Gods and monsters: Prominent Ohio Christian right leader surprisingly open about his disdain for Muslims
2005-07-11
By Anastasia Pantsios
Cleveland Free Times
Ohio Secretary of State and gubernatorial candidate Kenneth Blackwell has made no secret of his ties to Ohio's Christian conservatives.
He seems to be especially tight with the Rev. Rod Parsley, whose World Harvest Ministries in suburban Columbus is headquarters for a growing religious empire. The sprawling campus is home to a congregation of 12,000, a Bible college, kindergarten-through-12th grade school, and an international TV ministry.
Parsley's ties to Blackwell are close and many. The two stumped Ohio together last October in support of the anti-gay-marriage Issue 1. Blackwell spoke at the World Harvest Church during a weekend in April celebrating Parsley's latest book, "Silent No More," whose jacket boasts the following endorsement from Blackwell: "This book should inspire men and women of faith ... and make 'values voters' a force that politicians can no longer ignore." Parsley returns the favor in the acknowledgments:
"Ohio's Secretary of State, the Honorable Kenneth Blackwell: thank you for your courageous and outspoken support of moral value... Character like yours is instrumental in restoring honor to public service."
Parsley clearly aspires to greater political influence: his Center for Moral Clarity is part of the Ohio Restoration Project, a thinly veiled "Christians for Blackwell" movement. So their heaping praise on each other is not surprising.
But it will be interesting to see how Blackwell handles the tricky parts of such alliances. For example, Parsley's blunt attacks on Muslims.
More shit here:
http://www.athensnews.com/issue/article.php3?story_id=21076I'm really glad that Blackwell had the high morals enough to see that the election and recount went well.