of 2007.'"
Posted by Ezra at 9:42 AM | Permalink
August 2, 2007
New 'Patriot Pastors' Group in Virginia?
The Family Foundation of Virginia, a group that organized support for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage in 2006, is putting together a “Pastors Issues Summit” that appears to be modeled on the recent “Patriot Pastor” organizing in Ohio, Texas, and other states.
According to the group’s brochure, Attorney General Bob McDonnell and Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, Republicans, will join a representative of the right-wing legal group Alliance Defense Fund to speak on topics such as “Your role as a pastor in Civic Government” and “The political environment in Virginia.” Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, is apparently invited – but if this event resembles the “Patriot Pastor” events in other states, it will be a partisan crowd.
From the Family Foundation’s e-mail announcement:
The Family Foundation and Pastors for Family Values are pleased to announce our first Pastors Family Issues Summit, to be held at the newly renovated state capitol on Tuesday, September 11, from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm.
The Pastors Issues Summit is an opportunity for pastors to interact with other church leaders from around Virginia and to gain a more complete understanding of the issues facing our families. Held in the newly renovated state Capitol, attendees will hear from experts on the issues and leading political voices in Virginia, including Attorney General Bob McDonnell.
Attendees will hear experts on topic such as the role of pastors in civic government, the issues facing the General Assembly in 2008, the legal rights of pastors to speak on family issues and more.
Pastors For Family Values (PFFV) is a newly formed grassroots arm of The Family Foundation through which pastors connect to both The Family Foundation and other like-minded pastors. PFFV is denominationally, regionally and ethnically diverse, attempting to illustrate a unity in the body of Christ on pro-family issues. The PFFV is also sub-divided into regions so that local TFF chapters may interact with them as needed.
Nearly 100 pastors and church leaders attended PFFV's kick-off luncheon in May.
Posted by Ezra at 5:40 PM | Permalink
Publisher, Former Christian Coalition Hire Accused of Fraud
Jason Christy, publisher of Church Report, is being accused of a long pattern of fraud, including selling advertisements in a magazine that was never printed. A lengthy report by Associated Baptist Press details the charges and a string of lawsuits related to Christy’s business practices, as well as Christy’s brief association with the struggling Christian Coalition of America, where he was hired as national director:
When young, charismatic Christian publisher Jason Christy was tapped two years ago to lead the powerful Christian Coalition, the group's leaders praised him for his ability "to inspire and encourage people of faith to action." But Christy's business dealings -- both before and after his one-month affiliation with the Coalition -- instead have inspired former customers and co-workers to file lawsuits charging Christy with defrauding their Christian businesses.
Christy, 36, who apparently had no previous public-policy experience, persuaded the Christian Coalition in 2005 to place him in one of the most visible and powerful positions in evangelical life. But before the coalition's leaders officially turned over the reins of their 1.2 million-member national lobbying group, they learned of a trail of legal and financial problems that has followed Christy from coast to coast. …
[C]oalition representatives were mum about Christy July 31 -- an unnamed spokesperson would only say the job offer was withdrawn before Christy was officially hired.
In the July 30 interview, Christy said he refused the 2005 job offer because he couldn’t run the coalition and continue operating his other business ventures at the same time, since it would require him to work on both the East and West coasts. That was the same year he declared bankruptcy.
Christy hasn’t been the only person hired to lead the Christian Coalition only to depart before even starting. Last year megachurch pastor Joel Hunter was announced as the new president before a dispute over religious-right tactics led him to step down. The once-mighty group, founded by Pat Robertson and led in the 1990s by the dynamic Ralph Reed, has been adrift in recent years, struggling with debt and disgruntled chapters breaking away.
For his part, Christy calls the fraud charges “ridiculous” and blames a competitor, Gary McCullough of Christian Communication Network. “While I did speak with the Associated Baptist Press writer prior to the release of this piece, they opted to support a friend of theirs, as opposed to holding themselves to a high standard of journalism ethics and ignoring the slander campaign my competitors have chosen to use in their business practice,” he said in a press release on his own CR Newswire.
Posted by Ezra at 5:38 PM | Permalink
Gingrich Not Ready to Cede Spoiler Spot
As if it wasn’t hard enough for Republican presidential candidates – and potential candidates – seeking the right-wing mantle, two undeclared contenders may spar over who gets to be the dark horse.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, whose background makes him unlikely to gain widespread support, has spent months hinting that he may enter the race if no suitable candidates emerge, all the while attempting to build a kind of grassroots structure. He recently called the GOP’s crop of candidates a “pathetic” bunch of “pygmies.”
But the likelihood of a run by “Law & Order” star Fred Thompson, who also plans a late entry, has stolen much of Gingrich’s thunder. Thompson’s rising star "would appear to shade some of the sunlight" from Gingrich, as Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform put it.
Gingrich let it be known that he’s not impressed by Thompson. "I'm excited to see whether Fred turns out to be as decisive a front-runner as John McCain, or better," he said, referring to the apparent collapse of McCain’s campaign recently.
In fact, Gingrich is still making preparations, according to an article in the Washington Times’ Insight Magazine (available to subscribers):
Those close to Gingrich said that he has concluded that all of the GOP candidates, including Fred Thompson who has not yet announced his bid, would fail to ignite Republican voters and drop way behind in any race against Democratic front-runners Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Gingrich plans to let Thompson announce his candidacy over the next six weeks and gauge reaction, particularly in the Southern states.
Indeed, with Thompson expected to announce his candidacy after Labor Day, Gingrich has apparently pushed back the possible date when he would launch his campaign from September to “mid-October.”
"If it becomes patently obvious, as the morning paper points out, that the Democrats have raised a hundred million more than the Republicans, and at some point people decide we are going to get Hillary unless there's a radical change, then there's space for a candidate," Gingrich said.
If the reaction to Republican candidates remains tepid, Gingrich would be prepared to step in by November. If the GOP fails to embrace him, Gingrich would keep out of the race and set his goal for 2012.
"I'm perfectly happy to do what I do," he said. "Whether that leads to the presidency is the country's problem, not mine."
Gingrich has been contemptuous of the current GOP presidential candidates, terming them "pathetic" and "pygmies." He has not been impressed with Thompson, assessing that he would be portrayed as insincere and liberal.
"If, in mid-October, it's quite clear that one or more of the current candidates is strong enough to be a serious alternative to a Clinton-Obama ticket, you don't need me to run," Gingrich said at a breakfast sponsored by The American Spectator.
Posted by Ezra at 5:23 PM | Permalink
Committee for Justice: Court Not Right Enough
Took "small turn to the right," but not "at where conservatives would like the court to be." More here.
Posted by Ezra at 12:00 PM | Permalink
'Religious Liberty' Legal Group Files against Praying Imams
Becket Fund "never before in our history opposed anyone else's claim of religious freedom," now intervenes on behalf of would-be terrorism tipsters.
Posted by Ezra at 11:02 AM | Permalink
August 1, 2007
The Never-Ending “War on Christians”
Somehow, over the course of the last several years, loud voices on the Right have managed to convince huge numbers of Christians in thriving congregations that they are somehow under attack by all things secular -- from progressives, feminists and the culture in general to the government and the courts.
A key technique in this bogus "us-against-them" rabble-rousing is planting the idea that Christians are victimized on every front. Right-wing activists, pundits, and leaders seek to spin any and all developments in a manner that suggests they and all Christians in America are being constantly discriminated against and harassed.
At Vision America’s “The War on Christians and Values Voters” conference in 2006, right-wing activists spent two days telling one another horror stories about how people were supposedly being arrested simply for sharing their faith or losing their jobs for standing up to a government hostile to Christianity, citing ousted Ten Commandments judge Roy Moore and ousted Navy Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt as the two most high-profile examples – Klingenschmitt ever went so far as to compare himself to Abdul Rahman, the man who faced a potential death sentence for converting to Christianity in Afghanistan.
Since then, the idea that Christians are under attack has been a standard rallying cry for the Right, cropping up most recently in their opposition to hate crimes legislation which they claim will lead to “open persecution” of Christians and pastors being dragged from the pulpit and thrown in jail.
So ingrained has this idea become on the Right that they are always on the look-out for new evidence that Christians are being victimized – and columnist, pundit, and blogger Michelle Malkin claims to have found the latest example in the group of South Korean Christians being held hostage by the Taliban in Afghanistan:
Across Asia, media coverage is 24/7. Strangers have held nightly prayer vigils. But the human rights crowd in America has been largely AWOL. And so has most of our mainstream media. Among some of the secular elite, no doubt, is a blame-the-victim apathy: The missionaries deserved what they got. What were they thinking bringing their message of faith to a war zone? Didn't they know they were sitting ducks for Muslim head-choppers whose idea of evangelism is "convert or die"?
I noted the media shoulder-shrugging about jihadist targeting of Christian missionaries five years ago during the kidnapping and murder of American Christian missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham in the Philippines. The silence is rooted in viewing committed Christians as alien others. At best, there is a collective callousness. At worst, there is outright contempt -- from Ted Turner's reference to Catholics as "Jesus freaks" to CBS producer Roxanne Russell's casual insult of former GOP presidential candidate Gary Bauer as "the little nut from the Christian group" to the mockery of GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's Mormon faith.
So the fact that media coverage has been round-the-clock in Asian nations but not round-the-clock here in the US has less to do with the fact the victims are, you know, from South Korea than it does with the fact that US media is openly hostile to Christians?
You really have to marvel at the Right’s ability to use the kidnapping and murder of South Korean Christians in Afghanistan in order to suggest that it is really Christians here in America that are under attack.
Posted by Kyle at 4:07 PM | Permalink
Ted Haggard's Church Set For New Leader
The Colorado Springs Gazette reports that New Life Church has narrowed down it candidates to replace its disgraced former pastor, one who will be less concerned with political activity: "Brady Boyd, 40, is an associate senior pastor at Gateway Church in suburban Dallas, another well-known evangelical megachurch. He is scheduled to preach at New Life three times — Aug. 12, 19 and 26 — before the congregation votes Aug. 27 on whether to hire him as senior pastor ... Boyd’s résumé indicates a man who is much more concerned with a church faced inward for healing than a church faced outward toward politics. He is not well-known nationally, and his selection may show that the leadership of New Life wants to strengthen its core evangelical role rather than regain prominence in the national political arena."
Posted by Kyle at 11:51 AM | Permalink
Supreme Court's Rightward Lurch Will Motivate Right in 2008
The Supreme Court’s past term made clear its lurch to the right following the appointment of John Roberts and Samuel Alito, as outlined in a recent People For the American Way Foundation report. Awareness of this fact has spread from legal analysts to the general public: A new Washington Post/ABC poll shows less than half of Americans think the Court is balanced, and 31 percent think it’s too conservative – up from 19 percent two years ago. This was the context for Sen. Chuck Schumer’s speech at the American Constitution Society last week. “There is no doubt we were hoodwinked,” he said of the confirmation hearings.
Nevertheless, right-wing activists maintain that, despite their victory in confirming Roberts and Alito and the obvious rightward tilt of the last term, the Supreme Court remains a “bastion” of liberalism. "After decades of liberal judicial activism on so many issues, the court's position remains decidedly on the left,” said Ed Whelan, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center.
Gary Bauer claimed that “the liberals fully understand the role the federal judiciary has assumed in recent decades, and they are prepared to do whatever it takes to preserve this bastion of raw political power. … What is ‘out of balance’ is the view that judges are little more than political hacks who must pass a liberal ideological litmus test.”
But while Bauer asserted that “our courts have become active participants in the cultural war, a strategic ally of the Left, helping to advance and legitimize a radical agenda that could not pass any legislature” – a frequent claim of the Right, contradicted by the fact that 7 out of 9 justices were appointed by Republicans, along with the majority of appellate judges – Rick Scarborough made clear that the goal is not a “balls and strikes” Court, but to create a Court that takes the Right’s side in that “cultural war”:
And pastors want to know why we should be involved? When Senator Schumer laments the confirmation of Associate Justice Alito, he is lamenting the fact that abortion and sexual license may be limited by a conservative Court. I can only pray he is correct in his lament.
And this cause is carrying into the next presidential election. Far-right activist John Stemberger, president of the Florida Family Policy Council, wrote that 2008 “should be all about the Supreme Court for social conservatives”:
In the final analysis, the 2008 election presents us with the most significant window of opportunity to change the direction of the court (and hence the culture war) that will occur over the next 15-25 years.
There are really only two equally important questions conservatives should ask about the upcoming presidential election: 1) Which candidate is most likely to pick the best judges AND 2) Which candidate is most likely to win both the primary and general elections. Every other issue is just window dressing.
Posted by Ezra at 9:26 AM | Permalink
July 31, 2007
Minuteman PAC Scales Back Political Spending - To Zero
The Minuteman PAC, established to provide financial support to anti-immigrant candidates running for federal office, appears to be establishing a trend of not actually providing support to candidates. As we previously reported, in the first quarter of 2007 the Minuteman PAC raised over $300,000, and of the $270,000 spent, only $10,000 went toward a candidate running for office.
The organization recently released second quarter numbers and they are not much different. Having raised nearly $260,000 and disbursed close to $250,000, not one penny of that money went to any candidate, as the Minuteman PAC failed to make a single political contribution during the quarter. The vast majority of its expenses -- around $215,000 -- went to fundraising and direct mail fees, mainly to American Caging, American Mailing Services, and other firms linked to non-profit groups associated with Alan Keyes.
Posted by Michael at 4:41 PM | Permalink
Viguerie Not Fooled By Fred Thompson
Richard Viguerie sees warning signs "that Thompson may be a lot like Bush. Remember when Bush was running, a lot of good people thought he was a conservative. Boy, were they taken in!" Viguerie says Thompson is "no different from a lot of other candidates who'd like conservative support without firmly committing to conservative positions. I'm going to do my best to see that doesn't happen."
Posted by Kyle at 4:08 PM | Permalink
Right-Wing Children Are The Future
Bay Buchanan urges participants at the Conservative Student Conference to become "true leaders" and replace the current elite: "You all are our hope -- I mean that ... we need to clean out Washington. Move them aside and bring in some new fresh faces."
Posted by Kyle at 3:58 PM | Permalink
Maybe the ACLJ Should Ask Ashcroft
Sameh Khouzam, an Egyptian national who has been accused, and convicted in absentia, of murder in his native country has been fighting efforts by the U.S. government to deport him, claiming that he will be tortured if he returns because he is a Coptic Christian who refuses to convert to Islam.
Rallying to Khouzam’s side is Pat Robertson’s American Center for Law and Justice, as well as its European affiliate, The European Centre for Law and Justice:
As a Coptic Christian, Khouzam effectively has no rights in his native Egypt and quite frankly because of his religious beliefs is certain to be denied the most basic of human rights and protections. The U.S. government repeatedly has stated its opposition to torture and should do what's right -- keep Khouzam out of the hands of a government that is likely to do just that."
…
In its amicus brief, the ACLJ and ECLJ contend that Egypt's assurances that it won't torture Khouzam are simply not credible.
…
The brief also contends that the United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT) should apply in this case. CAT states that "no State Party shall expel, return ("refouler") or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture."
The brief asserts that "where the receiving country has a poor human rights track record, like Egypt does, diplomatic assurances should carry almost no weight."
Obviously, there is nothing wrong with the ACLJ/ECLJ’s effort to prevent Khouzam from being tortured – in fact, it is quite laudable. What makes the ACLJ/ECLJ involvement in this case interesting is the fact that both organizations have close ties to Former Attorney General John Ashcroft – the very same man responsible for the “extraordinary rendition” of Canadian citizen Maher Arar to Syria, where he was reportedly tortured:
60 Minutes II has learned that the decision to deport Arar was made at the highest levels of the U.S. justice department, with a special removal order signed by John Ashcroft’s former deputy, Larry Thompson.
Ashcroft made his only public statement about the case in November. He said the U.S. deported Arar to protect Americans –- and had every right to do so.
“I consider that really an utter fabrication and a lie,” says Michael Rather, Arar’s attorney and head of the Center For Constitutional Rights. He plans to file a lawsuit against Ashcroft and several other American officials.
“They knew, when they were sending him to Syria, that Syria would use certain kinds of information-gathering techniques, including torture, on him. They knew it,” says Ratner. “That's why he was sent there. That's why he wasn't sent to Canada.”
Before deporting Arar to Syria, American officials involved in the case told 60 Minutes II they had obtained assurances from the Syrian government that Arar would not be tortured –- that he would “be treated humanely”
“The fact that you went looking for assurances, which is reflected here, tells you that even in the minds of people who made this decision,” says Pardy. “I mean, there were some second thoughts.“
Maybe the next time the ACLJ and Ashcroft get together to “teach students from around the world [about] international religious freedom and human dignity,” they can put on the agenda the issue of whether the US should sending people off to foreign countries where they will be tortured. It might make for an interesting discussion.
Posted by Kyle at 3:52 PM | Permalink
Gingrich: Apply 'Principles' of Disney World to Government
Presidential hopeful also commends Giuliani for promising nine debates.
Posted by Ezra at 12:11 PM | Permalink
Who Says Iran and the Right Have Nothing in Common?
The BBC notes that, thanks to groups like Concerned Women for America, the US and Iran are "two of only eight countries that have not joined the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women [CEDAW]."
Posted by Kyle at 12:01 PM | Permalink
Still Milking the Senate Prayer Disruption
Operation Restore America's Flip Benham, along with Ante & Kathy Pavkovic and Christen Sugar - the three protestors arrested for disrupting a Hindu prayer in the Senate - are holding a press conference before these "three gentle Christians will appear before man's court to answer charges for standing up for Jesus before a nation that has forsaken the God of our fathers."
Posted by Kyle at 10:49 AM | Permalink
July 30, 2007
Land Has Some Good News and Bad News For Romney
Richard Land says evangelicals won't write off Mitt Romney over his Mormon faith, but warns the campaign against "trying to sell Mormonism as an acceptable orthodox Christian faith is a huge mistake. It’s not going to work with evangelicals."
Posted by Kyle at 1:28 PM | Permalink
The GOP’s Circular Firing Squad
Sen. Sam Brownback got the ball rolling last week when he started running “robocalls” in Iowa questioning the pro-life credentials of Rep. Tom Tancredo and Gov. Mitt Romney. Tancredo was especially outraged that Brownback was targeting his campaign for accepting money from population-control zealot John Tanton, whose views the Brownback campaign characterized as “racist:”
"Conservatives and liberals alike have abandoned Tanton once they learn about his bizarre obsession with population control.”
The Eagle Forum’s Phyllis Schlafly has now come to Tancredo’s defense and has recorded her own calls targeting Iowa voters:
"I want to go on record as saying I've known Tom Tancredo for 30 years and I know for sure he has always been a champion of the right to life of the unborn.”
Both Tancredo and Romney have called on Brownback to apologize and pull the calls, which he refuses to do.
For his part, Tancredo has not been content merely to defend himself and his own record. He had unleashed his own ads attacking most of his opponents – ads which are themselves drawing complaints from other candidates:
Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee on Thursday called on rival Tom Tancredo to stop airing a "blatantly dishonest" campaign ad in Iowa that accuses Huckabee of favoring amnesty for illegal immigrants.
Huckabee said Tancredo either did sloppy research or deliberately mischaracterized Huckabee's position.
"When people engage in a completely false attack, it's usually an act of desperation. To me, it's a badge of honor because he sees that we are reaching the people we are trying to reach," Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, told The Associated Press.
Tancredo campaign spokeswoman Bay Buchanan said the ad would not be pulled and insisted it was accurate. She said Huckabee supported a plan by Bush that would have allowed illegal immigrants to earn the right to stay in the United States, and that Huckabee refused to sign a pledge opposing amnesty.
"All indications are that Huckabee supports amnesty. He's a pro-amnesty politician who is in denial. There are a lot of pro-amnesty politicians in denial," she said.
The radio ad calls Mitt Romney a flip-flopper on abortion, amnesty and gun control, then attacks Sam Brownback, Fred Thompson and Huckabee, claiming "they're all for amnesty."
Posted by Kyle at 8:59 AM | Permalink