OneNewsNow

• Organizers say it has not been decided if Gov. Rick Perry will speak at his "The Response" prayer rally. Are you kidding me?
• On a related note, FRC is hoping "The Response" will convince God to save our nation from the jeopardy that it is in with "the economic crisis, wars abroad, political and racial division at home, hardly any untouched by natural and man-made calamities, political and bureaucratic mismanagement, and most of all families and our youth under assault and in crisis."
• Campus Crusade for Christ is changing its name to Cru.
• Tim Pawlenty's presidential campaign is so weak that he is being dropped from presidential polls.
• Finally, Richard Land is not happy with the prospect of having a Mormon for the president, but anything would be better than Obama.

Religious Right activist and unsuccessful Republican congressional candidate Star Parker has a new column today lamenting that African Americans have yet to embrace her ultraconservative ideology. The outspoken anti-choice and anti-gay activist bemoans that African Americans are still predominantly Democrats since they don’t watch Fox News and because “too many blacks still don’t want to be free” despite advances in civil rights. Parker, who received just 23% of the vote in her failed bid for Congress, writes:

The message that massive government spending and borrowing does not grow the economy has not reached blacks. Rather, like our president, they seem to believe that the problem is we just haven't yet dug the fiscal hole deep enough.

Is this a racial thing? Whites will jump off the ship run by a black captain in a minute while blacks will ride it out until it hits the iceberg?

No, I don't think so. I think it's both a liberal information thing and a moral thing.

The liberal information thing is that blacks overwhelmingly get their information from liberal sources.

Blacks watch CNN and MSNBC, not Fox. They listen to urban black radio.

…

But I think more corrosive is the moral thing.

Almost a half century since the passage of the Civil Rights Act, too many blacks still don't want to be free and accept the responsibilities that go with it. Too many blacks still believe that the condition of their lives is caused by what someone else does or has.

It is sad that this is true despite the fact that blacks go to church more often, pray more often, and say religion plays a central part in their life more than any other ethnic group in the nation.

Why does a people so inclined to turn to God so readily violate the Tenth Commandment's prohibition on covetousness and measure themselves in terms of what others have? And then use this sin to justify violating the Eighth Commandment and give government license to steal what others have in order to redistribute?

Perhaps most fundamentally, how can a church-going people buy into the materialism of socialism?

• Tony Perkins wants it known that, contrary to reports, he was not on the Religious Right's Rick Perry conference call.
• It is apparently unfair for Rep. Keith Ellison to point out that his opponent is an intolerant anti-Islam right wing activist.
• I never fails to amuse me when Religious Right groups best known for hating gays decide to speak out on foreign policy issues.
• It looks like Sally Kern will be promoting her new book on AFA Radio and with Concerned Women for America, so we have that to look forward to.
• Finally, Peter LaBarbera says "Christians and all defenders of sexual normalcy ... no other choice but to fight back against the emerging liberal homo-fascism."

• Sarah Huckabee has been hired by Tim Pawlenty's presidential campaign.
• Peter LaBarbera complains that those who "practice sodomy ... get to jump to the head of the line in immigration."
• If you are going to write a long profile of TVC's Lou Sheldon, can you please mention that he's the head of an anti-gay hate group?
• I imagine that if some pilots had refused to fly Christian banners, the response from the Religious Right would have been universal outrage.
• Finally, Bryan Fischer is on vacation ... but that isn't going to stop him from continuing his "gays commit hate crimes" crusade.

A coalition of groups opposed to abortion rights wants the government to place graphic warning labels on emergency contraceptives and abortion clinics in the same way cigarette packs are now required to display explicit images. Disregarding the fact that abortion is an exceptionally safe medical procedure, a spokesman for the campaign said, “If you’re going to force cigarette manufacturers to put graphic images on every single pack of cigarettes, you should do the same thing with abortion.” In fact, a number of states already force doctors to read false statements that abortion causes breast cancer and other ailments. In a petition-drive launched by organizations including The Radiance Foundation (best known for placing billboards that refer to legal abortion as “black genocide”), Operation Rescue, Pro-Life Nation, and Students for Life, the coalition urges the government to impose labels to shame women:

The FDA recently announced new restrictions on cigarette packages, forcing manufacturers to feature prominent graphic images on the front of every cigarette package to warn smokers of harmful effects that smoking can have on their health and those around them.

When picking up their cigarette packages, smokers will see pictures of a man blowing smoke out of a hole in his neck, a smoker’s mouth riddled with cancer, a baby under a cloud of smoke, and a deceased man, among other colored graphics.

This marks the biggest change in cigarette package warnings in over a quarter of a century and notes the shift in American public opinion about smoking. Smoking has become passe.

Yet, what about abortion?

Where are the warning labels on abortion?

Where are the warnings to tell women that abortion will kill their child and scar them for life?

Sign your name to this petition to tell the FDA that all abortion facilities and abortion-causing drugs should come with graphic warning labels - showing women what an abortion really does.

Pastor Joseph Mattera is one of the most outspoken opponents of marriage equality legislation in New York, and has condemned gays and lesbians for, among other things, their supposed ties to Nazism and lack of concern for the poor. Reacting to dueling rallies in Albany between the bill’s supporters and detractors, Mattera blasted religious leaders who support marriage equality and cast doubt on their religiosity. He even criticized one “supposed rabbi” for wearing “a rainbow Yakama [sic].”

In anticipation of the state Senate's vote, various groups held rallies Monday -- one side requesting the "separation of church and state," while the other chanted, "God says no!" Joseph Mattera, overseeing bishop of Resurrection Church in New York, tells OneNewsNow many of those who support same-sex marriage were irreverent and antagonistic toward the Christian faith.

"The other side was very belligerent. There were ministers, there were people dressed in Catholic garb, and there were supposed rabbis -- at least one with a rainbow Yakama," Bishop Mattera accounts. "So they tried to bring out so-called 'clergy' who were in favor of what they call 'marriage equality.'"

The American Family Association is taking to defend the prayer rally, The Response, that they are hosting with Texas Governor Rick Perry. The AFA’s OneNewsNow today interviewed Tom Schlueter of the Texas Apostolic Prayer Network to defend the rally, whose spokesman said is meant to bring people of different faiths “to seek out the living Christ” and worship Jesus.

The Texas Apostolic Prayer Network is just one of many ‘New Apostolic’ organizations to work with Gov. Perry and the AFA on The Response, and the group calls on people to file “a decree of divorce from Baal,” renounce Free Masonry, and pray for the conversion of Muslims who are “rooted Deeply into Satan’s schemes.” And the group’s advisers include leading ‘prophets’ in the New Apostolic movement like Cindy Jacobs and Doug Stringer, who are endorsers of The Response, and Chuck Pierce.

Schlueter tells the AFA’s OneNewsNow:

Dr. Tom Schlueter of the Texas Apostolic Prayer Network says many citizens have been praying for a political leader to be bold enough to call the nation to its knees.

According to Schlueter, the event is decidedly apolitical…but Perry is also the answer of prayers that God will raise up a leader to bring the country to prayer:

"One of the things that we have been asking the Lord for many, many years has been a time when one of our political leaders will rise up and make this kind of a call to the state or to the nation," he shares.

As Rachel Tabachnick of Talk2Action notes, Schlueter once tied Hurricane Rita to the campaign to pass a constitutional amendment in Texas banning gay and lesbian couples from marrying:

Two weeks before Hurricane Rita hit Texas, the USSPN began a God-ordained national effort to bring the governmental rule of the King of Glory to our nation along the I-35 corridor. This effort began in the largest inland port in our nation, Laredo, Texas. Through Apostles Jay Swallow and Doug Stringer and Prophet Chuck Pierce, God positioned the Church of the region (Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico) in unity and governmentally set the Church in order, commissioning the Church to develop and move with Kingdom authority. The United States of America will either be held together or divided by what occurs during the next three years along the I-35 corridor. What began with the Church of Laredo-Nuevo Laredo must continue all the way to the Canadian border. The Lord Jesus Christ wants the Church along the I-35 corridor to move in obedience to Him with unity, order, and authority.

That you are praying for Texas the week before the citizens of our state vote for or against God's definition of marriage is NO coincidence. The people of Texas and especially the Church of Texas have been summoned to decide between two "opinions". Will the Church "hesitate" between these two or will the Church follow God? The opposition is gathering their forces, meeting regularly, and planning strategically. We need the Lord to bring down fire from heaven to consume the plans of the enemy and to bring a downpour of rain to bless the efforts of those who are obediently and diligently trying to inspire and inform the Church of Texas about the upcoming vote concerning the marriage amendment.

David Barton never lets the facts get in the way of his promoting of right-wing view of history and political causes, no matter the issue. Today on his radio show WallBuilders Live with co-host Rick Green, the pseudo-historian claimed that under President Obama the Department of Justice stopped prosecuting cases of child pornography because the department has reduced its attention to obscenity. The de-emphasis on obscenity cases started well before the Obama Administration, as Religious Right groups even complained that the Bush Administration wasn’t prosecuting enough obscenity cases.

Barton told co-host Rick Green that the Justice Department has now “encouraged” licentiousness and that the department is turning a blind eye to people who “use underage kids on these movies.” But earlier this year the Associated Press reported that prosecutions for child pornography are rapidly increasing, and just since the beginning of this year the Justice Department announced convictions in at least 19 cases involving child pornography.

Barton: We’ve got laws against illegal pornography, and you can’t stop all pornography but even the liberals recognize that some pornography is over the top.

Green: I mean an easy one is child pornography.

Barton: Simple. And you’ve had this Administration in three years has not prosecuted a single what’s called ‘obscenity,’ which is hardcore pornography. Not a single case. Now what’s that tell all the pornographers and all the movie guys and all the internet guys what they can do?

Green: Do whatever you want now

Barton: Man, we can push the limits, we can get over the top, we can use underage kids on these movies, we can do snuff movies because they’re not prosecuting nothing. So what we got today is—

Green: They’ve basically given a license for licentiousness—

Barton: Exactly. They’ve encouraged it, and that’s what happened with the Justice Department.

Laurie Cardoza-Moore, the head of the Christian Zionist group Proclaiming Justice to the Nations (PJTN), blames President Obama’s recent speech on the Mideast crisis for the deadly tornado outbreak in May. Cardoza-Moore is a Tea Party and anti-Muslim activist who is funding the lawsuit to block the construction of a mosque in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, which argued that Islam is not a religion and that consequently Muslims shouldn’t have the constitutional right to build a house of worship. Congresswoman and likely presidential candidate Michele Bachmann addressed PJTN last year just before Cardoza-Moore held a fundraiser for her campaign, and Religious Right radio host Janet Parshall won the group’s “Tree of Life” award earlier this year.

Like Janet Porter, another Christian Zionist leader who said President Obama’s approach to Israel and support for legal abortion caused the tornado outbreak, Cardoza-Moore holds Obama responsible for the recent tornadoes and the resulting deaths of hundreds of Americans:

The head of a pro-Israel group says that country's prime minister has replaced the president of the United States as leader of the free world.

Laurie Cardoza-Moore, president of Nashville-based Proclaiming Justice to the Nations (PJTN), is trying to mobilize Americans to take a stand for the nation of Israel. (See earlier story) She is concerned that Muslim countries are trying to muster U.N. support for a unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood, which could be approved by the General Assembly in September.

…

The PJTN president believes that Obama's treatment of Israel has already had consequences.

"President Obama is bringing us down. If you look at what happened after Obama made that speech, look at the weather patterns that we had. Day after day, horrific tornadoes [came] blazing across this country [and] hundreds of people [lost] their lives," she recalls. Cardoza-Moore adds that history shows that every nation that has ever turned its back on Israel was brought down to ruin.