Richard Land

Surprise! Professional Anti-Gays Oppose Chai Feldblum

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Wednesday, 12/9/2009 3:34 pm

Sadly, my knowledge of what is going on on the Hill is determined primarily by whatever the Religious Right is talking about on a given day.

Today, for instance, the Senate HELP committee is scheduled for a vote on Chai Feldblum's nomination to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ... and the reason I know that is because a bunch of Religious Right groups have announced (again) their opposition.

The Family Research Council included an attack on her in its most recent "Washington Update," Phyllis Schlafly included an attack in her most recent audio commentary, and Concerned Women for America issued a press release.

And then, for good measure, all of the professional anti-gay activists got together to sign on to a letter [PDF] put together by the Traditional Values Coalition:

Signers include Andrea Lafferty and Lou Sheldon of TVC, Tom Minnery of Focus on the Family, Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel, Tim Wildmon of the American Family Association, Robert Knight of Coral Ridge Ministries, Rick Scarborough of Vision America, Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, Tom McClusky of the Family Research Council, Wendy Wright of Concerned Women for America, Linda Harvey of Mission America, Rob Schenck of Faith and Action, Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, and dozens of others.

Alleging Discrimination In Order to Keep Perpetrating Discrimination

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Monday, 11/30/2009 6:36 pm

The Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act is intended to "provide the same family benefits to lesbian and gay federal civilian employees as are already provided to employees with different-sex spouses."

So of course the Religious Right doesn't like it because a) it undermines "traditional marriage," b) it costs money, and c) it discriminates against straight couples who aren't married:

Southern Baptist ethicist Richard Land criticized the proposal both before and after the committee's vote.

"Most Southern Baptists believe that the only relationship that should be defined by its sexual nature and should have special benefits accrued to it is heterosexual marriage," said Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, Nov. 25. "Thus, we oppose granting domestic partner benefits to same-sex couples, as well as heterosexual couples who are living together outside of marriage. This bill discriminates against heterosexual couples living together outside of wedlock in that it only grants domestic partner benefits to same-sex couples. We have made it clear we are opposed to both."

Of course, straight couples could always get married in order to receive benefits, which is something that gay couples obviously cannot do or else this legislation would be entirely unnecessary.  But never ones to miss an opportunity to scream "discrimination," the Right is opposing the bill because it would supposedly discriminate against straight couples. 

And if the bill did cover straight couples ... well, then they would have opposed that too because that would just encourage people not to get married, thus further undermining the institution of marriage.

And for good measure, opponents are claiming that the definition of "domestic partner" is too vague:

The measure's vagueness is a problem on a number of fronts, Republicans charged. For instance, [Rep. Darrell] Issa said, "Nearly any two individuals of the same sex could qualify as 'domestic partners' under the bill as long as they are not direct relatives, meaning not family in the conventional sense."

True, provided that "any two individuals" were willing to declare under penalty of law that they"share responsibility for a significant measure of each other’s common welfare and financial obligations" and intend to remain together indefinitely:

(b) Certification of Eligibility- In order to obtain benefits and assume obligations under this Act, an employee shall file an affidavit of eligibility for benefits and obligations with the Office of Personnel Management identifying the domestic partner of the employee and certifying that the employee and the domestic partner of the employee--

(1) are each other’s sole domestic partner and intend to remain so indefinitely;

(2) have a common residence, and intend to continue the arrangement;

(3) are at least 18 years of age and mentally competent to consent to contract;

(4) share responsibility for a significant measure of each other’s common welfare and financial obligations;

(5) are not married to or domestic partners with anyone else;

(6) are same sex domestic partners, and not related in a way that, if the two were of opposite sex, would prohibit legal marriage in the State in which they reside; and

(7) understand that willful falsification of information within the affidavit may lead to disciplinary action and the recovery of the cost of benefits received related to such falsification and may constitute a criminal violation.

Right Wing Leftovers

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Monday, 11/23/2009 6:35 pm
  • Sarah Palin says she's qualified to be President because she has "common sense" and "American values."  By that logic, isn't pretty much anyone qualified to be President?

  • Lou Dobbs for President? Are you kidding me?

  • Gov. Mark Sanford faces 37 charges of violating state ethics laws.

  • I have to admit that the absurd editing in this Newsmax interview with Richard Land just cracked me up.

  • Ralph Reed and Mike Huckabee: together at last.

  • Joseph Farah warns that "America is being judged by God."

  • Janet Jenkins has been granted custody of her daughter due to Lisa Miller's repeated refusal to provide her access.

  • Randall Terry is heading out on tour ... again.

  • Finally, I though the Manhattan Declaration was a vow by the Right to never give up in the culture war, but Jim Daly sees it differently: "What this declaration is saying is, if you want a fulfilling, rewarding, joyful, peaceful life then embrace Jesus Christ as your Savior."

The Right's New Manhattan Project

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Friday, 11/20/2009 10:29 am

It seems that Chuck Colson has gathered together a group of right-wing activists and clergy for something called the "Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience" in order to create a unified front in fighting the culture war: 

The manifesto, to be released on Friday at the National Press Club in Washington, is an effort to rejuvenate the political alliance of conservative Catholics and evangelicals that dominated the religious debate during the administration of President George W. Bush. The signers include nine Roman Catholic archbishops and the primate of the Orthodox Church in America.

They want to signal to the Obama administration and to Congress that they are still a formidable force that will not compromise on abortion, stem-cell research or gay marriage. They hope to influence current debates over health care reform, the same-sex marriage bill in Washington, D.C., and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.

They say they also want to speak to younger Christians who have become engaged in issues like climate change and global poverty, and who are more accepting of homosexuality than their elders. They say they want to remind them that abortion, homosexuality and religious freedom are still paramount issues.

For some reason, the headline of the New York Times article is "Christian Leaders Unite on Political Issues" instead of "Right Wing Activists Unite On Political Issues," which would have been far more accurate considering that a significant number of those who signed on to this declaration are standard Religious Right political activists:

Chuck Colson Founder, the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview

Jim Daly President and CEO, Focus on the Family (Colorado Springs, CO)

Marjorie Dannenfelser President, Susan B. Anthony List (Arlington, VA)

Dr. James Dobson Founder, Focus on the Family (Colorado Springs, CO)

Dr. William Donohue President, Catholic League (New York, NY)

Dinesh D’Souza Writer & Speaker (Rancho Santa Fe, CA)

Rev. Jonathan Falwell Senior Pastor, Thomas Road Baptist Church (Lynchburg, VA)

Maggie Gallagher President, Institute for Marriage and Public Policy and a co-author of The Case for Marriage (Manassas, VA)

Dr. Robert P. George McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Princeton University (Princeton, NJ)

Rev. Ken Hutcherson Pastor, Antioch Bible Church (Kirkland, WA)

Bishop Harry R. Jackson, Jr. Senior Pastor, Hope Christian Church (Beltsville, MD)

Dr. Richard Land President, The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the SBC (Washington, DC)

Rev. Herb Lusk Pastor, Greater Exodus Baptist Church (Philadelphia, PA)

Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr. President, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY)

Tony Perkins President, Family Research Council (Washington, D.C.)

Alan Sears President, CEO, & General Counsel, Alliance Defense Fund (Scottsdale, AZ)

Mark Tooley President, Institute for Religion and Democracy (Washington, D.C.)

The Declaration can be found here:

While the whole scope of Christian moral concern, including a special concern for the poor and vulnerable, claims our attention, we are especially troubled that in our nation today the lives of the unborn, the disabled, and the elderly are severely threatened; that the institution of marriage, already buffeted by promiscuity, infidelity and divorce, is in jeopardy of being redefined to accommodate fashionable ideologies; that freedom of religion and the rights of conscience are gravely jeopardized by those who would use the instruments of coercion to compel persons of faith to compromise their deepest convictions.

Because the sanctity of human life, the dignity of marriage as a union of husband and wife, and the freedom of conscience and religion are foundational principles of justice and the common good, we are compelled by our Christian faith to speak and act in their defense. In this declaration we affirm: 1) the profound, inherent, and equal dignity of every human being as a creature fashioned in the very image of God, possessing inherent rights of equal dignity and life; 2) marriage as a conjugal union of man and woman, ordained by God from the creation, and historically understood by believers and non-believers alike, to be the most basic institution in society and; 3) religious liberty, which is grounded in the character of God, the example of Christ, and the inherent freedom and dignity of human beings created in the divine image.

We are Christians who have joined together across historic lines of ecclesial differences to affirm our right—and, more importantly, to embrace our obligation—to speak and act in defense of these truths. We pledge to each other, and to our fellow believers, that no power on earth, be it cultural or political, will intimidate us into silence or acquiescence. It is our duty to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in its fullness, both in season and out of season. May God help us not to fail in that duty.

Right Wing Leftovers

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Tuesday, 10/27/2009 5:33 pm
  • Focus on the Family: Hate crimes legislation is the sound "of your religious liberty being flushed down the toilet."

  • Will Gov. Mark Sanford avoid impeachment?

  • The right-wing campaign against the movie "Hounddog" continues.

  • Richard Land submitted written testimony to the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics warning that "legalizing same-sex marriage is certain to counteract the positive social attributes of traditional marriage, by leading to fewer marriages and more divorces."

  • Randall Terry's latest antics have succeeded in generating press coverage once again.

  • Finally, who wants to go cruising with Ralph Reed, Grover Norquist, and Newsmax? Anyone?

Right Wing Leftovers

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Friday, 10/23/2009 5:24 pm

So Much For Richard Land's "Apology"

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 10/22/2009 10:04 am

Last week we noted that Richard Land has written a letter of apology to the Anti-Defamation League for his recent statements comparing Democrats to Nazis and Ezekiel Emanuel to Josef Mengele and noticed that much of his "apology" seemed to hinge upon his claim that it was never his "intention" to make such comparisons.  Which is absurd, because that was precisely what he intended, as he made fully clear in his original remarks:

“I want to put it to you bluntly. What they are attempting to do in healthcare, particularly in treating the elderly, is not something like what the Nazis did. It is precisely what the Nazis did,” said Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.

...

“The Nazis said people should be euthanized when they had lives unworthy of life. … Well, at the very least Dr. Emanuel, [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi, [Sen.] Max Baucus and President Obama are saying that some people have lives less worthy of life. And the older you are, the sicker you are, the less valuable your life is and the more likely they want to terminate your care,” Land said.

Now Land is doubling down, asserting that the same philosophy that drove the Holocaust is now driving Democratic efforts to reform healthcare while insisting that he never equated Democrats or Obama with the Nazis:

"There were very lethal and deadly philosophies loose in 20th century Germany prior to the Nazis' ascendancy to power that called for devaluing some human beings as less worthy of life than other human beings," he said, recalling there were arguments for euthanizing those who were perceived to be "useless eaters" and those who had "lives unworthy of life," lebensunvertes Leben, in the 1930s and beyond.

"These poisonous philosophies became ever more deadly as the Nazis applied them to ever wider categories of people, such as Jews and Gypsies," he continued.

Land said there are some involved in the health care debate who appear to believe some lives are less valuable and less worthy of medical treatment than others.

In noting he had previously used "imprecise language," Land said he should have said some of the philosophies that are being espoused "bear a lethal similarity in their attitudes toward the elderly and the terminally ill and could ultimately lead to the kinds of things the Nazis did."

"To equate expressing concerns that such a mindset could be carried to such an extreme at some time in the future as the equivalent of saying the Obama administration is like the Nazis or that Barack Obama is Hitler is either delusional or deliberately misleading," Land said.

...

Land also took issue with an article in New York magazine that linked him with those who call President Obama Hitler.

"I saw an article titled 'The Right Calls Obama Hitler.' I thought to myself, 'What loon did that?'" he said. "Then I read the first paragraph and discovered they thought it was me."

Calling this assertion "absurd," he said, "There is no way to honestly and legitimately get from what I said to the idea that I was in any way, shape or fashion calling President Obama Hitler or anyone in the Obama administration a Nazi.

"It defies logic," he said.

The only thing that defies logic is Land's ability to claim that he never intended to equate Democrats with Nazis (when he most obviously did) while simultaneously comparing Democrats to Nazis once again.

Will Immigration Reform Fracture The Freedom Federation?

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Wednesday, 10/21/2009 2:34 pm

Dan Gilgoff reports that efforts are underway to get religious conservatives on board efforts to reform the nation's immigration laws:

Many of the same faith-based groups attacking Obama and the Democrats over healthcare reform's abortion provisions, including the National Association of Evangelicals, the Southern Baptist Convention, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, are poised to become major players in the president's coming push for comprehensive immigration reform, which would include a path to citizenship for many illegal immigrants. "There is a strong biblical teaching about showing hospitality to the stranger and the alien," says [Galen Carey, chief lobbyist for the National Association of Evangelicals.]

...

The shift follows an intensive effort by Latino evangelical leaders to lobby their white evangelical counterparts. "My stump speech is that this is not amnesty and that this is a biblical issue," says the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. "If you are a devout follower of Christ, you have to support immigration reform." In the years since the last national debate on immigration reform, Rodriguez has met with white evangelical opinion makers like NAE President Leith Anderson and former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. "This is the same constituency Glenn Beck is appealing to," says Rodriguez.

White evangelical leaders have also been influenced by their increasingly Latino congregations. Though nearly 70 percent of Hispanics in the United States are Roman Catholic, Hispanic evangelicals and Pentecostals are among the nation's fastest-growing religious groups. And politically speaking, conservative evangelical activists see Hispanics, who are generally conservative on issues like abortion and gay marriage, as potential allies. "The only thing that can turn them against us is if they are made to feel unwelcome in social conservative circles," says Richard Land, the Southern Baptist Convention's public policy chief.

In an attempt to get Christian-right groups to back comprehensive immigration reform, Rodriguez is working with the dean of the Liberty University's Law School, founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell, on an immigration summit for conservatives. "The conservative wing of the Republican Party has to understand that it's impossible to win a national election without Hispanics," says Rodriguez. "And it's impossible to win Hispanics without immigration reform."

Frankly, I don't see that any of these developments will do much to influence the overall right-wing opposition to immigration reform, or move the Religious Right at all.

Richard Land has long been something of an outlier on this issue and the recent National Association of Evangelicals' unanimous resolution backing comprehensive immigration reform is already being attacked by Religious Right groups like the Institute on Religion and Democracy, which blasted the NAE for "adopting political stances in God's name and without consideration for their own churches' members."

The one interesting thing is Rodriguez's plans to host an immigration summit with Mat Staver, dean of the Liberty Law School, as both are members of the Freedom Federation, the new right-wing supergroup.

As we pointed out last month, Rodriguez recently began pushing to ensure that healthcare reform contained coverage for those in the country illegally, which is a position that would not go over well with several other members of the Freedom Federation.

If Staver and Rodriguez do start pushing for immigration reform, one would expect that such an effort would ultimately create a lot of tension within the Freedom Federation coalition itself, which could end up undermining the coalition's very reason for existing, considering that it was created specifically in order to unify the Religious Right.

Land Apologizes for Nazi and Mengele Comparisons

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Friday, 10/16/2009 2:41 pm

Via Dan Gilgoff we see that Richard Land has now apologized for his recent statement comparing Democrats to Nazis and Ezekiel Emanuel to Josef Mengele in a letter to the ADL:

It was never my intention to equate the Obama administration’s healthcare reform proposals with anything related to the Holocaust. My concern, which is clear when the remarks are reviewed in context, was about the potential denial of healthcare to the elderly, the infirm, the disabled and the unborn.

You know of my longstanding love for the Jewish people and the state of Israel. I have recently returned from Washington where I shared with policymakers and elected officials my grave concerns about Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons, the regime’s human rights abuses, and President Ahmadinejad’s denial of the Holocaust.

Now that I have had the opportunity to speak with you personally and reflect on my words, I deeply regret the reference to Dr. Josef Mengele. I was using hyperbole for effect and never intended to actually equate anyone in the Obama administration with Dr. Mengele. I will certainly refrain from making such references in the future. I apologize to everyone who found such references hurtful. Given the pain and suffering of so many Jewish and other victims of the Nazi regime, I will certainly seek to exercise far more care in my use of language in future discussions of the issues at stake in the healthcare debate.

Abe, I appreciate all you have done to combat anti-Semitism and bigotry in all its ugly forms. Please continue to count on me as a loyal ally in that struggle. It is my firm hope that our exchange on this topic will lead to greater cooperation between Jews and Christians on all matters of mutual concern, including opposing ethnic bigotry, Holocaust denial, and the extreme threat posed by the current Iranian regime.

It was never Land's "intention to equate the Obama administration’s healthcare reform proposals with anything related to the Holocaust"? Really? Because in his statement he made it pretty clear that that was exactly his intention:

“I want to put it to you bluntly. What they are attempting to do in healthcare, particularly in treating the elderly, is not something like what the Nazis did. It is precisely what the Nazis did,” said Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.

Land: Obama Is Destroying Our Civilization

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 10/15/2009 11:14 am

In a recent speech, Richard Land declared that the policies of President Obama and Democratic members of Congress will utterly destroy our society and declared that only conservative Christians can save this nation from complete annihilation:

Civilization stands at a fork in the road and will either ascend to greater heights or tumble into barbarism unless Christians reassert the value of all human life and absolute moral truth, Southern Baptist ethicist Richard Land told a Founder's Day audience at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said the future of civilization turns on two fundamental questions: Is moral truth real and knowable or is it merely a preference? A question of human value follows: Is mankind of value because of who we are -- our essence -- or only for what we can do?

These questions are at the heart of policy debates over abortion, embryonic stem cell research, cloning, physician-assisted suicide, euthanasia and health care reform, Land said Oct. 6.

...

Christians must engage the culture in order to meet Christ's mandate, he said ... The need to be salt and light has never been greater, Land said, citing the current debate over health care reform.

"We are being subjected as human beings by those who do think truth is relative, and by those who do think that human beings are defined by their functionality to what I call biological bigotry," Land said. "And it is a bigotry that is just as perverse, just as anti-Christian and anti-Gospel as the racial and ethnic bigotry of our past. It says that certain human beings are less valuable than other human beings because of their biological condition and their age."

Land called President Obama's chief health care adviser, Ezekiel Emanuel, the "poster boy" for this kind of thinking. Emanuel is the brother of Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and a member of a presidential commission that Land said will "make decisions on what your doctors are allowed to do to treat you, and what they will not be allowed to do to treat you in the future."

...

In the wake of these developments, Land said Christians must reassert the reality of absolute truth and the value of all human life -- truths that are found in Scripture and in the Declaration of Independence ... The survival of civilization hangs in the balance, Land said. He painted a dire portrait of an America that fails to reaffirm the Judeo-Christian ethic of humanity and moral truth.

"Some of us will live to walk the streets of cities we've known, neighborhoods we've lived in, and we will be strangers, in an alien land, pilgrims in a wasteland unless we reassert the unique value of every human because they are human beings, because they're someone for whom Jesus died."

He added, "When you live in a society where nothing is always right and nothing's always wrong, you live in society in which anything is possible, including the sacrifice of 55 million babies because at least one parent considered that baby to be too embarrassing, too expensive, too ill, or merely too inconvenient."

Land: Obama and Company Are Literally Nazis

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Tuesday, 10/6/2009 2:24 pm

Generally, when Right Wing activists and leader are attacking President Obama and Democratic policies as utterly evil, they say that such policies are similar to what the Nazis did. 

But not Richard Land, who recently declared that Obama's healthcare reform effort is exactly the same as what the Nazis did and proclaimed that Ezekiel Emanuel was just like Josef Mengele:

President Barack Obama and Democratic leaders of Congress are advocating healthcare reform that will result in rationing of care, making them guilty of the same ideology that fueled the Nazi Holocaust, Richard Land told the Christian Coalition of Florida at a Sept. 26 banquet in Orlando.

“I want to put it to you bluntly. What they are attempting to do in healthcare, particularly in treating the elderly, is not something like what the Nazis did. It is precisely what the Nazis did,” said Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.

Land was the keynote speaker for the 20th anniversary “God and Country Banquet” of the Christian Coalition of Florida.

“Let’s remember,” Land added, “the first 10,000 victims of the Holocaust were not Jews, they were mentally handicapped German children who were gassed and burned in ovens because they were considered to have … lives unworthy of life,” citing the Nazi ideology used to rationalize the Holocaust.

...

Land said he has bestowed on Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, the president’s chief healthcare advisor, the “Dr. Josef Mengele Award” for his advocacy of healthcare rationing. Mengele was the German SS officer and medical doctor dubbed the “Angel of Death” for his role in the Holocaust.

“We are faced with what I call ‘biological bigotry’ and it is every bit as pernicious, every bit as evil, every bit as destructive as the racial and ethnic bigotry that has plagued us in the past,” he said.

...

“The Nazis said people should be euthanized when they had lives unworthy of life. … Well, at the very least Dr. Emanuel, [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi, [Sen.] Max Baucus and President Obama are saying that some people have lives less worthy of life. And the older you are, the sicker you are, the less valuable your life is and the more likely they want to terminate your care,” Land said.

Land said Americans are at a “desperate fork in the road. And it’s not a fork that goes left and right; it’s a fork that goes up and down. We will either reclaim our country or we will live to walk the streets of our cities and they’ll have the same names, but we will be strangers in a strange land. And we’ll not recognize it, but only remember the America that was.”

Via AU.

Religious Right Demands Sanctions on Iran

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Tuesday, 9/22/2009 12:22 pm

Every once in a while, Religious Right leaders take a break from railing against abortion and gays and czars and death panels and whatever to weigh in on foreign policy issues, like back in 2007 when a group of them released a statement demanding that the US remain in Iraq, or last year when another group demanded a meeting with Barack Obama to discuss their ideas on how to defeat terrorism.

Now a similar group is back with a new letter demanding sanctions on Iran:

In a remarkable ecumenical and bipartisan display of unity, Christian leaders representing over 28 million evangelicals, Roman Catholics, and other Christians have sent a letter to Congress today and other key world leaders calling for urgent action to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. The letter urges a total arms embargo and a cut off of exports of refined petroleum products, including gasoline, as a firm yet peaceful measure against the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.

...

The leaders include Pat Robertson of Christian Broadcasting Network, Southern Baptist Convention chairman and pastor Johnny Hunt of First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Charles Colson of the Prison Fellowship Ministries, Richard Land of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, Tom Minnery of Focus on the Family, Bill Donohue of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, , Dr. Michael Youssef of Leading the Way, Dr. James Merritt of Cross Pointe Church, Wendy Wright of Concerned Women for America, Gary Bauer of American Values, and Dr. John Hagee of the Conerstone Church in San Antonio.

I'm not sure what is so "bipartisan" about this, since just about every person who signed their name to this appears to be a right-wing activist.  

But there was one interesting revelation among the signatories: 

Manuel Miranda, President, The Iraq Society

Presumably, that is this Manuel Miranda.

So Miranda is not only an expert on judges and immigration, but also on Iraq now?  Who knew?

Richard Land To Deliver Healthcare Petitions

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Tuesday, 9/8/2009 1:47 pm

Richard Land is wading into the healthcare reform debate, announcing that he'll and several right-wing radio hosts be delivering more than a million petitions to Congress on behalf of the National Center for Policy Analysis and the Salem Radio Network:

Richard Land, host of Richard Land Live! and president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, will meet with other Salem Radio Network hosts in Washington, DC, tomorrow to deliver SRN’s “Free Our Health Care Now” petition, opposing the health care reform legislation now before Congress. He will be joined by prominent radio hosts Mike Gallagher, Dennis Prager, Janet Parshall, Michael Medved and Hugh Hewitt.

The petition, sponsored by the National Center for Policy Analysis and SRN, has gained over 1.2 million signatures since its launch May 25. Printed copies of the petition will be transported to the U.S. Capitol in an ambulance and delivered to congressional lawmakers on gurneys.

“This petition is indicative of a spontaneous grass roots eruption of protest against a government takeover of the American health care system,” said Land. “Anyone who doubts the strength and vitality of this movement needs only have attended one of the thousands of town hall meetings to know that this is real.”

Sens. Jim DeMint (R-SC) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) have agreed to accept the boxes of petitions at a news conference set for 2 p.m. and will take the boxes to the office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid following the conference. The conference will take place at the Upper Senate Park, adjacent to the Russell Senate Office Building. NCPA Chairman and former Delaware Governor Pete DuPont will lead the news conference, which will take place just hours before President Obama’s health care address to a joint session of Congress.

In addition, House GOP leader John Boehner (R-OH) and Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) will deliver copies of the signatures to the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Other lawmakers to appear at the conference will be announced later.

For the record, the "National Center for Policy Analysis [is] a research group in Dallas that is partially financed by the insurance industry."

The petition can be found here.

Right Wing Leftovers

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Monday, 7/20/2009 5:48 pm
  • Carrie Prejean joins the pantheon of right-wing authors who have secured book deals with Regnery Publishing.

  • Richard Land disputes the notion that the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission has lost influence with Senator Lindsey Graham due to the fact that he appears to be leaning toward supporting Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation.

  • Focus on the Family's Jim Daly appears to be a big fan of The Civility Project.

  • Brian Kilmeade has apologized for claiming that Americans don't have "pure genes" because "we keep marrying other species and other ethnics."

  • Sen. Jim DeMint is getting a lot of attention for his "Waterloo" comment and I wonder if he took it from this column by Dan Gainor of the Media Research Center from earlier this month.

  • Slavery = Abortion = Genocide - that seems to be the message of this Life Dynamics documentary called "Maafa 21":

Sotomayor Day II: Let The Antics Begin

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Tuesday, 7/14/2009 10:08 am

After disrupting yesterday's hearing, anti-choice protesters affiliated with Randall Terry are vowing more action:

Next on the agenda:

"Desecrate Roe" Event Details---

Where: Corner of 1st and C St., near Dirksen Senate Building entrance, Washington D.C.

When: 9:00 A.M., Tuesday, July 14

Who: Norma McCorvey, Randall Terry and other DC area leaders and pro-lifers

Pro-life advocates will gather at the Dirksen building at the corner of 1st and C St., to publicly desecrate the Supreme Court's Roe vs. Wade decision. Joining her will be Randall Terry, Missy Smith, and other local pro-life leaders.

Randall Terry states, "Victory over child-killing requires courage and leadership from 'pro-life' Senators from both parties. It is long overdue for so called 'pro-life' Senators to fulfill their campaign promises. They claim they want to overturn Roe; well, now is the time to see if they will defend the babies, or submit like cowards to Obama.

"Republican 'Pro-life' Senators bear special responsibility in this; they shamelessly prostitute Roe vs. Wade and babies lives. Does 'GOP' stand for 'Good Ol' Pimps'? Or will GOP Senators actually fight in this life and death struggle? They need to filibuster Sotomayor."

Will there be more arrests? To be seen...

Not to be outdone, Eugene Delgaudio and Public Advocate plan to be descend on Capitol Hill to create their own scene:

"Public Advocate's Sotomayor's UnReality Tour" arrives in Washington Tuesday to show what a world according to Judge Sonia Sotomayer would look like if she were a Supreme Court judge.

Lifeguards who can't swim. A doctor who flunked med school. A 3rd grade university president. Blind train conductors. Cooks who can't boil water. Lawyers who did not pass the bar exam but who are now judges.

Demonstrators will hold a sign "Sonia Sotomayor, Wrong on the firemen, wrong for America." Another member of Public Advocate will hold a sign with the words "Thanks to Sonia Sotomayor, I flunked med school and am now a doctor."

In related news, Randall Terry continues his broadsides against Republican senators:

"Does the 'GOP' stand for 'Good Ol' Pimps'? Republican Senators like Graham, Brownback, McCain, etc., have seduced the pro-life movement, made her their mistress, and then a prostitute. She gives them her 'favors' in exchange for empty promises.

"They pimp the pro-life cause, raising millions of dollars with promises to 'overturn Roe' and protect the unborn. The party platform - their false vows - calls for the overturn of Roe, and legal protection of unborn babies.

"But alas, we again see that these are seductive lies; and like any good pimp, they tell us that they love us, while they sell us out; they feign pain as we are abused and babies are murdered, while they prepare to get in bed with those who despise us, and slay the innocent.

"Our protests and rallies over the coming weeks will focus on GOP Senators who claim to be pro-life. We will call on them to stop pimping the babies, but rather to fight for them by filibustering Sotomayor."

Richard Viguerie claims that "Sotomayor's opening statement reflects she is already being defensive about the judicial philosophy she shares with President Obama."

Richard Land and the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission come out against Sotomayor:

Sonia Sotomayor’s record reveals that she is perfectly willing to lift the blindfold of justice to achieve her desired result. She is a judge with a terribly flawed view of the judicial system at best or a judge who simply doesn’t care what the law says at worst. She has constantly shown her lack of deference to the Constitution. She is the type of justice who instead of applying the law neutrally will redefine the law to conform to her policy preferences.

The bottom line is that Sonia Sotomayor is an unpredictable wildcard. Across the issues her record is either far too thin or hidden behind non-published orders and per curium opinions. Simply put, placing Sonia Sotomayor on the highest court in the land jeopardizes our nation’s commitment to equal treatment under the law.

The Family Research Council posts the Senate Policy Committee talking points in opposing Sotomayor while releasing its own list of questions it wants asked during the hearing:

Abortion and the Supreme Court

* Judge Sotomayor, while you were associated with the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, it filed six briefs in five abortion-related cases before the United States Supreme Court. In every case, those briefs asserted that the Court should adopt an uncompromising, pro-abortion position. Do you now wish to express any disagreement with the content of the briefs that were filed by the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund?

The Abortion Industry as Litigants

* Judge Sotomayor, do you believe abortion providers should be required to prove factual assertions they make in court when challenging abortion regulations?

* Judge Sotomayor, should redacted medical records be admissible, if needed by the court, to examine general medical claims about abortion?When should such records not be made available to the court?

* Judge Sotomayor, should prosecutors be permitted to subpoena and examine abortion facility records to determine whether state statutory rape laws have been violated or whether the facility is reporting potential crimes to the appropriate legal authorities?

Charmaine Yoest of Americans United for Life tells Lifenews that she is looking forward to testifying in opposition to Sotomayor:

“We are honored to have the opportunity to testify before the Judiciary Committee about the nomination of Judge Sotomayor to the highest court in the land," Yoest told LifeNews.com about her invitation.

"I am looking forward to sharing AUL’s extensive legal research about Judge Sotomayor’s record. In particular, her radical associations and judicial philosophy raises serious concerns in the pro-life community," she said.

Yoest is referring to Sotomayor's tenure with the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund, a group that has submitted numerous Supreme Court briefs arguing for an unrestricted right to abortion and claiming any pro-life limits are racist.

Although leaders with the group argue Sotomayor had no involvement in writing or approving the briefs, her longtime position as a member of its board of directors points to her support for the pro-abortion position the group took, Yoest maintains.

Yoest told LifeNews.com she plans to focus her testimony on making the connection for the senators and the American public between the positions taken by the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund during her tenure on the Board and her judicial interventionist approach to the bench.

“Her PRLDEF record proves that she is an abortion advocate," Yoest says.

"That record includes opposition to parental notification, opposition to informed consent, opposition to bans on partial-birth abortion and support for taxpayer-funded abortions. These positions are far outside the mainstream of American public opinion," she explained.

And finally, Pat Buchanan continues to be ... well, Pat Buchanan:

The chutzpah of this Beltway crowd does not cease to amaze.

They archly demand that conservatives accord a self-described “affirmative action baby” from Princeton a respect they never for a moment accorded a pro-life conservative mother of five from Idaho State, Sarah Palin.

...

Sonia is, first and foremost, a Latina. She has not hesitated to demand, even in college and law school, ethnic and gender preferences for her own. Her concept of justice is race-based.

...

Even if Sotomayor is confirmed, making the nation aware she is a militant supporter since college days of ethnic and gender preferences is an assignment worth pursuing. For America does not believe in preferences. Even in the blue states of California, Washington and Michigan, voters have tossed them out as naked discrimination against white males.

Bauer: Jesus Approves of Torture

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Wednesday, 5/13/2009 2:00 pm

Last week we noted that Richard Land had become the first (and only, as far as we know) leader of the Religious Right to state unequivocally that he believes waterboarding is torture and decry its use:

"I consider waterboarding torture," Land said. "One of the definitions of torture is that it causes permanent physical harm. I can't separate physical from psychological. And I can't imagine that being repeatedly subjected to the feeling of drowning would not, in some cases, cause lasting psychological trauma."

...

Land explained that while he supports capital punishment for convicted killers, he denounces torture in all cases because he's compelled to honor the image of God as reflected in all human beings -- even suspected terrorists. To justify waterboarding on the grounds that it helps save lives is to suggest that ends justify means, Land said, adding: "that is a very slippery slope that leads to dark and dangerous places."

"If the end justifies the means, then where do you draw the line?" Land said. "It's a moveable line. It's in pencil, not in ink. I believe there are absolutes. There are some things we must never do."

Today, the AP reports that Gary Bauer does not agree and really thinks that the important question is not so much "would Jesus torture?" but rather "would Jesus allow his followers to torture?"  And Bauer declares that he certainly would:

Gary Bauer, a former Republican presidential candidate affiliated with several Christian right groups over the years, said the discussion should not come down to "Would Jesus torture?"

"There are a lot of things Jesus wouldn't do because he's the son of God," he said. "I can't imagine Jesus being a Marine or a policeman or a bank president, for that matter. The more appropriate question is, 'What is a follower of Jesus permitted to do?'"

Bauer said the answer is "it depends" — but the moral equation changes when the suspect is not a soldier captured on a battlefield but a terrorist who may have knowledge of an impending attack. He said he does not consider water-boarding — a form of interrogation that simulates drowning — to be torture.

"I think if we believe the person we have can give us information to stop thousands of Americans from being killed, it would be morally suspect to not use harsh tactics to get that information," Bauer said.

So not only would Jesus approve of the use of torture, he might even consider anyone who refused to do so "morally suspect."

Here is your "moral majority" in action.

The Ever-Underappreciated Right Continues to Grumble

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Monday, 5/11/2009 4:39 pm

To say that the Republican Party is having a bit of trouble at the moment figuring out just what it stands for and what sort of message it needs to help it start winning elections would be a bit of an understatement.

The latest controversy stems from the fact that various Religious Right leaders are blasting the National Council for a New America for its lack of focus on social issues at it seeks to lay out the GOP’s agenda for moving the party forward.  

Though Rep. Eric Cantor has been working to smooth over the rift, David Paul Kuhn of Real Clear Politics tracked down several Religious Right leaders who are obviously growing increasingly fed-up with being marginalized and blamed for every defeat that befalls the GOP: 

There is a brooding sense within top social conservative circles that they have become the revolving scapegoat of the Republican Party. Many of the longtime leaders of the Christian right, from Richard Land to Tony Perkins to Gary Bauer, expressed resentment in extended interviews with a singular theme: that the most loyal GOP bloc has been so quickly thrown under many critics' bus.

"There are powerful interest groups in the party and in the country that are trying to scapegoat social conservatives," Land said, who has long served as a bridge between Southern Baptists' political concerns and GOP leadership. "It's people who have no problem ignoring facts."

…

"That's the pattern that has emerged over the last couple of decades," said Perkins, who heads the Family Research Council. "People want to find an easy excuse for the GOP's failures and they try to point to the social conservative issues and by extension social conservatives."

The Religious Right realizes that it does not control the Republican Party, pointing to the fact that John McCain was not their top choice in the 2008 primaries as evidence, with Gary Bauer admitting that the “social conservatives are not the gatekeeper of the Republican party,” no matter how much they sometimes act as if they are.

But they still expect their role in the party to be recognized and respected and, if they don’t start feeling appreciated says Land, the GOP might just wake up one day to find that they have all left, declaring "Republicans delude themselves to thinking that social conservatives will have no where else to go."

Of course, these sorts of threats happen every few years and never amount to anything because, as Kuhn points out, “a divorce between the Christian right and the GOP would leave Republicans in ruin.”  

And that is why Bauer says he doesn’t see it happening this time either because, come election time, both the party and the Religious Right base will realize that their fates are intricately linked: "I'm not concerned that they could actually be that stupid. There are whole areas of the country where the only reason the Republicans are competitive are because of values and social issues."

Right Wing Leftovers

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Wednesday, 5/6/2009 5:39 pm
  • You know that Alan Keyes is long-winded when even his press releases only contain excerpts of his full statement [PDF] vowing to get arrested at Notre Dame.

  • Michael Steele's humiliation tenure at the RNC continues.

  • The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation awarded Spencer Abraham, Steven Calabresi, David McIntosh, and Lee Liberman Otis a $250,000 prize yesterday for their role in founding the Federalist Society.

  • Rep. Michell Bachmann's tendency to say dumb things that get her in the news has resulted in at least two candidates announcing that they plan to oppose her in 2010.

  • The Christian Anti-Defamation Commission blames all of Carrie Prejean's current problems on hateful homosexuals and anti-Christian bigots.

  • Richard Land has become, to the best of my knowledge, the first and only Religious Right leader to publicly declare that waterboarding is torture.

Right Wing Leftovers

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Tuesday, 4/14/2009 6:08 pm
  • Gov. Rick Perry wants Rush Limbaugh to move to Texas.

  • Not content with getting its own ad audition footage yanked from YouTube, the National Organization for Marriage has now gotten a Rachel Maddow clip making fun of the footage yanked as well.

  • Richard Land declares Iowa to be the "poster child" for the need for a federal marriage amendment.

  • Of all the groups out there qualified to teach about "true tolerance," I'd say Focus on the Family ranks near the bottom.

  • The Religious Right continues to go after Harry Knox, one of the appointees to the White House's faith-based advisory council.

  • When the Department of Homeland Security released a report about a potential rise in violent right-wing extremist movement, nobody thought they were talking about conservatives ... except, apparently, for the conservatives.

  • Janet Porter unveiled her new Faith2Action website today and boldly proclaimed that it will become the epicenter for the right-wing effort to "take back America."

  • Alan Keyes is joining Randall Terry's on-going efforts to protest Notre Dame over President Obama's invitation to speak at the university.

  • Finally, Phyllis Schlafly declares that if the courts strike down DOMA "it would be the same type of judicial supremacy that occurred 152 years ago in the famous Dred Scott case."

Right Wing Leftovers

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 2/19/2009 7:19 pm
  • The Victory Christian Center in Tulsa, OK will host the 2009 Night to Honor Israel from 7-9 p.m. March 2 with the Rev. John Hagee speaking.

  • Rick Santorum says the Quran was "written in Islamic,” which is not a language.  It was written in Arabic.

  • FRC says it is understandable that so many Republicans are refusing to run for re-election.  After all, "who can blame them for choosing not to sit at the foot of the most pro-abortion, socialist Speaker of the House in history?"

  • Bill Donohue gets results. Yesterday the Catholic League voiced its outrage over a poster at the University of Georgia, claiming the "famous Michelangelo painting on the Sistine Chapel ceiling that features the hand of God giving life to Adam has been hijacked to promote condoms." The school's Vice President for Student Affairs immediately apologized.

  • On his last day as Johnson County District Attorney, Phill Kline reportedly had copies of abortion records mailed to his office to Lynchburg, Va., where he had taken a job at Liberty University. The Johnson County District Attorney's Office only found out about it because the box was returned because  the address on the label was incorrect.

  • Finally, this quote from Richard Land in opposition to DOJ nominee David Ogden seemed to be worth highlighting:

    • Ogden told the committee during his oral and written testimony that his legal positions on controversial pornography-related cases represented the views of his clients and did not reflect his personal beliefs. But that hasn't been enough to appease opponents, who say that he could have turned down representing those clients if he found their positions so objectionable.

    "That's a moral cop-out, and it's one reason why there are so many lawyer jokes," Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, told Baptist Press regarding Ogden's defense. "… A person's views on pornography are a window to a person's worldview, and this window shows a worldview that is inconsistent with what I want the American Justice Department to be."

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Richard Land Posts Archive

Alliance Defense Fund To Launch Law School Aimed At Creating "Liberal Chaser" Attorneys
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Wednesday 09/28/2011, 12:56pm
Religious Right leaders are coming together to form yet another law school to train future lawyers of the conservative movement. The right-wing Alliance Defense Fund is helping Louisiana College, a Southern Baptist institution, start the Paul Pressler School of Law, which will join Liberty University, Regent University and others in providing politicized training to the next generation of Religious Right lawyers. Pressler’s ties to the Alliance Defense Fund will be similar to the Liberty University School of Law’s partnership with Liberty Counsel and the Regent... MORE >
Land: Gay Activists Seek Full-Blown "Sexual Paganization Of Society"
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Monday 09/26/2011, 5:27pm
Over the weekend, the Liberty Counsel's Rena Lindevaldsen was a guest on "Richard Land Live!" where she and Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, discussed her new book chronicling the case involving her client, ex-gay kidnapper Lisa Miller. During the program, Land warned that gay rights activists seek to "reduce [Christians] to the level of the Ku Klux Klan" so that they will be ostracized by society and went on to assert that gays are "recruiting" children, which is a form a child abuse, while... MORE >
Beck Endorses "Pulpit Initiative" Effort To Challenge IRS
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Monday 09/26/2011, 1:45pm
Over the last several weeks, Jim Garlow has taken the lead in promoting the Alliance Defense Fund's "Pulpit Initiative," an effort to get pastors to speak out on political issues and even endorse or oppose candidates during their sermons in a direct challenge to the IRS. Last week, Garlow and Richard Land were featured on Glenn Beck's new program to push the effort and got Beck to announce his support as he vowed to do whatever he can to promote it, get pastors signed up, and "make a big deal out of it": MORE >
Right Wing Leftovers
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Friday 09/23/2011, 5:26pm
Michele Bachmann describes herself as a "Teavangelical." Shocking, I know. Richard Land says the repeal of DADT is a "disgrace." Everybody loves Ralph Reed. A new book calls the prosperity gospel a "pagan teaching with a Christian face." Finally, Frank Turek explains that Christians don't want theocracy ... they just want their Christian morality enshrined into law. MORE >
Right Wing Leftovers
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Wednesday 09/21/2011, 5:46pm
Pamela Geller declares victory in the ten million dollar lawsuit filed against her. Richard Land explains how the death penalty is actually pro-life. Focus on the Family warns that liberals are using cute, fuzzy animals to brainwash kids into supporting homosexuality. Bryan Fischer explains that we have to support Israel because God said so. Janet Porter's "Heartbeat Bill" prayer rally reportedly drew hundreds of participants. MORE >
The Most Terrifying Thing You Will Read All Day
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Thursday 09/15/2011, 12:29pm
The Southern Baptist Convention's Richard Land explains the key differences between George W. Bush and Rick Perry - basically, Perry is Bush without the education, compassion, intellect, or fancy East Coast-upbringing: [The] "Don't Mess with Texas" mindset is embraced by both men, but Perry, the Aggie, had neither Bush's parents nor Yale or Harvard to tone it down. It is clear to those who know former President George W. Bush that he has great respect and affection for the average man and tremendous appreciation for those who have risen through the meritocracy from humble... MORE >
Gingrich's Lone Religious Right Supporter Being Wooed By Perry
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Thursday 09/01/2011, 4:10pm
As we noted last week, Rick Perry gathered with a whole range of Religious Right leaders at the ranch of right-wing megadonor James Leininger over the weekend and details continue to emerge about what took place during the event, like Perry vowing to them that there would be no revelations about his past that would ever embarrass them. We are also seeing more reports about which leaders were in attendance: The meeting received little public attention, though the 200 or so in attendance included luminaries of the Christian right such as Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, California... MORE >
Land: Obama Worst President Ever
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Friday 07/22/2011, 9:46am
The Southern Baptist Convention’s Richard Land has now joined Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council and Tim Wildmon of the American Family Association in pronouncing President Obama the worst president ever. Land, who was involved in talks led by James Robison on how Religious Right leaders can unite to defeat Obama in 2012, called Obama a “disaster” in an interview today with the AFA’s OneNewsNow. Land, A longtime critic of the president, compared Obama to Warren G. Harding: A scholar and Christian leader believes that unless economic conditions turn around,... MORE >