Brian Tashman's blog

Jennifer LeClaire, the news editor of Charisma Magazine, is warning against new comic books that feature openly gay superheroes, explaining that she views “the rise of gay superheroes as just another example of the spirit of immorality waging war on young souls.” She writes that the “the industry is planting seeds in young minds” of “the spirit of sexual immorality” and asks readers to “pray for the people behind the industries that are pumping out anti-Christ content laced with immorality and idolatry of all kinds”:

Some have said the recent same-sex moves in the comic book industry are about driving more revenue to the bottom line. Others claim it’s political correctness. I can’t judge the motives of man’s heart. No matter the motive, I see the rise of gay superheroes as just another example of the spirit of immorality waging war on young souls. Although gay comic book heroes are far from the only example of how the spirit of immorality is targeting kids, it’s one of the most blatant I’ve seen in some time.

By printing comic book covers showing gay marriage and men kissing within the publication's pages, the industry is planting seeds in young minds that this is a cultural norm. Sadly, it may be a cultural norm—54 percent of American adults consider gay or lesbian relations morally acceptable, according to a recent Gallup poll. Nevertheless, gay marriage is not a biblical norm. People can twist Scriptures to show God smiling on the spirit of immorality in any form it takes—and homosexuality is merely one manifestation looking for the Christian nod in today’s society. But that doesn’t make it true.

The word the Holy Spirit brought to my mind is “insidious,” which Merriam-Webster defines as “awaiting a chance to entrap (treacherous); harmful but enticing (seductive); having a gradual and cumulative effect (subtle); and of a disease—developing so gradually as to be well established before becoming apparent.” Insidious is the absolute right word to describe the spirit of immorality’s work in the earth. The injection of gay superheroes into our children’s worldview is just one of the most shocking recent examples.

One Million Moms may have said it best: “Children desire to be just like superheroes. Children mimic superhero actions and even dress up in costumes to resemble these characters as much as possible. Can you imagine little boys saying, ‘I want a boyfriend or husband like X-Men’? Why do adult gay men need comic superheroes as role models? They want to indoctrinate impressionable young minds by placing these gay characters on pedestals in a positive light.”

We’re in an all-out war for the next generation—a generation too young to understand the battle. The spirit of immorality is working overtime to seduce our children—and the spirit of immorality doesn’t fight fair. We need to bind the spirit of sexual immorality. But we also need to pray for the people behind the industries that are pumping out anti-Christ content laced with immorality and idolatry of all kinds. We need to pray because I believe people who are leading our children into sin will pay a price if they don’t repent.

Anti-Muslim activist Frank Gaffney has served as an adviser to Michele Bachmann and on his talk show hosted Republican notables like Rand Paul, Allen West, Louie Gohmert, Peter King, along with many other Republican officials. Now that the GOP has all but embraced anti-Muslim views, his radical claims have not offended Republican leaders, except for his attacks against conservative leader Grover Norquist for supposedly aiding the Muslim Brotherhood.

Last week he hosted conservative columnist Diana West and lavished her “research” with praise, concluding that Obama is indeed ineligible to be president:

For her work on the birther issue, Gaffney hailed West as a “hero of the Republic”:

Gaffney repeated a fake, made-up quote that Obama supposedly admitted to not being born in the U.S. while running for U.S. Senate as fact, while West cited a baseless rumor about an omniscient mailman and another debunked hoax that Obama’s own grandmother said he was born in Kenya:

West went on to praise birther Sheriff Joe Arpaio, calling him an “American hero” and that “John Wayne could have played him,” and said that he proved that Obama’s birth certificate is a forgery. “We have the President of the United States and his support system pushing this document out as an authentic representation of the long form birth certificate,” Gaffney charged, “it certainly stinks to high heavens”:

The pair said that the government and the media were both actively suppressing the birthers’ “evidence,” with West maintaining that “we are not operating in a free society at this point” and that America is becoming an “authoritarian, dictatorial” society. Gaffney, of course, tied it all back to the supposed menace of Sharia law:

Gaffney said it was “reminiscent of how totalitarians suppress the truth,” much like in Communist societies, and then said it all goes back to Obama’s ties to Bill Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, Saul Alinsky…and Vladimir Lenin!

Again, this is supposed to be a leading “expert” on the Right.

In her Father’s Day message, Mission America president Linda Harvey warns that the “homosexual agenda” through advertisements from retailers like JC Penney and The Gap featuring same-sex couples is waging a “war on men.” Harvey was particularly perturbed by a JC Penney ad featuring dads Todd Koch and Cooper Smith with their son and daughter that spurred another boycott from the American Family Association’s OneMillionMoms, which has been boycotting the store for hiring Ellen DeGeneres as a spokesperson because she is openly gay. Harvey and OMM also pledged to boycott the Gap and its affiliated stores over a billboard with a gay couple.

Harvey said that the two retailers are “foolishly” promoting “sexual deviance” and maintained that “fathers and males in general are under attack in this culture.” “Traditional males and fatherhood are under assault everywhere they turn,” Harvey said, and that this Father’s Day they should be commended for not abandoning “the way God designed men”:

I read with astonishment that JC Penney is advertising Father’s Day with an ad featuring two real life homosexual males who are in a home with kids. The ad says that a father is ‘a swim coach, tent maker, best friend, bike fixer and hug giver—all rolled into one. Or two,’ but actually no, only one person is ever your dad, the other parent is your mom. We need to keep repeating this unchanging truth. The pro-family group OneMillionMoms has called for a boycott of JC Penney and I totally support their position. A few months ago OneMillionMoms brought attention to JC Penney because they chose homosexual celebrity Ellen DeGeneres as their spokesperson, DeGeneres is a talented entertainer, but not the right person for a department store to feature. Not, that is, if they want to keep a strong customer base among American families. This latest ad was featured in the company’s June catalogue. OneMillionMoms is suggesting families return their catalogues marked ‘refused, return to sender.’

JC Penney also featured a pair of lesbians for a Mother’s Day promotion. Someone at this company evidently has a big fixation on the homosexual agenda. And they are not the only retailer going foolishly into sexual deviance. The Gap has a billboard ad currently posted in Los Angeles with the theme, ‘Be One,’ the photo shows two homosexual males closely embracing as if they are one.

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Friends, fathers and males in general are under attack in this culture. There is not a war on women as claimed, but there does seem to be a war on men. Traditional males and fatherhood are under assault everywhere they turn. As we get ready to celebrate Father’s Day, let’s be sure to give extra attention and show our appreciation to those men, our fathers, husbands and sons, who are still, in spite of heavy pressure to be otherwise, faithful, loving and strong examples of the way God designed men to begin with.

Remember gay-demon-exorcist, Halloween-candy-foe and NAR Apostle Kimberly Daniels? The preacher was elected to the Jacksonville City Council last year despite her claims that “the Jews own everything,” Haiti’s 2010 earthquake was divine punishment and that President Obama is tied to the illuminati. As Jacksonville weighs passing an anti-discrimination ordinance strongly opposed by the Religious Right due to its protections for sexual orientation and gender identity, the freshman councilwoman said that proponents of the ordinance have “discriminated against” her and are “anti-God”:

Councilwoman Kimberly Daniels, who is also a local pastor, took a point of personal privilege to address how some individuals laughed at her and made comments at the May 22 meeting.

“I am a believer; I am a Christian,” Daniels said. “Religion is a protected class. What I experienced last Tuesday night, it was not pro gay; it was anti God.”

“My family is being harassed; my life is being threatened,” Daniels continued. “I have experienced so much hate from the homosexual community…I don’t care who sleeps with who… I love America…I would like not to be discriminated against, too.”

John Stemberger of the Florida Family Policy Council is organizing the opposition to the bill, warning that “this artificial, social construct called gay” is “new” and “dangerous”:

“We have basically exposed this piece of legislation for what it is,” Stemberger said following a June 5 hearing. “And that is an infringement upon religious liberties, the Constitution, and rights of association.”

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Stemberger put the issue into a larger context.

“Same-sex attraction has always been with us since the beginning of time. That’s nothing new. … What is new, and what is dangerous and what we oppose, is this artificial, social construct called gay,” Stemberger said. “It’s in your face; it’s shoving down your throat; and it’s intimidation. It’s not just, ‘let’s be left alone and let’s just have rights.’ It’s now forcing everyone else to agree—by the force of law and lawsuits with money damages. That’s what we oppose.”

Liberty Counsel’s Matt Barber and his boss Mat Staver were consistent critics of Mitt Romney and endorsed Newt Gingrich in the Republican primary, but now Barber is out with a new column begging the Religious Right to coalesce behind Romney and today spoke to Jordan Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice about his new found support for the former governor. Barber ironically began the interview by commenting that the ACLJ, like him, was probably bothered by Romney’s inconsistent record, even though both Jay and Jordan Sekulow vigorously supported Romney both times he ran for president and ACLJ attorney David French founded the group Evangelicals for Romney.

He said he came around to supporting Romney because of his pledge to nominate right-wing judges. “The one word that made the decision for me is judges,” Barber told Sekulow, warning that if Obama can make more appointments to the judiciary then he will create a “radical, secular, socialist, European-style nation.”

Barber went on to claim that he couldn’t “imagine any Christian in good conscience based on Obama’s radical, counter-biblical, anti-Christian, pro-abortion, pro-homosexual activism policies voting for Barack Obama.” Or as Barber puts it in his column, “any Christian who votes for Mr. Obama will get to take that up with God.”

The one word that made the decision for me is judges. Probably the most significant thing that any president can do for better or for worse and this may not be how our Founding Fathers intended it but it is the reality we live in is to appoint judges, particularly United States Supreme Court justices. The next president, either Barack Obama, radical secular socialist, or Mitt Romney, center-right Republican, the next president is going to appoint at least probably two, potentially three United States Supreme Court judges. That will affect law, public policy, our culture at large in perpetuity, for as far out as we can see for decades, it literally will make the difference. This next election I think is the most important election we ever faced in our lifetimes, it will make the difference based on Supreme Court appointments alone between an America that we can recognize, that at least resembles what our Founding Fathers intended, versus a radical, secular, socialist, European-style nation, which is the goal of Barack Obama.

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A Christian non-vote is a vote for Barack Obama in that it fails to affirmatively cancel out an Obama vote. I can’t imagine any Christian in good conscience based on Obama’s radical, counter-biblical, anti-Christian, pro-abortion, pro-homosexual activism policies voting for Barack Obama. That leaves a final choice, and that is to get out, vote for Mitt Romney, and get out the vote for Mitt Romney.

Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council filled in for Sandy Rios on her morning talk show last week on the American Family Association’s radio network and had to respond to a caller named J.R. who said that anti-gay activists like Perkins were promoting misconceptions about gays and lesbians while ignoring societal ills. Perkins tried to explain that equality for gays and lesbians has damaging consequences for society, warning that gay rights will end religious freedom and twist public accommodations laws.

He insisted that the Religious Right isn’t overlooking issues like alcoholism and adultery since there aren’t people advocating for “Adultery Pride Month” or “Drunkenness Pride Month” in the same way many recognize June as LGBT Pride Month. Later, another caller agreed with his assessment equating homosexuals with adulterers and alcoholics, and Perkins noted that “when it comes to drunkenness, we have laws that are trying to protect the rest of society.”

Perkins: The month of June is Gay Pride Month. Now, I have not yet seen where they have declared Adultery Pride Month, I have not seen where they have declared the Drunkenness Pride Month. Here’s the issue, J.R. it’s not a matter of whether or not someone can do what they want to do with their lives, God gave Adam and Eve a choice, but that’s not what we’re talking about here.

We’re talking about redefining the rest of culture and making others both embrace, celebrate and subsidize. We’re talking about changing the laws that will influence what our children are taught in schools, it’s already happening in those states that have legalized same-sex marriage or had it forced upon them by the courts. We’re talking about religious organizations losing their religious freedom, that’s already happened, church facilities in New Jersey have lost their tax exemption because they refused to allow their facilities to be used for same-sex commitment ceremonies. We’re seeing issues of public accommodations where because of the passage of these laws people can depending on what sexual orientation they may have at a given time can use whatever public facility they want. So, these are issues, it’s being pushed.

We never asked for this debate, I entered into public office workings on marriage policies to promote marriage but it was the homosexual community that wanted to have this discussion on redefining marriage. So it’s not that these other issues are being ignored or that they’re not important, you’re absolutely right J.R., whether it’s adultery, whether it’s any type of sexual immorality it’s a problem, but we’re not celebrating those other forms as a society, we’re not promoting it and teaching it as normal in our schools. And where they do bring it up, yes, we do address them. This is where the battle lies right now for the future of our country.

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Caller: Most of the problems that Christians have is that you don’t see people that are drunken or adulterers trying to force their beliefs on others, you don’t see them trying to you know instill their ideals on others.

Perkins: In fact, when it comes to drunkenness, we have laws to try to protect the rest of society.

Last week, American Family Association spokesman Bryan Fischer urged the government to stop the use of military facilities for same-sex commitment and marriage ceremonies after a military chaplain at Fort Polk, a training base in Louisiana, performed a commitment ceremony at a chapel between a female service member and her civilian partner. Following Fischer’s tirade, Rep. John Fleming (R-LA) appeared on the AFA radio show Today’s Issues with AFA president Tim Wildmon and Family Research Council head Tony Perkins to denounce the ceremony. In a statement, the congressman decried the ceremony as part of a “liberal social experiment” and urged Congress to approve “legislation that prevents military facilities from being used for same-sex marriages or marriage-like ceremonies.”

Fleming told Wildmon and Perkins that the commitment ceremony and the ensuing attention it received, which was primarily coming from conservative detractors, was a distraction that undermined the “oath to protect our nation.” He said that the chaplain and the couple acted in a “rogue state” and tried to “push their own personal agenda using U.S. military facilities.” Later, Fleming said that the occasion was part of a larger attempt to “create a normative acceptance of something that really is not part of our customs or culture”:

Instead of training our young men and women to be ready for battle, they’re having to deal with this stuff, and I think that that is first and foremost the wrong venue to have any type of protest or mock ceremonies. I don’t think that—you know, my responsibility as a member of Congress is first speak to it that we protect our nation with a common defense, that’s a Constitutional requirement for me, and certainly those members who’ve sworn an oath to protect our nation and put their lives on the line. And yet we have this couple and this chaplain who went off on their own, in kind of a rogue state to do something, to push their own personal agenda using U.S. military facilities, so that is my first objection to this.

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You know the second part of this is, this is really propagating an agenda, is to try to normalize or create a normative acceptance of something that really is not part of our customs or culture, for the most part certainly, if you understand that most states do have some sort of ban on same-sex marriage, very few actually accept it, again this is using military facilities to create a normative behavior.

Last week we reported that James Dobson hosted Elaine Donnelly where she roundly criticized rights for women and gay service members, and on the following program the two anti-gay activists went after the Obama administration for potentially allowing service members’ same-sex spouses to collect housing, education and health benefits. Currently, the military is prohibited from providing such benefits under the Defense of Marriage Act.

After Dobson read a statement from Congressman Todd Akin attacking President Obama for his “appalling” attempt to “use the military” to defend his support of gay rights, Donnelly and Dobson played the victim by complaining that they receive unfair criticism for opposing equality for gay soldiers and their families. Donnelly said that LGBT rights groups are targeting the military because they realize that “in the military everybody must follow orders” and cannot protest the administration’s “very bad orders” and “flawed philosophy”:

Dobson: We mentioned Congressman Akin who has been very, very concerned about the same things we are talking about today. He wrote a statement and released it and I want to read what he had to say: “The President announced his new position on same-sex marriage, and used the military as a campaign prop to advance the liberal agenda. Whatever Obama’s views may be, I find it appalling that the he would so blatantly use the military for political cover on this controversial issue…. This liberal agenda has infiltrated our military, where service members and chaplains are facing recrimination for their sincerely held moral and religious beliefs. Moral or religious concerns about same-sex marriage or the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell have become potentially career-ending.” That’s quite a statement and it’s what you’ve been saying but elaborate on it.

Donnelly: That’s true. Remember that the advocates of LGBT rights in the military are not at all concerned about this. They consider anyone who disagrees to be, well pick your favorite epithet, ‘name-calling,’ ‘bullying,’ ‘how dare you,’ ‘this is a civil right issue,’ all of those kinds of charges are launched.

Dobson: Hate-mongering.

Donnelly: Oh yes, all of those things. And it’s really unfair because we’re talking here about something as basic as human sexuality, we’re talking about marriage, we’re talking about raising children. The Pentagon has said we will not extend the family benefits, yet, because of the Defense of Marriage Act, but within two heartbeats when the President said ‘I am for gay marriage’ he also said, ‘I hear from military people who say they should get benefits he same as opposite-sex couples in the military.’ That’s where the drive is going. This agenda doesn’t quit, it doesn’t stay within one narrow area, because the LGBT groups, they’re quite large, they’re well-funded, they’re determined, and they really do realize that because in the military everybody must follow orders, this is the way it should under the Constitution, but the military is vulnerable to a president, to secretaries of defense and the services who give very bad orders, who are giving a flawed philosophy, control of the armed forces and personnel. This kind of thing is very troubling.

Televangelist Creflo Dollar yesterday insisted that the Devil was behind his arrest following his 15-year-old daughter’s 911 call where she reported that Dollar choked and punched her, a story corroborated by her older sister. The right-wing prosperity gospel pastor has been charged with a misdemeanor, but told his World Changers Church that not only were his daughters’ accounts untrue but that the Devil is responsible for the scanda.

Watch:

In New Mexico today the state Court of Appeals upheld decisions by the state’s Human Rights Commission and a district court and found that a photography business which refused to photograph a same-sex couple’s commitment ceremony violated the state’s Human Rights Act, which declares that public accommodations like photo studios can’t discriminate on the basis of “race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, sex or sexual orientation, gender identity, or physical or mental handicap.” The court rejected the business’s claim that they are like a black photography company which wouldn’t want to photograph a Ku Klux Klan rally, pointing out that the “Ku Klux Klan is not a protected class. Sexual orientation, however, is protected.” The right-wing Alliance Defense Fund represented the couple and pledged to repeal the decision.

American Family Association’s Tim Wildmon and the Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins said the case points to the danger of the “homosexual agenda.” “Folks, it’s coming to your town, the homosexual agenda, their social and political movement is coming to your town, you can’t avoid it,” Wildmon said:

AFA spokesman Bryan Fischer claimed that New Mexico “kicked out” the First Amendment, and said the further proof that homosexuality and freedom are incompatible:

I just cannot exaggerate the reality of what we face; we have got to come to grips with the fact that in America we are going to have to choose between homosexuality and religious liberty. You can just ask Elaine Huguenin, this Christian photographer in New Mexico, she is not even being allowed by the Court of Appeals in the state of New Mexico to make her own business decisions, to decide who she would like to do business with.

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You can see right away the entire First Amendment has just been kicked out of New Mexico, the First Amendment is a worthless scrap of paper now in the state of New Mexico, no respect for freedom of religion, no respect for freedom of speech, no respect for freedom of association. That’s what’s at risk here, ladies and gentlemen, I am not exaggerating this: we have to choose as a nation, it’s either homosexuality or religious liberty, homosexuality or freedom of speech, homosexuality or freedom of association, we are going to have to choose.

Gary Bauer in an email to members of Campaign for Working Families lamented, “In New Mexico, the private bedroom behaviors of homosexuals trump religious freedom”:

For six years the Christian owners of a small photography business have fought the state of New Mexico for violating their religious liberty. At issue in this case was whether the owners would be forced to photograph a homosexual "marriage." When the couple refused, New Mexico's Civil Rights Commission accused them of discrimination and slapped them with a $7,000 fine. So the couple sued.

Last week, an appeals court upheld the Civil Rights Commission's fine ruling that religious freedom could not be the basis for discriminating against "protected classes," including homosexuals. According to one report, attorneys for the Christian couple asked the court to consider the example of a black photographer being asked to photograph a KKK rally. The judge was unmoved. In New Mexico, the private bedroom behaviors of homosexuals trump religious freedom.

My friends, I know the economy is front and center in this election, but the culture war is very real. This election will have tremendous consequences for the values we will pass on to our children and grandchildren. I cannot stress enough just how important it is for every conservative to vote this November.