Posts on Faith 2 Action

In her latest column, Janet Porter warns all those Christians who intend to vote for Barack Obama that they are willfully disobeying God and will be punished accordingly: 

To all those who name the name of Christ who plan to willfully disobey Him by voting for Obama, take warning. Not only is our nation in grave danger, according to the Word of God, so are you ... [T]his election is not about race. It's not about the economy. It's about obeying God.

...

Be forewarned: If you willfully disobey God on life and marriage because of race or false hope for the economy, you will usher in the kind of change that brought the Soviet Union to collapse.

But the warning goes far beyond that. To those who think that God's grace gives them license to willfully disobey Him without consequences – think again:

Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord," shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?" And then I will declare to them, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!" (Matthew 7:21-23)

That deals with your eternity.

That's right - if you vote for Obama, you are going straight to hell. 

In Porter's view, you have a relatively simple choice: either vote for McCain or stop calling yourself a Christian:

To those who call themselves by the name of Christ who ignore what God says about life and marriage, who and are clinging to a fantasy of economic gain, think again ... Then obey Him in the voting booth and out of it. If not, do us all a favor and quit calling yourself a Christian. 

It seems that Janet Porter (the new name of the recently married Janet Folger) continues to live in a fantasy world entirely on her own creation.  For her WorldNetDaily colum this week, she reproduces the transcript of an eight-minute video she produced and starred in for the Government Is Not God PAC entitled "A Newscast From a Future We Must Never See."

In a newscast said to air on January 22, 2009, Porter recounts how terrorist are dancing in the streets over the inaguration of President Obama, who has appointed William Ayers as director of Homeland Security, outlawed gun ownership, imposed massive tax hikes, overturned the Defense of Marriage Act, begun working to implement a forced abortion plan, and completely shut down conservative and Christian media outlets ... all apparently within his first two days in office. 

The video is supposed to be up on YouTube, but since it's not, I'll just tell you to check out Good As You which has managed to grab and post the entire video.

UPDATE: Here's the video:

Yesterday, I wrote about Barack Obama’s supposed slip of the tongue when he told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that John McCain has not personally been involved in spreading the smear about that Obama is secretly a Muslim.  In the context of the discussion, Stephanopoulos was asking Obama about his accusations that Republicans have been suggesting that he has “Muslim connections” and seeking his response to the McCain campaign’s insistent that they have never done so.  

In the course of the discussion, Obama admitted that Stephanopoulos was “absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith”  but went on to say that there clearly were deliberate efforts on the part of Republican activists to spread that idea that Obama was not a Christian.  

And now, in an a move that surprises absolutely nobody, Republicans and right-wing activists are using this very exchange to further spread the idea that Obama is really a Muslim by taking his use of the phrase “my Muslim faith” absurdly out of context and citing it as proof. 

Because they are apparently too dense to understand this on their own, let’s take a walk through the relevant portion of the transcript:  

OBAMA: Let's not play games. What I was suggesting -- you're absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith. And you're absolutely right that that has not come–

STEPHANOPOULOS: Christian faith.

OBAMA: -- my Christian faith. Well, what I'm saying is that he hasn't suggested–

STEPHANOPOULOS: Has connections, right.

OBAMA: -- that I'm a Muslim.

It was Stephanopoulos who misunderstood Obama’s point and erroneously tried to correct him, at which point Obama explained that what he was “saying is that [McCain] hasn't suggested that I'm a Muslim.”  Perhaps he should have said “my supposed Muslim faith,” since that is what he obviously meant, but his use of the phrase “my Muslim faith” was perfectly clear in context .  For some reason, the Rights seems to think that Obama really meant to say “John McCain has not talked about my Christian faith,” but within the context of the discussion that was taking place, that would have been a complete non sequitur and wouldn’t have made any sense.  

For anyone with an IQ above 9, the point that Obama was making is perfectly clear, but that isn’t stopping people like Janet Folger from seizing on this exchange and using it to further spread the very smear that Obama was decrying:  

I've misspoken before. I've misspoken before on national television. I've mixed up words, reversed orders, but I have never once misspoken concerning my faith and the God in whom I trust. Even in the most heated debate on Islam, never did I ever utter the words "my Muslim faith." Nor, even when talking about Buddhism, have I ever slipped up and referred to "my Buddhist faith." Ever. Why? Because my Christianity is so ingrained in me, so a part of who I am, that the thought of adhering to a false religion is so foreign, so blasphemous, that the words would never cross my lips.

Not the case for Mr. Obama. On ABC's "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos, Obama said:

"Let's not play games, what I was suggesting – you're absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith. And you're absolutely right that that has not come."

Matthew 12:34 says: "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks."

Notice that Obama didn't correct himself. He was "corrected" by George Stephanopoulos who interrupted Obama, with the words: "Christian faith."

Let's just say he misspoke. Did Obama misspeak when he told the New York Times that blasphemy was one of the "prettiest sounds on earth at sunset"?

That's right. In a Feb. 27, 2007, interview with the New York Times' Nicholos Kristof, that's how Obama described the Muslim call to prayer. That prayer, which Obama recited with a "first-class [Arabic] accent," begins with this:

Allah is supreme!

Allah is supreme!

Allah is supreme! Allah is supreme!

I witness that there is no god but Allah

I witness that there is no god but Allah

I witness that Muhammad is his prophet ...

Really? No god but the false god Allah is the prettiest sound on earth? Really.

Speaking of slip-ups, here's the clip of Obama saying he's visited 57 states. He's such a "global citizen," perhaps the 57 member states of the "Organization of the Islamic Conference" was more second nature to him than our own 50 U.S. states.

While Obama's campaign site declares: "Senator Obama has never been a Muslim" and "was not raised as a Muslim," the records say differently.

If there is one thing Religious Right activists apparently can’t stand, it’s forums on the role of faith in public life that they don’t control.  As we noted earlier this week, Tony Perkins, Mike Huckabee, and Lou Engle are set to hold a press conference on Friday timed to coincide with joint appearance by Barack Obama and John McCain at Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church where they are set to “discuss faith in public life, AIDS, the environment and other issues.”

Now, other Religious Right activists have announced that they are having their own conference call with reporters following the event on Saturday in order to provide the media with “an expanded perspective on how evangelicals see the relationship between faith and public policy” – by which they mean the right-wing perspective:   

Some of the nation's top evangelical leaders – Tom Minnery, Focus on the Family; Bishop Harry Jackson, Senior pastor, Hope Christian Church and Chairman of the High Impact Leadership Coalition; Janet Folger, President and Founder of Faith2Action and national radio host; Phil Burress, President of Citizens for Community Values, among others.

Martha Zoller, Talk Radio World Today Host will be the moderator.

WHAT: Press Conference Call to gauge reaction of conservatives and evangelicals to the Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency, moderated by Pastor Rick Warren. The Forum takes place on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2008 and features Senators John McCain, R-Ariz., and Barack Obama, D-Ill.

WHEN: Press teleconference call takes place at 10:30 EDT/7:30 PDT by calling: Toll-free: 1-888-296-6828. Passcode is: 418647# (announce name and media organization). If you would like to receive speaker bios, transcripts and/or audio versions of the interviews, please email Debbie@NewsGuests.com.

INFO: This press call event provides an opportunity for an informed response to the event at Saddleback Church, thus providing an expanded perspective on how evangelicals see the relationship between faith and public policy. The press conference call will give reporters access to alternative views on each candidate's presentation at the Saddleback Forum.

Several articles have appeared in recent months suggesting that Mike Huckabee is some sort of “new breed” of evangelical – one who is not committed only to opposing abortion and gay rights, but also cares about the environment and the poor.  And Huckabee has worked hard to play up the idea that he is nothing like traditional demagoguing Religious Right preachers such as Pat Robertson or the late Jerry Falwell.  

As Huckabee likes to say, while he may be conservative, he’s “just not angry about it” – or, to put it another way, he drinks “a different kind of Jesus juice. To the press, this seems to be enough to qualify Huckabee as a “different kind of evangelical,” and exempts him from having to explain himself when he proclaims that we need to “amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards.” 

An example of this sort of coverage appeared on the New York Times over the weekend:

Much of the national leadership of the Christian conservative movement has turned a cold shoulder to the Republican presidential campaign of Mike Huckabee, wary of his populist approach to economic issues and his criticism of the Bush administration’s foreign policy. But that has only fired up Brett and Alex Harris.

The Harris brothers, 19-year-old evangelical authors and speakers who grew up steeped in the conservative Christian movement, are the creators of Huck’s Army, an online network that has connected 12,000 Huckabee campaign volunteers, including several hundred in Michigan, which votes Tuesday, and South Carolina, which votes Saturday.

They say they like Mr. Huckabee for the same reason many of their elders do not: “He reaches outside the normal Republican box,” Brett Harris said in an interview from his home near Portland, Ore.

The brothers fell for Mr. Huckabee last August when they saw him draw applause on “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” for explaining that he believed in a Christian obligation to care for prenatal “life” and also education, health care, jobs and other aspects of “life.” “It is a new kind of evangelical conservative position,” Brett Harris said. Alex Harris added, “And we are not going to have to be embarrassed about him.”

The article noted how Huckabee’s rise in the polls has occurred “without the backing of, and even over the opposition of, the movement’s most visible leaders, many of whom have either criticized him or endorsed other candidates.”  While Religious Right powerbrokers like Tony Perkins, James Dobson, and Gary Bauer have credited Huckabee for energizing evangelical voters, all have made clear that they do not support his candidacy and seemingly have no intention of doing so.

But just because the most prominent right-wing activists are reluctant to climb aboard the Huckabee bandwagon doesn’t mean that those already on board are in any way moderates or representative of some sort of new, more moderate evangelical movement.  In fact, most of Huckabee’s backers are even more radical.

As we reported a few weeks ago, a gaggle of right-wing Mike Huckabee supporters are poised to begin a series of non-partisan voter registration rallies in Iowa. 

Among those scheduled to take part are Rick Scarborough (who has endorsed Huckabee), Janet Folger (who has endorsed Huckabee and is co-chair of his Faith and Family Values Coalition), the Iowa Family Policy Center (whose president, Chuck Hurley, has also endorsed Huckabee and is also a member of his Iowa Pastors Coalition) and Redeem the Vote (whose president, Randy Brinson, has been working closely with Huckabee in Iowa.)

But rest assured, the events are “completely nonpartisan” – or so said Rick Scarborough when he discussed the events with Janet Folger on her radio show last week:

“[Our goal is to get] people who love Jesus to register and then vote their values – not as Republicans nor Democrats – but as follower and sons of God and Jesus Christ.  If we can get them to do that and then present to them what the candidates believe, I just happen to believe that the majority of them will vote right.” 

For those who want to know what the candidates believe, Folger suggested they check out the Values Voter Debate, which just so happens to be the event she organized and where she declared Huckabee “the David among Jesse’s sons” after he trounced the other candidates in the straw poll.    

As Scarborough explained:  

“Far too few [preachers] are involved in politics … but this is an election where you can say one of them is running for president and we need to see that God is raising up pastors … God is calling for men of God to take their place in leadership of this nation … Preachers need to go to their pulpits and encourage your people to do the righteous thing, to vote their values.  And then by example, you just say ‘I’m registered, I’m going to vote’ and then step around in front of that pulpit and say ‘I’m not saying this as pastor of this church’ and tell them what you believe about the candidates.”

So you can see:  the efforts of Huckabee’s supporters are entirely non-partisan.  

But for now, questions regarding the intent of those carrying out this endeavor are moot, as the rallies have become bogged down by weather and mechanical problems:

Last week we reported that we would be touring Iowa this week on a statewide bus tour. I regret to report that due to problems with the bus, coupled with the weather in Iowa, we made the decision to postpone the trip until a better time. At the time of this writing, there is still a discussion of going to Iowa and conducting some of the scheduled tour stops without the bus. If the tour goes forward we will send out a special report to communicate the schedule and solicit your prayers.

It looks as if the “Values Voter Debate” we mentioned a few weeks back is moving ahead, judging by this new press release:

A Values Voter Presidential debate will be held at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts on Monday, September 17th at 7:30 p.m. The majority of the Republican candidates have confirmed their attendance at the event.

30 of the nation's most influential groups will asking the questions of the presidential candidates that matter most to the Values Voters - the largest voting block in America.

Also participating will be key pro-family leaders including:

    * Phyllis Schlafly, President of Eagle Forum,

    * Don Wildmon, Chairman of the American Family Association,

    * Paul Weyrich, President of the Free Congress Foundation,

    * Judge Roy Moore, Chairman of the Foundation for Moral Law,

    * Janet Folger, President of Faith2Action,

    * Rick Scarborough, President of Vision America,

    * Mat Staver, Chairman of Liberty Counsel,

    * Star Parker, President of the Coalition on Urban Renewal and Education,

    * Bobby Schindler of Terri's Fight, and

    * Stephen Bennett of Stephen Bennett Ministries.

The debate will reportedly be aired on Sky Angel television and be streamed live on the ValuesVoterDebate.com  and AFA.net websites.  

The organizers say that “All of the candidates who place our values (and our votes) as a priority will be there” though they have yet to provide any confirmation about just which Republican hopefuls will actually be attending.  Not too long ago, the organizers were claiming that “seven of the nine Republican presidential candidates” had agreed to participate, but that has since been reduced to “a majority of the Republican candidates.” 

Thus, it still remains to be seen just which candidates will agree to travel to Florida in order to rub elbows and be publicly grilled by this group of right-wing zealots.  

Religious-right leaders are flocking to defend a mayor whose anti-gay comments have drawn public criticism.

Last month, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida Mayor Jim Naugle proposed replacing the bathrooms at the city’s beaches with $250,000 self-cleaning robo-toilets to combat the purportedly rampant problem of gay men using public restrooms for sexual encounters. In discussing his plan, he commented:

"I don’t use the word ‘gay,’ I use the word ‘homosexual.’ Most of them aren’t gay. They’re unhappy."

After a public uproar, Naugle then scheduled a press conference to offer an“apology” for his comments. But the "apology" he offered was for not being aware sooner that sex in public bathrooms was such a problem. The major flaw with this apology, in addition to the obvious bait-and-switch which infuriated local gay-rights activists, is that a Fort Lauderdale police spokesman has characterized the supposed problem as “non-existent.”

Nevertheless, adulation from the religious right has been forthcoming, with Rick Scarborough calling Mayor Naugle “bold,” and Concerned Women for America labeling him “gutsy.” Faith2Action’s Janet Folger even presented Naugle with her weekly “Protector of the Family” award for his efforts. A collection of extremely anti-gay religious-right groups including Americans for Truth, Concerned Women for America, Coral Ridge Ministries, and Faith2Action have even formed their own website, www.healthypublicplaces.com.  Although to date it's nothing more than a link to a press release, the site is further evidence that religious-right leaders are willing to circle the wagons around any politician who spouts anti-gay rhetoric.  

(Photo: Janet Folger presents Naugle with the "Protector of the Family" award.)

Proving need to oppose hate-crimes protections and Hindu prayer.

As we noted repeatedly over the last several years, the president’s power to nominate individuals to federal court and most importantly, the Supreme Court is an issue of paramount importance to the nation and control over the process has long been the number one political priority for the Right.  

The nominations of John Roberts and Samuel Alito were met with jubilation by the Right and with the Supreme Court’s recent 5-4 decision in Gonzales v. Carhart, President Bush appears to have delivered on their demands for reliable,  hard-line ideologues:   

Vision America

What a vivid reminder this is that Christians must remain politically active -- as it was Values Voters who are responsible for this first step toward overturning Roe v. Wade … This should be a stark reminder to Christians of what’s at stake in the next election.

Traditional Values Coalition

The 5-4 decision, which included Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, clearly shows the importance of having strong judicial conservatives on the bench.

Christian Defense Coalition

There is no doubt this decision would not have been reached if Sandra Day O'Connor were still on the bench instead of Samuel Alito.  If President Bush gets an opportunity to nominate another Supreme Court Justice, he could shape the direction of the court for a generation to come.  Also, that next appointment may be the 'swing' vote in overturning Roe.

Rep. John Boehner

[T]his decision is further confirmation Supreme Court Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito, President Bush's two successful appointments to the high court, are who we hoped and thought they were.

Janet Folger

One more president. One more judge. And one more chance to finish the work we began 34 years ago. Our work is not in vain.

Gary Cass

Dr. Gary Cass, executive director of the Center for Reclaiming America for Christ, responded, "This is what we hoped and prayed for when we elected pro-life Americans who would nominate and confirm judicial nominees. This is what we hoped and prayed for when two new Supreme Court justices were added to the bench. Today, those years of hoping and praying have borne the best kind of fruit—-the protection of defenseless lives."

Richard Land

Thank God for President Bush, and thank God for Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito.

Tony Perkins

[The] president of the Family Research Council said the decision vindicated the 2004 victory of Mr. Bush and "shows that elections have consequences." Since conservatives "know that next vacancy is just so incredibly important."

It is not often that we find ourselves in agreement with Tony Perkins, but when he notes that this decision shows just why the “next vacancy is just so incredibly important” we couldn’t agree more.   

One of the Right’s rallying cries that has become increasingly pronounced in recent years is the so-called “Criminalization of Christianity” – the idea that Christians in this country are under attack by liberals, the courts, and the government and are being targeted, arrested, and imprisoned simply for living their faith.

One of the foremost advocates of this concept is Janet Folger, who has not only written a book about it, but routinely issues paranoid warnings about what is in store:

Christians have the right to remain silent, but if we remain silent very much longer those are precisely the words we are going to hear before we see the inside of a prison cell.

Of course, much like the supposed “War on Christians,” the “Criminalization of Christianity” is completely bogus as we explained in a recent memo on right-wing opposition to hate crimes legislation recently introduced in Congress:

Religious Right groups are so eager to prevent any legal recognition or protection for gay and lesbian Americans that they are waging an aggressive disinformation campaign against these legal protections. Their strategy?  Create a distraction from the reality of violent crimes by claiming that such laws are really designed to criminalize Christianity.

The campaign is, of course, dishonest to the core.  But it is part of a larger strategy that has been politically and financially useful to Religious Right leaders over the years.  They tell millions of Americans, week after week, that gay rights advocates are out to silence conservative Christians, criminalize the reading of the Bible, and force people to choose between their faith and public service. It’s not true. But it serves the radical right’s political goals: it is easier to convince Americans to support discrimination – even to oppose laws designed to discourage violent hate crimes – if you have first convinced them that their gay neighbors want to shut down their church and throw their pastor in jail for reading the Bible.

…

Hate crimes legislation is not targeted at any of this constitutionally protected activity.  It targets only those who commit violent crimes against persons intentionally selected because they belong to, or are perceived to belong to, certain groups in our society.

But the Right will have nothing of it.  To them, efforts to pass hate crimes legislation is nothing more than an attempt to turn all Christians in criminals.  As the Traditional Values Coalition sees it:  

“Liberal and homosexual extremists want to silence people of faith whose religious beliefs condemn homosexual behavior.  This bill effectively adds a footnoted exception to the First Amendment of the Constitution – ‘none of these protections apply to Christians or other people of faith.’

“This bill begins to lay the legal foundation and framework to investigate, prosecute and persecute pastors, business owners, and anyone else whose actions are based upon, and reflect, the truths found in the Bible.

And just in case the warning that Christianity is being criminalized wasn’t clear enough, TVC has unveiled this helpful visual aid:

Janet Folger, formerly the National Director of the Center for Reclaiming America and current President of Faith 2 Action, announces that she will not be voting for Tommy Thompson, primarily because he reportedly supports the use of implantable Radio Frequency Identification chips. 

And that smacks too much of the Book of Revelations for Folger’s liking:   

He wants us all to be "chipped" with Radio Frequency Identification and sits on the board of the VeriChip Corp., a company currently talking to the Pentagon about inserting the grain-sized microchip into American citizens, beginning with our soldiers.

High-tech stuff like that you can find in the book of … Revelation – written 2,000 years ago. Here's what I remember from Sunday School: In the end times, there's a one-world government and a good-looking charismatic leader who seems like a really great guy, except for the fact that he happens to be the Antichrist. He talks all about peace and requires that everyone take this mark in order to buy and sell. The upside of taking the mark: you get to buy and sell; the downside: you go to hell forever.

Folger, author of The Criminalization of Christianity, has a flair for dramatic rhetoric.  As a featured speaker at the 2006 “War on Christians” conference, she stated that Christians have the right to remain silent in the face of persecution and hostility but “if you use your right to remain silent, those are the last words you’ll hear before seeing the inside of a prison cell.” 

But even for an expert in hyperbole, Folger’s insinuation that Thompson may be the anti-Christ, or at least on of his henchmen, is pretty remarkable.

As I wrote about in my book, "The Criminalization of Christianity," a wave of an implanted hand buys you drinks in Barcelona, Spain. Now it's being used to buy groceries and clothes.

But the mark in Revelation is "required," just like in Mexico where many government workers are required to be chipped – all brought to you by Tommy Thompson's VeriChip Corp. And now it's in Ohio where workers in Cincinnati are being chipped by CityWatchers – a government video surveillance contractor. Big Brother full scale.

Now, I'm not saying that people who get "chipped" at this stage are taking the Mark of the Beast – that would take a software change. But, I can tell you that I'm not going to let anyone put anything in my hand (or forehead), period. No matter how "logical," "reasonable" or "practical," if it's inserted into the hand (or forehead) to identify, buy or sell, you can say whatever you'd like, but I'm out. I don't care if it means I can't buy anymore. I don't care if it means I can't fly anymore. I don't care if it means I die. You can make your case, but I already made that decision – when I was about 10 – before any of this technology even existed.

Not surprisingly, Folger is one Religious Right activist who won’t be turning to Thompson as an alternative to the GOP frontrunners.

If this chip is truly a pre-curser to the Mark of the Beast, it may happen soon anyway, but the way I see it, it doesn't have to happen "on our watch." And we don't have to play a role in expediting it. Just another reason why Tommy Thompson's not getting my vote.

With the reintroduction of the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act in the House and the prospect that it may pass in a Democratic Congress, religious-right groups are waging a sizeable campaign to portray the bill as part of a mythical persecution of Christians. Although hate-crimes laws expand penalties for violent crimes causing bodily injury or death (as well as attempts through firearms and explosives), the Religious Right is labeling them “thought crimes” laws the “only effect” of which “is to gag people of faith.” Although federal law has punished hate crimes based on race for more than a decade, the Religious Right is incensed at the prospect of using the law to protect gays as well.

This reaction follows a pattern of asserting that gay rights – or a so-called “homosexual agenda” – will lead to the “repression” of religion in America, an anti-gay marketing effort typified by last year’s “Values Voter Summit” in Washington, where speakers from Mitt Romney to Tony Perkins claimed that, in the words of Alan Sears of the Alliance Defense Fund, “The homosexual agenda and [freedom of] religion are on a collision course.” “They know they must silence the church,” warned Perkins. At that time, the issue was same-sex marriage; the co-sponsor of the federal constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO), said that “"If we have gay marriage, our religious liberties are gone!”

“You can help stop this major threat to religious freedom!”