« September 16, 2007 - September 22, 2007
|
September 30, 2007 - October 6, 2007 »
September 23, 2007 - September 29, 2007
September 28, 2007
Creationist Film Crew Not 'Honest' in Landing Interviews
As we noted earlier this month, Ben Stein—of Richard Nixon and “Ferris Bueller” fame—is starring in an anti-evolution documentary called “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.” While the movie isn’t set to be released until February, scientists are already accusing its producers of dishonesty—and not for claiming that “Intelligent Design” creationism is a valid scientific theory. As various outlets are reporting, several scientists well known for refuting anti-evolution activists say the producers for the film hid their agenda, portraying the project innocently as “Crossroads: The Intersection of Science and Religion” (still listed on the web site of the supposed production company).
From the New York Times:
If he had known the film’s premise, Dr. Dawkins said in an e-mail message, he would never have appeared in it. “At no time was I given the slightest clue that these people were a creationist front,” he said.
Eugenie C. Scott, a physical anthropologist who heads the National Center for Science Education, said she agreed to be filmed after receiving what she described as a deceptive invitation.
“I have certainly been taped by people and appeared in productions where people’s views are different than mine, and that’s fine,” Dr. Scott said, adding that she would have appeared in the film anyway. “I just expect people to be honest with me, and they weren’t.” …
Walt Ruloff, a producer and partner in Premise Media [producer of “Expelled”], also denied that there was any deception. Mr. Ruloff said in a telephone interview that Rampant Films [which approached the scientists as producers of “Crossroads”] was a Premise subsidiary, and that the movie’s title was changed on the advice of marketing experts, something he said was routine in filmmaking. …
Another scientist who was, P. Z. Myers, a biologist at the University of Minnesota, Morris, said the film’s producers had misrepresented its purpose, but said he would have agreed to an interview anyway. But, he said in a posting on The Panda’s Thumb Web site, he would have made a “more aggressive” attack on the claims of the movie.
As for Stein, who rails in the movie against the scientific establishment’s supposed unsavory suppression of creationism, he claims innocence, adding that if he had his druthers, the movie would be called “From Darwin to Hitler”—an homage, perhaps, to the late televangelist D. James Kennedy.
Posted by Ezra at 5:49 PM | Permalink
Catholic League 'Extends' Beer Boycott over San Francisco Parade
"Miller Brewing will now be known as S&M Miller," cracks wiseguy Donohue. Background here.
Posted by Ezra at 12:10 PM | Permalink
September 27, 2007
Right Calls for Miller Boycott ... Again
The Right passed a milestone this month, although nobody appeared to notice. Last September, anti-immigrant groups called for a boycott of Miller beer products after the company co-sponsored a pro-immigrant rally in Chicago. “The last thing we need is more illegal aliens driving drunk and killing American citizens,” said Jason Mrocheck of WeHireAliens.com. Since then, we haven’t heard anything about it; a short (if ominous) news item on Miller importing South American beer brands is the only update on MillerBoycott.com since they announced “Phase II” of the boycott on September 26, 2006.
But it seems that enemies of “the High Life” never sleep. The Catholic League is calling for a brand new—and, apparently, completely unrelated—boycott of Miller beer for its sponsorship of the Folsom Street Fair, a leather-themed parade in San Francisco. Yesterday we tracked how a press release from Concerned Women for America—claiming a festival flyer, a blue homage to Da Vinci’s “Last Supper,” was an “unprovoked attack against Christ and His followers”—was picked up by other religious-right groups and then Fox News. The Catholic League’s Bill Donohue was quick to join in, warning that Miller “knows the stakes,” but even when the company pulled its name from the poster, it wasn’t enough:
“Miller’s response (some might find mocking the Last Supper offensive?), while limp, would normally have been enough to get us off their back. But we have subsequently learned that some of the monies being raised at this event are being funneled to a notoriously anti-Catholic and misogynist group, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (click here). After this development was brought to the attention of Miller, spokesman Julian Green responded that Miller was standing by the event. That’s fine with us. We just hope he knows that it really is ‘Miller Time.’”
This morning on Fox News, Donohue announced his boycott over the participation in the fair of a group of drag queens who perform comedy skits dressed like nuns. From another press release:
“Accordingly, Miller leaves us with no options: we are calling on more than 200 Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu organizations to join with us in a nationwide boycott of Miller beer. We feel confident that once our religious allies kick in, and once the public sees the photos of an event Miller is proudly supporting, the Milwaukee brewery will come to its senses and pull its sponsorship altogether. If it doesn’t, the only winners will be Anheuser Busch and Coors.”
This isn’t the first Catholic League boycott—Donohue has lifted his battle cry in the past against corporations including Wal-Mart, Disney, Target, Showtime, Fox, Calvin Klein, and NordicTrack, as well as the Jewish Museum, Madonna, and the entire city of San Francisco. Certainly Donohue is quick to make his “beef” known via press release, but whether his army of “over 200 religious groups” is any more than a Potemkin backlash has yet to be proven.
Posted by Ezra at 5:59 PM | Permalink
Romney Blames Media for Mormon Phobia
In an interview with Christianity Today, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney addresses the questions some readers may have about a Mormon candidate. But Romney apparently blames the media and those “who would like to establish a religion of secularism in this country to replace all others”:
[Q.] How do you think relations between Mormons and Trinitarian Christians have changed during your lifetime?
I don't know that there's been a significant change relating to doctrine. [But] several months ago, not long before he died, I had the occasion of having the Rev. Jerry Falwell at our home. He said that when he was getting ready to oppose same-sex marriage in California, he met with the president of my church in Salt Lake City, and they agreed to work together in a campaign in California. He said, "Far be it from me to suggest that we don't have the same values and the same objectives."
[Q.] Have you seen changes between 1968, when your father ran for President, and now?
In terms of the relationship between the faiths, I don't see any particular differences. I know the media today focus far more on people of faith. In some circles, the bias against believers is pronounced. There are some people who would like to establish a religion of secularism in this country to replace all others. So people of faith are routinely scrutinized in a way they were not when my dad ran in 1968.
Blaming the media for questions about Romney’s religion is something we’ve seen before (although blaming people who want to “replace all religion” with “secularism” may be a newer one). But if Romney is looking for someone to blame, perhaps he should start with the religious-right activists he’s been trying hard to court. As we posted before:
A prominent and powerful evangelical Christian leader, James Dobson, said yesterday that the Mormon faith practiced by Governor Romney of Massachusetts could pose a serious obstacle if Mr. Romney makes a bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008.
"I don't believe that conservative Christians in large numbers will vote for a Mormon but that remains to be seen, I guess," Mr. Dobson said on a syndicated radio program hosted by a conservative commentator, Laura Ingraham.
Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's public-policy arm: "But he's gotta close the deal. Only Romney can make voters comfortable with his Mormonism. Others cannot do it for him."
Selecting presidential candidate Mitt Romney as its May commencement speaker has riled some of Regent University's students and alumni who say his Mormon faith clashes with the school's bedrock evangelical Christianity.
"What we're against is the fact that Mormonism is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum from Christian values and what we believe," said Doug Dowdey, a Virginia Beach pastor who said he graduated from Regent's divinity school last year.
How many voters does insurance broker Frank Senger of Newport Beach, Calif., represent?
"No way will I be voting for Mitt Romney," he insists. A Republican and a lifelong Baptist, he abhors the thought of voting for a Mormon for president and says "there's more to it than just some prejudice. It bothers me a whole lot that someone that bright could fall for the stories about where Mormonism came from, and all that blather about the golden tablets. If he'll fall for that, do I want him in the same room and at the same table with Kim Jong-il of North Korea or Ahmadinejad from Iran?"
While some evangelical Christians are defending the presidential candidacy of Mormon Mitt Romney from an attack by Al Sharpton, another prominent pastor is going further in his condemnation – saying a vote for the former Massachusetts governor is a vote for Satan.
That's the word from Bill Keller, host of the Florida-based Live Prayer TV program as well as LivePrayer.com.
"If you vote for Mitt Romney, you are voting for Satan!" he writes in his daily devotional to be sent out to 2.4 million e-mail subscribers tomorrow.
Larry Gordon, senior pastor of Cornerstone World Outreach in Sioux City, said his initial instinct was to rule out Mr. Romney because of his faith. But after his son, who is also a pastor at the church, came away impressed by Mr. Romney after an event, he began to examine him more closely.
“If nobody better comes along, I’m going to vote for him,” Mr. Gordon said. “But I’m hoping somebody better comes along.”
Posted by Ezra at 4:25 PM | Permalink
Tancredo Wants to Impeach Bush over Immigration 'Dereliction'
"Unfortunately, that is not grounds."
Posted by Ezra at 11:42 AM | Permalink
September 26, 2007
Gary Bauer's Presidential 'Marketplace'
Richard Land isn’t the only religious-right leader carrying water for Fred Thompson following James Dobson’s anti-endorsement of the former senator and TV prosecutor. Gary Bauer—a former senior vice president at Dobson’s Focus on the Family and former president of the Focus spin-off Family Research Council—called Dobson’s comment’s unhelpful in avoiding the “nightmare scenario” of a Giuliani-Clinton race.
Bauer has been a Thompson booster for a while now. Back in April, Bauer was one of the first to urge Thompson to run, saying that religious-right favorites Mike Huckabee and Sam Brownback had dim electoral prospects. In July, Bauer was quick to call reports of Thompson’s lobbying for a pro-choice group a “nonissue,” and in August, Bauer was again out front trying to deflect a potential hazard after Thompson appeared to retract support for a federal anti-gay marriage amendment, although these efforts weren’t enough to sway an endorsement from the influential Arlington Group, which includes both Dobson and Bauer as well as Land and occasional Thompson-booster Tony Perkins.
Now, as Dobson, Perkins, and others have backed away from Thompson, the best Bauer can do is say that such leaders are taking the approach of “Let the marketplace choose which one ends up being the best candidate.” “It’s a very fluid situation, and it’s possible that a very significant number of people will say, ‘I’m going to work with all of them and wait,’” he added.
In the meantime, Bauer wants to narrow that marketplace down, calling on second-tier candidates—like Huckabee and Brownback—to withdraw:
"[W]e've got a bunch of other candidates who can't get above five percent -- and some of them are very good [and] are saying things we like. But the longer they stay in the race, the more likely [it] is we are going to wake up next year with nobody we can vote for," he says.
Of course, at this point in his own second-tier presidential campaign in 2000, when Bauer was 45 points down from then-Gov. George W. Bush, he had a different idea: “I intend to be the last guy standing.”
[Bauer] said he’s listening to the “marketplace” and it’s telling him: “Go, Gary, go.” (Washington Times, “Bauer not deterred by polls,” 11/1/1999)
Posted by Ezra at 6:09 PM | Permalink
Rudy Recruits More Federalist Society Members
Giuliani announced his Georgia Lawyers for Rudy Leadership Team, many of whom are Federalist Society members.
Posted by Kyle at 4:00 PM | Permalink
American Spectator: Clarence Thomas 'An American Hero'
Hillyer gushes over man and his anti-gay, anti-affirmative action Supreme Court opinions.
Posted by Ezra at 3:41 PM | Permalink
Anatomy of a Right Wing Outrage
If you haven’t heard about the Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco yet, chances are you will be hearing about it soon. As such, it provides a good opportunity to take a look at how the Right manages to create controversies and propel them into the media.
It starts off with a group like Concerned Women for America finding something it takes offense at – in this case, a provocative flyer for the Folsom Street Fair
CWA then sends out a press release calling attention to it while decrying the offense and issuing demands for various organizations and public figures to join them in repudiating it and for the media cover it:
"A picture's worth a thousand words," said Matt Barber, Policy Director for Cultural Issues with Concerned Women for America (CWA). "Scripture says that God is not mocked, yet it doesn't stop people from trying. As evidenced by this latest stunt, open ridicule of Christianity is unfortunately very common within much of the homosexual community.
…
"We're calling on California's elected officials - Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Governor Schwarzenegger and Senators Feinstein and Boxer - to publicly condemn this unprovoked attack against Christ and His followers. We further challenge the media to cover this affront to Christianity with the same vigor as recent stories about cartoon depictions of Mohammed and other items offensive to the Muslim community.
…
"The mainstream media should cover this event with cameras in hand. There's an unbelievable news story here. The Folsom Street Fair is reminiscent of Biblical Sodom and Gomorrah, and the media should document exactly what the city of San Francisco is allowing to occur - in public - in the name of 'tolerance.'"
Then others in the right-wing movement jump on the bandwagon, amping up the language while issuing their own statements, allegations, and demands:
Once again, San Francisco prepares for the perverted Folsom Street Fair where homosexuals, sadomasochists and others gather for public displays of nudity, beatings, group sex and public masturbation -- PART TAX PAYER FUNDED -- with police just standing by and watching.
…
Stephen Bennett, president of SBM and a former homosexual said, "This is the most vile, vulgar and disgusting public display of filth I have ever seen in my life. There is no doubt a double standard when Christians and Christianity are mocked by homosexuals and degenerates in such a blatant, vile and sick way. Where is the media outrage over this event? We Christians will no longer tolerate this abuse nor be silent.
"As Matt Barber of Concerned Women for America broke this story calling upon California's officials to take action, I am also calling upon every major media outlet from CNN, to FOX News to CBS, NBC and ABC News to alert the public to this horrific story to show what truly goes on in this sex 'street fair' in possible view of children."
…
Bennett ended, "I call upon the homosexual Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD, GLSEN, and the Gay and Lesbian Task Force to publicly condemn this blatant mockery of Christians and Christianity by some within their community, and condemn this sick public display of immoral behavior. I call upon the Miller Brewing Company to pull their endorsement of this event. I call for the organizers of this filth to immediately apologize to Christians worldwide and remove this Last Supper mockery. I also call upon every law abiding official and citizen in America who has any morals to do what they can to shut down this Folsom Street 'Filth' Fair once and for all."
So now not only do the people behind the flyer have to answer for it, so do national leaders, gay rights organizations, and the media.
Then the “controversy” gets picked up by right-wing media outlets which produce articles on it while giving other right-wing figures an opportunity to weigh in and discuss the impact the outrage is having:
The Miller Brewing Company, a sponsor of this weekend's homosexual "leather" street fair in San Francisco, has asked to have its logo removed from an advertising poster that has offended some Christians.
…
In response to the ad, Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth (AFT) -- an organization that says it aims to expose and counter "the homosexual activist agenda" -- said the homosexual movement contains a strong anti-Christian element.
That segment "feels the need to shake its fist at God in the most grotesque and unseemly way," he told Cybercast News Service on Tuesday. "And this is the worst of it."
And then it ends up … where else … on Fox News:
And that is how right-wing groups and their allied media outlets manage to transform a flyer for an event in San Francisco into a national issue.
Posted by Kyle at 2:53 PM | Permalink
Gingrich Threatens 'Transformational Change'—As GOP's Losing Candidate?
Newt Gingrich says he will run for president if he can convince people to donate $30 million, according to the Washington Times. As hard as it is to believe, Gingrich claims that “more and more people have been approaching me about running.” (Apparently Mike Huckabee didn’t get the memo: the struggling second-tier candidate is letting Gingrich guest-blog on his campaign web site.)
The former House speaker has been dancing around the 2008 campaign for almost a year, practicing his platitudes through a project called American Solutions for Winning the Future, which has also allowed him to gather a mailing list. Gingrich threatened to announce his candidacy if the GOP’s “pathetic” bunch of “pygmies” don’t shape up, but only after Solutions Day, his futuristic holiday scheduled for this very week, when Gingrich “will outline the challenges facing our country and how to address these challenges through fundamental transformational change. Real change requires real change.”
Most of the “workshops” organized for Solutions Day appear to be house parties hosted by Gingrich fans, but at least one features a far-right celebrity: The Texas chapter of the anti-tax group Americans for Prosperity will feature David Barton, a Republican activist and pseudo-historian known for promoting the idea of a “Christian nation” and the claim that the separation of church and state is a “myth.”
For supporters of American Solutions—aside from those who were bowled over by the “Real change requires real change” rhetoric—Gingrich may represent a conservative ideal embodied in his reputation for hard-line partisanship during the Clinton Administration. But that ideal is also embodied in the career Gingrich pursued after his growing unpopularity and scandal-ridden fall from grace—a novelist of books in which the Confederacy beat the Union at Gettsyburg. “Alternate history” may be effective in fiction, but such a strategy seems likely to be less compelling in a real political campaign, even with Gingrich’s futuristic makeover.
Which leads Newsweek’s Jonathan Darman to speculate that Republicans may nominate Gingrich as a “postmodern Goldwater”—a reference to the 1964 candidate who stuck by his far-right principles and went down in electoral flames, but inspired the Right to create the conservative movement that would elect Ronald Reagan 16 years later. Gingrich, writes Darman, may be positioning himself as “a candidate conservatives can be proud to vote for in a year when they face near-certain defeat.” But before GOP voters take that step, they may want to listen to the advice of one reviewer of Gingrich’s book: “Readers should be forewarned … they may come away from this exciting novel believing events really did happen this way.”
Posted by Ezra at 9:15 AM | Permalink
September 25, 2007
Thompson Sets Off a Dobson-Land War
Several months ago we noted that Richard Land was trying to position himself as a key player within the Religious Right hierarchy and had been publicly challenging James Dobson on a variety of fronts, including immigration, global warming and, most importantly, the candidacy of Fred Thompson.
From the get-go, Land has been a vocal advocate of Thompson, issuing fawning praise of him at every opportunity – so it must have come as a rude surprise when, last week, Dobson weighed in and declared Thompson unacceptable:
In a private e-mail obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, Dobson accuses the former Tennessee senator and actor of being weak on the campaign trail and wrong on issues dear to social conservatives.
"Isn't Thompson the candidate who is opposed to a Constitutional amendment to protect marriage, believes there should be 50 different definitions of marriage in the U.S., favors McCain-Feingold, won't talk at all about what he believes, and can't speak his way out of a paper bag on the campaign trail?" Dobson wrote. "He has no passion, no zeal and no apparent 'want to.' And yet he is apparently the Great Hope that burns in the breasts of many conservative Christians? Well, not for me, my brothers. Not for me!"
Obviously, this didn’t sit well with Land, so it is not surprising that he has decided to strike back, reaching out to CBN’s David Brody to defend Thompson and blast Dobson:
“I’ve received phone calls and emails from Southern Baptists about Senator Thompson. They are all furious at Doctor Dobson. They just feel that first of all there was a mischaracterizing of his positions. Do I wish that he supported the marriage protection amendment? Of course I do. To say that he is for 50 different views of marriage in 50 different states is a gross mischaracterization of his position. Secondly, do I wish that he attended church every Sunday? As a Baptist pastor, of course I do. But does that make him a person of unbelief? That’s harsh and unwarranted.”
Land defends Thompson’s opposition to a marriage amendment by claiming that Thompson is simply so principled that he will not jettison his staunch “federalist” convictions for political gain, before winding it up by proclaiming that Thompson is “one of us”:
“Fred Thompson grew up in a very modest means in a small town in America just like Ronald Reagan grew up in very modest means in a small town in Illinois. You acquire not only an understanding of but a respect for everyday folk when you come from the background that you don’t get otherwise and people sense it. That this is a guy who respects me, a guy who understands that we are the backbone of this country, we are the salt of the Earth and he not only understands us, he’s one of us. He’s a successful one of us but he’s one of us and they trust a guy like that. They give a guy like that a larger margin of error. Nobody gets everything right but its core values. My assessment is that this guy is a whole much like Reagan including his Teflon quality. The press has been beating up with him for these types of gaffes and he continues to climb in the polls.”
It is exceedingly rare that anyone on the Right dares to criticize Dobson, much less do so publicly. In fact, the last people to do so ended up getting booted out of the movement.
This sort of high-profile fight cannot be helping the Right as it struggles to figure out how to maintain its influence going into the 2008 election. But at least it ought to make the upcoming Values Voter Summit all the more interesting, since both Land and Dobson are going to be there.
Posted by Kyle at 11:06 AM | Permalink
Alan Keyes Needs a Miracle
As Alan Keyes’ quixotic vanity presidential campaign moves forward, he’s busy making the rounds at the requisite right-wing venues:
Presidential candidate Alan Keyes spoke before a crowd of students at Liberty University’s Vines Center Monday morning, saying that true victory is only found through faith in God.
Keyes, who announced his candidacy Sept. 14, said Monday he lives his life based on Christian morals, and those who believe must also persevere.
“The truth is not just about what we believe,” he said. “It’s very much about how we live and what we do.”
But no amount of speaking engagements or debate appearances is going to help him overcome this basic obstacle:
The Michigan presidential primary is set for January 15, 2008. The law requires the state Democratic and Republican Parties (the only parties entitled to a presidential primary in Michigan) to submit a list of presidential candidates by September 11, 2007.
Alan Keyes declared for the Republican nomination on September 17, 2007, too late to be included on the Republican Party’s list. Therefore, if he wants to be on the ballot, he must submit 11,569 signatures by October 23, 2007. Any registered voter can sign. The formula is one-half of 1% of the Republican presidential vote in November 2004.
Considering that, to date, only 25 people from Michigan have pledged to support Keyes’ campaign, it is unlikely that he’s going to be able to get the 11,000+ signatures necessary in less than a month. But who knows - maybe his campaign will be able to convince the Michigan Secretary of State that his handful of committed supporters really are "worth hundreds, if not thousands, of just nominal supporters.”
Posted by Kyle at 9:32 AM | Permalink
September 24, 2007
Federal Funds Earmarked for Far-Right Group to 'Combat Evolution'
Over the weekend, the New Orleans Times-Picayune revealed that a federal spending bill contains a substantial sum of money budgeted for the Louisiana Family Forum, apparently for the purpose of combating the teaching of evolution and global warming in public schools. The earmark, inserted by Republican Sen. David Vitter, provides $100,000 to the group for the purpose of “develop[ing] a plan to promote better science education,” but as the newspaper points out, LFF has been a leading advocate of creationism in the state:
The group's stated mission is to "persuasively present biblical principles in the centers of influence on issues affecting the family through research, communication and networking." Until recently, its Web site contained a "battle plan to combat evolution," which called the theory a "dangerous" concept that "has no place in the classroom." The document was removed after a reporter's inquiry. …
In 2002, the Louisiana Family Forum unsuccessfully sought to persuade the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to insert a five-paragraph disclaimer in all of its science texts challenging the natural science view that life came about by accident and has evolved through the process of natural selection.
The group notched a victory last year when the Ouachita School Board adopted a policy that, without mentioning the Bible or creationism, gave teachers leeway to introduce other views besides those contained in traditional science texts.
LFF, a “family policy council” affiliated with Focus on the Family, was founded in 1999 by Tony Perkins, before he became president of the Family Research Council and gained national prominence.
Vitter defended the earmark as an “important program” that “helps supplement and support educators and school systems that would like to offer all of the explanations in the study of controversial science topics such as global warming and the life sciences.”
The money in the earmark will pay for a report suggesting "improvements" in science education in Louisiana, the development and distribution of educational materials and an evaluation of the effectiveness of the Ouachita Parish School Board's 2006 policy that opened the door to biblically inspired teachings in science classes.
Vitter made news this summer when phone records from the “D.C. Madam” showed him to be a customer of a prostitution ring while he served in Congress. While Rev. Gene Mills, director of Louisiana Family Forum, said the $100,000 earmark is “a bit of a surprise,” it’s hard not to notice that Mills has been one of the few voices coming to Vitter's defense. In this interview, which LFF posted online two weeks, ago, Mills claimed that comparisons with this summer’s other Republican senator involved in a sex scandal—Idaho’s Larry Craig, who was caught in a bathroom solicitation sting—were a matter of the media doing “what it can to smear any of the family values guys.”
Posted by Ezra at 5:31 PM | Permalink
Setting The Bar Low
Sam Brownback says he has to come in at least fourth place in the Iowa caucuses if he wants to continue his campaign: "It doesn't mean that I'll drop out, but I think it will be hard to continue from that point on forward. We'll appraise it because you don't know what other dynamics are going to be in place at that time."
Posted by Kyle at 3:03 PM | Permalink
Howard Dean Courting Richard Land?
That is what Newsweek says: "Richard Land had never met one-on-one with a chairman of the Democratic National Committee. The Tennessee evangelist, an influential force in the Southern Baptist Convention, generally views such people as adversaries, if not enemies. So consider his surprise when, at a nonpartisan leadership conference over the New Year's holiday, Howard Dean leaned in and said he'd love to get together for a private chat. Land agreed to meet for coffee at a downtown Washington hotel."
Posted by Kyle at 2:58 PM | Permalink
Low Turnout at Family Impact Summit
The St. Petersburg Times reports that turnout for the Family Impact Summit was "smaller than expected: fewer than 130 people. Many were senior citizens; almost all were white. And nearly all of them shared a vision of a culture tilting out of control." But those in attendance were at least treated to a speeh by Katherine Harris: "Speaking at an auctioneer's pace, she advised the audience on what to expect if they ran for office. 'I come before you not as an exemplar of Christian citizenship, but as one who has learned lessons from the fire,' she said. Prepare to be attacked in the press and to feel the burden of responsibility, she said. She told them to educate themselves on the upcoming presidential race, but not to read newspapers."
Posted by Kyle at 2:52 PM | Permalink
Family Impact Summit: Homosexuality and Youth
A final dispatch from the Family Impact Summit:
The session on Homosexuality and Youth was dominated by the youth division of Exodus, an organization that believes gays can and should be “healed” and that LGBT people should not be protected against legal discrimination. Exodus opposes legal recognition of same-sex couples, same-sex parenting and adoption, and hate crimes laws.Our thanks to YP4 Fellows Mychel Estevez and Zachary Dryden for their coverage of this event.The session drew attention to efforts by Exodus and others to put a friendly face on its anti-gay message. In response to pro-tolerance and anti-harassment campaigns by pro-equality students, like the Day of Silence, Exodus is promoting a product called “Truth and Tolerance,” (truthandtolerance.net) designed to put anti-gay students on record against bullying (alliestoo.org), and calling for tolerance of students who want to make the case that gay youth need to be straightened out by God.
The session was moderated by Scott Davis from Exodus’ youth division. Davis, a former campus minister, blamed homosexuality on the sexual revolution and broken families, and said that young people are searching for intimacy. He said young people need to be taught a “biblical view of gender” and called on participants to help rescue teens by teaching and modeling “correct” genders, mentoring, and giving them a reason to be pure – a deep intimacy with God. (Some “reparative” therapies work on turning gays straight by making the women wear makeup and use purses, while men play football and learn to fix cars as the first step to becoming “real men.”)
Mike Ensley, also affiliated with the Exodus youth section, called himself a “former homosexual” who “never wanted to be gay.” Ensley said relational ministry has helped him correct his “misperceptions” of gender and that Exodus “rescued” him, though he said change is not a 180 degree turnaround but an “ongoing process.” Ensley, like many other conference speakers, also argued that hate crimes laws are being used to “silence” Christians.
Christine, a young woman who leads Worthy Creations, a “recovery” ministry affiliated with Exodus, said she was homosexual at age 15. She criticized church leaders who don’t want to talk about homosexuality, saying pro-gay “propaganda” is everywhere. Like other conference speakers, Christine said there are new reasons for teens to be involved in homosexuality.
In contrast to “classic lesbianism,” to use Ensley's terminology, where women who experienced abuse or were taught that men aren’t safe, girls are now becoming lesbians because of a “try it out and see if you like it” mentality. Christine’s message to young women who try it and like it is that their conclusion shouldn’t be that they are gay, but that “everything works” physically: “Even very unhealthy relationships can feel good,” she said, drawing a parallel to some abused children she said experience pleasure from sexual abuse.
Christine argued that there are four types of homosexuals that need to be dealt with:
1. Militant - Christians need to defend against activists without attacking gays.
2. Moderate - gays who are not ‘out and proud;’ Christians should reach out to them as ambassadors for Christ.
3. Repentant - people who are struggling with being gay or “coming out of homosexuality” and attracted to groups like Exodus. Kristine says she is appalled that some Christians don’t offer them more support.
4. Gay and Christian - sincere but part of “the deception” because they are believing a lie.
Regina Griggs heads PFOX, Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays, though her own son came out nine years ago and apparently shows no interest in becoming “ex-gay.” She blames school counselors and Gay-Straight Alliance clubs for giving young people information that leads to affirmation of a gay identity. The biggest problem, she said, is that parents aren’t standing up to schools and need to be more involved.
Posted by Peter at 1:44 PM | Permalink
Family Impact Summit: Bauer Sees End of Roe, Victory in War Against Feminism
A second dispatch from the Family Impact Summit:
Gary Bauer, a former Reagan administration official who led the Family Research Council before a failed run for the presidency, gave the keynote address at the Summit.
Bauer argued that America is engaged in two simultaneous wars in defense of western civilization – the war against "Islamofascists" and the "war of ideas" in America – and that if we lose either of them, we lose everything.
Bauer typically demonized "the radical left" in America for not supporting the first war and saying that feminist organizations in America say nothing about the Taliban killing girls who want to get an education because they are too busy whining about a woman's right to choose here in America, that last phrase delivered in a high-pitched whiny caricature of a woman's voice.
Regarding the second war, the one at home, Bauer described liberals as "deluded" for thinking that they are free to do whatever feels good. Describing the founding fathers' vision of "ordered liberty under God," Bauer's dismissal of the concept of separation of church and state drew chuckles from the audience.
Bauer, though, exuded confidence, especially regarding the Religious Right's decades-long campaign to criminalize abortion:
"Do you know how close we are to ending the tragedy of abortion? We need one more Supreme Court justice. If we get a few lucky breaks next year, I believe you will walk down your driveway and pick up a newspaper that says 'Roe Overturned, Supreme Court Affirms Right to Life'."
Posted by Peter at 9:30 AM | Permalink