Just remember, though:
"The government of the United States is not in any sense founded upon the Christian religion." - President John Adams
Sorry if this post is too long but it may well be worth the read.
http://www.tbrnews.org/Archives/a1216.htmGod’s Control of America
(From an internal Pentecostal website)
The New Christian Manifesto
To Our Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Greetings!
It is with glowing pride that we contemplate the growing control and spiritual influence of True Christians in establishing strict control of the American political and educational realms. America was founded in 1620 by Religious Dissenters, True Christians, who fled from secular persecutions in England. They set up a religious community in Plymouth Bay and flourished greatly. But in subsequent years, America drifted away from her True Christian origins and became a nest of Secularism. Americans have turned away from the One True God to worship Mammon and materialism! Self-indulgence has replaced self-discipline and the cell phone has replaced Our Lord Jesus Christ in daily importance! But rejoice in your hearts because the True Disciples of Christ have organized to save America from Secular Humanism and hedonism and we are now at the very gates of the True Kingdom of Heaven on earth! The True Disciples have begun their Sacred Mission by gaining virtual control over the Republican Party in almost every state in the Union, have elected a President of our One True Faith, have filled the halls of Congress with Representatives of both the people and Christ the Lord! We are well on our way to reestablish the True Christian nation, under God Almighty, that was founded in 1620.
The Politics of God
Now, with the advent of a True Christian as a second-term President of the United States, we Christians stand closer now to establishing a truly Christian-based government in this country since 1620!
By faith and determination, we have placed many of our people into the ranks of the Republican Party; have organized local elections to put our members on vital school boards where they can, and have, successfully supplanted the false Darwinism with the Divinely Inspired Biblical Creationism. We have elected members to serve in Congress who are sensitive to our needs and wishes but we need far more in order to establish a firm majority.
Since 2001 dozens of True Christians, by Presidential order have been placed in key positions within the Department of Health and Human Services, the Federal Drug Administration and on commissions and advisory committees where they have made serious progress. Three years later God-sent Bush Administration has established one of the most righteous sexual health agendas in the Western world.
As one example of the growing power of the Lord in American politics, the Texas Republican Party Platform for 2002, called for rescinding United States membership in the United Nations and removing the United Nations from US soil. Pat Robertson, in his book, “The Millennium”, depicts the United Nations as a Satanic plot to take control of the world. And in the LaHaye “Left Behind” books, we can see that the United Nations is firmly in the hands of the anti-Christ!
Herewith we present our Watchwords and our Credo to you for your guide and inspiration.
1.Rule the world for God!
2.Give the impression that you are there to work for the Republican party, not push an ideology.
3.Hide your strength.
4.Don't flaunt your Christianity.
Our Credo is:
Jesus Christ is Lord in all aspects of life, including civil government.
Jesus Christ is, therefore, the Ruler of Nations, and should be explicitly confessed as such in any constitutional documents. The civil ruler is to be a servant of God, he derives his authority from God and he is duty-bound to govern according to the expressed will of God.
The civil government of our nation, its laws, institutions, and practices must therefore be conformed to the principles of Biblical law as revealed in the Old and New Testaments.
In confronting Secular Humanists and Satanists, we must realize that it is vital to stress the following Proclaimed Truths:
1. The unique divine inspiration of all the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments as originally given, so that they are infallible and uniquely authoritative and free from error of any sort, in all matters with which they deal, scientific and historical as well as moral and theological.
2. Special creation of the existing space-time universe and all its basic systems and kinds of organisms in the six literal days of the creation week.
3. The full historicity and perspicuity of the biblical record of primeval history, including the literal existence of Adam and Eve as the progenitors of all people, the literal fall and resultant divine curse of the creation, and worldwide cataclysmic deluge and the origin of nations and languages at the Tower of Babel.
Brother Pat Robertson said in 1992,
"We want...as soon as possible to see a majority of the Republican Party in the hands of pro-family Christians..."
Ralph Reed said in 2001,
"You're no longer throwing rocks at the building; you're in the building."
Once dismissed as a small regional movement, Christian conservatives have become a staple of politics nearly everywhere. Christian conservatives now hold a majority of seats in 36% of all Republican Party state committees (or 18 of 50 states), plus large minorities in 81% of the rest, double their strength from a decade before.
Active Christian Conservatives who are obedient to Almighty God and his Commandments in the United States Senate are:
Bill Frist, TN, Mitch McConnell, KY, Rick Santorum, PA, Bob Bennet, UT, Kay Bailey Hutchinson, TX, Jon Kyle, AZ, George Allen, VA, Richard Shelby, AL, Zell Miller, GA, Sam Brownback, KS, Sen. Lindsey Graham, SC
These True Christians deserve our heartfelt thanks and our continued support, both fiscal and personal.
The twin surges of Christians into GOP ranks in the early 1980s and early 1990s have begun to bear fruit, as naïve, idealistic recruits have transformed into highly proficient operatives and leaders, building organizations, winning leadership positions, fighting onto platform committees, and electing many of our own to public offices at all levels of American governance.
Christians need to take leadership positions. Since Republican Party officers control the membership and our legislative bodies, it is very important that mature Christians have a majority of leadership positions whenever possible, God willing.
One of our brilliantly successful tactics in gaining control of Republican organizations is to tie up the meetings for hours until people left. Then we appointed ourselves leaders and make key decisions. Once we took over the local leadership throughout our target State, we can then control the state party apparatus. Once we have a target state under Christian control, we can then use the same tactics in other states until we build a solid Christian foundation that can control any election, state or national.
The strategy of the coming Christian Based Republican Party is simple.
First, enact a permanent tax cut which will eliminate $6 trillion in revenue over the next 20 years. This will in effect starve the federal government so it will be unable to fund many liberal and essentially anti-Christian governmental functions instituted since the Communist-inspired New Deal.
Second, fill the liberal and secular federal judiciary with Christian advocates whose judicial philosophy will reverse the disastrous trends on civil rights, environmental protections, religious liberty, reproductive rights and privacy and so much more.
Third, mandate the teaching of Divine Creationism in all public and private schools and remove from all school curriculums the Secular Humanist false theories of Darwin and others.
Fourth, revise the Federal Constitution so that it better reflects Divine Will and strips away false secularism entirely.
A Constitution that conforms to Biblical Law will rely on the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament as its guiding source. Therefore, the Ten Commandments hold a special meaning. The New Christian lawmakers are going to pass legislation in various state legislatures that will mandate government posting of the Ten Commandments in all public buildings.
Rev. Joseph Morecraft is pastor of the Reconstructionist Chalcedon Presbyterian Church in Marietta, Georgia and he states his belief in the persecution of nonbelievers and those who are insufficiently orthodox is crystal clear. Reverend Morecraft describes democracy as "mob rule," and states that the purpose of "civil government" is to "terrorize evil doers. . . to be an avenger!" and “To bring down the wrath of God to bear on all those who practice evil!"
"And how do you terrorize an evil doer?" he asks. "You enforce Biblical law!" The purpose of government is "to protect the church of Jesus Christ," and, "Nobody has the right to worship on this planet any other God than Jehovah. And therefore the state does not have the responsibility to defend anybody's pseudo-right to worship an idol!" "There is no such thing" as religious pluralism, he declared. Further, "There has never been such a condition in the history of mankind. There is no such place now. There never will be."
"When God brings Noah through the flood to a new earth, He re-establishes the Dominion Mandate but now delegates to man the responsibility for governing other men in order to protect human life. He does this by instituting capital punishment - the backbone of civil government." U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
Now let us begin with some realistic soul-searching. Let us define the purposes and directions of our ranks for, although we may see the same Enlightenment in different ways, in the end, we are all True Christians.
A definition of the True Christian membership:
The implementation of Biblical Law is central to the mission of building the Kingdom of God on earth. The way to get to Biblical Law is through politics. Therefore, God's law as manifested in the Bible should govern. References to the Ten Commandments are more than symbolic. It reflects a belief that the Bible, not the Constitution, represents the final legal authority.
1) The federal government should recede into the background through massive tax cuts. This concept, heartily embraced by President Bush, has more than one benefit. As money available for corrupting so-called “entitlements” dries up, there will not be funding for welfare leeches, birth control programs, support for the army of illegal aliens now flooding out country and the notorious Social Security give-aways.
2) Churches should be mandated to take over responsibility for welfare and education by Faith-based initiatives and school vouchers. By these means, True Christians can establish a firm control over the education of American youth. We can, and will, instill Christian Values in our youth and by this means insure a growing body of young Christians, ready, willing and able to assume leadership positions in a Christian United States.
3) Capitalism is the sole reason that America is now the greatest nation on earth and the Christian Community firmly believes that this engine of national success and power should be freed of current regulations that harmfully restrict America’s major corporations in achieving their maximum growth potential. We are therefore opposed to so-called “environmental” rules and regulations, restrictive and repressive work safety regulations, involvement by the Federal government in civil rights matters. We must first and foremost introduce and secure legislation to halt devastating personal injury lawsuits against Corporate America.
4) The U.S. Constitution should conform to Biblical Law.
The Constitution Restoration Act of 2004, introduced into both houses of Congress on February 11, 2004, includes the acknowledgment of God as the sovereign source of law by an official in his capacity of executing his office. This is another firm and ascending step in the establishment of a true Christian society in America.
Among the sponsors of the bill are Rep. Robert Aderholt AL, Rep. Michael Pence IN, Sen. Richard Shelby, AL,Sen. Zell Miller, GA, Sen. Sam Brownback, KS, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, SC.
The Promulgation of the Faith by our President
Bush has stated firmly and clearly that he believes God is involved in world events and that he and America have a “divinely guided mission.”
In the Bush White House, attendance at Bible study is strongly mandated and supervised. White House staff members are lovingly encouraged to attend these meetings, organized by Karl Rove and while attendance is not compulsory, staffers are reminded that a lack of interest in Christian Doctrine and Practice is important for continuing employment. Attendance is also requested of currently non-Christians and Mr. Rove has stated that anyone can become a Christian if he wishes; all it takes is the discovery of God’s Perfect Love through Christ.
With the help of evangelical speechwriter Michael Gerson, Bush fills his speeches with code words directed at Christian conservatives. In this year's State of the Union address, Bush mentioned the "wonder-working power" of the American people, an allusion to an evangelical Christian song whose lyrics cite the "power, wonder-working power, in the blood of the Lamb" -- i.e., Jesus.
George W. Bush, to his eternal glory, has brought forth many concepts that advance our Holy Cause. He has nominated many Christian judges who will give the law a, pro-Christian bent. He has put forward, school-prayer guidelines issued by the Department of Education, faith-based initiatives and his personal directives to virtually every federal agency, has wonderfully increased both the presence and the potency of religion in American government.
The Council on National Policy:
The Council for National Policy, which was co-founded by former Moral Majority head LaHaye, has included: John Ashcroft, Ed Meese, Ralph Reed, the editor of The National Review, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Grover Norquist and Oliver North.
The CNP has rendered yeoman service in assisting Christian conservatives take control of the Republican state party organizations in Southern and Midwestern states. It has assisted in spreading the word about the infamous 'Clinton Chronicles' videotapes that linked the president to a host of crimes in Arkansas, and was a determinant factor in bringing about the impeachment of Clinton.
The CNP, after much soul-searching, determined on George W. Bush as their candidate for President as early as 1999.
Speaking before the CNP, George Bush promised to appoint only anti-abortion-rights judges to the Supreme Court, or he stuck to his campaign 'strict constructionist' phrase and took a very firm stand against the proliferation of homosexuals and lesbians. The President, through the guidance of the CNP is fully supporting an amendment that can effectively severely limit public access to birth control, abortion, and any form of non-procreative sex.
Critics exist but we will silence them
The Republican National Committee is now very effectively securing the support of the Federal Election Commission to issue new rules that will effectively silence deviant groups that have dared to communicate with the public in ways critical of President Bush or Conservative and Christian members of Congress. Happily, these labors in the vineyard of the Lord are bearing fruit. Under the President’s firm guidance, the FEC has just proposed rules that would do exactly that. Any kind of non-profit -- conservative, progressive, labor, religious, secular, social service, charitable, educational, civic participation, issue-oriented, large, and small -- will be affected by these rules. No longer will secular humanists, so-called liberals, sexual perverts and non-Christians be able to confuse, obfuscate and confound our President and our Christian legislators in the prosecution of the establishment of a truly Christian Nation, under God.
On March 4, 2004, the FEC voted 5-1 to consider new rules that would have the effect of redefining many nonprofit groups as political committees, thereby forcing these groups to meet vastly more stringent financial and reporting requirements or to forego many of the advocacy and civic engagement activities at the core of their missions. By merely expressing an opinion about an officeholder's policies a nonprofit group could turn overnight into a federally regulated political committee with crippling fund-raising restrictions. Then these divisive voices will fall silent and we need to hear their lies and obfuscations no longer.
Under the leadership of President Bush and a Republican and increasingly Christianized Congress, we are more than pleased to see that faith-based organizations will have new access to tax funds in excess of $40 billion dollars.
But note that in spite of the Administration’s efforts, the Senate wrongfully has refused to overturn decades of anti-discrimination laws that prevent federal funds to go to charities that that discriminate in hiring. In defiance of the Senate bill passed in 2003, the President has been disbursing funds to charities that openly proselytize for the Christian Cause and are firm in policies of not hiring gays, illegal aliens, Jews, Muslims or other alien groups.
The White House firmly by-passed Congress's legislative functions in the year 2002. At the President’s direction, the Department of Health and Human Resources set up a Compassion Capital fund of $30 million that allocated funds released by Congress for a different purpose.
Roe V. Wade
In order to eliminate this gross aberration, the Bush Administration has named a fetus a human being, thus flouting Roe v. Wade and the authority of the courts.
Just twenty-two days after taking office, Bush re-imposed restrictions known as the "Global Gag Rule." This policy restricts foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that receive U.S. family planning funds from using their own, non-U.S. funds to provide legal abortion services, lobby their own governments for abortion law reform, or even provide accurate medical counseling or referrals regarding abortion.
Bush has chosen pro-Christian and anti-choice extremists for key positions such as Attorney General and Secretary of Health and Human Services. His administration has named a fetus a 'human being' preparing the way to argue that abortion is murder. And Bush's nominees to the federal courts are consistently anti-choice
Gun Control
The Christian Right absolutely opposes any form of gun control. The House of Representatives, now dominated by the Religious Right, passed a bill that immunizes gun makers and sellers from liability. On March 2, 2004, because of the actions of organized secular humanists, the Senate rejected the bill.
The ten-year ban on assault weapons expires in September, 2004. The House Majority Leader, Tom DeLay, who decides what bills will and won't come up for a vote, has announced that a vote to continue the ban on assault weapons will not come up for a vote, so Tom DeLay will have decided that assault weapons will become available once again.
President Bush opposes ballistics finger printing, "because it would interfere with a gun owner's privacy."
The Conversion of the Muslims to Christianity.
With the active and even enthusiastic support of our President, Christians are now aiming at a great conversion of the Muslim population of Iraq. Once closed to our workers, now, Iraq lies at our feet and because we will be protected by the armed might of the United States, we can do the Lord’s work in safety.
Franklin Graham, founder of Samaritan's Purse said in an interview with Beliefnet.com,
“I believe as we work, God will always give us opportunities to tell others about his Son….We are there to reach out to love them and to save them, and as a Christian I do this in the name of Jesus Christ.”
About the International Mission Board, the missionary arm of the Southern Baptists:
Organizing in secrecy, and emphasizing their humanitarian aid work, Christian groups are pouring into conquered Iraq , which is 97 per cent Muslim, bearing Arabic Bibles, videos and religious tracts designed to "save" Muslims from their "false" religion. The International Mission Board, the missionary arm of the Southern Baptists, is one of those leading the charge. John Brady, the IMB's head for the Middle East and North Africa, this month appealed to the 16 million members of his church, the largest Protestant denomination in America. "Southern Baptists have prayed for years that Iraq would somehow be opened to the gospel," his appeal began. That "open door" for Christians may soon close. "Southern Baptists must understand that there is a war for souls under way in Iraq," his bulletin added, listing Islamic leaders and "pseudo-Christian" groups also flooding Iraq as his chief rivals.
Although proselytizing is usually forbidden, most countries in the region are eager to have Western religious groups running hospitals and clinics, and working on economic development and education. Some long-established missionary groups in the Middle East have come to terms with this by focusing their work on serving the social needs of the local population, and hoping that they might draw Muslims to Christianity more indirectly, through example.
But other missionaries, including many evangelicals, say it is part of their faith as Christians to try to spread the gospel.
Sometimes, these efforts have led to friction not only with Muslims, but also with other Christian missionary groups, which fear that such efforts put them in danger and their work in jeopardy.
We view with anticipation the projected “Americanization” of the Middle East. Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries are slated for our “American Freedom” projects and if we are successful in Christianizing Iraq, soon enough we will have even wider horizons in which to plant the seeds of Christianity throughout an area that by rights is a Christian domain.
An Expanded Israel
Certain events have to occur for Falwell's version of prophecy to be fulfilled. As quoted by a fellow Christian pilgrim in Prophecy and Politics, a book by Grace Halsell who participated in two Falwell-led pilgrimages to Israel in 1983 and 1985,
"The Jews must own all of the land promised by God before Christ can return. The Arabs have to leave this land because this land belongs only to the Jews. God gave all of this land to the Jews." (p.87)
Ed MacAteer, one of the founders of the Moral Majority has spoken of his beliefs.
"I believe that we are seeing prophecy unfold so rapidly and dramatically and wonderfully and, without exaggerating, makes me breathless. Every grain of sand between the Dead Sea, the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea belongs to the Jew. every bit of it."
The Fate of the Jews
The Reverend Tim LaHaye describes the fate of the Jews in the book Left Behind.
"The final battle in the history of the future will be fought on this ancient battleground in Northern Israel called Armageddon. And the Jews? Well two-thirds of them will be wiped out by now and the survivors will accept Jesus at last."
Settlements in West Bank and Gaza: Key to Fulfilling Prophecy
Falwell made his first trip to Israel in 1978 with an invitation from Prime Minister Menachim Begin. This began a strong relationship between the Likud Party, the hawkish party of Israel, and the Religious Right in the United States. Falwell has led many groups of Christian Zionists on pilgrimages to Israel, and the Religious Right has been subsidizing settlements ever since.
A Colorado-based group called Christian Friends of Israeli Communities - communities translates as settlements in the West Bank and Gaza - runs an adopt-a-settlement program. According to the director of its Jerusalem office, one-third of the 145 settlements receive funds from Christians.
The late Grace Halsell's book, Prophecy and Politics, is no longer in print, but can be found in some libraries. It was published in 1986 by Lawrence Hill and Co. Halsell was an author and journalist who worked in the Johnson White House. She grew up in rural Texas in a fervently fundamentalist Christian culture. Halsell attended two pilgrimages organized by the Reverend Jerry Falwell -- one in 1983 attended by 630 pilgrims, and a second in 1985 attended by 850 pilgrims. She also attended the First Christian Zionist Congress in 1985. One resolution at that Congress called for all Jews living outside Israel to move to Israel.
The Christians also urged Israel to annex that portion of occupied Palestine called the West Bank, with its near one million Palestinian inhabitants. An Israeli Jew, seated in the audience, rose to suggest that perhaps the language might be modified. He pointed out that an Israeli poll showed that one-third of the Israelis would be willing to trade territory seized in 1967 for peace with the Palestinians.
"We don't care what the Israelis vote!" declared van der Hoeven
. We care what God says! And God gave that land to the Jews!" After his impassioned outburst, the Christians by a nearly unanimous show of hands passed the resolution. (p.133)
Halsell interviewed Charles Fischbein, executive director of the Jewish National Fund, who described his work with the American Christian Trust headed by Mrs. Bobi Hromas, wife of a top official with a West Coast defense contractor:
"The trust enjoys 501(c)(3) status and receives funds from private individuals, estates and large evangelical-fundamentalist organizations... The Trust in turn gives this money to Israel, expressly for Jewish settlements in the West Bank... Mrs Hromas told me the Trust planned to raise a hundred million dollars to purchase land for Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the present target area being in the Palestinian town of Hebron... This I was told would help fulfill biblical prophesy. (p,170-171)
House Majority leader, Tom DeLay, is a strong supporter of Israeli expansion as fulfillment of Biblical Prophecy. When President Bush began to propose a road map for peace in the Middle East that would lead to a two-state solution, DeLay was speaking to members of the Israeli Parliament saying, "Israel is not the problem. Israel is the solution." (Meaning the settlements are not the problem. They are the solution.)
Gays and the Christian Community
Jerry Falwell:
"hese perverted homosexuals…absolutely hate everything that you and I and most decent, God-fearing citizens stand for…Make no mistake. These deviants seek no less than total control and influence in society, politics, our schools and in our exercise of free speech and religious freedom….If we do not act now, homosexuals will own America!" 1999
Lou Sheldon, founder of the Traditional Values Coalition:
“Our little children are being targeted by the homosexuals and liberals who are pushing for this legislation," wrote Sheldon. "They want our preschool children…. They want our kindergarten children….They want our grade school children….They want our middle school and high school children….To be brainwashed to think that homosexuality is the moral equivalent of heterosexuality. We can't let that happen."
Dr. James Kennedy, Senior Minister of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale and the president of Coral Ridge Ministries, calls for a constitutional "Firewall" to protect the nation from counterfeit marriage.
From the Baptist Press:
"I see this becoming probably the largest domestic issue that will be addressed in this election cycle -- if the economy continues to improve," Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, told Baptist Press. Conservatives are pushing for a constitutional amendment protecting the traditional definition of marriage, and one such effort -- the Federal Marriage Amendment -- already has some 100 cosponsors in the House of Representatives. If passed, it would trump the Massachusetts ruling as well as any other such ruling by a court. To become law it would require passage by two-thirds of the House and Senate and three-quarters of the states.”
From Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association:
“The sacred institution of marriage is under attack. There are those who want to redefine marriage to include two men, or two women, or a group of any size or mix of sexes: One man and four women, one woman and two men, etc. If they fail to secure legal protection classifying these arrangements as 'marriage,' they want to include all these mixtures under the definition of 'civil union,' giving them identical standing with the marriage of one man and one woman.
They have gained the support of the national media and many politicians. Their efforts are intended to force, by law, 97% of Americans to bow down to the desires of the approximately 3% who are homosexuals.”
From the Concerned Women for America's Janet LaRue:
"These are the court jesters of the century. The Massachusetts Legislature should summon the moral courage to impeach the majority for their abuse of power and distortion of the state constitution."
President of Family Research Council, Tony Perkins:
"This is THE wake-up call for both the American public and our elected officials. If we do not amend the Massachusetts State Constitution so that it explicitly protects marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and if we do not amend the U.S. Constitution with a federal marriage amendment that will protect marriage on the federal level, we will lose marriage in this nation."
Anti-Gay Politics and the Religious Right
Sen. Trent Lott has equated gays with alcoholics and kleptomaniacs, but it has long been a central tenet of True Christian Right groups that homosexuals are diseased, and can be cured with a combination of religious indoctrination and psychological counseling. Reparative therapy as practiced by a variety of ex-gay ministries includes a large dose of gender stereotyping: men are encouraged to play football or learn auto mechanics, women to wear dresses and makeup. John Paulk and his wife Anne are the current "poster children" of the "ex-gay" movement, appearing on the cover of Newsweek; in 1993 John Paulk told the Wall Street Journal that "To say that we've arrived at this place of total heterosexuality - that we're totally healed - is misleading."
Politically, Religious Right groups use the disease or addiction model to assert that civil rights protections should not be afforded to gays and lesbians. According to this "logic," public policy that treats gays with equality and dignity actually inhibits individuals from seeking to be "cured." In Maine earlier this year, "ex-gays" were featured in one of the television commercials run by Religious Right groups during the successful campaign to overturn a statewide anti-discrimination law.
The recent ads also attempt to equate homosexuality with AIDS and other diseases; one of the recent ads was titled, "From Innocence to AIDS," cleverly alluding to Religious Right myths about gay recruitment of children and promoting Religious Right efforts to portray homosexuality as a "death-style." Typical of such rhetoric was a recent Chuck Colson article about Billy, a doll being marketed in the gay community. Colson suggested that all Billy dolls should come with a plastic coffin, asserting that most gays are "men whose lives are tragically marked by disease, addition, misery, and early death."
Misrepresenting ideology as science is a favored tactic. Paul Cameron is a virulently anti-gay "researcher" whose methods led to his being ousted from the American Psychological Association. Although Cameron has been thoroughly discredited, his "research" continues to be a favored source of ammunition for the Religious Right. William Bennett, Chuck Colson, and others continue to repeat Cameron's conclusion that the life expectancy for gay men is 43 years, a statistic based on his reading of obituaries in gay newspapers. (Cameron's statistic was effectively demolished in online magazine Slate) Bennett's trumpeting of this statistic last year on ABC's This Week and in the Weekly Standard was picked up by National Review and continues to circulate as the kind of "truth" that the Religious Right wants to tell America.
The Death Penalty for Homosexuality
Among those of us who embrace "reconstructionism," which advocates imposing a radically fundamentalist interpretation of "Biblical law" onto American society are many outspoken advocates of the Christian America concept. On the September 4, 1998 Armstrong Williams talk show, Colorado talk-radio personality Bob Enyard called for the death penalty for gays and adulterers. Last year, a Christian radio talk-show host in Costa Mesa, California said, "Lesbian love, sodomy are viewed by God as being detestable and abominable. Civil magistrates are to put people to death who practice these things." The announcer urged listeners to contact legislators and ask that they enact capital punishment for homosexuality. The station manager called the program "an honest dialogue concerning Christian beliefs." Congressional candidate Randall Terry, former head of Operation Rescue, extends this view of "Biblical law" to include a removal of all homosexuals from positions of influence in American society with especial reference to the American education system at all levels. This even extends to suspected perverts as well as brazen practitioners of perversions
In addition, the battle cry against "special rights" was the centerpiece of opposition to a federal anti-discrimination bill, the Employment Non Discrimination Act (ENDA), which was defeated by one vote in the U.S. Senate in 1996. More recently "no special rights" was the core message of the Religious Right's campaign to overturn President Clinton's executive order banning discrimination against gays in the federal workplace. Carmen Pate of Concerned Women for America said the executive order was "not about equality under the law, but about special privileges." In the last instance, the rhetoric was so plainly and patently untrue that a sufficient number of Republican members of Congress voted in favor of equality on the job and the executive order was allowed to stand.
Our Church has launched many attacks on corporations that offer domestic partner benefits and make it very clear that our leaders' anti-gay ideology will not permit any special treatment or recognition of their gay employees. A few years ago, American Airlines was attacked for its gay-acceptance policy in hiring and for its support of gay community organizations. A host of Religious Right leaders, including D. James Kennedy, Gary Bauer, James Dobson (Focus on the Family), Beverly LaHaye (Concerned Women for America), Don Wildmon (American Family Association), and Richard Land (Southern Baptists) signed an open letter, printed as a newspaper ad, attacking American Airlines. American Airlines officials met with Christian Community leaders but rejected demands that they discontinue marketing to the gay community. This is a battle to which we will certainly return and we now plan to extend our efforts to other large American corporations. We are planning to promulgate a nation-wide boycott against any such corporation that either hires homosexuals or supports the so called “Special Interest” programs cleverly designed to introduce gays into normal society by making them acceptable to the gullible and uninformed.
In the next issue: A history and background of the Pentecostals
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