Aryeh Spero

CPAC Reject McDonnell Welcomed at Religious Right Prayer Breakfast

Submitted by Peter Montgomery on Friday, 3/15/2013 12:01 pm

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell was not officially welcomed at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, but he was invited to speak at Friday morning’s prayer breakfast hosted by Ralph Reed’s Faith & Freedom Coalition, along with a couple Members of Congress.

Not everybody was happy that McDonnell was on the premises: activists from the National Taxpayers Union and the insanely anti-gay Public Advocate USA gave out anti-McDonnell flyers and stickers to people entering the breakfast.  McDonnell’s sin against CPAC orthodoxy was his support for a transportation plan in Virginia that activists say violates a campaign pledge against raising taxes.  Public Advocate also complained that by praising the General Assembly’s approval of a gay district court nominee, McDonnell “BROKE HIS PLEDGE TO SUPPORT TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE.”

Inside the prayer breakfast, McDonnell (like the Coalition’s Executive Director Gary Marx an alum of Pat Robertson’s Regent University) was introduced by Rep. Randy Forbes and warmly received.  McDonnell gave a talk that was light on conservative red meat and focused on themes of faith and service, urging activists to pray for humility and wisdom.  He did say it is the job of public officials to get things done according to “Judeo-Christian principles.”  And he cited George Washington saying that the nation could not expect “the smiles of heaven” if it abandoned “eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself have ordained.”

Forbes, a leader of the congressional prayer caucus, said our nation’s problem is that God belongs on the throne, we’ve taken Him off, and we need to put Him back up there.  Forbes resorted to a caricature common among Religious Right leaders, complaining about people he said were trying to change the concept of church-state separation to mean that no one in government can speak about their faith and no one in church can talk about the government.

Also speaking was Rep. Tim Huelskamp of Kansas, who invoked a mural of the radical abolitionist John Brown that portrays him with a Bible in one hand, a rifle in the other, and the tornado of the civil war approaching. He called the HHS requirement for insurance coverage of contraception a “tremendous threat” and an attack of religious liberty. “What would John Brown be doing now?” he asked, suggesting that Brown would be on his knees in prayer but also on his feet demanding action from Congress.  Huelskamp complained that his colleagues in Congress are not acting to protect religious liberty, and denounced their “deafening silence” on threats to marriage. Huelskamp has previously complained to Tony Perkins about “the folks on the left that would like to delete, exclude and repeal any religious liberties or any religious values throughout our entire government and our entire society.”

Rachel Campos-Duffy, a conservative activist, author, and Real World: San Francisco alum who is married to Rep. Sean Duffy of Wisconsin, talked about the dangers of churches and families having ceded territory to “an ever-expanding and insatiable government.” For example, Campos said, school breakfast programs for poor students give parents an excuse not to make breakfast for their own kids and just push them out the door rather than talking to them.

Ralph Reed didn’t make the breakfast, but Gary Marx delivered a version of Reed’s post-2012 “it’s not my fault” analysis. Marx ran through statistics on the millions of contacts the Faith & Freedom Coalition made with the 23.3 million evangelical and Catholic voters in its proprietary database, and he said five million more evangelicals voted in 2012 than in 2008, with 78 percent of them voting for Romney. He said the group is actively engaged in this year’s Virginia elections and pledged that 2014 will see the largest mid-term conservative turnout ever.

The breakfast opened with a prayer by Father John De Celles of St. Raymond Penafort Roman Catholic Church in Springfield, Virginia, and closed with a benediction from Rabbi Aryeh Spero of the Caucus for America, who called for a reaffirmation of our “national identity” as a “Judeo-Christian nation” and denounced those who threaten the country from within by trying to "dismantle" that heritage and usurp God’s will.

Footnote: Among the VIP attendees acknowledged from the podium was conservative mega-donor Foster Friess, who backed Rick Santorum’s presidential bid but who has more recently encouraged a more moderate approach to LGBT issues, which he has said is due to his familiarity with gay people, including his brother-in-law and his partner.  There was no mention at the breakfast of news that broke last night about Republican Sen. Rob Portman’s about-face on marriage after his son came out to him. 

Spero: Language Has a Liberal Bias

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Friday, 1/25/2013 1:25 pm

Rabbi Aryeh Spero is out with a column in WorldNetDaily lamenting that “we have allowed the political left to hijack and corrupt the moral language” by distorting the “religious and classic meaning” of words like equality and justice. Naturally, Spero twists President Obama’s “you didn’t build that” remark to build his case that liberals have warped language as part of their supposedly anti-American and socialist agenda.

Mr. Obama’s “moral” narrative during this last election was encapsulated in “You didn’t build that,” a communitarian notion that minimizes the efforts and risk inherent in entrepreneurship. Instead of making the moral case for personal responsibility and capitalism, Mr. Romney focused on the details of his tax and deductions plan and separated himself from Mr. Obama regarding X billions for Medicare Part B. Such may be appropriate when delivering the annual balance sheet to a board of directors or to members of think tanks titillated by arcana, but it falls far short of the moral and personal language that touches the hearts of individuals and makes them feel part of a grand and uplifting cause.

It has been quite a while since Republicans chose a candidate unabashedly confident in announcing the morality inherent in Americanism, to wit: the right of the individual over the group, meritocracy, personal responsibility and accountability, free markets, the need to fight evil and a moral clarity that eschews moral relativism. These attributes reflect our historic Judeo-Christian ethos – our American civic heritage. These virtues constitute what many call American exceptionalism, a value system minimized and often rejected by Mr. Obama and those on the left.

…

Though all men are created equal, the equality to which they are entitled is not the provision of equal material goods but, as the Bible states, equal justice under the law. The Bible, Aristotle and our Founding Fathers had a completely different moral vision than that of the French social-engineering theorists and its concomitant, socialism and the welfare state. Though touted as moral, socialism is but a political paradigm, giving control to the state and those who operate it. It curtails liberty and induces and encourages dependency under the notion of entitlement.

Worse, it spawns an ever-growing segment of the population chasing the brass ring of victimology. It weakens and infantilizes the individual and subverts the biblical aspiration that humans become strong, independent and productive. The left peddles victimhood and entitlement under “social justice.” It is, rather, the actualization of socialism and a ruling class sitting atop a dependency class looking to it for eternal support. The Almighty’s goal for us is, in contrast, not dependency but robust autonomy.

…

A nation drained by socialist entitlements is a nation incapable of funding its own defense and protection of citizens. Self-defense and preparedness is a biblical and moral imperative. It preserves innocent life, the foremost responsibility of government.

…

We have allowed the political left to hijack and corrupt the moral language, terms such as compassion, fairness, tolerance, love, social justice, greed, peace. Let 2013 be the start of an era in which we take the language back and infuse it with its original religious and classic meaning. That is my goal in “Push Back: Reclaiming our American Judeo-Christian Spirit.” We need once again to own our historic moral vocabulary. The rekindling of our conservative moral language will not only ameliorate individual character but is also good politics.

Democratic Party Platform Prompts a Religious Right 'Decree For America'

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Wednesday, 10/3/2012 2:07 pm

One of the fascinating things about the Religious Right is the sheer redundancy of so many of their mobilization efforts and the grandstanding that goes along with them as they launch coalitions and issue contracts and declarations in which they declare that they will never, ever abandon their radical agenda.

And so, with an important election coming up, it is no surprise to see that Janet Porter, Aryeh Spero, and others have launched a new effort they are calling the "Decree for America" which people can sign in order to declare that they will never support abortion or gay marriage or any division of Israel:

I. LIFE. We decree that human life possesses intrinsic dignity from the moment of conception until death. We decree that life begins at conception, and a baby in the womb is a living soul. We refute the culture of death established by Roe v. Wade and the expansion of such culture by current laws that legalize abortion on demand, in any stage of pregnancy. We further refute the implication that all Americans be required to invest their tax dollars in the slaughter of unborn children. Furthermore, we refute the ideology that encourages euthanasia, thereby erasing those who have been deemed to have lives “not worth living.” We decree that God has entrusted us as His guardians and agents to protect life.

II. FAMILY. We decree that marriage is between a man and a woman exclusively. We proclaim and decree that marriage laws in America will always adhere to the biblical worldview that marriage is a holy covenant before God between a man and a woman committed to lifelong fidelity and purity. As people of faith, we refute the movement to redefine marriage as simply a romantic relationship between people, and we refute maneuvers to secure equal treatment under law for same-sex couples. Marriage is a monogamous relationship with a core value of procreation. We support the first commandment in the Bible given to a husband and wife that they should produce fruit through bearing and raising children. We decree that marriage laws in America will not include unions other than those between a man and a woman.

III. AN UNDIVIDED ISRAEL. We decree that the land of Israel shall not be divided. Out of heartfelt conviction we passionately support the Jewish state of Israel and see in it God’s promise and fulfillment of the covenant between the Jewish people and the land itself. We proclaim that Jerusalem has always been the holy and anointed spot of Jewish history, and we declare it will always be the indivisible capital of Israel. We decree that never again shall the Jewish people forfeit their land and their city.

We decree that we cannot support a so-called “right of return” by Arabs into Israel, designed to demographically denude Israel as a Jewish state and culturally and religiously transform it from a free society into one under Sharia and absolutist control. To ensure Jerusalem’s survival we strongly, without equivocation, endorse a policy that leaves Israel in a stronger military position against her manifold surrounding enemies. As with our forebears, we remain biblical Zionists who recognize the merit of being participants of Israel’s ingathering of her exiles and the rebirth of the biblical land.

This decree was necessary, apparently, because the Democratic Party platform was so "radical" in its efforts to "purposely defy the God of heaven, breaking His laws of life and marriage, and furthermore seek to divide His land" that conservative Christians simply must take a stand ... just as Esther did in the Bible:

The book of Esther gives us the answer. An evil ruler named Haman had written down his radical agenda of annihilating all of the Jewish people within his reach, which encompassed 127 provinces in the Persian Empire. He recorded the details of his plot in a decree signed by the king, carrying the force of law. Esther, the king’s wife, was Jewish. Through a series of godly appeals to the king, Esther was given the duty of refuting Haman’s evil plan by writing her own decree. She decreed justice for her people and through the authority of her written words, God delivered the Jews from destruction.

Join individuals, families, and church leaders across the country who will read and affirm this Decree for America on November 4th for the legacy of our generation and generations to come.

And if that wasn't enough to entice you to sign, this decree also has its own theme song and video:

Spero: We Must Take to the Streets to Stop the 'Hard-Core Leftist Socialists' Bent on Destroying America

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Wednesday, 9/5/2012 1:57 pm

Rabbi Aryeh Spero was the guest on "WallBuilders Live" today where he was promoting his new book "Push Back, Reclaiming the American Judeo-Christian Spirit," which he said he hoped would inspire people to rise up and take to the streets in protest against the "hard-core leftist socialists" who are out to destroy the Constitution and the Judeo-Christian philosophy:

There's no question that there is a very concerted effort by an elitist clique on the left - they used to call themselves liberals; they're really leftists, hard-core leftist socialists - and they want to control every aspect of our life. They have no respect for our religious conscience; they actually have no respect even for the Founding Fathers, the Constitution, they override it whenever they decide to. They called many of our Founding Fathers "dead white males" and by repudiating them, they really wish to repudiate the Constitution, our American ethos, the whole Judeo-Christian system that gave us success.

If we're going to win this battle - we, the citizens state-side here - we've got to rise up and push back; we've got to go into the street, we've got to protest, we've got to rally, we've got to contact all of our people in every type of state legislature, the people on the national level, the local level, the school board because they're fighting us in every single precinct of America to take over the culture, to take over the law, to transform us into something socialist, like Europe, something that has no respect for the Judeo-Christian philosophy. It's our job to fight back; we can't rely on other people to do it for us.

 

Gaffney Upset that Jews, Gays and Feminists Haven't Embraced his Anti-Muslim Efforts

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Thursday, 8/23/2012 5:00 pm

Yesterday on Secure Freedom Radio, Frank Gaffney hosted the vociferously anti-Muslim, anti-gay, anti-Obama Rabbi Aryeh Spero to discuss his new book, “Push Back: Reclaiming the American Judeo-Christian Spirit.” Gaffney asked Spero why women’s rights and gay rights advocates, along with “the Jews who make up many of the most visible members of the international or at least domestic left,” are “making common cause” with Islamists.

In Gaffney’s view, any opposition to efforts by him and other anti-Muslim activists to undermine the religious freedom and civil rights of Muslim-Americans is tantamount to the promotion of Sharia law and Islamism. Spero replied to Gaffney’s ridiculous question by claiming that the left has “partnered up with Islam” and have become “tools of Islam” in order to bring about “the destruction of Judeo-Christian ethos” and “the destruction of the historic American civilization.” Spero also falsely claimed that feminists and gay rights supporters are silent on abuses in Muslim-majority countries, which is of course not the case.

Gaffney: We’re often struck by the seeming commitment of those you’ve properly characterized as leftists seeking a transformation of the United States, to the Islamists who are seeking their own transformation of the United States and indeed the entire world. To what do you attribute the fact that despite when you’ve used the terms misogyny, the hatred of women, that the Islamists routinely engage in as they promote Sharia with a community of people who are all about feminism; the antipathy of the Islamists to homosexuality yet being supported by people who prize homosexual rights and have many of them in their ranks; the artists; the Jews who make up many of the most visible members of the international or at least domestic left. How can they possibly be making common cause against the culture, the Judeo-Christian culture of America with people who so clearly oppose them on all of those fronts?

Spero: Now this is actually what I consider the most important question of the day: how is it that those on the left who are always championing certain rights are now partnered up with Islam who is the very antithesis of the rights that the left is always championing. I think it forces us to see the left in a light that we’ve never saw before. I don’t think that the left is concerned is concerned so much with civil rights. If they were the feminists would be the first ones condemning what is happening to women all throughout the Muslim world and they are quiet and the people on the left and the homosexual lobby would be condemning Islam for what they’re doing in curtailing freedoms and killing homosexuals. I think what we now see, what the left has always wanted or what the left wants today is the destruction of Judeo-Christian ethos and I think that they want the destruction of the historic American civilization.

…

Spero: The left, who wish to control, they think that they are going to live with this blissful partnership with Islam becomes stronger in the country; they’re going to share all this power with Islam. Fools that they are, they are being used by Islam, they are tools of Islam, but it is we who will be the victim.

At the end of the interview, Spero said that Obama is a Marxist who identifies with “Muslim Brotherhood Islam,” which Gaffney agreed with.

Spero: This election’s very important because the General, the poster child behind the economic Marxism and transnationalism and the acceptance of Muslim Brotherhood-type Islam is Barack Obama. How this happened to America is a very unfortunate and alarming condition that we are faced with that we elected a man that basically did not believe in Americanism, he’s an economic Marxist and he identifies with Islam but actually it’s the Muslim Brotherhood Islam that he identifies with.

Gaffney: You’re absolutely right.

Aryeh Spero Likens Fight Against Obama to Elijah's Struggle Against Ahab

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Thursday, 8/2/2012 10:45 am

During the Under God Indivisible Conference at Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Love” rally, Caucus for America’s Aryeh Spero in a thinly-veiled attack on President Obama appeared to compare him to Ahab, the king of Israel who along with his wife Jezebel promoted Baal worship. Just as Obama was like Ahab, all those participating in “Restoring Love” are like Elijah, the prophet who denounced him. Spero said that the political left derives from Ahab, who “wished to transform the nation” and “subjugated the people,” while Elijah and his allies fought “leftist paganism” and “restored love and faith.”

“Political leftism, socialism, Marxism and naked secularism are simply today’s variation on ungodly themes and forms of paganism found as far back as biblical times,” Spero said, calling on attendees to “make sure a President does not crown himself Caesar.”

Referring to the Supreme Court case Engel v. Vitale, which struck down school organized prayer, Spero said that “the assault against our values and America” started in 1962, but hoped that 2012 can become a “jubilee year where we as a nation finally free ourselves from the sway and intimidation of political left liberalism.”

Watch:

This is not a new battle but the continuation of the battle of the ages, the most worthy of all battles. Political leftism, socialism, Marxism and naked secularism are simply today’s variation on ungodly themes and forms of paganism found as far back as biblical times. As outlooks on life they are at their core immoral paradigms, their so-called morality is but moral relativism, their call for tolerance is but the wholesale abandonment of standards. But we know that standards are necessary for the preservation of civilization. They speak of social justice but their intention is to institute socialism. In the Book of Kings we are told there arose in Israel, a King named Omri and later his son Ahab, both desire to rob the nation of its God and its origin, both wished the nation to forget its identity and nationality, they wished to transform the nation. They subjugated the people and stole their vineyards and set up idols to contradict the nation’s historic ethos. You see, with God there is liberty, without God and with an all-powerful state, subjugation and immorality set it. But Elijah and others fought the idols and the king and the laws of leftist paganism came crumbling down. They acted, they were daring and brave, thy restored love and faith. Back home in our communities, our people are looking to us for that bravery and assertiveness.

…

Now you may ask, what about render onto Caesar that which is Caesar’s? No my friends, in this nation we determine our Caesars and all the little Caesars. Better yet, we make sure a President does not crown himself Caesar. The assault against our values and America began 50 years ago around 1962, so let us declare 2012 the year of jubilee, the jubilee year where we as a nation finally free ourselves from the sway and intimidation of political left liberalism, now is the time.

Glenn Beck Calls in the Religious Right Calvary for Pre-Restoring Love Meeting

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Wednesday, 7/11/2012 5:00 pm

One of the most telling features of Glenn Beck’s 2010 Restoring Honor rally were the overtly religious themes of the rally, along with the launching of a Black Robe Regiment filled with right-wing leaders. The day before Beck’s latest really, Restoring Love, Beck and David Barton are hosting a who’s who of Religious Right activists for a “Christian Leadership Conference” called Under God: Indivisible, including some of the most prominent anti-gay preachers, activists and televangelists in the country:

David Barton

Tony Perkins

Ralph Reed

  • Led the Christian Coalition alongside Pat Robertson but left following reports of financial misconduct, now heads the Faith and Freedom Coalition.
  • Alleges that America “lost its way” by helping the poor, putting liberty in “danger.”

John Hagee

James Robison

Rick Scarborough

Harry Jackson

  • Alleges that gay rights supporters are recreating the “times of Hitler” and are leading a “Satanic plot” against the black family.
  • Asserts that gay rights will “bring us under” just like the iceberg that hit the Titanic.

Jim Garlow

Richard Land

Ken Hutcherson

  • Hoped to lead an anti-gay marriage rally that would be a “spiritual bomb” comparable to the 2004 terrorist attack in Madrid, Spain.
  • Wants the “promotion” of homosexuality banned just like “sugar and fatty foods in schools” since it is “dangerous and unnatural.”

Kenneth Copeland

  • Contends God didn’t create gay people just like “He didn’t create anybody to be a murderer, He condemned murder; he didn’t create anybody a homosexual, ’cause He condemned homosexuality.”

Aryeh Spero

Religious Right Pro-Israel Coalition Accuses Obama of "Ethnic Cleansing"

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Tuesday, 5/24/2011 12:41 pm

As we noted yesterday, Janet Porter and right wing members of her "Israel: You Are Not Alone" coalition hosted a press conference yesterday to announce the release of their new television ad campaign. 

Clips of Porter, Jerry Boykin, Rick Scarborough, Frank Gaffney, and E.W. Jackson have been posted to Faith2Action YouTube page, along with this clip of Rabbi Aryeh Spero accusing President Obama of engaging in "ethnic cleansing":

And this clip of Gordon Klingenschmitt demanding that Israel's borders be set as they were "in 1500 BC when God gave the nation of Israel and all of the land west of the Jordan River to Moses, to Joshua, and to the people that God gave that land to" and saying that God would put America on trial for failing to stand with Israel:

Porter's Israel Coalition Launching Television Advertising Campaign

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Monday, 5/23/2011 10:33 am

Last week we noted that Janet Porter had pulled together a coalition consisting of Mike Huckabee, dozens of Religious Right activists and various self-proclaimed prophets for a new effort called Israel: You Are Not Alone.

Initially, the group just ran a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal, but now Porter is launching an television advertising campaign as well and will be hosting a press briefing at the National Press Club today to announce it:

A Press Conference to respond to President Obama's attack on Israel is scheduled for tomorrow (May 23rd) at 1:00 P.M. in the Zenger Room at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. with national Christian and Jewish leaders representing millions of Americans. The next phase of the "Israel: You're Not Alone" campaign will be announced -- with television ads to stand with Israel.

Among those present will be General "Jerry" Boykin, Mike Gottfried (former ESPN commentator), Janet Porter of Faith2Action (who sent Prime Minister Netanyahu 30,000 yellow "friendship" roses last year in a show of support), Rabbi Aryeh Spero, William Murray of the Religious Freedom Coalition, Pastor Paul Blair of Reclaiming America for Christ, Andrea Lafferty of the Traditional Values Coalition, Pastor Aaron Fruh of Knollwood Church, and Dr. Rick Scarborough of Vision America among others.

Here is the ad that Porter's group will be running:

VO: "THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS IN ISRAEL WHEN THEY GIVE AWAY LAND FOR "PEACE."

The video shows children running for shelter as the rockets explode around them.

"DON'T LET HAMAS MOVE THEIR ROCKETS ANY CLOSER TO INNOCENT ISRAELI FAMILIES."

Graphic shows the words, "Trading land for Peace?" Israel, We Stand With You. www.IsraelYoureNotAlone.com "

Porter: Tornadoes Due To Legal Abortion, Israel Policy

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Friday, 5/13/2011 4:39 pm

Janet Porter believes that the recent tornadoes that left hundreds dead in the South were a consequence of America’s acceptance of legal abortion and “sexual sin,” along with the supposed mistreatment of Israel. In addition to wildfires in Oklahoma and Texas, Porter claims that Americans gave “God reason to at least partially lift His protective Hand from America.” Porter isn’t the only Religious Right leader who said that the tornadoes signaled that America trigged God’s wrath: Calvin Beisner of the Cornwall Alliance said the tornadoes were “early warning signals” and “little tastes” of God’s judgment. Porter warns that America continues to risk “God’s wrath against us” until Americans “give their undivided attention to God.”

Is God trying to get our attention?

The worst tornado outbreak in American history has left hundreds dead. Mississippi flooding has not been this bad in 80 years. Wildfires have swept through millions of acres in Texas and Oklahoma.

There are a number of things that could give God reason to at least partially lift His protective Hand from America, including the millions of abortions done here each year, the flaunting of sexual sin, and our recent treatment of Israel.

Any support that the U.S. provides for dividing the Holy Land risks God’s wrath against us. Rabbi Aryeh Spero says that a division could displace 400,000 Jews from their homes and more Christian holy sites would fall under Muslim control.

Pray that this will not happen and that many Americans will give their undivided attention to God.

May Day on the Mall: Lifting The Curse That Obama's Election Has Brought Upon America

Submitted by Peter Montgomery on Thursday, 4/29/2010 1:17 pm
 
On Saturday, May 1, Religious Right leaders and public officials will gather at the steps below the Lincoln Memorial to beg God to forgive America for having elected wicked leaders like President Obama. If you can’t make it to the national mall on Saturday morning, you can watch live on God TV or via webcast thanks to the American Family Association.
 
The "May Day - A Cry to God for a Nation in Distress" event is the brainchild of Janet Porter, a Religious Right activist/conspiracy theory-promoting radio host, and member of presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee’s inner circle. Porter believes America is under a curse for having “made the choice of death” by electing President Obama (even though God TV warned us not to). She announced the May Day event at last fall’s How to Take Back America conference.  
 
Since then, Porter has lined up support from a significant number of Religious Right heavy-hitters like former Focus on the Family head James Dobson, who recorded an audio message recruiting pastors to get involved, and at least five members of Congress, including  Randy “Pray Against Health Care” Forbes (Virginia), Trent “Obama is an enemy of humanity” Franks (Arizona), Louie “Hate Crimes Act is a Pedophile Protection Act” Gohmert (Texas), and Steve “Know Your Enemies” King (Iowa).  
 

Mayday! Mayday! Calling on God to Save America

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Tuesday, 12/15/2009 12:05 pm

Earlier this year, Janet Porter announced that she had reserved the Lincoln Memorial for May 1, 2010 for a prayer rally whereby Christians would humble themselves and pray for God's intervention to save our nation in distress.

Well, it looks like plans are moving right along as the event now has its own website and a laundry list of right-wing supporters, including several members of Congress:

David and Janet Porter, Faith2Action
Mike and Cindy Jacobs, Generals International
Dutch Sheets, Dutch Sheets Ministries
Mat Staver, Liberty Counsel
Dr. Rick Scarborough, Vision America
Congressman Trent Franks (AZ)
Congressman Louie Gohmert (TX)
Pastor Jim Garlow, Skyline Church, San Diego, California
Three Star General Jerry Boykin, Kingdom Warriors Ministries
Rabbi Aryeh Spero, Caucus for America
Troy Newman, Operation Rescue
Wendy Wright, Concerned Women for America
Tim Wildmon, American Family Association
Phillip L. Jauregui, Judicial Action Group
Bill Lewis, Sons of Issachar for the 21st Century
William J. Murray, Religious Freedom Coalition
Dick Bott, Bott Radio Network
Mark Matta, Preserve Liberty
Chaplain Gordon James Klingenschmitt, Pray In Jesus Name
Dr. Allen Unruh, Tea Party Coordinator
Don Feder, World Congress of Families
David Crowe, Restore America
Don VanCurler, Coral Ridge Ministries, Board of Directors
Rabbi Daniel Lapin, The American Alliance of Jews and Christians
Congressman Steve King (Iowa)
Jerome Corsi, author, journalist
Chuck Pierce, Glory of Zion International
Kent and Christie Glesener, Shofar International
State Representative Merle Kearns, Oklahoma
Pastor Paul Blair, Reclaiming America for Christ

Gay Marriage = End-Times Prophecy, Says Janet Folger

Submitted by Anonymous on Tuesday, 5/20/2008 2:56 pm

Ex-Rep. Ernest Istook of the Heritage Foundation might have thought he was pretty edgy in resorting to Nazi metaphors to describe the California Supreme Court’s decision in favor of marriage rights for gays and lesbians. But Janet Folger consulted her sources and came up with an even more apocalyptic comparison:

There was only one time in history, according to these writings, where men were given in marriage to men, and women given in marriage to women.

Want to venture a guess as to when? No, it wasn't in Sodom and Gomorrah, although that was my guess. Homosexuality was rampant there, of course, but according to the Talmud, not homosexual "marriage." What about ancient Greece? Rome? No. Babylon? No again. The one time in history when homosexual "marriage" was practiced was … during the days of Noah. And according to Satinover, that's what the "Babylonian Talmud" attributes as the final straw that led to the Flood. …

In fact, [Caucus for America’s Aryeh Spero] said, "the writings indicated that it wasn't even so much the 'straw that broke the camel's back,' but that the sin in and of itself is so contrary to why God created the world, so contrary to the order of God's nature, that God said then and there 'I have to start all over … to annihilate the world and start from the beginning. …'"

Not only did Folger indicate that gay marriage is what caused the deluge, she outlined specifically what that means for the California decision: “the end of the world.”

The one time it happened was: "During the days of Noah." When I first heard this, my mind immediately went to a verse I've heard many times but never with such relevance. The verse is found in Matthew 24:37. It reads:

As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. – Mathew 24:37 (NIV)

I used to read this verse and think: It was bad at lots of points in history; it doesn't necessarily mean now, but if these Jewish writings are true, we are uniquely like the "days of Noah" right now – and only right now. …

I'm praying and working to protect marriage in California (and the rest of the country) not only because I care about marriage, but because I care about civilization. And, if we obey God, he just may spare us from the judgment we deserve.

Persecution of Arabic-Language Instruction Reexamined

Submitted by Anonymous on Wednesday, 4/30/2008 12:18 pm

The New York Times has published an extensive feature revisiting the unfortunate public battle that emerged last summer over the opening of a charter school offering Arabic language and cultural instruction. As we wrote in September, while 67 other schools in New York City were earning applause for dual-language instruction, the announcement of the Khalil Gibran International Academy resulted in a right-wing backlash that seemed to presume Arab American culture to be of a piece with international terrorism. In the end, a handful of fringe websites and third-string commentators, with promotion by two conservative newspapers, managed to force the resignation of the respected founding principal and to tarnish the new school, essentially sabotaging the first year of the educational effort.

Daniel Pipes led the charge against the school and its architect, Debbie Almontaser. He described to the Times how he sees openly Muslim Americans as posing a new threat, not of violence or law-breaking but of cultural change:

The conflict tapped into a well of post-9/11 anxieties. But Ms. Almontaser’s downfall was not merely the result of a spontaneous outcry by concerned parents and neighborhood activists. It was also the work of a growing and organized movement to stop Muslim citizens who are seeking an expanded role in American public life. The fight against the school, participants in the effort say, was only an early skirmish in a broader, national struggle.

“It’s a battle that’s really just begun,” said Daniel Pipes, who directs a conservative research group, the Middle East Forum, and helped lead the charge against Ms. Almontaser and the school.

In the aftermath of Sept. 11, critics of radical Islam focused largely on terrorism, scrutinizing Muslim-American charities or asserting links between Muslim organizations and violent groups like Hamas. But as the authorities have stepped up the war on terror, those critics have shifted their gaze to a new frontier, what they describe as law-abiding Muslim-Americans who are imposing their religious values in the public domain.

Mr. Pipes and others reel off a list of examples: Muslim cabdrivers in Minneapolis who have refused to take passengers carrying liquor; municipal pools and a gym at Harvard that have adopted female-only hours to accommodate Muslim women; candidates for office who are suspected of supporting political Islam; and banks that are offering financial products compliant with sharia, the Islamic code of law.

The danger, Mr. Pipes says, is that the United States stands to become another England or France, a place where Muslims are balkanized and ultimately threaten to impose sharia.

“It is hard to see how violence, how terrorism will lead to the implementation of sharia,” Mr. Pipes said. “It is much easier to see how, working through the system — the school system, the media, the religious organizations, the government, businesses and the like — you can promote radical Islam.”

Almontaser is suing the city for forcing her resignation, but it’s remarkable that such a small group of people—led by activists like Pipes and Aryeh Spero, who are as a rule ignored—could intimidate New York City, armed only with overactive imaginations and a paranoid suspicion of Muslims.

Syndicate content

Aryeh Spero Posts Archive

CPAC Reject McDonnell Welcomed at Religious Right Prayer Breakfast
SUBMITTED BY: Peter Montgomery, Friday 03/15/2013, 12:01pm
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell was not officially welcomed at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, but he was invited to speak at Friday morning’s prayer breakfast hosted by Ralph Reed’s Faith & Freedom Coalition, along with a couple Members of Congress. Not everybody was happy that McDonnell was on the premises: activists from the National Taxpayers Union and the insanely anti-gay Public Advocate USA gave out anti-McDonnell flyers and stickers to people entering the breakfast.  McDonnell’s sin against CPAC orthodoxy was his support for a... MORE >
Spero: Language Has a Liberal Bias
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Friday 01/25/2013, 1:25pm
Rabbi Aryeh Spero is out with a column in WorldNetDaily lamenting that “we have allowed the political left to hijack and corrupt the moral language” by distorting the “religious and classic meaning” of words like equality and justice. Naturally, Spero twists President Obama’s “you didn’t build that” remark to build his case that liberals have warped language as part of their supposedly anti-American and socialist agenda. Mr. Obama’s “moral” narrative during this last election was encapsulated in “You didn’t build... MORE >
Democratic Party Platform Prompts a Religious Right 'Decree For America'
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Wednesday 10/03/2012, 2:07pm
One of the fascinating things about the Religious Right is the sheer redundancy of so many of their mobilization efforts and the grandstanding that goes along with them as they launch coalitions and issue contracts and declarations in which they declare that they will never, ever abandon their radical agenda. And so, with an important election coming up, it is no surprise to see that Janet Porter, Aryeh Spero, and others have launched a new effort they are calling the "Decree for America" which people can sign in order to declare that they will never support abortion or gay marriage... MORE >
Spero: We Must Take to the Streets to Stop the 'Hard-Core Leftist Socialists' Bent on Destroying America
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Wednesday 09/05/2012, 1:57pm
Rabbi Aryeh Spero was the guest on "WallBuilders Live" today where he was promoting his new book "Push Back, Reclaiming the American Judeo-Christian Spirit," which he said he hoped would inspire people to rise up and take to the streets in protest against the "hard-core leftist socialists" who are out to destroy the Constitution and the Judeo-Christian philosophy: There's no question that there is a very concerted effort by an elitist clique on the left - they used to call themselves liberals; they're really leftists, hard-core leftist socialists - and... MORE >
Gaffney Upset that Jews, Gays and Feminists Haven't Embraced his Anti-Muslim Efforts
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Thursday 08/23/2012, 5:00pm
Yesterday on Secure Freedom Radio, Frank Gaffney hosted the vociferously anti-Muslim, anti-gay, anti-Obama Rabbi Aryeh Spero to discuss his new book, “Push Back: Reclaiming the American Judeo-Christian Spirit.” Gaffney asked Spero why women’s rights and gay rights advocates, along with “the Jews who make up many of the most visible members of the international or at least domestic left,” are “making common cause” with Islamists. In Gaffney’s view, any opposition to efforts by him and other anti-Muslim activists to undermine the religious freedom... MORE >
Aryeh Spero Likens Fight Against Obama to Elijah's Struggle Against Ahab
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Thursday 08/02/2012, 10:45am
During the Under God Indivisible Conference at Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Love” rally, Caucus for America’s Aryeh Spero in a thinly-veiled attack on President Obama appeared to compare him to Ahab, the king of Israel who along with his wife Jezebel promoted Baal worship. Just as Obama was like Ahab, all those participating in “Restoring Love” are like Elijah, the prophet who denounced him. Spero said that the political left derives from Ahab, who “wished to transform the nation” and “subjugated the people,” while Elijah and his allies... MORE >
Glenn Beck Calls in the Religious Right Calvary for Pre-Restoring Love Meeting
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Wednesday 07/11/2012, 5:00pm
One of the most telling features of Glenn Beck’s 2010 Restoring Honor rally were the overtly religious themes of the rally, along with the launching of a Black Robe Regiment filled with right-wing leaders. The day before Beck’s latest really, Restoring Love, Beck and David Barton are hosting a who’s who of Religious Right activists for a “Christian Leadership Conference” called Under God: Indivisible, including some of the most prominent anti-gay preachers, activists and televangelists in the country: David Barton Writes consistently debunked and... MORE >
Religious Right Pro-Israel Coalition Accuses Obama of "Ethnic Cleansing"
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Tuesday 05/24/2011, 12:41pm
As we noted yesterday, Janet Porter and right wing members of her "Israel: You Are Not Alone" coalition hosted a press conference yesterday to announce the release of their new television ad campaign.  Clips of Porter, Jerry Boykin, Rick Scarborough, Frank Gaffney, and E.W. Jackson have been posted to Faith2Action YouTube page, along with this clip of Rabbi Aryeh Spero accusing President Obama of engaging in "ethnic cleansing": And this clip of Gordon Klingenschmitt demanding that Israel's borders be set as they were "in 1500 BC when God gave the... MORE >