The Congressional repeal of the ban on open service by LGBT Americans in the armed services dealt a serious blow to the un-Christian Right.

For the alpha male of the wolfpack, Family Research Council, it was the second serious blow in just a few months: FRC had already been warned that in 2011 it will be classified as a hate group due to its repeated assertion of deliberate and malicious falsehoods instead of truths in public debate. Now the successful repeal suggests to would-be donors that FRC is politically incompetent.

To rally their remaining forces, FRC and Jerry Falwell’s Liberty Counsel are leading the members of the far-right “(anti)Freedom Federation” — a cabal of undemocratic groups that seek to abolish the constitutional rights of religious and sexual minorities — in a campaign to sue anyone who stands in their way.

How’s that for irony? The same groups that claim to oppose activist judges and lawyers are openly counting upon activist judges to save them.

Such a strategy may seem doomed to failure — after all, Congress finally repealed Don’t Ask Don’t Tell because if they didn’t, they knew that the courts would repeal DADT for them.

But the (anti)Freedom Foundation’s strategy is not solely intended to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. The group’s campaign of legal harassment against minority servicemembers serves long-term objectives of the far right:

• politicize the judiciary
• exploit media attention to specific legal cases to focus public attention upon anecdotal cases in which antigay Christians claim to be victimized by the denial of their right to deny rights to others
• encourage rabid Tea Partiers and theocrats to vote responsible judges out of office, as happened this year in Iowa
• use legal threats and public pressure to intimidate local and state officials into disregarding federal law
• outspend or shout-down the defense in selected court cases, resulting in scattered victories on technicalities which will be greatly publicized through news media that uncritically grant free soapboxes to FRC
• foster a climate in the armed services in which evangelical Christians and anti-Semites continue to demand and receive special privileges
• intimidate religious and sexual minorities in the armed services through bullying rather than official policy

Each of the following organizations has signed onto the Freedom Federation and is therefore complicit in the federation’s “full mobilization” against the armed services and against the rights of religious minorities. In the coming months, each organization and each of its leaders must be aggressively called out and repudiated for their contempt toward the nation’s defense, the U.S. judiciary, equal opportunity, and democratic values.

• American Association of Christian Counselors www.aacc.net
• American Family Association www.afa.net
• Americans for Prosperity www.americansforprosperity.org
• American Values http://www.ouramericanvalues.org/
• Bott Radio Network www.bottradionetwork.com
• Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny (BOND) www.bondinfo.org
• Burning Media Group www.burningmediagroup.com
• Catholic Online www.catholic.org
• Church of God in Christ www.cogic.org
• Concerned Women for America www.cwfa.org
• Eagle Forum www.eagleforum.org
• Exodus International www.exodus-international.org
• Extraordinary Women www.ewomen.net
• Family Research Council Action www.frcaction.org
• Generals International www.generals.org
• Harvest International Ministries
• High Impact Leadership Coalition www.thetruthinblackandwhite.com
• Liberty Alliance Action www.libertyalliance.org
• Liberty Counsel www.lc.org
• Liberty University www.liberty.edu
• Life Education and Resource Network (LEARN) www.blackgenocide.org
• Lifenews.com www.lifenews.com
• Morning Star Ministries www.morningstarministries.org
• National Clergy Council www.nationalclergycouncil.org
• National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference www.nhclc.org
• Renewing American Leadership
• Strang Communications www.strang.com
• Teen Mania www.teenmania.com
• Teen Pact www.teenpact.com
• The Call www.thecall.com
• The Conservative Action Project
• • The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission www.erlc.com
• Traditional Values Coalition www.traditionalvalues.org
• Vision America www.visionamerica.us
• WallBuilders www.wallbuilders.com

(The Awakening Conference was sponsored by the Freedom Federation and held April 15-16 at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, VA. Truth Wins Out’s founder Wayne Besen reports live from the event )

If the Religious Right fringe one day establishes a theocracy in America, no one will be able to credibly claim that they did not explicitly broadcast their dubious intentions. Having just spent two days at “The Awakening” conference at the late Rev. Jerry Falwell’ Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, one message was unmistakable: Many key Religious Right figures vehemently reject separation of church and state and believe America is a fundamentalist Christian nation.

“The Bible is the government of the people, by the people and for the people,” thundered Cindy Jacobs of General’ International from the stage. “I believe there is an awakening to do just that.”

What’ frightening is that many leaders on the Religious Right hold a basic belief system that is seemingly incompatible with democratic forms of government. Their central tautological argument is that liberty originated from God and so the only way to be truly free is through a theocratic system that honors the creator of freedom.

Huh? Exactly.

According to this mindset, God has ordained the faithful to be in positions of leadership, rendering any form of government that does not elevate these “chosen ones” or reflect their extreme views as illegitimate.

The Saturday night rally began with a surprising controversy. Lou Engle (pictured), the constantly rocking, intense, mustachioed cleric of The Call with the booming voice of a professional wrestler declared, “We are here to honor all denominations. There will be no tongues tonight.”

This left many in the audience offended, and well, tongue-tied. In a huff, several people stormed out of the main chapel. Sensing a gaffe, Engle soon reappeared on-stage and happily declared, “I apologize, we can speak in tongues!”

At this heavily advertised event, there was no shortage of the paranoid and prejudiced. But, one pleasant surprise was that attacks on LGBT people were on the decline. The crowd was more riled about President Barack Obama’ healthcare plan, which the Family Research Council’ Tony Perkins referred to onstage as “a socialistic time bomb.”

The big news at the conference came from Engle. While sitting in the audience during the “LGBT Agenda” breakout session, he spoke up and conceded that the next generation of evangelical Christians is largely supportive of LGBT rights (but not abortion). Engle said that when he preaches against gay people, the Christian youth often “rage against him.” Engle, a giant in right wing circles, said that the far right has lost on this issue barring a miracle, such as an intercession at a 500,000 strong youth rally. When he floated this idea to the activists on-stage, The Liberty Counsel’ Matt Barber said they should privately discuss such a rally after the forum.

Good luck with that idea, considering the breakout session at Falwell U. drew only 15 people. Virtually everyone in the small crowd was a hardcore anti-gay activist from groups such as Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX). Clearly, gay bashing was an issue that was not motivating many young people, as it has been in the past. (Although, it seems Engle’ group, The Call, may already be testing his intercession plan in Uganda) (Read More)

When we last visited the new Freedom Federation, Exodus International was joining this federation of Christian Right organizations in order to proclaim “real freedom” from the dangerous personal and religious liberties of any Americans who might seek equality under the law.

Now, through its sponsorship of the Freedom Federation, Exodus has joined the religious right’s war against “real change” of America’s broken health-care system.

Last week, according to Talk To Action:

Speaking for the organization, Ken Blackwell, former Ohio Secretary of State and now a senior fellow for family empowerment at the Family Research Council said that the Freedom Federation “will be a stop sign and say, `Let’s apply reason and thought and broaden participation.’” Organization spokespersons say that some of their major concerns about health care reform revolves around “taxpayer-supported abortion, rationed health care for the elderly and government control of personal health decisions,” USA Today recently reported.

Blackwell’s unflattering characterizations of reform were civil compared to those of Federation members. Talk To Action pointed out that Gary Bauer’s Campaign for Working Families is working on a campaign to “stop Obama’s socialism,” while Andrea Lafferty’s Traditional Values Coalition — according to the Washington Post — is “trying to stop `Obamunists’ from destroying private health care.”

Why does Exodus support the Freedom Federation, if in fact Exodus does not support the religious right’s war against “real change” in health care?

And just how does Exodus — which claims to offer counseling and support to persons who are conflicted about their same-sex attraction — foresee a defamatory culture war against health care offering “real hope” to ex-gays who need legitimate mental-health care?