Leading up to the election, Harry Jackson confidently predicted and prayed for President Obama’s defeat. He claimed that “black and Hispanic Christians will put Romney ahead” after realizing that Obama “promotes abortion [and] same-sex marriage,” and that his reelection would bring divine judgment and suffering upon America. In fact, Jackson even said that God is working to remove elected officials who favor marriage equality from political office.
But Obama was re-elected and received the support of the vast majority of black and Hispanic voters, and now Jackson is arguing that God is moving to “take out” voters who chose “race over grace” and didn’t “care about homosexual marriage” (code words for Obama voters). In an appearance on the Trinity Broadcasting Network’s Praise The Lord, Jackson once again endorsed Seven Mountains Dominionism, which holds that right-wing Christians should dominate and lead the seven major spheres of society, and maintained that such Christians will replace the pro-Obama “false church.”
Under President Obama’s leadership, the Pentagon revived plans for the Iron Dome rocket defense shield in Israel, which played a critical role in the recent Gaza crisis. “Despite initial Pentagon misgivings, President Barack Obama has given $275 million to the project since 2010” after the Bush administration turned down requests to fund the project, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Now, anti-gay activist Harry Jackson is trying his best to act as an expert on the Middle East (just as he styles himself to be a health care and energy policy analyst) by attacking the Obama administration for supposedly mistreating and deserting Israel. He says that while Obama shows an “affinity with the Islamic world,” he has abandoned America’s alliance with Israel. But then Jackson goes on to praise the Iron Dome for preventing rocket attacks, either not knowing or caring that Obama secured the necessary funding to build the defense system. Unfortunately, for the Religious Right, no matter what Obama does hewillalwaysbeportrayed as a stealth Muslim adversary of Israel.
Why was there such a disconnect with young Israelis? Perhaps their apprehension can be attributed to our leader’s affinity with the Islamic world and the numerous perceived slights senior Israeli leaders have received from him.
In addition, Obama did not visit Israel as president, although he did travel there as a presidential candidate in 2008. After winning a large percentage of the Jewish American vote—as Democrats traditionally do—his seeming ambivalence or lukewarm treatment has given heartburn to both Jews and evangelical Christians.
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Only the providence of God and Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system has miraculously prevented major casualties. It is little wonder that Israel is preparing for a ground invasion of Gaza. A year ago last spring, during my first trip to Israel, I was shocked at how close Gaza is to Israel.
The American public remains largely unaware of the magnitude of the conflict due to the general failure of the mainstream media to report accurately concerning the wrongs suffered by Israel. Instead, any measure Israel takes to defend itself is decried as brutal and over the top.
In the meantime, Israel’s enemies have boasted about its impending destruction. Most vocal today are the threats we hear from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is known to be supplying Hamas with their weapons.
On President Obama’s watch, the United States has gone from being a staunch ally to the only democracy in the Middle East to something like a silent peer. But Israel will not wait for our approval to defend itself, nor should it.
The Religious Right took a drubbing at the polls yesterday as voters rejected not only Mitt Romney but also some of the most extreme Republican candidates, even those in races that should have been easy Republican victories. Like other conservatives, many Religious Right activists predicted a big victory for Romney and Republicans in the U.S. Senate based on five myths they hold about the electorate:
Myth #1: Americans want a ‘True Conservative’
The Christian Broadcasting Network’s David Brody called the results a “nightmare for the GOP” and a “colossal disaster.” Of course, right-wing activists will be quick to declare that Mitt Romney, like John McCain, wasn’t conservative enough for voters, and that the self-described “severely conservative” Romney couldn’t effectively articulate or sell conservative principles. Their solution is that the next nominee must be a pure right-wing ideologue who emphasizes social issues, like Mike Huckabee or Rick Santorum. Of course, if voters were seeking to support ultraconservative politicians, then Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock wouldn’t have lost their Senate races in the red states of Missouri and Indiana, Tea Party hero Allen West wouldn’t have lost re-election and Michele Bachmann wouldn’t have merely eked out a tiny win in her heavily Republican district.
Myth #2: Blacks will Defect from Obama over Gay Rights
Black conservative activists such as Harry Jackson, E.W. Jackson, William Owens, Patrick Wooden and Star Parker continue to tell the largely white Religious Right leadership that African Americans are defecting en masse from the purportedly demonic, Baal worshiping, anti-Christian and anti-God Democratic Party and will turn against Obama over the issue of marriage equality. Pat Robertson even said that Democratic support for marriage equality is a “death wish” and Mike Huckabee said the move “may end up sinking the ship.” According to exit polls, however, Obama won African Americans 93-6 percent. African Americans also turned out in strong numbers and didn’t stay home, with the same high turnout rate (13 percent of all voters) as 2008. In addition, marriage equality had victories in the four states it was on the ballot.
Myth #3: Hispanics are ‘Natural Allies’ of the Religious Right
Conservatives claimed that Hispanic voters, especially those who identify as evangelical and Pentecostal, are ripe for supporting Republicans. Samuel Rodriguez of the conservative National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference andothers continue to argue that Hispanics are strongly opposed to abortion rights (not true) and gay rights (also not true), and therefore “natural allies” of the Religious Right. Romney actually fared worse (27%) than McCain (31%) among Hispanics.
Myth #4: Catholics Abandoning Obama for ‘Declaring War’ on the Church
Heavypoliticking from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and growingoutreach to Catholics by traditionally evangelical Religious Right groups didn’t stop Obama from once again carrying the Catholic vote. Republicans consistently claimed that Obama declared “war on religion” and specifically “attacking the Catholic Church,” and hoped Paul Ryan’s use of Catholicism to justify his draconian budget plan would bring Catholics into the GOP fold. Obama led 50-48 percent in exit polls, down slightly from his 54 percent total in 2008.
Myth #5: Evangelical Wave Waiting in the Wings
New groups such as the Faith and Freedom Coalition and United in Purpose/Champion the Vote boasted of grand plans to turn out a wave of evangelical Christians upset about health care reform and marriage equality. But according to exits, Protestant (not all of whom identify as evangelical) turnout remained about the same this year (53 percent) as the last president election (54 percent). Christianity Today notes that in swing states, self-described evangelical turnout was approximately identical or merely slightly larger as it was in 2008, and Romney’s support among evangelicals compared to McCain’s decreased in states like Ohio and Nevada.
Harry Jackson was the guest on "WallBuilders Live" today where the topic of discussion was "the difficulty immigrants have in gaining citizenship, which encourages illegal immigration." During the interview, Jackson rolled out a truly incomprehensible theory about how President Obama was only enforcing immigration laws in order to make Republicans look bad ... or something; we honestly have no idea what he was trying to say:
Now, one perversion of the immigration process would be that since the President and the current administration took office, they have enforced deportation and rounding people up in various places more than they had during George Bush's time. And while they will not actually enforce the Defense of Marriage Act - DOMA - and think that's unconstitutional, on the other hand, they have had more raids on immigrants to put them out of the country. And then they come down on the people in Arizona for being too hard on folks, and now, just weeks ago, there's some legislation that let's people stay, by executive order, let them stay in the country without going through a process.
So my concern is that the administration is playing a game of saying "hey guys, be afraid because you know the Republicans are not your friends and I only did what I did because I've got to enforce the law." But it was really a process of demonizing one party versus another in an attempt to win an unfair advantage at the polls.
But one thing that was unmistakably clear was the point Jackson made later when he said that if we do not reject President Obama's "ungodly agenda" by electing Mitt Romney, America will remain "under the chastening hand of God":
Since 9/11, I believe America has been under the chastening hand God and the Lord is saying "I want to provide protection, provision, and freedom from plague or disease but you the Christian church within the nation have to return to me." So I believe that if we go on four years more with the current administration, because our economic problems are spiritual and moral at root, that God's displeasure is being manifest through the lack of finance and the lack of these things that we shared with you, the plagues and rejection are manifestations of chastening, the church has to vote the best it can our values, stop the onslaught of an ungodly agenda in America. And I think that if we do that, it will be the beginning stages perhaps of God saying "okay, I'm going to stop the process and bring you back to the place of blessing."
Finally, Eugene Delguadio inexplicably takes credit for removing full-body scanners from airports and even more inexplicably claims that "the homosexual lobbies fully support the invasive body cavity searches of elderly citizens, small children, young women and the absurd and dangerous X-Ray machines that scan the human form in minute detail."
Religious right leaders spent months promoting “Pulpit Freedom Sunday,” and signing up pastors who would agree to endorse or denounce candidates from the pulpit. On Sunday, Harry Jackson showed us how it’s done, unleashing a diatribe explaining why he could not vote for Barack Obama. Warning that a vote for Obama would be a vote to bring “divine vengeance” on America, Jackson had particularly blunt words for Black Christians.
Listen to me Black Christian. You are foolish enough to vote against the God that brought you out of slavery, the God that brought you out of the civil rights thing. Just because somebody’s skin is black, you’re gonna support an anti-God, anti-Gospel agenda -- no wonder you can’t get a job. If you celebrate your race over grace you ought to do badly. God is spanking you right now. And I got news, you heard it right here, the folks that sign onto this now and support the president right now in this will find that their best days are behind them….Four more years of Barack Obama will ensure an aggressive anti-Christian spirit that has currently grabbed hold of the administration and this country. Beware my Christian friend, you should not vote for Barack Obama
All sorts of Religious Right activists are stressing the importance of prayer heading into this election and now Harry Jackson has produced a four-minute video on the need for "40 Days of Prayer for our Nation" in which he urges Christians to pray that their local churches as well as those around the nation will "speak to us and give us direction; they need to tell us who to vote for":
Trying to boost his campaign to generate a voter rebellion against Democrats over the issue of marriage equality, Harry Jackson wrote in his column today that legalizing same-sex marriage would harm children. He asserts that gay couples who seek to become parents “put their own fleeting desires ahead of the God-given rights of their children,” whose children he says are more likely to be gay, depressed, unemployed or drug users. Jackson cited the work of Walter Schumm of Kansas State University to back up his claims, but Schumm’s work has been roundlycriticized and he is closely tied to anti-gay crackpot Paul Cameron of the Family Research Institute. Later, Jackson mentioned the notorious Mark Regnerus study as part of his warning against gay parenting. What Jackson fails to mention, however, is that even the journal that published his report recently admitted that it was severely flawed, noting that just two of the respondents actually “lived with a lesbian couple for their entire childhoods, and most did not live with lesbian or gay parents for long periods, if at all.”
The reason that legally defined marriage is important is because of children. It takes a mother and a father to conceive a child, and children have a God-given right to have a relationship with both their biological mother and their biological father. Children also have a God-given right to have both a male role model and a female role model in their homes. There are certainly times when tragedy takes a parent from a child, but what about the much more frequent times when adults put their own fleeting desires ahead of the God-given rights of their children? Desires change, as the breakups of both heterosexual and homosexual relationships testify.
As our nation continues to wrestle with the meaning and precise definition of marriage Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered activists consistently dismiss the issue of children. Same-sex marriage advocates insist that children of homosexual couples have the same or better outcomes than children of heterosexual couples. Unfortunately for them these assertions are based more on philosophy than hard science. For example, a 2010 study by Dr. Walter Schumm of Kansas State University confirmed that adult children raised by homosexual couples are (unsurprisingly) two to five times as likely to identify themselves as homosexual as children of heterosexuals. But the nation is divided as to whether that is an important outcome or not.
More specifically, whenever the topic of children reared by gay parents is raised: the assertion is made that there are no special problems or disadvantages because of their parents’ choices of “partners.” But this image (if remotely true) represents a tiny, disproportionately wealthy fraction of the gay population. Most of the scientists who have researched the children of such families admit as much.
Common sense would remind us that the results of any particular study depends both on how one defines a household headed by an LGBT couple, and what factors one evaluates when looking at “outcomes.” Dr. Mark Regnerus of the University of Texas, Austin, recently set out to hear the stories of the adults living in America today who were raised by parents in homosexual relationships. LGBT activists have fought vigorously to malign and suppress his findings. In short, he learned that, on 25 of 40 different outcomes evaluated, the children of women who’ve had same-sex relationships fare quite differently than those in stable, biologically-intact mom-and-pop families, displaying numbers more comparable to those from heterosexual stepfamilies and single parents.
This study included controls for age, race, gender, and the impact of being bullied as a youth, or the gay-friendliness of the state in which they live. Yet the respondents of same-sex parents were more apt to become unemployed, be less healthy and more depressed. They also were more likely to have cheated on a spouse or partner, have more male and female sex partners, experience more sexual victimization, and were more likely to reflect negatively on their childhood family life. Those raised by same-sex couples also were more likely to smoke marijuana and have trouble with the law.
At this point in our nation, no one is debating the right of consenting adults to do what they wish with each other in private. But redefining the ancient institution of marriage is an entirely different matter. This will set the stage for more and more children to grow up without a mother or a father, simply to placate the desire of adults. We must fight to preserve the traditional definition of marriage for the sake of these children.
Harry Jackson appeared on CBN this morning to tell African Americans who might be torn between voting for Mormon like Mitt Romney and President Obama, who supports an "anti-God, anti-church agenda," that they cannot simply stay home and not vote. Instead, Jackson declared, they must support the candidate "whose values line up with clear Biblical mandates," saying sarcastically that "if you can vote for abortion and you can vote for the redefinition of marriage; you want to vote for two men marrying, or open the door for two women and three men and all kinds of crazy stuff - if you can do that and the Holy Spirit can be with out in the ballot box, more power to you":
During his “Pray for America” speech at the Christian Broadcasting Network, Harry Jackson said that racial minorities are hurting themselves and Christianity by supporting Democrats instead of helping white Republicans. “Democrats ask black and Hispanic Christians to violate their Bible, many folk just go along because they feel like they have no choice” since they live on the “Democrat plantation,” Jackson explained, and think of Republicans as “racist.” “What needs to happen is a wholesale revolution” where conservative Christians of all races form a new political coalition “before the rapture” takes place.
Jackson, who yesterday told CBN’s Pat Robertson that the nation’s economy can only “begin to thrive” once “we get things right spiritually,” said that our nation is problems as a result of “a chastening of God on this land” because of “our rebellion against almighty God” through statements from leaders like President Obama that America is not a “Christian nation.” Later, Jackson said “secular humanism, or government as god” has taken hold of the country, which he compared to Baal worship in the 1 Kings. I hope that in America,” Jackson stated, “Christians will cry out and we’ll see God move before this election and we’ll make the right kind of votes.”
Harry Jackson appeared on "The 700 Club" today to discuss the importance of praying for America ahead of the upcoming election and to participate in Pat Robertson's aptly named "Pray for America" event that he is hosting all week.
While discussing the effort with Robertson, Jackson said that our nation's economic difficulties are all rooted in our moral and spiritual problems and that "when we get things right spiritually, God will lift this hedge of protection around us and also economics will begin to thrive again":
A few years ago, anti-gay activist Harry Jackson claimed that he had moved from Maryland into the District of Columbia in order to lead an unsuccessful campaign against marriage equality in the District. Jackson’s legal residency was the topic of muchdebate at the time; Jackson signed an affidavit affirming his DC residency. But now, Jackson is supporting an anti-marriage equality campaign in Maryland. Will he be eligible to vote against marriage equality in Maryland? At the Values Voter Summit this past weekend, Jackson bragged that he had ordained and pastored Derek McCoy, who directs the Maryland Marriage Alliance and asked VVS attendees for financial support. Jackson, in a workshop promoting his own campaign to use marriage as a wedge issue against Obama and other Democrats in seven swing states, caught himself when talking about the struggle over marriage in Maryland. “I live in – have a church in that state,” he said.
During this past weekend’s Values Voter Summit, the annual family reunion of the far right, RWW posted many memorable video highlights. What does it all tell us about the Religious Right and today’s Republican Party?
First are foremost, Republican leaders are unwilling to distance themselves from the far-right fringes of their base, especially in an election year in which conservative evangelical voters are not tremendously excited about Mitt Romney. Romney took a pass this year, and it’s not hard to understand why. Last year, organizers maliciously put him on stage right before the American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer, who had ridiculed Romney’s Mormonism. A supporter of Texas Gov. Rick Perry denounced Mormonism as a cult, and the flap over Romney’s faith was the dominant story coming out of the gathering. It was much safer to let Paul Ryan represent the ticket this year, and to have other speakers like Rick Santorum and Rick Scarborough ensure evangelicals that voting for Romney was in fact a good thing. Romney did send a tepidly-received video, which seemed almost an afterthought. What is motivating these activists is not enthusiasm for Romney but their hostility toward the Obama administration.
Well, in a world that includes Paul Ryan, maybe not. But Perkins ensured his standing near the top of the list with his performance at the National Press Club on Wednesday. Perkins heads an organization that excels in the kind of incendiary rhetoric he denounced from the podium. I kept thinking about Bill Clinton’s recent characterization of Ryan: “It takes some brass to attack a guy for doing what you did.”
Perkins heads the Family Research Council, one of the Religious Right organizations that has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center for a long record of smearing LGBT people with false and denigrating rhetoric. Perkins used his press club appearance to repeat his charge that it was irresponsible for SPLC and other groups to describe his organization that way. He suggested that FRC’s critics had created a climate that contributed to the recent violence at FRC headquarters in downtown D.C.
Let me say that it was genuinely sobering and moving to hear Perkins describe the incident, in which a security guard who may have saved the lives of many FRC employees was shot while disarming a gunman. No one should be put in the position of being hunkered down in their office in fear for their life. No one should be subjected to violence for participating in the public arena. At the time of the shooting, progressive and gay rights leaders immediately and unequivocally denounced the attack on FRC.
It is true that irresponsible and hateful speech can poison our public discourse. But in today’s political climate, that speech is most likely to come from right-wing groups and their allies. I remember feeling nervous as well as outraged when Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, two days after the 9-11 attacks, blamed People For the American Way by name, as well as feminists, liberals, and others. And the right’s rhetorical extremism has become supercharged since the election of President Obama.
The First Amendment does protect hateful and irresponsible speech. But being free to participate in the public arena does not meaning being exempt from criticism. And calling hateful speech hateful is not the same as actually promoting hatred toward a particular group of Americans. We have noted before how quickly Perkins moved to exploit the shooting in an effort to discredit his opponents and deflect attention from his own group’s extreme record and rhetoric:
You don't have to look far. Last year Perkins called gay-rights activists vile, hateful, pawns of Satan. In 2010, Perkins responded to President Obama's call for civility on the issue of homosexuality by slamming the president for criticizing Uganda's kill-the-gays bill. Perkins described the infamous law as "enhanced penalties for crimes related to homosexuality" and an effort to "uphold moral conduct." FRC spokespeople have supported laws criminalizing homosexuality overseas and here in the U.S.
What does it even mean for Perkins to make a public commitment to advocate with civility and compassion when his guests at the head table include rhetorical bomb-throwers like Bishop Harry Jackson, who has said that gay rights advocates are trying to recruit young people “just like during the times of Hitler” and that gay marriage is part of a “satanic plot” to destroy the family, and Rep. Louie Gohmert, who participated in the McCarthyite smear of Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin and who says that President Obama “wants a dictatorship?” Or when he recently hired as his executive vice president retired Gen. Jerry Boykin, who has called for limits on American Muslims’ religious liberty and accuses Obama of using the health care reform law as cover to create a private army of Brownshirts?
Perkins also used his speech to promote this weekend’s Values Voter Summit, which is co-sponsored by organizations whose leaders regularly spout rhetoric that is often even more extreme than FRC’s -- about LGBT Americans, Muslims and other non-Christians, supporters of church-state separation and more. Among the worst are the American Family Association, whose spokesman Bryan Fischer is such a torrent of bigotry that it cannot be easily condensed, and Liberty Counsel, whose Matt Barber purveys loathsome attacks on his political opponents, charging that satanic gay rights activists are “running interference for pedophiles” and charging that groups supporting church-state separation, like People For the American Way, are enemies of religious freedom.
Calling for civil discourse on the eve of the Values Voter Summit sounds like nothing more than a bad joke. If Tony Perkins is at all sincere about his call for civility, this weekend would be a good time to start.
Harry Jackson spoke at the iPledge Sunday prayer service last night where claimed that minority voters were selling out and bowing their knee to Baal by voting Democratic and, in the process, threatening the welfare of this nation because 'if God lifts his hand from America, we lose it all." As such, Jackson told African Americans and Hispanics that they have got to "vote your Biblical values" and "decide that you're going to come off of an ideological plantation and into the freedom of the liberty of the sons of God."
Jackson then went on to proclaim that the reason America is facing tough economic times "is because we have not been biblically faithful" because the nation has been seeking to redefine God's definition of marriage:
At the end of September, Religious Right leaders will once again partner with the "prophets" and "apostles" of the New Apostolic Reformation for a pre-election "American For Jesus" rally on Philadelphia’s Independence Mall.
But apparently that won't quite be enough, so just a few days later, many of these same leaders and activists are hosting another prayer rally called "The Summons 2012" in Washington, DC that is being organized by National Day of Prayer Task Force, which is chaired by Shirely Dobson, the wife of James Dobson:
With each generation seeming to drift away from the God of our Fathers, now more than ever, it seems that we are truly at the precipice of a societal migration away from our Judeo-Christian foundation. With this in mind, the National Day of Prayer (NDP) Task Force has called a Solemn Assembly in Washington D.C. for such a time as this. The urgency of the moment, and the prompting of God, has paved the way for The Summons (October 3-7, 2012) to be a moment in time for God’s people to stand in the gap on behalf of all Americans – perhaps as Moses did for Israel (Exodus 32, Psalm 106). Based on Psalm 50:1-6, this special prayer gathering will focus on all institutions of government within Washington D.C. and include outdoor, corporate worship near the steps of the Capitol building, as well as the base of the Washington Monument. Groups will meet with various congressional leaders, travel to the Pentagon, the Supreme Court, and many other key locations to PRAY. This is not an assignment for the faint of heart. You will need walking shoes and clothing suitable for being on location and ‘hitting the streets’, regardless of weather. We invite you to join with us, and several hundred other like-minded believers, for this unique time of prayer and worship in our nation’s capital.
According to the schedule, the event lasts for four days, during which participants will "meet with designated elected officials" and receive a "Private Capitol Tour Led by Congressman Louie Gohmert."
As we move toward The Summons in Washington D.C., please pray specifically, focusing on the seven points of prayer for each state. As we pray, day by day, and state by state, let’s pray for the Spirit of God to sweep through our nation like a ‘mighty, rushing wind’!
Seven Point of Prayer for each State
1) Government – Pray for local and state leaders asking God to grant them wisdom, discernment, and hearts that are open to His leading.
2) Church – Pray for the Churches and Church Leaders throughout that state. Ask God to preserve and protect them, as He inspires and empowers His ‘Saints’ for the work of ministry, for the building up of the Church, and for the spreading of the Gospel.
3) Military – Pray for our Military, Guard, and Reserve units and their leadership. Pray for God to grant courage, protection, and strength for our service men and women, and their families, as they serve our country.
4) Family – Pray for families in your community and across the state. Ask Him for protection, and to strengthen marriages, encourage parents toward His priorities, heal relationships, and secure traditional values in each home.
5) Education – Pray for God’s presence in our schools, colleges, and universities. Ask Him to select teachers and administrators who honor His statutes, protect our children, and inspire them to discover their God-given calling.
6) Media – Pray for Christian influence in the media industry, from local television and radio stations, to newspaper and magazine publishers. Ask for the Lord to provide Godly men and women to work in and influence the media throughout the state and in every city.
7) Business – Pray for divine intervention in the state and local economies. Ask that God raise up Godly business leaders and provide industry to provide honest employment and generous provision for individuals and families in each community.
Bachmann told participants that “at this moment in our End Time we are quite literally looking at a hurricane here at Florida, we are looking at political hurricane in our own country, we are looking at a spiritual hurricane in our land,” telling them to “show up and suit up and stand up” and “pour it out for Him.” Scarborough mourned the prominence of Lady Gaga, “the Big Bang Theory,” Jerry Seinfeld, and “Brokeback Mountain,” while Jim Garlow warned that Satan is pushing gay rights in order to “destroy the image of God” and curtail freedom.
Staver said that courts have begun to “deconstruct the foundation of law,” leading to tyranny, legal abortion and same-sex marriage, and Olsen prayed for the Supreme Court to repent: “Lord we cry out for the US Supreme Court, God that these justices will realize that there is a judge higher than they are and God that they will bow before You. We a crying out for a president that will appoint pro-life justices that will stand for truth and this nation will turn back to You, touch the Supreme Court now.” Towards the end of the rally, Jackson asked for participants to pray that Maryland will overturn the new marriage equality law and to “let the fire of Your Holy Spirit to fall upon Mitt Romney.”
Speaking at Glenn Beck’s Under God Indivisible Conference, anti-gay Bishop Harry Jackson unleashed a screed against marriage equality and called upon Christians to unite against gay rights in a new ‘rainbow coalition’, saying that religious leaders must “steal back the rainbow. We can’t let the gays have it.” Jackson was apparently not referencing the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, a civil rights organization founded by Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Jackson, a key figure in the Religious Right’s outreach to African American Christians, has previously said that gay rights advocates are trying to recruit young people “just like during the times of Hitler,” and that gay marriage is part of a “satanic plot” to destroy the family.
If marriage is redefined, then the family is redefined, is redefined, who has children and how that operates is redefined, if the family is redefined then education is redefined. That’s how you “Heather has two mommies” being taught to 2nd graders and eight-year-old kids in Massachusetts and California, and folks who cannot reproduce want to recruit your kids. What we’re facing is a radical force of people that want to change the way America looks for the next twenty years and we’re going to have to stop this thing now.
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It’s gonna take a black and brown revolution, us working together in a broader, what I want to call, a rainbow coalition, a new rainbow coalition. We need to steal back the rainbow. We can’t let the gays have it. We’re the rainbow coalition. We’re the army of god. We’re the covenant people of god. We have got to break the division that has tried to keep us apart. I guarantee you if we united in this generation, we’ll unite in this season, nothing shall be impossible to us, the church of the living god, and we are going to take back America in the name of the lord Jesus Christ. Yes! Come on let’s say it, ‘yes we can, say it yes we can!’
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