Religious Right Watch

Santorum Tells A Mother Her Gay Son Is Engaging In Unhealthy Activity That Government Should Not 'Promote' | ThinkProgress

Rick Santorum railed against the LGBT community at a campaign stop at Community Christian Academy in Stuart, Florida on Tuesday, telling a woman that her gay son engages in unhealthy activity that the government should not “promote“:

via thinkprogress.org

Ron Paul's Iowa State Director Dedicated His Career to Fighting 'Evil' Gay Rights | Right Wing Watch

As Iowa State Director for the Ron Paul presidential campaign Mike Heath claims to have visited close to three hundred houses of worship on Paul’s behalf, more evidence of Heath’s rabidly anti-gay background while a Religious Right activist in Maine is coming to light. Before Maine’s marriage equality law was repealed, Heath contended that the legalization of same-sex marriage led to bad weather because “our elected officials overturned a law of nature, and in its place paid honor to evil and unnatural practices,” and Warren Throckmorton, who first uncovered that Paul was boasting about an endorsement from a pastor who advocates for the death penalty for gays and lesbians, notes that Heath was also the Board Chairman of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality, one of the most fringe and virulently anti-gay groups in the country.

In Maine, Heath urged the legislature to re-criminalize homosexuality, saying it would “be prudent to reinstate Maine’s anti-sodomy law,” and worked to overturn the state’s marriage equality law, declaring, “Homosexuality has absolutely nothing to do with marriage. Homosexuality is a sickness.”

via www.rightwingwatch.org

Iowa's Bob Vander Plaats' Pay-For-Play Scandal: Charged A Million Bucks For Endorsement, Asked Candidates To Drop Out | ThinkProgress

Though Santorum did not specify the dollar amount he and Vander Plaats discussed, multiple sources said he was soliciting as much as $1 million from Santorum and other candidates.
.....
ABC News has learned that Vander Plaats tried to solicit money for his endorsement during the last presidential cycle too.

via thinkprogress.org

Progress Iowa has launched a petition calling on the Federal Elections Commission to investigate The FAMiLY LEADER for potential illegal campaign coordination. According to Erin Seidler, a spokesperson for the group:

Bob Vander Plaats’ solicitation of funds to promote his endorsement of Rick Santorum raises serious questions about further coordination between a political campaign and an outside group. Considering the possibility of illegal activity so close to Caucus Day, you can take Bob’s word there is no coordination or you can join us in telling the FEC to investigate if any illegal coordination is taking place.

The Religious Right Ain't What it Used to Be

Frederick Clarkson at Talk To Action:

The Los Angeles Times reports:  

Pastor Cary Gordon is warning Christian voters in Iowa not to trust Newt Gingrich. The attack, in the form of a three-minute satirical Web video....

[T]his is not the kind of thing that the GOP envisioned would happen when it encouraged the Religious Right to bend and break the perfectly reasonable IRS proscriptions against electioneering by churches.  The abandonment of political restraint is evident.  While Gordon's video release may be within the IRS guidelines as an act of an individual, he and his church were the subject of a complaint filed by American United for Separation of Church and State last year, for having violated its tax-exempt status in organizing (successful) electoral efforts against three Iowa Supreme Court judges.  (The judges had ruled in favor of marriage equality.) Gordon said at the time:

"The orthodox Christian pastors of Iowa do not and cannot recognize, with regard to the definition of marriage, the imaginary authority of the Iowa Supreme Court. History has already shown who inevitably wins when state wages war against the authority of the church of the living God. So let the battle between state and church begin."

via www.talk2action.org

Bishop Eddie Long takes leave from megachurch | Pam's House Blend

The beleaguered man in the pulpit made headlines this year for charges that he was a sex predator of young men that he ministered to in his church. This preening man-of-the-cloth sent phone pics of his buff bod, spandex-clad bod to the young men he groomed to be his victims.

Saying he would ‘fight this thing’ as ‘David vs. Goliath’ to the end, he instead settled with some of the young men who had given detailed accounts of his disgusting behavior and abuse of his role as a spiritual leader.

Long was sued in September 2010 lawsuit by former New Birth members Anthony Flagg, Spencer LeGrande, Jamal Parris and Maurice Robinson, who alleged the bishop used his influence, trips, gifts and jobs to coerce them into sexual relationships.

In the midst of the scandal, civil rights legend and LGBT ally Julian Bond flat out called Long a raving homophobe

via pamshouseblend.firedoglake.com

Avila Resigns Over Anti-Gay Column | Right Wing Watch

Major kudos to Right Wing Watch for their continued good work exemplified by their spotting in a Roman Catholic publication the indefensible demonization of an entire swath of humanity.

As first reported by Right Wing Watch, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ point person on marriage issues Daniel Avila claimed in a Catholic newspaper, The Pilot, that Satan was responsible for making people gay by “disturb[ing] otherwise typical biological development.” Following our story and criticism from his fellow Catholics, Avila’s column was retracted and both Avila and the newspaper’s editors apologized. The column can still be found here at the Religion News Service.

The Associated Press is now reporting that Avila is resigning his post.

via www.rightwingwatch.org

Avila apparently said good riddance after his rubbish was deemed bad enough by his handlers. It might be pointed out that what Avila did is not only unethical and immoral, but theologically juvenile at best, heretical at worst, even from the standpoint of Roman Catholic doctrine which is anti-modern and anti-science enough as it is already (except when it comes to some matters of physics and astronomy, because it would seem that The Vatican has a big telescope and now feels sort of kind of bad about having excommunicated Galileo, or maybe sort of kind of doesn't:

Atila Sinke Guimarães, a conservative Catholic writer, dismisses the church's mistreatment of Galileo as a "black legend." The scientist, he says, got what he deserved. "The Inquisition was very moderate with him. He wasn't tortured.")

(Image: Galileo Galilei Before the Holy Office (1847), by Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury, depicting an imagining of events in 1633. Click to enlarge...a bit.)

U.S. Military Teaches Foreign Students That Liberals Subverted America's Judeo-Christian Heritage | from Talk To Action

There's a program in the military called the International Military Student Officer (IMSO) program. This program is run by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, and exists in all branches of the military. But, while this program is run by the military, the Secretary of State is responsible for its "continuous supervision and general direction."

The IMSO program includes military training (particularly the training of foreign military personnel on equipment acquired by their countries from the United States) as well as instruction in such things as foreign policy, civil affairs, and security. Another of its core missions is to "Promote better understanding of the United States, its people, political system, institutions, democratic values, and way of life." To fulfill this mission, the program also includes intensive instruction on American government and culture....

Foreign military students are taught that America is a Christian nation, and that liberals, starting with the liberal justices appointed by F.D.R., have subverted America's so-called judeo-christian heritage, and how the "courts struggle with ... accommodation of atheists demanding religion be kept out of public life."

These are the last three paragraphs of a lengthy essay on American religion in the "American Family Life and Community Life: Religious Institutions" section of the IMSO training:

via www.talk2action.org

Indicators of a Tectonic Shift on the Religious Right? | from Talk To Action

Two developments since the New Apostolic Reformation emerged as a focus of national controversy in the wake of Texas Gov. Rick Perry's prayer rally, The Response, may indicate that some realignments are underway on the Religious Right -- and perhaps even in the wider world of conservative evangelicalism.  

First, the American Family Association (AFA) directed two of its radio talk show hosts to sever relationships with Brannnon Howse of Worldview Weekend, who had been critical of NAR and The Response. AFA had underwritten the costs of the rally.  Warren Throckmorton, writing at Religion Dispatches reported:  

The talk show hosts, John Loeffler and Todd Friel, have shows aired by American Family Radio and also speak at Howse sponsored events. According to Tim Wildmon, president of the AFA, "we identified two people with programs on our networks and told them, 'you have to make a choice.'"

Now, Worldview Weekend reports that prominent evangelical author, preacher and broadcaster, John MacArthur also denounced NAR in a recent sermon.  

 

via www.talk2action.org

Gingrich, Perry privately address pastors' group: Gingrich and Perry privately addressed a pastors' group in Orlando - OrlandoSentinel.com

A California-based Christian activist group sponsored a meeting of Florida pastors in Orlando this week featuring private speeches from Republican presidential candidates Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich and production of a political-activism video.

Participants in the meeting Thursday and Friday disclosed little about the event or the group behind it, United in Purpose. The group's spokesman was not available.

The appearances by candidates at the event, dubbed The Florida Renewal Project, also were shrouded in secrecy.

via www.orlandosentinel.com

Also from the article:

Stemberger said Thursday that more than 800 Florida pastors were expected. He said their expenses were being paid by private donors he could not identify.

"There are persons that made it possible for them to come and have accommodations here and have their meals taken care of. There's no charge to the pastors," Stemberger said.

In addition to hearing Perry and Gingrich, the pastors came to participate in "Champion the Vote," a nationwide campaign seeking to register an additional 5 million Christian-conservative voters this fall.

For that campaign, Stemberger, the pastors and other participants, including Dallas, were producing a DVD video on the potential voting power of Christian conservatives. The video is to be distributed for a nationwide coordination of church and house parties on Nov. 12 called "One Nation Under God."

Priest Says Catholics Must Oppose Politicians Who Don't Oppose "Intrinsically Evil" Homosexuality | Right Wing Watch

The mayor of El Paso, Texas and two city councilmembers are facing recall elections after their support of domestic partner benefits for city employees raised the ire of Religious Right activists. One of the proponents of the recall, Rev. Michael Rodriguez, was reassigned out of the El Paso Roman Catholic diocese after paying for advertisements saying that the choice for Catholic voters in the election was “clear” and they must support the recall.

In an interview last week with Michael J. Matt of The Remnant, Rodriguez said, “Every single Catholic has a moral obligation before God Himself to oppose any government attempt to legalize homosexual unions” and “oppose this homosexual agenda.” Rodriguez told the newspaper that “even a pagan, bereft of the light of faith, can arrive at the conclusion that homosexual acts are intrinsically evil.”

via www.rightwingwatch.org