Jim Garlow

Ted Cruz, Archbishop Lori Will Address FRC's 'Watchmen' Pastors

Submitted by Peter Montgomery on Monday, 5/13/2013 2:34 pm

The Family Research Council’s Watchmen on the Wall conference is an annual gathering for pastors and other church leaders to hear from a panoply of right-wing speakers and get motivated to “transform America.” Our coverage of last year’s event highlights speakers’ attacks on evolution, secularism, Islam, LGBT people, and other tools of Satan.

This year’s conference, which takes place in Washington DC May 22-24, has been promoted by FRC for months.  In April, FRC sent an excited alert that Sen. Ted Cruz, a Tea Party and Religious Right favorite who is reportedly mulling a 2016 presidential bid, had confirmed.

Based on other confirmed speakers, it seems likely that there will be two major themes to this year’s gathering: 1) religious liberty in America is under attack by Obama and his gay allies; and 2) only the church – led by uncompromising fired up pastors – can save freedom and America.

A notable addition to the cast of conservative evangelicals is William Lori, Archbishop of the Diocese of Baltimore and chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty. Lori has led the bishops’ attack on the Obama administration’s proposed regulations requiring insurance coverage of contraception.  Lori, who believes that “aggressive secularity” is “becoming the established ‘religion’ in our country today,” will be right at home with his friends at the Family Research Council. A typical FRC Action mailing from Tony Perkins earlier this year said President Obama is out to “crush freedom.” The same letter warns about “death panels” under Obamacare, which Perkins calls “the tip of the tyranny-iceberg.”

Also entertaining the Watchmen will be Rep. James Lankford, who earlier this year blamed gun violence on “welfare moms” overmedicating their kids with psychiatric drugs because they “want to get additional benefits.”  At FRC’s Values Voter Summit in September, Lankford said of the dispute over contraception coverage, “this is not a war on women, this is a war on people of faith.” 

Also confirmed is Ergun Caner, who lost his position at Liberty University after Muslim and Christian bloggers, and then journalists, began to expose the falsehoods in the Jihadi-to-Jesus life story that Caner had used to make a name for himself in the post-9/11 evangelical universe. Caner will probably echo his remarks at the 2009 Values Voter Summit, where his message to Christians who were not being outspoken enough on the issues of the day: “You need to preach, teach, and reach, or just shut up and get out of our way.”

Anti-gay activist Harry Jackson is quick to invoke Satan and other demonic powers as the forces behind the gay rights movement, which he portrays as an enemy of religious freedom. He has charged that a “radical” gay element is trying to “close down every church in America.” In fact, one of his columns was titled,” Why do Gays Hate Religious Freedom?”  Jackson’s apocalyptic anti-Obama rhetoric did not convince many Black Christians to vote against Obama, but Jackson thinks they’ll be sorry. God, he says, will “take out” those who chose “race over grace.” Jackson is a long-time FRC ally; he and Perkins co-authored Personal Faith, Public Policy, which calls Supreme Court rulings on church-state issues “assaults” on Christianity.

Jim Garlow, a California pastor who led church backing for Prop 8 in California and was then tapped by Newt Gingrich to run one of his political groups, had warned before the election that an Obama reelection would destroy the country.  During an FRC post-election special Garlow said that Christians should expect massive persecution from the government.  At last year’s Watchmen on the Wall conference, Garlow spoke at a press conference attacking President Obama’s use of religious language to describe his support for marriage equality. Evoking the words of a colonial preacher, Garlow said, “if necessary, here we die.” In an FRC DVD promoting Watchmen on the Wall, Garlow says an FRC-produced video was crucial to the Prop 8 win.

Richard Land is retiring in October after 25 years as head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty commission; he was dogged by controversy during the past year over plagiarism charges and racially inflammatory remarks he made regarding the Trayvon Martin killing.  Land has charged that the only reason the Obama administration proposed regulations on contraception coverage was to "set the precedent of ramming this down our throats and forcing us to surrender our First amendment freedom of religion." Land says God will unleash judgment on America for the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.

Watchmen will also hear from Jacob Aranza, whose 1983 book Backward Masking Unmasked warned that rock music was encoded with satanic messages that would entice teens into drug use and abnormal sexual behavior. Aranza says he burned “hundreds of thousands” of albums in those days. More recently, Aranza was an endorser of Rick Perry’s “Awakening” and participated in Religious Right strategy sessions convened by James Robison to try to prevent Obama’s re-election. In 2011, Aranza and Perkins appeared together on Robison’s television show, and Aranza gushed about Perkin’s work to mobilize pastors:

Tony Perkins is one of the great heroes in America today. He is a hero because it is unseen. He is uniting and equipping the most important people in America, and that's the pastors in America. If the local church is the hope of the world then pastors are the hope of the local church. Tony Perkins exists to encourage them and to equip them and to empower them. He's taking regular pastors -- the average church in America, James, as you know is less than 200 people; 80% of the churches in America are 200 or less -- and he is taking men like that and he is turning them into absolute heroes, just like pastors in Maine who are literally changing the moral fiber of an entire state because he has equipped them and empowered them and told them they're the people that are supposed to be the hedge of builders, and he is encouraging them to do just that.…I believe that as you speak you are literally trumpeting a sound that is encouraging pastors across America and families across America that are Christians to unite together to see God once again bring spiritual awakening to our nation.

JC Church is one of FRC’s pastor leaders “networking churches in Ohio to answer the call on moral issues.”  His 3 Cord Alliance, which is affiliated with FRC, teaches pastors “how to bring sound scripturally based influence and change to your community.” Church has been praised by Phil Burress of Citizens for Community Values: “I believe that if all the pastors in Ohio were like Pastor Church, we would have an army that Satan could not stop. He understands that America is led by the pulpit and we count on him to unite fellow pastors and their congregations to be the salt and light we so desperately need in the world today.”

Jack Hibbs is a California-based preacher who also pushed Prop 8; in 2011 he helped lead an unsuccessful effort to overturn the state’s SB 48, which he charged would lead to public schools indoctrinating students.  In a video urging pastors to get involved, he said it is not enough to teach and preach the word of God, pastors needed to be “culture changers for Christ.” Leading into the 2012 election Hibbs was outspoken about the fact that Christians should vote for Romney over Obama. In a radio show the day after the 2012 elections, He says he was on the phone with Tony Perkins on election night and they had both believed that the outcome was up to the church: “The answer wouldn’t be determined in the White House or the statehouse….the answer for righteousness or unrighteousness, for light or for darkness, for liberty or tyranny, would be decided by the pastors.” Given the way things turned out, Hibbs says “I believe the responsibility, the outcome, and the fallout falls into the hands of the pulpits of America’s pastors who did not speak up….” Hibbs also echoes Mitt Romney’s infamous “47 percent” remarks: “those who are looking for handouts, they don’t want to work, they want the government to give things to them, overwhelmingly voted for Barack Obama.” Hibbs said he was disappointed but not discouraged, because “God’s on the throne” and therefore “God has appointed him to be our president for God’s purposes – OK that means God has got some pretty gnarly purposes coming for America.”

There’s a special role at the conference for FRC’s executive vice president, retired Lt. Gen. William “Jerry” Boykin.  Boykin retired from the military after being reprimanded by then-President Bush for making speeches depicting the war on terrorism as a Christian holy war against Islam. FRC hired Boykin last year after he was disinvited from speaking at West Point after faculty and cadets objected.  Boykin and his Religious Right allies portrayed his mythical martyrdom as an attack on freedom of speech and religion. At last year’s Values Voter Summit, Boykin invoked Marx, Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler in denouncing what he said is an effort to move Americans away from belief in a sovereign God.  He says everything President Obama is doing is right out of the” Communist Manifesto.”

Perkins seems to be counting on Boykin to strong-arm pastors at the conference into making a concrete commitment to political activism. In an insert in a packet mailed to pastors, Perkins says Boykin will offer the “concluding challenge” – and he insists that pastors book their flights home no earlier than 4pm so that they can stay.  “During the Briefing, we will share details of the strategic plan the Lord is using to bring revival and renewal in communities around the nation through the engagement of pastors. At the end, we have a ‘call to decision’ or ‘invitation’ sort of like many of you do in a worship service. Just as you want those attending your worship service to stay and respond, we would respectfully ask the same of you.” Perkins has some leverage – FRC picks up most of the tab for one pastor from each church.

FRC launched Watchmen on the Wall in 2004. A 2010 promotional DVD said the group was up to 14,000 pastors; it said Perkins’ goal was to have 40,000 Watchmen pastors by 2015. Pastors who sign up get access to regular briefings, model sermons, and other toolkits for mobilizing their congregations and communities.  The same promotional video contains a clip of “historian” David Barton quoting 19th Century preacher Charles Finney saying, in effect, that if the country is going to hell, it’s pastors’ fault.  The notion that America can only be saved by more aggressive preachers is a recurring theme at Religious Right gatherings, including Liberty Counsel’s recent Awakening conference.

Right Wing Round-Up - 5/1/13

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Wednesday, 5/1/2013 5:37 pm

Right Wing Leftovers - 4/22/13

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Monday, 4/22/2013 5:30 pm
  • Prosecutors want Floyd Corkins, the man responsible for the shooting at the Family Research Council headquarters last year, to serve 45 years in prison.

  • Jim Garlow's wife has passed away after a long battle with cancer.

  • It would be really interesting to find out what various business interests are constantly paying Harry Jackson to promote their agenda.

  • Bryan Fischer continues to call for a ban on immigration by Muslims.

  • Finally, Liberty Counsel rips the media for failing to cover the case of Kermit Gosnell despite never once having covered it themselves.

Garlow: Christians Will be 'Forced Underground' if Court Affirms Marriage Equality

Submitted by Miranda Blue on Wednesday, 3/27/2013 3:05 pm

In an interview with Janet Mefferd yesterday, pastor Jim Garlow elaborated on his theory that gay people don’t actually want to get married. In fact, Garlow told Mefferd, gay people want to “destroy marriage” and “force us to affirm an immoral behavior.”

Garlow further warned that if the Supreme Court affirms marriage equality, Christians will be “forced underground. Their buildings will be taken away from them, many of their rights will be taken away from them.”

Garlow: I think it’s important for people to realize what’s really at stake here. And I know this sounds sound strange, most of us assume naively that what homosexuals are actually for is marriage. And that is not true, at least not universally true. What they want is to destroy marriage.

I think Masha Gessen out of Australia was the most open one I’ve seen on it. She’s a homosexual activist and she just said bluntly, ‘Let’s face it, we don’t want marriage, we want the end of marriage.’ And that’s exactly what happened, of course, in European countries, where they changed the laws regarding what the definition of marriage is and people just stopped getting marriage. And you’d think marriage rates would go up. Instead, they dropped because nobody respects the institution anymore.

And that’s what the heart of this is, not only to end marriage, they’re not demanding marriage for themselves, they want us, to force us to affirm an immoral behavior.

Mefferd: That’s it. And the religious liberty issue, and I know you’ve been really big on this as well, I think more Christians need to understand the connection between advancing LGBT rights and retreating Christian rights.

Garlow: If same-sex so-called marriage is established as the law of the land, many of the people who are listening to my voice right now, not maybe immediately but at some point in the future, if they are followers of Christ, will be forced underground. Their buildings will be taken away from them, many of their rights will be taken away from them.

Pat Robertson and Jim Garlow Agree: Gays and Lesbians Don't Want Marriage

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Wednesday, 3/27/2013 12:20 pm

The 700 Club today covered the marriage equality cases and dueling rallies at the Supreme Court. Host Pat Robertson and pastor Jim Garlow used the same tired talking points about how gays and lesbians don’t really want marriage.

Garlow, the Proposition 8 activist who addressed NOM’s anti-gay rally yesterday, told Christian Broadcasting Network reporter John Jessup that “there isn’t that much interest in marriage, there isn’t that much interest in commitment and monogamy, it isn’t there; it’s attempting to force us to affirm a lifestyle, that’s what’s at stake here.”

Robertson concurred and said that “the foundation of our society since the founding of our great Republic is under attack” by “a few people [who] want to have their way doing of sex affirmed by everyone else.”

“They say it’s homophobia to believe that a marriage between a man and a woman is sanctioned by God,” Robertson said, “God is not a homophobe, God is almighty, He’s in charge of the world and this is the way he made it. “Two men do not have children, two women do not have children,” he concluded.

Watch:

NOM's 'Historic' Fail

Submitted by Peter Montgomery on Tuesday, 3/26/2013 4:02 pm

For weeks, the National Organization for Marriage’s Brian Brown has been touting the “historic” March for Marriage, telling supporters “this is our time” to "change history." A month ago he wrote excitedly about a “game-changer,” a $500,000 matching gift from one of the major donors that keep NOM afloat. Brown had been inspired by a massive turnout for an anti-marriage-equality protest  in France, and hoped for something similar in Washington. But even with big donors and heavy-weight Religious Right co-sponsors, Brown and his allies couldn’t pull it off. Not even close.

In reality, NOM’s rally had a few, perhaps several, thousand attendees.  (NOM’s Thomas Peters claims 15,000, which seems, um, generous.) And every time one of the speakers tried to make the crowd feel like part of a larger movement by talking about the 200,000 people they said marched recently for one-man/one-woman marriage in Puerto Rico, or the hundreds of thousands or millions in France and Spain, or even the 585,000 who have signed the Manhattan Declaration or the half million who marched against legal abortion, it only served to highlight how few bothered to show up in Washington. According to various speakers, the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia sent five busloads; anti-gay state senator Ruben Diaz claimed 32 buses from New York. Brian Brown gave a shout out to some Chinese Christians from Chicago.

The ethnically diverse speakers’ list was a mix of old and new, including some familiar faces on the anti-gay circuit, such as Harry Jackson, Gary Bauer, and Iowa’s Bob Vander Plaats. Harry Jackson led the crowd in a chant that he said was a prayer for the Supreme Court: “Let God arise and his enemies be scattered.” Bauer delivered a blustery message to the Republican Party that if they “bail” on marriage, he’ll lead as many people as he can out of the GOP (which may not be that much of a threat). Vander Plaats urged Supreme Court justices to look to the Founding Fathers, Billy Graham, and Pope Francis. Also speaking were Doug Mainwaring, now making the circuit as the anti-equality gay man the Religious Right loves to love; Frank Schubert, the mastermind of the dishonest Prop 8 campaign and every anti-equality campaign since then; and Jim Garlow, who made a name for himself among the Religious Right with his pro-Prop 8 organizing. Garlow insisted you cannot call yourself a Christian and support the Court’s “obliterating” what he called a “core aspect of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” (Garlow should have seen the packed crowd at the morning’s pro-equality interfaith service at the Lutheran Church of the Reformation.) Garlow warned Supreme Court justices that they will one day stand before “the Chief Justice of the Universe” and will be held accountable if they defy His ways.

A couple of groups sent under-30 speakers to say how wrong the media is to suggest that Millennials are a lost cause on this issue.  But facts are facts, and polls show that support for marriage equality is overwhelming among under-30 Americans: 72 percent of Millennials believe same-sex couples should be able to get legally married, including 58 percent of under-30 Republicans.

Many of the speakers were on-message to the point of being boringly redundant, repeating the message on marchers’ pre-printed signs: “Kids do best with a mom and a dad” and “Every child deserves a mom and a dad.” Sometimes this came with a strong shot of gender stereotypes: mothers provide tenderness and fathers provide protection.  Brian Brown even showed a video of the Religious Right’s newest heroine, the 11-year old who testified against marriage equality in Minnesota and asked which of her parents she did not need, her mother or father. Perhaps someone could explain that no same-sex couples seeking to get married have any desire to force her to get rid of either parent.

NOM’s backers for the marriage march included the far-far-right-wing Catholic group Tradition, Family & Property, with its scarlet banners, capes, and marching band (see Adele Stan’s reminder who TFP is), Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council, a couple of Catholic dioceses, the Knights of Columbus and the Institute on Religion and Democracy.  Brown gave special thanks to the Mormon-run GFC Foundation for providing grants for buses.

 

Garlow: Supreme Court Trying to 'Flex Muscles Against Almighty God' By 'Obliterating' Marriage

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Tuesday, 3/26/2013 1:55 pm

Pastor Jim Garlow, who helped spearhead Proposition 8 and has described the gay rights movement as Satanic and part of an “Antichrist spirit,” delivered a stark warning to the Supreme Court during the closing speech at the National Organization for Marriage’s rally on the National Mall.

“Isn’t it interesting that the Supreme Court would be considering obliterating one of the core aspects of the Gospel of Jesus Christ” during Holy Week, Garlow said, as he marveled that “on this incredibly sacred week, the court would tend to try to flex their muscles against Almighty God: no one can win, your arms are too short to box with God.”

Watch:

Garlow: America's Tombstone Will Read '1776-2012'

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Tuesday, 3/19/2013 2:45 pm

In the second part of Jim Garlow’s post-election sermon at a conference with James Dobson, the California pastor claimed that President Obama’s re-election marked the death of America. Garlow, who warned of America’s impending doom if Obama was re-elected, said that “if a tombstone were to be prepared for America I think it might say ‘1776-2012.’” Garlow went on to compare the prospects of America’s survival to a clinically dead patient miraculously coming back to life.

18 months before the election from May 2011 on I started saying privately to certain people, I think America’s only got 18 months left. I was very hesitant to say that to anybody because it sounded so melodramatic, so over-the-top, and when I talked to people they would all nod and say, ‘I agree with you.’ I was hoping somebody would counter me. I did a countdown: 15 months America’s got left; 12 months America’s got left; 6 months as we approached November 6; 3 months; 2 months; 1 month, and then came November 6, 2012. If a tombstone were to be prepared for America I think it might say: ‘1776-2012.’

But, I’ve written two books having to do with having to do with heaven and the afterlife several years ago in which we studied and analyzed near-death experiences, people who were clinically dead but were remarkably resuscitated and came back to life. I’m hanging on like you are to a conviction, to a belief, that something could happen, that the spirit of God could be released in such a way that something stir within this nation and that revival we’ve longed for suddenly and inexplicably break out someplace, somewhere and sweep this nation, and touch enough lives and transform enough lives that we would see life come back to what appears to be a dead patient.

Garlow: Obama Should Have Repented During the State of Union Address

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Monday, 3/18/2013 11:10 am

Today, James Dobson’s Family Talk radio program aired a sermon that pastor Jim Garlow delivered at a recent Religious Right conference in which he said that President Obama should have publicly repented during his State of the Union address. Garlow, who during the address tweeted that Obama will “destroy” America and has an “obsession with homosexuality,” said that the president should have repented over his views on legal abortion, marriage equality and the national debt.

We gathered and we huddled around TV sets on Tuesday night to hear the State of the Union address and we never heard the speech that should’ve been given. The speech should’ve begun with the words: ‘My fellow Americans, the State of the Union is tragic, it is very bad, we are in deep trouble. I as your President, who profess to be a born again Christian, come before you in repentance this day. Knowing that the scripture teaches that a baby in the womb should be safe and not ripped to shreds; knowing that marriage is the number one institution that preserves a nation; knowing that the current debt is stealing, theft from our future generations; therefore I as your President repent of sin and I ask us to work together to do what is right and try to preserve this wonderful experience called America.’ That’s the speech we should’ve had, but we did not have it.

Right Wing Leftovers - 3/15/13

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Friday, 3/15/2013 5:45 pm
  • CBN correspondent David Brody warns “evangelicals all across the country may start walking away from the GOP” if Republicans aren’t “willing to take a stand for traditional marriage.” 
  • Liberty Counsel’s Steve Crampton claims that gay marriage will “lead to the disintegration of the family” and that “when the history of this administration is written, it will be recorded that its deception and aggressive advocacy on this issue were among the most destructive actions of any administration in the history of our nation.” 
  • Scott Lively urges lawmakers not “to arm militant ‘gay’ social engineers with legal weapons to hunt down and destroy the lives of people of faith.” 
  • Jim Garlow predicts that marriage equality will have “horrific” consequences including the abolition of the First Amendment.
  • Alan Sears of the Alliance Defending Freedom, while quoting Martin Luther King Jr., calls for prayers against same-sex marriage. 

Ralph Reed: It's Not My Fault

Submitted by Peter Montgomery on Wednesday, 11/7/2012 7:03 pm

Election Day was a lousy day for the Religious Right. But movement leaders have been quick to assert that they are not to blame, pointing fingers variously at Hurricane Sandy, Mitt Romney, the unknown waiter who recorded Romney’s dismissive “47 percent” remarks, and the strong turnout of young voters and people of color.

Religious Right leaders had spent four years attacking Obama an enemy of faith, freedom, God, and America, only to see him re-elected in an Electoral College landslide. They had warned that defeating him might be a last chance to forestall God’s judgment on America. They fasted and prayed and believed that they would be delivered on Election Day. But that’s not what happened. 
 
Not only did Obama win big, but voters in Maine and Maryland embraced marriage equality, and Washington seems likely to join them.  Minnesota voters rejected a Religious Right-backed attempt to put anti-gay discrimination into the state’s constitution.  Tammy Baldwin was elected to the Senate, where she will be the first openly gay member.
 
Well before all those results were in, it was clear that the night was not going according to what Religious Right leaders had thought was God’s plan.  At 10 pm, Tony Perkins and Jim Garlow held a phone call briefing for pastors. It was a very subdued affair, with representatives of the state marriage campaigns trying to sound hopeful about the then-uncalled outcomes in their states.  Perkins and Garlow also held a Wednesday webcast on the "aftermath and aftershocks" as the scope of their Election Day drubbing sank in (see video highlights).  “The problem in America is sin,” said Garlow. But, he said, “we have no problem that the next Great Awakening cannot solve.”
 
The tendency after an election defeat to avoid blame by casting it elsewhere was in full flower the day after the election.  Rep. Jim Jordan, a Religious Right favorite, described Mitt Romney as “the most liberal Republican nominee in history” who had “waffled” on abortion, had passed a health care bill as governor, and had a hard time convincing conservatives on his commitments on taxing and spending.  Perkins criticized Romney for not campaigning on issues of life, marriage, and religious liberty, even though Obama used them to appeal to his base. Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway agreed, saying Republicans had not done enough to draw the contrast on social and “moral” issues. Regarding the marriage wins, Perkins blamed Obama in part, saying the president’s policies have had “a shaping influence on the culture.” He and others also blamed marriage equality proponents’ financial advantage.
 
In a Wednesday morning press conference at the National Press Club, Ralph Reed’s message was clear: don’t look at me. Reed had made sweeping promises that the Faith and Freedom  Coalition, his conservative voter ID and turnout operation, would stun pollsters and lead to a big conservative victory.  “We did our job,” he insisted, recounting the tens of millions of phone calls, mailings, and other voter contacts his group made.  He said his group had run the most efficient, most technologically superior voter contact and GOVT operation the faith community has ever seen.  He claimed credit for increasing both white evangelicals’ share of the electorate and the share of the vote they gave to the Republican nominee.  But it wasn’t enough.
 
“We can’t do the Republican Party’s job for them.  We can’t do the candidates’ job for them.” In part, Reed blamed “candidate performance issues,” his euphemism for the Akin-Mourdoch rape comments that led to their undoing.
 
Reed said his successful efforts were not in the end sufficient because people of color and young voters turned out in numbers that he had not anticipated -- and voted overwhelmingly to re-elect the president.  The fact that young voters, African Americans, and Latinos turned out so strongly seems to have stunned conservative figures across the board. And it confirmed for many of them the need for the Republican Party and the conservative movement to stop alienating Latinos and figure out how to attract younger voters.  “We need to do a better job of not looking like your daddy’s Religious Right,” said Reed.
 
Some Religious Right leaders sought solace in faith that God is ultimately in control.  “America as we know it may have signed its death warrant tonight,” said Garlow during the pastors' briefing.  But not to worry, he said, nations come and go, but God’s kingdom is forever. Perkins said FRC and its allies would continue to stand strong in the face of “an increasingly hostile culture.”
 
Others looked forward to the next political fight.  Pollster Conway predicted that 2014 would bring, like 2010’s Tea Party wave, a conservative resurgence and called for candidate recruitment to begin now.  Perkins agreed that conservatives have never had a stronger “farm team” and touted potential conservative candidates for 2016, including Marco Rubio, Bobby Jindal, Rand Paul, and Mike Pence.

Family Research Council Licks its Wounds after Election Pummeling

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Wednesday, 11/7/2012 3:20 pm

A despondent Tony Perkins hosted the Family Research Council’s post-election special “Election 2012: Aftermath & Aftershocks,” which featured Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Rep-elect. Mark Meadows (R-NC), Derek McCoy of the Maryland Marriage Alliance, Jim Garlow and FRC Vice President Tom McClusky. The group suffered a huge blow as marriage equality won victories in four states and their effort to oust a pro-equality Iowa justice failed, in addition, FRC’s Faith Family and Freedom Fund invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to aid Todd Akin, who lost in a landslide.

After speaking to McCoy, Perkins claimed that same-sex marriage will never be morally acceptable or within the bounds of natural law whatever the voters in Maryland and elsewhere say, while McClusky said that “civil disobedience” will now be necessary thanks to marriage equality’s increasing victories.

Garlow, who prior to the election warned that an Obama second term will make America “unrecognizable” and “forever gone,” said that Christians should now expect immense persecution from the government, and Meadows called for Christians to emulate Gideon’s army and remember that “our God will not be mocked.”

Watch highlights here:

Right Wing Leftovers - 10/26/12

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Friday, 10/26/2012 5:29 pm
  • John McCain says Colin Powell's endorsement of President Obama will turn off voters because Powell "got us into Iraq." Yes, he really said that. 

  • Newt Gingrich's SuperPAC wants you to be very scared.

  • Cindy Jacobs is calling on her prayer warriors to pray against Hurricane Sandy and "rebuke this storm in Jesus' name. The authority of the believer is powerful enough to shift weather patterns!"

  • Jim Garlow's continued use of his wife's cancer as a metaphor really is rather tasteless: “My wife has advanced cancer and I am fighting for her life, but my nation also has advanced cancer and we are fighting for its life. My wife has had aggressive treatments to save her life. We need some radical surgery, radiation, chemo and alternative treatments to save our nation.”

  • Finally, James Dobson agrees with John Hagee when he says that "the upcoming presidential election will be one of the most significant events in American history…. They [U.S. citizens] know something is seriously wrong but can't quite define it. The truth is America has been intentionally deceived and is racing toward economic and political destruction. If we don't change paths now, the America we know and love will be lost forever."

Garlow: Nobody is Born Gay Because Sexual Orientation is a Modern Construct

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 10/4/2012 1:08 pm

Recently, Jim Garlow sat down with theologian and author Wayne Grudem for an hour-long discussion on "Biblical Issues for This Election" that was based on a document [PDF] Grudem put together comparing the positions of the Democratic and Republican parties.

During the wide-ranging discussion, the two spent a good deal of time on the topic of marriage equality which, not surprisingly, they both vociferously oppose, as Garlow explained that "sexual orientation" doesn't really exist and is just a modern phenomenon cooked up in the last few years.  As such, nobody is really born gay, and though some may have a "pernicious tendency towards same-sex attraction," that doesn't mean they have to act on it, just as "every health heterosexual male ... has a pernicious tendency towards polygamy" but doesn't act on that or seek legal endorsement and approval for it:

;

Steve Strang Tells Christians to Fear Obama, Compares Him to Hitler

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Tuesday, 10/2/2012 1:40 pm

Jim Garlow’s Pastors Rapid Response Team hosted a conference call today with televangelist John Hagee and Charisma magazine publisher Steve Strang, where Garlow and his fellow speakers repeated the claim that President Obama’s re-election will lead to the end of America. Hagee told people to “vote the Bible, don’t get confused about Republican or Democrat,” and then went on to tell people that they cannot as Christians back Democratic candidates due to the party’s stance on gay rights and reproductive freedom.

Hagee also asked listeners to fight the “secular left” like Dietrich Bonhoeffer stood up to Adolf Hitler, warning that “the evil day is here.”

Later, Strang said that Christians must view Obama’s agenda for a second term with considerable trepidation, unlike the Jews and Christians in Germany who Strang said “did not really believe that Hitler was as bad as he said, even though he outlined it in his book Mein Kampf. But Hitler turned out to be that bad and worse.” Strang cited the decades-old Humanist Manifesto and the Homosexual Manifesto, which was actually a comical work of satire that Strang apparently takes seriously, and claimed that “the way of life that we have is over if Barack Obama is elected again.”

The man has an agenda and I just wrote a blog and I also put it in the next issue of Charisma magazine where I refer to something I think Pastor Hagee said, he referred to Adolf Hitler, and in the 1930s the Jews and even the Christians did not really believe that Hitler was as bad as he said, even though he outlined it in his book Mein Kampf. But Hitler turned out to be that bad and worse. There are people out there with an agenda and if you don’t believe it Google the Humanist Manifesto, which was written in 1921, and also the Homosexual Manifesto, which was written in 1987, and see what these people want to do and what is happening before our very eyes. What Jim Garlow says is true, the way of life that we have is over if Barack Obama is elected again.

Garlow: There Are Only '61 Days of America Left' Before it is Gone Forever

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 9/6/2012 3:28 pm

Few Religious Right leaders can match Jim Garlow for delivering dire doom and gloom warnings about what is in store for America and Christians if the church does not rise up and make sure that President Obama is not re-elected.

Today, he joined Tony Perkins and Tim Wildmon on "Today's Issues" where he bluntly declared that there are only "61 days of America left" because if Obama is re-elected, America will become permanently unrecognizable. As such, it is imperative that Christians become "unbelievably bold," just as Perkins and Wildmon have been, for which they will one day be hailed by historians: 

Perkins: Dr. Garlow, how critical is the Christian vote in this upcoming election.

Garlow: At the risk of being misunderstood, I am going to say it this bluntly: we have 61 days of America left. I know that sounds melodramatic to some, it sounds alarmist, Chicken Little to some people. But we have 61 days. If we do not see a change at this time, America will be set on a trajectory that will make it unrecognizable in four years; it is almost that today.

We have 61 days of America left. If we do not turn at this point, America as we have known her will be forever gone. It is crisic that people vote, that they activate, that they become informed and they influence every other people they can regardless of how unreceptive people might be to them announcing where they stand on the issues. It is time for us to be unbelievably bold.

And thank you Tim and thank you Tony for what you men do. When historians record what turned America someday, your names are going to be there.

Focus on the Family Kicks off the RNC with 'Prayer Rally for America's Future'

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Monday, 8/27/2012 4:00 pm

After successfully crafting the Republican Party’s platform to be the “most conservative platform in modern history,” Religious Right activists were out in full force at Focus on the Family’s and the Florida Family Policy Council’s “Prayer Rally for America’s Future” in Tampa’s River Church, led by faith healer Rodney Howard Browne. Along with disgraced pseudo-historian David Barton, who argued that abortion is banned under the constitutional amendment guaranteeing jury trials, and the FFPC’s John Stemberger, who concluded the rally by attacking minority faiths, conservative leaders such as Rep. Michele Bachmann, Vision America’s Rick Scarborough, Liberty Counsel’s Mat Staver and pastors Jim Garlow, Pam Olsen and Harry Jackson spoke at the prayer rally.

Watch highlights here:

Bachmann told participants that “at this moment in our End Time we are quite literally looking at a hurricane here at Florida, we are looking at political hurricane in our own country, we are looking at a spiritual hurricane in our land,” telling them to “show up and suit up and stand up” and “pour it out for Him.” Scarborough mourned the prominence of Lady Gaga, “the Big Bang Theory,” Jerry Seinfeld, and “Brokeback Mountain,” while Jim Garlow warned that Satan is pushing gay rights in order to “destroy the image of God” and curtail freedom.

Staver said that courts have begun to “deconstruct the foundation of law,” leading to tyranny, legal abortion and same-sex marriage, and Olsen prayed for the Supreme Court to repent: “Lord we cry out for the US Supreme Court, God that these justices will realize that there is a judge higher than they are and God that they will bow before You. We a crying out for a president that will appoint pro-life justices that will stand for truth and this nation will turn back to You, touch the Supreme Court now.” Towards the end of the rally, Jackson asked for participants to pray that Maryland will overturn the new marriage equality law and to “let the fire of Your Holy Spirit to fall upon Mitt Romney.”

Religious Right Groups Hosting Prayer Rally to kick off Republican National Convention

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Monday, 8/20/2012 2:35 pm

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, disgraced pseudo-historian David Barton and anti-feminist activist Phyllis Schlafly are participating in a prayer rally hosted by Focus on the Family’s CitizenLink and the Florida Family Policy Council in Tampa right before the opening of the Republican National Convention. CitizenLink head Tom Minnery, FFPC’s John Stemberger, former congressman J.C. Watts, Proposition 8 leader Jim Garlow, Vision America’s Rick Scarborough, Liberty Counsel’s Mat Staver are also among the speakers at the Prayer Rally for America’s Future at the River Church. The rally will touch on the familiar themes of opposing abortion rights and gay rights…and also to pray for revival in “male leadership.”

Later that day, the River Church is hosting a Tea Party Nation rally with Bachmann, Herman Cain, Neal Boortz, Judson Phillips, Pam Bondi, Niger Innis and Rebecca Kleefisch.

The River Church is pastored by Rodney Howard-Browne, the Word-Faith preacher known for performing faith healings:

And unleashing "Holy Laughter":

Anti-Gay Extremists Unite to Denounce US Embassy for Backing Czech LGBT Pride Festival

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Friday, 8/10/2012 3:30 pm

The US Embassy in the Czech Republic, as part of the State Department’s new LGBT rights initiative, is supporting a pride festival in Prague “to address discriminatory behavior based on sexual orientation and to promote a tolerant civil society and equal opportunities in the Czech Republic.” Already irate over Secretary Hillary Clinton’s speech on LGBT rights, American Religious Right activists joined their European, African and Latin American allies to denounce the Obama administration for “aggressively promoting the ‘gay’ agenda internationally” and leading a campaign of “cultural imperialism” [PDF]:

At the directive of the president of the United States, Washington is aggressively promoting the “gay’’ agenda internationally, including same-sex “marriage” and the stigmatization and marginalization of any who object to the same.

The Obama’s administration’s embrace of “same-sex marriage” has been overwhelmingly rejected by the American people. There have been 32 state referenda on marriage. In every one of them, voters endorsed the natural definition of marriage (a man and a woman). The North Carolina vote, on May 8, was 61% in favor of natural marriage.

…

It stands to reason, then, that anything which undermines the family – including changing the definition of marriage – is a breach of the State’s responsibility to protect this indispensable institution which precedes government and makes a stable and free society possible.

The Madrid Declaration of World Congress of Families VI (May 25-27, 2012) --which was unanimously adopted by more than 3,200 delegates from 72 countries --provides, in part: “We affirm the natural family to be the union of a man and a woman through marriage for the purposes of sharing love and joy, propagating children, providing their moral education, building a vital home economy, offering security in times of trouble, and binding the generations.”

Regarding “gay rights,” those caught up in this lifestyle have the same rights as other citizens. This does not include the “right” to force others to validate a lifestyle they find objectionable, for religious or other reasons. It also does not include the right of men to marry men and women to marry women.

The foregoing pseudo-rights do not advance human freedom and dignity but debase them.

We can not imagine a worse form of cultural imperialism than Washington trying to force approval of the “gay” agenda on societies with traditional values.

The list of signatories is mighty long, including former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay; Liberty Counsel’s Mat Staver and Matt Barber; American Family Association’s Tim Wildmon; Catholic League’s Bill Donohue; Vision America’s Rick Scarborough; Rabbi Daniel Lapin; American Civil Rights Union’s Robert Knight; Concerned Women for America’s Janice Shaw Crouse; Pastor Jim Garlow; WND’s David Kupelian; TFP’s C. Preston Noell III; conservative activist Richard Viguerie; World Congress of Families’ Don Feder; Media Research Center’s Brent Bozell; Traditional Values Coalition’s Louis Sheldon and Andrea Lafferty; and the Southern Baptist Convention’s Paige Peterson.

Other activists like Peter LaBarbera of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality, Scott Lively of Defend the Family International and Sharon Slater of Family Watch International are also among the signatories, as is Mission America’s Linda Harvey, who believes people should refuse care for themselves and their children from openly gay doctors and nurses:

Another signatory was Yehuda Levin has claimed that gay marriage caused last year’s D.C. earthquake and linked gay rights to the 9/11 attacks, Hurricane Katrina, the Tsunami and the 2010 Haiti earthquake:

The list even included former chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt, who performs gay exorcisms:

Religious Right and Dominionist Leaders Come Together (Again) for 'America for Jesus'

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Friday, 7/27/2012 1:15 pm

Back in February, we reported that pastor Anne Gimenez was in the process of recreating the 1980 Washington for Jesus rally, which she led with her late husband, Bishop John Gimenez. The new election-oriented prayer rally, called America for Jesus, is scheduled to be held in Philadelphia’s Independence Mall in September and has already received the endorsements of far-right dominionists including Cindy Jacobs, Lou Engle, Jim Garlow and Harry Jackson.

But as with Rick Perry’s The Response and Lou Engle’s The Call prayer rallies, it was only a matter of time before more mainstream Religious Right leaders linked arms with their more openly dominionists brethren.

The latest America for Jesus solicitation mentions support from not only New Apostolic Reformation leaders like Che Ahn, Rick Joyner, Chuck Pierce, Doug Stringer and Barbara Yoder, but also from David Barton of WallBuilders, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council and Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel. Even televangelists Kenneth Copeland, Gordon Robertson and John Hagee have endorsed the event.

In promotional materials [pdf], the event’s organizers use language closely centered around Seven Mountains dominionism, which calls for conservative Christians to take dominion over the seven spheres of society: family; arts and entertainment; business; education; religion and the church; media; and government. They also dabble in some Christian Nation revisionist history, using two fake quotes attributed to founding fathers George Washington (“It is impossible to govern the world without God and the Bible”) and James Madison (“We have staked the future upon our capacity to sustain ourselves according the Ten Commandments of God”).

The Bible provides guiding principles for all spheres of society: government, family, church, science and technology, economics and business, education, media and communications, and arts and entertainment. Every book of the Bible gives us instruction and principles on how to establish God’s kingdom purposes on earth.

If we live by His commands in our own lives, we will impact people around us and their spheres of society. And if Christian leaders in these spheres will uphold God’s principles in their positions of influence, God’s blessings will be multiplied in a healthy and wealthy society….God’s kingdom purposes will come forth on earth as in heaven!
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Jim Garlow Posts Archive

Ted Cruz, Archbishop Lori Will Address FRC's 'Watchmen' Pastors
SUBMITTED BY: Peter Montgomery, Monday 05/13/2013, 2:34pm
The Family Research Council’s Watchmen on the Wall conference is an annual gathering for pastors and other church leaders to hear from a panoply of right-wing speakers and get motivated to “transform America.” Our coverage of last year’s event highlights speakers’ attacks on evolution, secularism, Islam, LGBT people, and other tools of Satan. This year’s conference, which takes place in Washington DC May 22-24, has been promoted by FRC for months.  In April, FRC sent an excited alert that Sen. Ted Cruz, a Tea Party and Religious Right favorite who is... MORE >
Right Wing Round-Up - 5/1/13
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Wednesday 05/01/2013, 5:37pm
Oliver Willis @ Media Matters: Ted Nugent: Military Service Members Are Committing Suicide Because Obama Is "Violating" The Constitution. Towleroad: Wisconsin Church Cancels Former NFL Player LeRoy Butler's Speech Over Tweet Supporting Jason Collins. Jim Burroway @ Box Turtle Bulletin: Robert Gagnon Explains Why Consensual Gay Relationships Are Worse Than Bestiality and Incest. Candace Chellew-Hodge @ Religion Dispatches: Hater Pastor Loses His Wife of 42 Years, Uses the Occasion to Trash Gays. Carlos Maza @ Equality Matters: Alex Jones Warns Against... MORE >
Right Wing Leftovers - 4/22/13
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Monday 04/22/2013, 5:30pm
Prosecutors want Floyd Corkins, the man responsible for the shooting at the Family Research Council headquarters last year, to serve 45 years in prison. Jim Garlow's wife has passed away after a long battle with cancer. It would be really interesting to find out what various business interests are constantly paying Harry Jackson to promote their agenda. Bryan Fischer continues to call for a ban on immigration by Muslims. Finally, Liberty Counsel rips the media for failing to cover the case of Kermit Gosnell despite never once having covered it themselves. MORE >
Garlow: Christians Will be 'Forced Underground' if Court Affirms Marriage Equality
SUBMITTED BY: Miranda Blue, Wednesday 03/27/2013, 3:05pm
In an interview with Janet Mefferd yesterday, pastor Jim Garlow elaborated on his theory that gay people don’t actually want to get married. In fact, Garlow told Mefferd, gay people want to “destroy marriage” and “force us to affirm an immoral behavior.” Garlow further warned that if the Supreme Court affirms marriage equality, Christians will be “forced underground. Their buildings will be taken away from them, many of their rights will be taken away from them.” Garlow: I think it’s important for people to realize what’s really at... MORE >
Pat Robertson and Jim Garlow Agree: Gays and Lesbians Don't Want Marriage
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Wednesday 03/27/2013, 12:20pm
The 700 Club today covered the marriage equality cases and dueling rallies at the Supreme Court. Host Pat Robertson and pastor Jim Garlow used the same tired talking points about how gays and lesbians don’t really want marriage. Garlow, the Proposition 8 activist who addressed NOM’s anti-gay rally yesterday, told Christian Broadcasting Network reporter John Jessup that “there isn’t that much interest in marriage, there isn’t that much interest in commitment and monogamy, it isn’t there; it’s attempting to force us to affirm a lifestyle, that’s... MORE >
NOM's 'Historic' Fail
SUBMITTED BY: Peter Montgomery, Tuesday 03/26/2013, 4:02pm
For weeks, the National Organization for Marriage’s Brian Brown has been touting the “historic” March for Marriage, telling supporters “this is our time” to "change history." A month ago he wrote excitedly about a “game-changer,” a $500,000 matching gift from one of the major donors that keep NOM afloat. Brown had been inspired by a massive turnout for an anti-marriage-equality protest  in France, and hoped for something similar in Washington. But even with big donors and heavy-weight Religious Right co-sponsors, Brown and his allies... MORE >
Garlow: Supreme Court Trying to 'Flex Muscles Against Almighty God' By 'Obliterating' Marriage
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Tuesday 03/26/2013, 1:55pm
Pastor Jim Garlow, who helped spearhead Proposition 8 and has described the gay rights movement as Satanic and part of an “Antichrist spirit,” delivered a stark warning to the Supreme Court during the closing speech at the National Organization for Marriage’s rally on the National Mall. “Isn’t it interesting that the Supreme Court would be considering obliterating one of the core aspects of the Gospel of Jesus Christ” during Holy Week, Garlow said, as he marveled that “on this incredibly sacred week, the court would tend to try to flex their muscles... MORE >
Garlow: America's Tombstone Will Read '1776-2012'
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Tuesday 03/19/2013, 2:45pm
In the second part of Jim Garlow’s post-election sermon at a conference with James Dobson, the California pastor claimed that President Obama’s re-election marked the death of America. Garlow, who warned of America’s impending doom if Obama was re-elected, said that “if a tombstone were to be prepared for America I think it might say ‘1776-2012.’” Garlow went on to compare the prospects of America’s survival to a clinically dead patient miraculously coming back to life. 18 months before the election from May 2011 on I started saying privately... MORE >