Brian Tashman's blog

On the second segment of Rick Santorum’s appearance on Family Talk with James Dobson, the presidential candidate said that one of the reasons he entered the race is because of the “degrading of our respect for human life” he sees upheld by President Obama and other pro-choice politicians. A staunch opponent of reproductive freedom, earlier this year Santorum said he found it “almost remarkable” that a “black man” like Obama could support abortion rights. On an earlier episode of Dobson’s show, he linked Planned Parenthood with Nazism.

Santorum maintained that while the election may be focused on issues like “economics and jobs,” the country is on the verge of walking away from God’s “teachings,” which will bring about “dire consequences to our society”:

Santorum: This is the kind of just unsettling, degrading of our respect for human life that we see in the political arena, and it was one of the reasons that I felt compelled to get out there because everything is so focused on economics and jobs, which are of course important, but this country is a great country because we were blessed by God and that we are a country that lived according to His principles and His teachings. If we walk away from that, there are dire consequences to our society.

The former Pennsylvania senator also claimed that the reason he has faced attacks on the campaign trail is because he is “standing up for the Son of Man” and is committed to “speak the truth.” Dobson compared Santorum to Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow, who he said is being “reviled” for his public displays of faith, and Santorum lamented that it “is sort of sad that we have a society that wants our heroes to be broken”:

Dobson: I can ask you how you feel about the exhaustion and the constant pressure and the media in your face and all that it means to pay the price for the responsibility you’re reaching for.

Santorum: Well I just feel blessed to have the opportunity to be able to go out and speak the truth, and to do so as someone who is not the favorite, not expected to win, but went out there to witness. I really believe that we need folks who are willing to stand up and just speak the truth and take the consequences. I have several favorite Bible passages that talk about that ‘they will hate you’ and ‘they will call your name evil’ because of standing up for the Son of Man, this is a great comfort to me that this is part of standing up for Him and doing the part as being a Christian.

Dobson: You know I think of what Tim Tebow must be going through now, if you dare utter the name of Christ, you can talk about God every now and then, but if you dare to mention the name of Jesus Christ you are going to be reviled and rejected and mocked and made fun of. Would they rather Tim would be buying drugs on a street corner? Would they rather he would have eight women in a course of a year, or in a course of a month? I mean those things go on in professional athletics. You’ve got this man kneeling and saying, ‘thank you Lord,’ and when they ask him how he is doing or how he felt about winning a game, he deflects it, he talks about his teammates and his coaches, and they hate him for it. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if you haven’t had a little bit of that.

Santorum: Well, certainly not on the scale that in the last week or so that Tim Tebow has, but he is a great inspiration to me and I think to many, many others. It is sort of sad that we have a society that wants our heroes to be broken.

Republican presidential candidiates Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum have signed on for a “Presidential Pro-Life Forum” hosted by Personhood USA and moderated by Iowa conservative radio personality Steve Deace. The three candidates along with Rick Perry have already announced their support for personhood laws.

Personhood USA wants abortion and even common forms of birth control banned without exception, and personhood laws may even outlaw in-vitro fertilization and the treatment of problem pregnancies. The group launched unsuccessful referendums in Colorado and Mississippi, and has characterized President Obama as the “Angel of Death” and likened opponents to Nazis.

The other organizations listed as hosts of the forum are just as radical, if not more so.

The Call is led by Lou Engle, who has claimed that legal abortion may lead to civil war and is responsible for the Joplin tornado. Engle has also used his The Call prayer rally to bolster Ugandan legislation that would criminalize and in some cases give the death penalty for homosexuals. Moreover, Engle has compared gay rights to Nazism, advocated for Seven Mountains dominionism, and said that both gays and Muslims are demonic.

Another organization hosting the forum is the Oak Initiative, a project of South Carolina pastor Rick Joyner, who has argued that God will imminently destroy California, Hurricane Katrina was God’s judgment for homosexuality, “extremist Islam” is God’s judgment for “perversions” and “abortions,” and that very soon “God’s judgment is going to come upon Hollywood.” Joyner also believes that President Obama may be a Muslim and that Muslims are trying to take control of Michigan, school textbooks and Christianity. Like Engle, Joyner is a proponent of Seven Mountains dominionism.

Both Engle and Joyner are closely affiliated with the New Apostolic Reformation, which believes that God is raising up modern day apostles and prophets, and another cosponsor, the Freedom Federation, includes the NAR groups Generals International, led by the self-proclaimed prophet Cindy Jacobs, and Harvest International Ministries of self-proclaimed apostle Che Ahn.

Three Republican candidates for the nation’s high office including Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, Senator Rick Santorum, and Speaker Newt Gingrich have confirmed their participation in the Presidential Pro-Life Forum on Tuesday, December 27, from 8:00 to 9:30 pm CST. The national tele-town hall and radio simulcast will be hosted by Personhood USA and their partner organizations: National Hispanic Christian Leadership Coalition, Liberty Counsel, Bott Radio Network, Freedom Federation, Frederick Douglass Foundation, Champion the Vote, Oak Initiative, The Call, Georgia Right to Life, Rock for Life, and Iowa Right to Life. An invitation has been extended to the remaining GOP presidential candidates.

The 90-minute pro-life tele-town hall will feature the candidates discussing their views on the rights of the preborn and other issues of great importance to pro-life voters. Pro-life groups around the nation are inviting their members to attend. Callers will have an opportunity to ask questions via email and give instant feedback to thoughts and ideas shared.

Nationally-syndicated radio host Steve Deace, whose influence in the Iowa Caucuses has been highlighted by numerous national media outlets, will broadcast the event live on his Salem Network program. Last week, four candidates, Bachmann, Santorum, Gingrich, and Gov. Rick Perry, signed Personhood USA’s Personhood Republican Candidate Pledge, declaring their intentions to stand with President Ronald Reagan in supporting “the unalienable personhood of every American, from the moment of conception until natural death.”

“We’re pleased to see the candidates standing for the rights of every person to live, love, and be loved. The time has come to end the 40-year reign of the abortion industry, once and for all,” said Keith Mason, President of Personhood USA. “This is an opportunity for everyone who understands that ‘all men are created equal’ to hear from the candidates their plans to recognize the most fundamental rights of every human being, no matter their age. Come, take advantage of this interactive and important event, and be a voice for the voiceless.”

Isn’t it interesting how right-wing personalities like Bryan Fischer and Janet Mefferd consistently say that no one on the Right attacks Mitt Romney over his Mormon faith…and then go on to claim that Mormons are under Satan’s deception and don’t care about public office because they are waiting to become gods, respectively. And Fischer and Mefferd are far from the only ones who are trying to make the Mormon religion into an election issue.

On Monday’s edition of Crosstalk, Vic Eliason of Voice of Christian Youth America advised listeners against supporting a Mormon candidate for president because they are praying to “the wrong God.” Eliason in 2008 hosted a presidential candidate debate with other Religious Right leaders that you will not be surprised to learn Romney did not attend.

Channeling Mike Huckabee, Eliason said that “Mormons do believe that Jesus and Beelzebub, or the devil, are kid brothers.” He went on to say that Mormons “believe that someday God is going to put you on your own planet and you will be a God in charge of your own planet,” warning that “if those things happen, who knows, we might have a president who would suddenly evacuate the White House and go to another planet and become a God!”:

Eliason: There are those and those have raised the question about a Mormon president. Well I am sure that he is a very crafty individual and a man who is much experienced in doing various things. But when we come to the belief system again, the Bible says ‘if any man lack wisdom let him ask of God.’ So we’ve seen presidents bow in prayer asking God for wisdom, we’ve seen those things happen. But if you’re asking from the wrong God, what kind of wisdom are you going to have?

And the other thing of course, when we’re thinking of a person lacking wisdom, the Mormons do believe that Jesus and Beelzebub, or the devil, are kid brothers. So those in other religions have different, unique things that cause people with a Judeo-Christian background to say, ‘whoa, wait a minute.’ There are those, if you are a true Mormon, you believe that someday God is going to put you on your own planet and you will be a God in charge of your own planet. The question is—I mean, if those things happen, who knows, we might have a president who would suddenly evacuate the White House and go to another planet and become a God!

We frequently hear from conservative commentators that Religious Right voters have no problem with supporting a Mormon politician and any anti-Mormon sentiments actually come from the left and the media. But today on American Family Radio’s The Matt Friedman Show, Rick Scarborough of Vision America said he refuses to support Mitt Romney in the primary because he is a Mormon. Scarborough is a prominent endorser and ally of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, whose campaign earlier this year promoted the fiercely anti-Mormon pastor Robert Jeffress, and is best known for organizing “patriot pastors.” Scarborough previously signed a letter with other Religious Right activists opposing Romney, and told Friedeman that he disagreed with Chuck Colson and Franklin Graham for saying that voters should not reject Romney outright because of his faith.

Like Jeffress, Scarborough said he would ultimately vote for a Mormon over Barack Obama but would certainly not support Romney “as long as there is another candidate” because Mormonism is “so outside the realm of normal, theological boundaries.”

Watch:

Friedeman: I’m asking you here, with Franklin Graham and Chuck Colson coming out and saying Mormonism isn’t that big of a deal in this presidential election, do you agree?

Scarborough: I do not agree. I respect profoundly both of those men for a myriad of reasons, but I do not agree with that statement. Right now, the most prominent spokesperson for our values in the radio field is Glenn Beck, who is an avowed Mormon, and now the leading presidential candidate is an avowed Mormon. Because of the state of the spiritual life of our country right now, I just think that’s a place I don’t want to go. And the other side of that is, what is not spoken are some of the details of Mormonism, which will be aired completely in a presidential race and I think it will make it difficult if this man secures the nomination for him to be elected just because there are some aspects of the doctrines of Mormonism that are so outside the realm of normal, theological boundaries, that I think it will be a real issue if he got the nomination. Now if the choice comes down for me between a Mormon and Barack Obama, I’d vote for the Mormon every time, but I’m certainly not going to support him as long as there is another candidate.

Today on The 700 Club, a man with an openly gay son asked Pat Robertson how he can show his son “the love of Jesus when you know his sexual preference is an abomination to God.” Robertson told the father to love his son by encouraging him to “un-acquire” his sexual orientation and “get out of this.” Robertson’s advice should come as no surprise, as The 700 Club has featured “ex-gays” and the televangelist has said that gays and lesbians are “on their way to hell,” will bring America into the “ash-can of history” and prompt God to destroy America.

Watch:

Robertson: Well you can love, you know what they say, you love the sinner and hate the sin, but I think what you got to do is love him, you’re his father. You want to say, ‘look I don’t agree with what you’re doing but I love you, you’re my son, you came from my body, you’re part of me and I’m with you but I’d like you to get out of this.’ I know people disagree with the question of homosexuality; is it something that they’re born with or is it something that’s acquired? I think a lot of it is acquired, I don’t know all the genes or the genetics that’s in your son as to what is causing him to do whatever he’s doing, you’ll have to figure that one out. But normally speaking, a person who has acquired this can un-acquire it. We’ve had many people who have indeed left the homosexual lifestyle and gone into a heterosexual relationship and have been very, very happy. But all I can say is love the son, love the son, and show him what you consider a better way.

Notably, Robertson’s own Regent University in a study of sexual minorities (gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer or bi-curious) involved or once involved in opposite-sex relationships found that heterosexual behavior did not alter their homosexual or bisexual orientation:

When we look at the sexual minorities specifically, it is noteworthy that the findings from the Kinsey scale suggest that they did report significant behavioral change. This likely reflected the commitment to their heterosexual marriage and the decrease in frequency of same-sex behavior. However, when the Kinsey expanded scale was administered, sexual minorities did not report a statistically significant change in the combination of behaviors, attraction, fantasy, and emotional attachment – the combination meant to convey sexual orientation rather than just behavior.

On December 16, Rick Santorum and his wife Karen joined James Dobson on his radio show Family Talk in a program, broadcasted today, where the Focus on the Family founder gushed that Santorum and his wife “epitomize what a Christian family is all about.” Today’s show comes a day after Santorum received the endorsement of leading Iowa Religious Right figures, and weeks following Michele Bachmann’s appearance on Family Talk, where Dobson hailed her and her husband as “role models.”

The conversation stayed clear of over political rhetoric and mostly focused on their family life, but the Focus on the Family founder lauded Santorum has the “guts” for “not being afraid” to speak “about the family, about marriage about childrearing, about the principles that we find in Scripture”:

Dobson: LuAnne, I’m looking forward to this program too because we’re honored to have the former US Senator Rick Santorum with us in the studio and also with us by phone is his lovely wife Karen, I have worked with both of these folks before and I love them like members of my own family and it’s just great to have them with us. These folks have been good friends for many years and they epitomize what a Christian family is all about.

…

Let me just express appreciation to you for standing up for righteousness, not being afraid to do so, speaking often about the family, about marriage about childrearing, about the principles that we find in Scripture. You have had the guts to do that, and with Karen more than that, to live it out, and that is very, very impressive to all of us.

Conservatives erupted in anger after Byron York of the Washington Examiner asked Michele Bachmann about her 2006 comments, where she explained that she decided to study tax law and later to run for Congress at the urging of her husband, saying that the Bible tells wives “to be submissive to your husbands.” As Sarah Posner explained, the “submission theology” establishes strict gender roles:

Submission theology is built around the notion that God has a “design” for men and for women; that they are unique from each other and have their designated, God-given roles. The husband is the spiritual head of the household, the wife his obedient “helpmeet,” the vessel for their children, devoted mother, and warrior for the faith. By committing themselves to those gender roles, evangelicals believe they are obeying God’s commands. They see the wife’s obligation to obey her husband’s authority as actually owed to God, not her husband.

When she appeared on Stave Deace’s radio show yesterday, Bachmann was asked to respond to “Christian women struggling with the idea of a woman president.” She seemed to dodge the question by attempting to differentiate the responsibilities she has to her husband in the home and her obligations as a public official:

Deace: I’ve heard from plenty of Christian women struggling with the idea of a woman president, how would you respond to their struggling with that dilemma?

Bachmann: Well I have a husband of thirty-three years and I am his wife. I respond to him as a wife. But when it comes to being a leader, whether I’m running a business or being a member of Congress, I am acting in that position responsibly and faithfully to the people that I serve. This is not a spiritual position, it is a position of authority in our government, it is very different from that of a wife to her husband.

Renew America’s Sher Zieve appears to be taking “Poe’s Law” to a whole new level. Zieve, who has wondered whether President Obama is a demon and the Beast of the Book of Revelation intent on starting a dictatorship by taking control of the media, writes today that Obama is bent on turning America “into full-fledged Marxist Communo-Fascist elitist-ruled Islamo-Drug cartel Narco/Nazi State”:

Are you as tired as am I about the talking heads — leftists, RINO and faux conservatives — advising us on an almost daily basis that "If we don't stop it (presumably the government, Obama and maybe even Obama's sycophant Congress) we're heading for 'European-style Socialism.'" Ahhh...as if that were the only thing about which we have to worry. Of course, the truth is that the [former] USA is not heading for Euro-Socialism. Instead, it is careening at full speed — with no discernable braking — into full-fledged Marxist Communo-Fascist elitist-ruled Islamo-Drug cartel Narco/Nazi State — replete with its own apparent and visible concentration camps. Said State has been meticulously planned over, at least, decades and is now being forcefully implemented against We-the-People who seem to have been replaced by "We-the-Sheeple."

…

First and foremost, it is incumbent upon me to, again, report on the FEMA camps and their relationship to the now-passed unconstitutional NDAA bill; a bill that was largely non-threatening prior to this year. This year, however, a great deal was added; not the least of which is the designation of the entire USA as essentially a battlefield and the authorization of the US military to arrest and detain US citizens without legal or other charge, the disallowance of legal counsel and the ability to hold said citizens indefinitely. These provisions contained within Sections 1031 and 1032 effectively nullify the Bill of Rights. The danger to our very existence — both as a nation and We-the-People individually — has taken an extremely dark turn, America. We are now decidedly living under tyranny.

Second, we are living under an apparent dictator-driven oligarchic government. Whether many are aware of it or not, the US Constitution officially ended with the passage of the "new and revised" NDAA and we are, also, officially no longer a Republic. Both had been on their last legs for years and now have come to an end under Usurper and Dictator-in-Chief Barack "the smiling Muslim" Hussein Obama.

…

This is how all 'leaders' of the hard-Left feel and it is also what they believe — they are the rulers (aka slave masters) and we are supposed to be their willing and subservient vassals.

Self-proclaimed prophet Cindy Jacobs told participants of the Prophetic Marketplace Conference that the public education system has Satanic origins because John Dewey, who led the development of progressive education, was a signatory of the Humanist Manifesto. Jacobs said that God told her to “go look up the Humanist Manifesto” to learn about who is instructing the people of America and the entire world. “I began to study this and I began to see that there was something desperately wrong because since 1933 the educational systems of the world had been totally diluted, deceived, coopted and taken over by this ungodly system,” Jacobs explained. She concluded that Satan “founded humanism” in the Garden of Eden, which now, because of John Dewey, has taken over public education.

Watch:

Pat Buchanan joined Tim Wilmon of the American Family Association today where he warned that the left wants to “convert America into a monstrous replica of the United Nations General Assembly where everyone is equal in every way.” While promoting Suicide of a Superpower, Buchanan lamented that America may become “an egalitarian society” that is part of a vision rejecting what people see as America’s “racist, bigoted, sexist, imperialist, colonialist, homophobic” past:

Wildmon: Why do these folks have such hostility for our traditions and for the Christian religion? Where does this come from?

Buchanan: Well I think it certainly flourished in the 1960s on the campuses, around the mid-1960s, and the ground had been prepared by many in the faculty. The basic feeling on a part of a lot of these people is that the old traditionalist America was racist, bigoted, sexist, imperialist, colonialist, homophobic and every other adjective you can think of, and they look upon that past with detestation. They want to change and alter what was a sort of, basically a Western Christian country, part of the West, part of European civilization, and they want to put an end to that. They want to create a new nation that is of all the races, cultures, creeds of every continent and country on earth and an egalitarian society, and frankly a country that has never before existed. They want to convert America into a monstrous replica of the United Nations General Assembly where everyone is equal in every way, and it’s a utopian idea and I think that it is incompatible with the existence of the country we grew up in. That is what is happening, but there is a deep, ingrained hostility of the country that we were raised in for the reasons that I mentioned.