Radical Cleric Uses Violent Imagery and Overheated Rhetoric In Anti-Gay Crusade

ST. LOUIS – Truth Wins Out’ released a special report today, “The Stealth Bomber Meeting”, that detailed a chilling sermon in support of theocracy in America and renewed culture war against LGBT people by radical pastor Lou Engle of The Call Ministry. The popular cleric unleashed his extreme rhetoric during a revival at the Gateway House of Prayer in St. Louis.

Truth Wins Out’ Evan Hurst slipped into the event to document the extreme and delusional ideology of Engle, who considers himself a prophet sent by God to warn San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom that he would be judged for “promoting homosexuality.”

A frequent theme in Engle’ fiery St. Louis talk was crushing LGBT equality and rolling back recent gains.

“It’ the rod of God,” bellowed Engle from the stage. “I am looking for the secret of heaven that can penetrate the homosexual agenda with the love of Jesus and the truth!”

Engle’ preaching was decidedly political and his sermon repeatedly used violent, anti-gay imagery designed to rile up the crowd of 200 intense followers.

“If we’re struggling with a homosexual, same-sex desire, LET THE BIBLE KILL YOU, rather than make it easier for you, and say well, there must be a better scriptural answer to this…Brothers and sisters, let the Bible kill you rather than you twist the scriptures!”

“The remarkable thing about this event was how violent the rhetoric from leaders like Lou Engle is becoming,” said Evan Hurst, who authored the report for Truth Wins Out. “As we cross the tipping point where solidly half the population supports equality, I worry and wonder how much more extreme they will become, once an overwhelming majority of the public supports equal rights.”

Earlier this year, TWO’ Wayne Besen attended an anti-gay conference in Lynchburg where Engle acknowledged that when he preaches against LGBT issues, Christian youth often “rage against him.” Engle said that the far right has lost on this issue barring a miracle. One idea floated by Engle to turn the tide was creating an intercession by holding a 500,000 strong youth rally.

“It appears that Engle is following-through on his pledge to seek extreme solutions to what he rightfully sees as increased acceptance for LGBT people in America,” said Truth Wins Out’ Executive Director Wayne Besen. “Unfortunately, he is creating a potentially dangerous situation by turning to violent imagery and overheated rhetoric. Although Engle may sound delusional, he has many followers and people must pay attention to what he is preaching. He believes what he says and so do his cult-like minions.”

Engle has also been criticized for his large role in fomenting anti-gay sentiment in Uganda, where the notorious Anti-Homosexuality Bill is being considered by the legislature.

Truth Wins Out is a non-profit organization that defends the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community against anti-gay misinformation campaigns, counters the so-called “ex-gay” industry and educates about the lives of LGBT people.

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Call me Jezebel.

If you were Lou Engle, you would. He would call all of you Jezebel. In fact, he did last Tuesday night in St. Louis at a revival at the Gateway House of Prayer. As Wayne reported on Friday, Lou Engle and the team from TheCall are holding a series of revivals/schools every night from June 19 to July 12, open to the public. Thus, it was as a member of “the public” that I traveled to St. Louis on Tuesday to attend one of these sessions, alongside approximately two hundred of Engle’s faithful followers.

Most of the crowd was under thirty, and the striking thing was that most wouldn’t have looked out of place at Starbucks. They were suburban, to be sure, but there were also more than a few visible tattoos in the room. This is Lou Engle’s “Elijah Generation,” which represents a shift away from the overly coiffed, good-haired fundamentalist men of stereotype as well as reality. Quite frankly, I didn’t feel out of place, physically. However, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally, it was soon made very clear that, though no one in the Gateway House of Prayer made so much as a move to speak to me or welcome me*, they considered me not only to be an enemy, but moreover one of the greatest threats to their well-being. This was disconcerting to experience as an adult, fully removed from the angst-ridden, closeted paranoia of my conservative Christian adolescence, but I’ll come back to that in a moment.

The evening began with a worship team leading the crowd in singing what some might call “songs,” for almost an hour and a half. However, they really weren’t “songs,” but more repetitive kindergarten-level chants. The praise leader would seize on a line like “I love you Jesus” or “Worthy is the lamb,” or a short, equally simple verse, and then lead the group in singing it over and over again, sometimes for more than ten minutes, before going seamlessly into another simple phrase and melody. The overall effect, I noticed, was a sort of hypnosis that fell over the crowd, as the young people in that room showed how serious they were about praising God by swaying, dancing, holding their hands in the air, and the like. Those in the front were the first to stand and sway and raise their hands, and, like a slow wave, the physical expression moved backward through the rows until it reached, and passed behind, me. The congregants would call this “The Holy Spirit,” perhaps, but really, it was just good old fashioned peer pressure. More than anything, the word that kept going through my head was “occult.” They were doing nothing less than going into ceremony, as Lou Engle’s bodyguard/bouncer kept a watchful eye from the front corner of the room, perhaps peering into the crowd for evidence of uninitiated outsiders or insiders not fully toeing the line.

Behave as a member of the tribe, or be discovered. And so I did, until Lou Engle finally stopped rocking back and forth in his seat in the front row and began to speak. I have embedded, in several segments, most of Lou Engle’s talk.** For each, I will summarize, analyze and comment on what was said, and the implications therein. If you’re pressed for time, I’m putting the most significant/egregiously awful quotes in bold print. The summary starts after the jump.

(Read More)

Iran:

Morality police are conducting their annual crackdown and women who reveal strands of hair are liable to be stopped in the streets for failing to respect the dress code, or “hijab”.

Ahmadinejad’s surprisingly liberal view was condemned by fellow hard-liner politicians and senior clerics “I wish he had not said those words about the hijab,” Grand Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati told the faithful during the week’s Friday prayers, in a rare criticism of the president.

“We are grappling with many problems including economic and political ones but the issues of morality and ethical security are among the important issues that cannot be ignored,” he said.

Maine:

When BP sank an oil shaft deep into the earth — a mile below the surface of the Gulf, and another two miles through rock — it showed a stunning lack of prudence and foresight. For the sake of economy, the company left off an indispensable safety valve; and out poured an unstoppable torrent of oil. The heavy crude oil and asphalt immediately began killing all the creatures that swim in the sea, fly through the air or build their nests on land.

Those who viewed the environmental damage ‚Äî Christians and non-believers alike ‚Äî called the damage “apocalyptic.” Our culture is awash in a flood of impurity of another kind, and that is the loosening of the rules intended to conserve and perpetuate life.

The shining whiteness of the bridal gown, symbolizing purity and the power that purity conveys, has been stained — or smudged, if you will — by pornography, sex before marriage, marital infidelity, divorce, abortion and, now, so-called marriages between people of the same sex.

Like the dirty oil that pours uncontrollably into the waters of the Gulf, this withering tide of immorality at times seems impossible to control. No one has been successful in stopping the onslaught, since many parts of our society share a mistaken view of human freedom. When used properly, freedom is good and life-enhancing, but when misapplied, freedom works against life.

Not all free actions are moral; and not all actions that are legal are good. In the case of slavery, free and legal actions were profoundly cruel and hateful. The same is true of abortion, the worst moral evil of our time.

The title of that piece? “Immorality is Worse Than Oil Spill.”

Who needs radical Muslim ayatollahs when you have radical Christian clerics saying basically the same things? There is a pattern throughout literalist, orthodox religion, of all kinds, that seeks to distract people from real issues (like economic and political freedom in Iran, or the millions of gallons of oil destroying the Gulf of Mexico) and refocus them on issues of no import (like the hijab or the freedom of two people in the United States to fall in love and build a life together).

This is why it’s so funny to me when hardline Christians criticize hardline Muslims. They have so much in common!

(h/t G-A-Y)

If Peter LaBarbera, Brian Camenker and Amy Contrada are “investigative reporters,” then I’m the Mayor of Cowboy Spaceman Ballerina Ninja Turtles, and you will respect my authority as such!

Anyway, the She-Spies up there have released a report on Elena Kagan’s “Radically Pro-Homosexual, Pro-Transsexual Record” when she was at Harvard, so let’s have a look:

WARNING: Offensive Language

Apparently Contrada couldn’t refrain from dropping F-bombs throughout the slumber party, I mean “investigation.”

Many will be shocked at just how extreme Harvard has become ‚Äî and the radical sexual/gender policies advanced by Kagan. Kudos to Amy and our friends at Mass Resistance for doing the reporting that most in the liberal media refuses to do (because too many agree with Kagan’ left-wing social agenda).

It’s nice when SPLC-certified hate groups are able to play nice with each other. It shows they don’t just hate willy-nilly, but rather can unite under the common cause of hating gays and SCOTUS nominees anywhere to the left of Genghis Khan.

Anyway, the whole report is at MassResistance’s website, and you can peruse it for yourself if you’re bored to tears or waiting for a dishwasher to be delivered or something, or if you want the Cliff Notes version, go to Peter’s site. Basically, they’re angry because Elena Kagan isn’t a bigot. That’s all you need to know. What’s funny, though, is that, though I understand that, naturally, hard right extremist hate group leaders aren’t likely to fall in love with a centrist Democrat’s pick for the Supreme Court, they don’t seem to understand democracy at all. Their side lost fair and square in the last election. Unless they pull a rabbit out of a hat (and abandon their hilarious belief that they need to run further to the right to beat Obama next time around), they will lose fair and square in the 2012 elections.

So, you know, deal with it. Obama gets to appoint justices to the Supreme Court, and neither of his picks so far have been all that radical. Actual progressives (as opposed to the caricatures of progressives that conservatives draw) wish he would name a real liberal to the court, but it hasn’t happened. If and when the Republicans take back the White House, that president will get to make SCOTUS appointments.

Civics 101!

(Weekly Column)

There was certainly no waffling in Belgium when law enforcement officials raided a Catholic Bishop’ meeting to pursue tawdry allegations of sexual abuse by pedophile priests. When Pope Benedict XVI heard about the operation, he put down his incense and announced he was incensed that police actually did their jobs to protect minors from major abuses. He called the police action “surprising and deplorable”, which more accurately might describe the way Rome has handled the child rape crisis.

Make no mistake — the raid was harsh, heavy-handed — and certainly long overdue. It is important to remember that the authorities only acted after the church stonewalled and failed to follow-through on promises it made to refer abuse cases to prosecutors under a 1990s agreement.

In condemning the sting operation, the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, tried to hide behind diplomatic protocol by calling the police practices “serious and unbelievable” and compared them to the handiwork of communist dictatorships.

However, if the Vatican were a genuine country where leaders abused children on such a massive scale worldwide, they would have suffered far more serious consequences. There would surely be calls in the United Nations for sanctions and a demand that the Pope step down.

The heart of the matter is that the Holy See wants to remain in charge of investigations, despite its complete and utter failure to comprehensively investigate, no less discipline, wayward priests. They obviously remain clueless on the gravity of the situation and heartless in the clumsy way they often treat their victims.

At this point, The Roman Catholic Church arguably has less credibility than the despicable North American Man Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) in terms of investigating allegations of abuse. If you think this is anti-Catholic hyperbole, consider that the Vatican has a total of ten investigators to cover hundreds of complaints worldwide. Pause and digest this paltry number for a moment…then get really angry.

That’ right, the Los Angles Lakers have two more basketball players than the Vatican has child sexual abuse investigators. Rome’ entire molestation unit is the size of two Jackson 5′. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the Pope has hired more than ten personal shoppers to help him pick out his Prada shoes.

Now, compare the figures 10 and 400.

The former we know, and the latter is the total number of sexual abuse allegations leveled against Belgian priests since the 80′. Of course, the Church created a puppet committee in Belgium to plod through the cases. But, we all know that Rome’ specialty is stonewalling and smokescreens. Given the disparity between promises to actual prosecutions, no country that cares about its children should allow the Vatican authority to police itself. The time for ceding control to Rome must end and civil authorities worldwide should follow Belgium’ laudable lead.

Left to its own deviant devices, the Vatican’ instincts are to pass the buck, while giving guilty priests a pass. When the abuse cases first came to light in the United States, the Vatican tried to spin the immoral monstrosity as an American problem, as if latitude and longitude caused the lechery and lies.

The geographical excuse imploded after an avalanche of child rape allegations came from all corners of the world including the Catholic strongholds of Ireland, Austria and Germany. In a panic, the Pope and his minions tried to blame everything from gossip to gay men.

Indeed, Belgium’ Archbishop L?©onard has long tried to demonize LGBT people. Three years ago he said they were “abnormal,” with “a blockage in their normal psychological development.” That’ interesting, because the police just raided his church over a pedophilia cover-up, not one of the many gay establishments or organizations in Brussels.

In the controversial raid, according to Time Magazine:

Police sealed off St. Rumbold’s Cathedral in Mechelen, north of Brussels, where the nine bishops were meeting, and carried away computers and hundreds of files. They drilled into the tombs of prelates Leo Jozef Suenens and Jozef-Ernest van Roey ‚Äî who headed the Belgian Catholic Church between 1926 and 1979 ‚Äî and poked a camera inside to look for hidden documents. At the same time, they raided the home and seized the laptop of Cardinal Godfried Danneels, who was the head of the Belgian Catholic Church for three decades until L?©onard succeeded him in January. The police also went to nearby Leuven to search the premises of the independent Church body that is investigating hundreds of cases of clerical abuse.

In this particular case, I say, “drill baby, drill.” This is the way to run a proper investigation. Law enforcement across the globe must stop coddling alleged criminals and enabling a Vatican cover-up. The Pope’ kangaroo investigative committees ought to be dismantled immediately and the police should handle the possible crimes.

If the Pope and his cohorts are truly men of God, wouldn’t they welcome much-needed assistance for their obviously overburdened and beleaguered ten investigators?

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports today:

The U.S. Supreme Court today upheld an appellate court ruling that the Vatican can be sued for sexual cleared the way for St. Paul lawyer Jeff Anderson to sue Pope Benedict on behalf of sex-abuse victims when it refused Monday to hear the Vatican’s appeal of an Oregon lawsuit. …

In declining to hear the case, the court upheld an appeals court ruling that the Vatican can be sued for sexual abuse if church officials knowingly reassign priests who have been accused of such acts in their previous parishes. The Vatican appeal had argued that the U.S. courts lacked jurisdiction over the Rome-based church.

This is great news — but it comes too late for countless youths who have been sexually abused by the likes of ex-gay activist Mike Jones — whose Michigan-based Corduroy Stone ministry was a veteran member of Exodus International. Truth Wins Out exposed Jones’ wrongdoing last year — but Exodus did not sever ties with Jones until nine months later. Not only has Jones not faced justice; Jones’ abusive activities have been hosted for free on Michigan State University’s web site. Like other member abusers, Jones was sheltered by Exodus long after his abuses were publicly exposed.

And the Supreme Court decision also comes too late for countless youths who were detained by Exodus’ flagship Love In Action-Refuge boot camp in Tennessee. For years, LIA reportedly exposed youths to potential predators during counseling sessions and hired untrained amateurs to control youths’ access to vital medications. By 2005, Tennessee regulators became alarmed by these reports and sought to take action. But in 2007, state officials — who again are funded and kept in office by Christian Right lobbies — overruled the regulators, effectively determining that the “religious freedom” of Christian Rightists serves as an absolute defense against Christian Rightists’ felony abuse of youths and against the freedom of religious minorities. To this day, LIA’s “Families and Friends Weekends” train relatives and peers to stubbornly trust in defamations about their loved ones despite all factual evidence to the contrary.

In both situations, government officials — intimidated or funded by Christian Right lobbyists — failed to prosecute and convict sexual, physical, and religious abuse.

The latest Supreme Court ruling gives hope to hundreds of thousands of clergy sex abuse victims. But until state and federal officials shed their financial and political ties to the Christian Right, victims of “ex-gay” abusers will continue to watch Exodus shield its abusive counselors. These victims also will continue to be shunned by the public officials who were elected and employed to ensure freedom, safety, and justice for all — not just for the Christian Right.

This is a huge ruling where nondiscrimination is concerned:

An ideologically split Supreme Court ruled Monday that a law school can legally deny recognition to a Christian student group that won’t let gays join, with one justice saying that the First Amendment does not require a public university to validate or support the group’s “discriminatory practices.”

The court turned away an appeal from the Christian Legal Society, which sued to get funding and recognition from the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law. The CLS requires that voting members sign a statement of faith and regards “unrepentant participation in or advocacy of a sexually immoral lifestyle” as being inconsistent with that faith.

But Hastings, which is in San Francisco, said no recognized campus groups may exclude people due to religious belief or sexual orientation.

The court on a 5-4 judgment upheld the lower court rulings saying the Christian group’s First Amendment rights of association, free speech and free exercise were not violated by the college’s nondiscrimination policy.

Note the important factor here is that the group in question wanted to have it both ways: to be sponsored/funded by the university, yet discriminate against an entire class of people. The Religious Right will, as they commence moaning about “activist judges,” gloss over this fact, but the Christian group wasn’t hurt in any way. They simply have to play by the rules of any other organization on campus, which, to them, is sometimes the greatest offense of all.

(h/t Joe Sudbay)

For all the talk of a conservative resurgence prior to mid-term elections, there is mounting evidence that the movement is losing steam.

The Virginian-Pilot reports that a major event for social conservatives, Freedom Fest 2010, was held on Sunday evening in Old Dominion University’ Ted Constant Convocation Center in Norfolk. Despite much-ballyhooed speaking appearances by right wing rock stars, Oliver North, former Sen. George “macacca” Allen and Sarah Palin, attendance was a great disappointment.

The audience filled less than one-third of the arena, but many who showed up said they were looking for something to cheer.

The news report does say that the crowd was “boisterous” and spent most of its time attacking Barack Obama. This is important, because all too often the media confuses rowdy Tea Bagger crowds with genuine popular support. But, if the religious right (with the star power of Palin and North) can’t even fill an arena in Old Dominion — then they are not as strong as they would have us believe. In fact, the evidence suggests a force in decline – albeit one that is still extremely strong and volatile.

Indeed, Truth Wins Out has attended several right wing rallies in the past few months that were complete busts. Here is my observation from a recent event I attended:

Early this morning, I went to the heavily promoted, “May Day 2010: A Cry To God For A Nation In Distress.” It was organized by Janet Porter (formerly Folger in red jacket) who is best known for running the failed “ex-gay” Truth in Love ad campaign in 1998.

The event was a bust. Less than 300 (not official count, but my own estimate) people turned out in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington today to hear a star-studded line-up of evangelists and right wing political leaders. Organizers claimed from the stage that the event cost $70,000, so they had clearly expected an impressive turnout.

Another conference, “The Awakening” at the late Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University in April also failed to attract a sizable audience, even though it was packed with notable anti-gay activists.

Anyway, back to the Old Dominion wing nut wingding. Here is a quote from a couple who are allegedly Democrats who must be moonlighting at the GOP. Check out this quote:

“We’ve been registered Democrats for 30 years,” said Ronnie Cooper, who drove up with his wife from Currituck County, N.C. “The party has lost its way. It’ been taken over by a bunch of left-leaning, socialist ideologues. Sarah Palin and the tea party look like the answer.”

Yeah, right. These were Democrats who were so disillusioned that Sarah Palin sounded like she was the answer. Are we supposed to believe this?

At the rally, Palin repeated her usual militaristic drivel.

“Don’t retreat. Don’t retreat,” she said. “Just reload. That’ what we’ve got to do.”

And there were the predictable attacks on Obama:

“He sees a country that has to be apologized for around the world, especially to dictators,” the former Alaska governor said. “We want to be a dominant superpower. It’ in America’ best interest and the world’ that we are.”

Disgraced former Sen. George Allen threw out some red meat, since there must have not been any minorities to insult:

“We’re sick and tired of being jerked around ” by foreign dictators in order to get their oil, Allen said.

Oliver North continued the nationalistic chest-thumping:

“America has nothing to apologize for,” North said.

The newspaper brings up a good point when it discusses the fact that Right Wing political stars have essentially privatized politics and charge a pretty penny:

Audience members paid between $33 and $133 for seats in the arena; a few ponied up $1,000 to $1,200 for VIP tickets that allowed them to pose for photos with Palin and North.

Palin’ Norfolk appearance, her first since a 2008 Virginia Beach campaign swing, was one of three paid appearances in a few days. On Saturday, she spoke at The Oil Palace arena in Tyler, Texas, and is scheduled to appear Tuesday in the Gwinnett Center arena in suburban Atlanta.

Despite the public’ willingness to compensate Palin and other political figures to hear their thoughts, Quentin Kidd, a political science professor at Christopher Newport University, said he’ not enthused about the practice.

“In the old days, when a political cause or a campaign held a rally, the attendees could feel pretty confident that they were all motivated by the same cause,” he said.

But when the political faithful are buying tickets to hear speakers at a for-profit event, it can be hard to tell “if the organization or speaker was motivated by the same cause or if they’re simply motivated by a paycheck,” Kidd said. “It’ a pretty important and significant shift away from the normal political event.”

This garbage – coming from North, Allen and Palin – is what one of our major parties has been reduced to. Quite tragic…and dangerous. A nation that elevates such small minds simply can’t remain a successful and powerful country.

Maybe Peter LaBarbera* can go try to convert the Stanley Cup into an ex-gay or dress it up like a leatherdaddy:

The adventurous Stanley Cup will make its first appearance in a gay-themed event this weekend.

The Chicago Gay Hockey Association invited the Blackhawks to join Sunday’s Gay Pride Parade — and the team said yes. So did the Chicago Cubs, who will have their own float for the first time.

Blackhawks defenseman Brent Sopel and his wife, Kelly, will accompany the Cup on a float. Sopel, traded to Atlanta this week, is a father of three and said he’s not trying to make a statement.

“But everybody is a person, and we all have feelings,” he said.

That’s pretty cool. See, wingnuts? That’s how actual straight men who are actually comfortable with their actual sexuality act.

Happy pride, everybody.

(h/t Roy Edroso, who also says “Happy Pride”)

*Oh, secret message to Chicago pride-goers: If you see Peter, make out with the nearest acceptable person of the same gender lovingly and enthusiastically, right in front of him. He likes that.

It’s like Name that Tune, but for bigots! Here’s what Tony Perkins had to say about CNN’s Gary and Tony Have a Baby:

CNN gave homosexual activists the gift of a free hour-long infomercial last night–in the form of a primetime special about homosexual parents called “Gary and Tony Have a Baby.” Actually, it should have been called “Gary and Tony Buy a Baby.” As viewers learned, the two homosexual men first purchase human eggs from an egg donor; use the sperm of one of them for in vitro fertilization; and finally rent the womb of a surrogate to bear the baby. The total cost runs a cool $160,000. The closest that host Soledad O’Brien came to raising an ethical question was to ask why the couple didn’t adopt instead. Not once did they explain why the process involved 14 eggs and two embryos–but only one baby.

Because that’s how in vitro works…I guess CNN thought their viewers were marginally intelligent?

It was obvious throughout the that these men are political activists for the homosexual cause (even using the newborn as a prop at a same-sex “marriage” rally).

The way Palin carts Trig around like a sack of potatoes to give “pro-life” people a thrill up their legs?

Meanwhile, the only reference to people who oppose same-sex “marriage” (which, incidentally, is at least 70 percent of the American population)

Liar. Only 53% oppose equality, a number which drops every day. Meanwhile, many who oppose equal marriage do support civil unions and domestic partnerships. The reality is that around over 70% of Americans support some form of legal recognition for gay couples. Sorry, Tony. Your readers are stupid, but mine aren’t.

was to express fear that one of them would physically harm the baby. Equally tragic, one of the men said that no one has ever given him a reason why their lifestyle choice is harmful. Here’s one–they are deliberately and permanently depriving this child of a mother. CNN seems content to tug at the heartstrings rather than report the news. They imply that the “love” or affection that these men feel for each other and for the baby that they’ve manufactured is enough. Love is important, but it isn’t sufficient. Social science proves that children suffer from not having a married mom and dad, so why is CNN promoting two people who would deliberately put their baby in that situation?

Liar. What social science has actually shown is that children do best in a home with two loving parents, in general, and some of the research shows that children of gay couples do better. The studies you and yours cite tend to involve pitting children of married heterosexual parents against those of single parents, a distinction your readers may not be savvy enough to notice. Again, though, my readers are smart.

I understand that the truth sucks for Tony Perkins, but that doesn’t mean he gets to make up his own.

(h/t Joe)