« Herb Lusk
June 21, 2007
Religious Right Hopes African Americans Will Help Defeat Hate Crimes Bill
Bishop Harry Jackson’s High Impact Leadership Coalition ran an ad in the D.C. newspaper Roll Call last week to oppose the Hate Crimes Prevention Act under consideration in Congress. Raising the tired right-wing canard that “prosecutors and anti-Christian groups will use loop holes in this proposed legislation to muzzle the church,” the ad sought to drive a wedge between blacks, who are covered by federal hate-crimes law now, and gays, who seek the same protection against violent crime motivated by hatred:
We are African Americans, though we represent thousands of Christian leaders of all races. We understand more clearly than most that racially motivated violence can be a form of internal terrorism.
The Black community needs a free pulpit. Indeed, ALL Americans need free pulpits.
(View a higher-resolution PDF of the ad.)
As PFAW has explained – the Hate Crimes Prevention Act only addresses violent crimes causing “bodily injury” – not speech, not preaching. Nevertheless, Jackson claims that the bill, backed by “the evil one,” will “shut [the church] down.”
Jackson has been a frequent ally of the Religious Right, especially in efforts to combat equal rights for gays – he wrote that the “wisdom behind” the “gay agenda” is “clearly satanic.” He wants black churches to end their acceptance of gay members. The D.C.-area pastor has often claimed that African Americans are at home on the far Right, from opposing “tax-and-spend policies directed at the poor” to focusing the church on abortion and gays, and he’s also urged blacks to vote for Republicans such a George Bush, whom he endorsed in 2004.
Jackson has also leant his support to right-wing efforts to push Bush’s extreme judicial nominees. At “Justice Sunday II,” a televised rally put on by the Family Research Council, Jackson explained that, because the law targets blacks unfairly, he supports right-wing judges, who will ensure “that justice will be administrated without partiality.”
Several other names on the ad are familiar from religious-right events. Herb Lusk hosted “Justice Sunday III” at his Philadelphia church. Bill Owens started a group called the Coalition of African American Pastors that emerged to support the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. Ken Hutcherson rallied with James Dobson for an anti-gay marriage amendment to the Constitution – just before the 2004 election.
Posted by Ezra at 5:41 PM | Permalink
September 23, 2006
Values Voter Summit: Day 2 Part 2
A panel on the role of churches in political issues was introduced by a video promoting a rally in Boston on October 15. The theme of the event will be that marriage equality in that state is a grave threat to religious liberty, though the video didn’t explain how.
The Southern Baptists’ Richard Land insisted that believers should apply their literal-truth understanding of scripture to the society at large. “It is our job as pastors and church workers to take the truth of God’s word and apply it to the moral issues of our society and call on our society to adhere to the biblical standard.” God may not be a Republican or Democrat, Land said, but He is definitely pro-life, pro-heterosexual marriage, and anti-pornography.
Land defended a liberal California church facing an IRS investigation because of an anti-war sermon preached shortly before the 2004 election. Land said he’d read the sermon and it did not endorse any candidates. But, Land argued, churches ought to be free to endorse candidates, even if he personally thought it wasn’t a good idea, and he said the movement should be working very hard to change IRS regulations.
Rev. Herb Lusk is the Philadelphia pastor whose church hosted “Justice Sunday III” – the Religious Right’s rally for then-Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito. Lusk said the civil rights movement’s accomplishments were based on blacks and “our brothers and sisters of other hues” preaching a holistic gospel. But, he said, the civil rights movement has taken a different turn, and that now it’s Dr. Dobson and Tony Perkins taking the lead in protecting the civil rights of unborn children.
Rev. Dr. John Guest, a Pennsylvania pastor who grew up in London during World War II, said the bombing of London happened because the German church had abdicated its spiritual and moral responsibility to speak the truth. But Guest doesn’t think challenging the Bush administration might be part of that responsibility. “I’ve said from my pulpit that it is treacherous and traitorous to be condemning, belittling, and bringing down our president in a time of war.”
Lusk, who had been chafing at speaking while being seated behind a table, was encouraged to take the podium by Tony Perkins, and then he went into full preaching mode, criticizing pastors who weren’t getting involved. “I know why you’re not,” he said. “We know what happened to every prophet in the Old Testament…they killed them.” Lusk brought the crowd to its feet with a high-energy exhortation, saying “Your God will protect you…you have nothing to fear!”
An odd element of Lusk’s performance was his declaration that Rev. Barry Lynn, the oft-reviled-at-this-conference director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, should no longer be mentioned by name. “The enemy is out there. We know who our enemy is. The more you call the enemy’s name, the larger he becomes.” It remains to be seen if other speakers will adhere to Lusk’s declaration that Lynn has become, like Voldemort in the world of Harry Potter, He Who Must Not Be Named.
Posted by Peter at 2:53 PM | Permalink