Posts on Tennessee

Jerry Sutton's Two Rivers Baptist Church in Nashville, Tennessee had hosted the Family Research Council's Justice Sunday II rally and was scheduled to host one of Rick Scarborough's upcoming crusades, but now Sutton has agreed to retire amid an lawsuit over alleged financial improprieties: "By a more than 3-to-1 margin, members of Two Rivers Baptist Church approved a $314,000 retirement package for the Rev. Jerry Sutton on Sunday, clearing the way for the embattled minister to leave the congregation he has led for more than 22 years ... Sutton and church leaders hope his retirement will bring an end to a 14-month conflict. In the summer of 2007, a group of dissident church members sued Two Rivers, seeking Sutton's ouster and access to church financial records."

Jerry Sutton survived a vote at the Two Rivers Baptist Church stemming from allegations that Sutton and others "misapplied, misappropriated, and mishandled the finances," though a lawsuit in which he is being represented by Larry Crain, senior counsel at Pat Robertson's American Center for Law & Justice, is ongoing.

Group had "serious concerns" about his "principles," reports Brody.

First Amendment Center’s Charles Haynes discusses.

Only “racist liberals” would think it’s racist, says Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, a frequent right-wing speaker.

So-called “family policy councils.” More here.

FRC cites “desperate need”; Idaho, Wisconsin and Colorado groups cite NJ decision; South Dakota group mobilizes churches.

Focus on the Family founder James Dobson devoted two days of his widely-syndicated radio show to broadcasting much of his last “Stand for the Family” rally in Nashville, Tennessee. While the rally was almost cancelled due to poor ticket sales, Dobson’s radio program claims a daily audience of “more than 220 million.” Although that number is not particularly believable, the audience for his family-advice show is certainly more than 2,400, the number who attended the Nashville rally.

In introducing the broadcast, Dobson repeated his claim that the media is suppressing voter turnout: “The truth of the matter is, the media does not want values voters to participate in this great representative form of government, and they’re doing everything they can to keep them from voting.” He also apologized for confusing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and famous farm-worker organizer Cesar Chavez.

You can listen to most of the Nashville rally here: Part 1 and Part 2.

Dobson and others head to Tennessee to mobilize base for elections by citing gay marriage, Supreme Court and liberal conspiracies

A group with ties to Swift Boat Veterans is airing ads attacking Democratic senate candidate in TN

Focus on the Family founder James Dobson continued his campaign to ensure that conservative Christians ignore Republican failures and scandals and turn out to vote next month, holding his third “Stand for the Family” rally in Nashville, Tennessee, where the race to replace retiring Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is neck and neck. Previous rallies were held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The rally in Nashville, held at the same church that hosted “Justice Sunday II” last year, informed the audience that there is “a nationwide effort to suppress their vote,” according to Baptist Press News, and Dobson said that “they” were behind it:

"What Mark Foley did was unconscionable. It was terrible," Dobson said. "... Thankfully he's gone. But tell me -- now that he's gone, why is it still with us? Why are they still talking about it? Why are they trying to blame somebody for it? It is because they are using that to suppress the values voters."

Dobson said he was told that additional news about "outed gay" Republicans may come out in coming weeks.

"They're dribbling this bad news out so that eventually the values voters will get to the place that they say, 'A pox on both your houses. I'm staying home.' Folks, we cannot afford to do that," Dobson said.

Who are “they”? Southern Baptist leader Richard Land blamed the “liberal media,” which he said “has abandoned any semblance of objectivity ... to launch an all-out attack on values voters and on the candidates of values voters to seek to suppress our vote.” (In any event, Dobson's attempt to pin poor poll results for Republicans on "outed gays" does not accord with voter trends, as shown in a recent Center for American Values survey.)

As a motivating factor, Dobson also claimed to have inside information that two Supreme Court justices may retire soon:

"I am told by people who know far more about it than I do that there are probably two ... Supreme Court justices who are hanging on until there is a more liberal Senate so that their seat will not be taken by somebody who is conservative," Dobson said. "It's a 5-4 [pro-choice] court right now. One more new justice -- if they are conservative -- will put Roe v. Wade in jeopardy."

In “eight battleground states,” churches walk line between tax-exempt education and endorsement of candidates. Pat Robertson decries the rules: Broadband or Dial-Up.

Prominent electronic display says: “Metro Council – We Speak English Here – Pass the Bill.”

After Hazleton, Pennsylvania passed its anti-immigrant ordinance, dubiously asserting a crime problem, other small cities latched on to the idea and to anti-immigrant sentiment being stirred up by some political leaders. Officials in these towns are pushing their own anti-immigrant ordinances – claiming to see problems arising from school crowding or social services, or simply calling for “preventative maintenance.” In Springfield, Tennessee, the complaint of civic leaders is apparently that Spanish-speaking people are making use of the public park. Alderman Ken Cherry has a plan for what he calls the city’s “growing Hispanic problem.”

“If I could do what I wanted to do, any illegal alien would be holed up in a barbwire tent and we'd haul them up to where they came from and turn them loose,” said Cherry, adding, “If they're speaking Spanish, I tend to think they are illegal.”

The Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition has video from WKRN-TV in Nashville.

Effort “far from over” in Farmers Branch. But it’s tabled in Clarksville, Tennessee.