Richard Land

The Southern Baptist Convention’s polling arm LifeWay is out with a new poll revealing widespread support for gay rights, particularly among young people. According to the survey, a clear majority of Americans believe that “homosexuality is a civil rights issue like gender, race and age,” agree that same-sex marriage is “inevitable” and oppose employment discrimination against gays and lesbians.

The denomination is a fierce critic of marriage equality and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and last year passed a resolution “opposing the idea that gay rights are the same as civil rights.”

Richard Land, the denomination’s top political spokesman, has claimed that the Devil is behind homosexuality and warned that gay rights will lead to divine judgment and “paganization.” While the SBC believes it is wrong to consider gay rights a civil rights issues, Land compared his own anti-gay activism to Martin Luther King Jr.’s leadership of the Civil Rights Movement.

Key findings from the poll include:

• 64 percent of those polled agreed “it is inevitable that same-sex marriage will become legal throughout the United States.”

• “80 percent of Americans disagree that employers should be allowed to refuse employment to someone based on their sexual preference.”

• 58 percent of respondents agreed with the question: “like age, race, and gender, homosexuality is a civil rights issue.”

• A majority of Americans believe rental halls and landlords should not be allowed to discriminate against same-sex couples.

• “More Americans do not believe homosexual behavior is a sin than those who believe it is a sin.”

The poll also found that women, young people and people with college degrees were more likely to favor gay rights.

LifeWay’s survey appears to line up with a new bipartisan analysis of exit polls which found that opposition to marriage equality is concentrated among the elderly, white evangelical Christians and people without college degrees.

Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission appeared yesterday on Istook Live, the Heritage Foundation radio show hosted by former Congressman Ernest Istook, to discuss why the Boy Scouts of America should maintain its ban on gay members.

Co-host C.J. Wheeler asked Land how to tell her gay peers and colleagues, “You’re my friend, but I don’t want you to be a Boy Scout leader. You’re my friend, but I’m tired of your agenda being forced down my throat.” She lamented that “it’s a hard world to really walk in out there” for “the average person out there who has friends in these communities,” because apparently life is really tough for straight people who support discrimination against their gay friends.

Land explained that gays and lesbians shouldn’t be treated any differently, except when it comes to their inclusion in the Boy Scouts, marriage and other social institutions. He told Wheeler to tell her gay friends that she respects them but thinks that if they are allowed to join the Boy Scouts they will jeopardize the ability of the organization to “protect children” and consequently “human tragedies will follow.”

Land also explained that “the homosexual activists have gone after [cultural] icons” such as the military, marriage and Disney in order to realize their “breathtaking” agenda.

Land: They do not believe in a live and let live philosophy. Let’s be very clear about what their agenda is, their agenda is to have the homosexual lifestyle affirmed by society as healthy and normal and as a perfectly acceptable to young people and to have those who disagree with that ostracized the level of being Ku Klux Klansmen.

Istook: I do want to expand on the Scouting part but you mentioned the overall agenda, Dr. Land, because it’s not just in Boy Scout’s, we see it in the policy toward same-sex marriage, we see it creeping into something’s such as the ‘anti-bullying agenda.’ What are the different fronts of this conflict?

Land: Well, every front, but the Boy Scouts are an icon and so the homosexual activists have gone after the icons, the cultural icons of our culture. They’ve gone after the military, the most admired institution in American society, the American military; they’ve gone after Disney, the family-friendly supposedly network and family-friendly entertainment venture; they’ve gone after marriage, what can be holier than marriage; now they’re going after the Boy Scouts, nothing is more American than Apple Pie than Boy Scouts. They are going to go after every front, they’ve gone after the cultural icons first but there is no place that they are not going to go and as I said there overall agenda is really quite breathtaking.

• Richard Land, who always prided himself on his "24-year tradition of not exercising my right as a private citizen to endorse a candidate" has now broken that tradition to endorse Mitt Romney because "this election is that important."
• Speaking of Romney, was his election as President predicted in the Bible.  WND says it was! 
• Gary Bauer has the vapors: "The use of profanity conveys a lack of seriousness, and it trivializes the democratic process. Its repeated use contributes to the coarsening of our culture. More than anything, it shows disrespect and disregard for the voters whose support Obama needs to win reelection."
• Bryan Fischer is obviously still angry about his recent profile in The New Yorker.
• Finally, the ex-gay organization PFOX is accusing the Obama administration of "spreading intolerance against the ex-gay community and Christians who support the religious testimony of former homosexuals."

Recently, Christian television host John Ankerberg sat down with Janet Parshall, Frank Wright, and Richard Land to "examine the moral issues surrounding the upcoming election," during which Wright, President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Religious Broadcasters, warned that the choice of the next president would determine whether the Bible can be freely preached in America because "there is legislation pending on Capitol Hill today, even as we sit here in your studio, that could so constrain your free speech rights and the rights ultimately of all Americans that the Bible will be something that is referred to only in part because there will be parts of it that are untouchable" out of fear of government persecution: 

Land then asserted that Christians would continue to be involved in politics so long as abortion remained legal and efforts to expand marriage equality existed, saying that criticizing the Religious Right for fighting this issues is "like attacking Dr. [Martin Luther] King for making a priority out of racial reconciliation and racial justice":

Earlier this summer the Southern Baptist Convention was embroiled in a fiasco over SBC “chief ethicist” and political activist Richard Land’s racially inflammatory comments regarding President Obama and the Trayvon Martin case, remarks that later turned out to be plagiarized. After initially refusing to apologize, Land ultimately apologized, lost his radio show and announced his retirement.

One of the people who pressed Land to apologize was Dr. Fred Luter Jr., the African American pastor who was later elected to head the SBC. Luter said of Land’s comments at the time, “It doesn’t help. That’s for sure.”

Luter is now slated to appear at a Religious Right simulcast, iPledge Sunday, hosted by the Family Research Council and the American Family Association, a group whose very own spokesman and Director of Issues Analysis for Government and Public Policy, Bryan Fischer, has used racially offensive language just as bad if not worse than Land’s, and far more frequently.

The group Faithful America is asking Luter to cancel his appearance at the event whose organizer proudly promotes “racial rhetoric to demonize President Obama.”

The Rev. Fred Luter Jr. is the first African American to serve as president of the Southern Baptist Convention. He helped get the denomination to formally apologize for its racist history and even rebuked a fellow Southern Baptist leader for making offensive comments about the killing of Trayvon Martin.

When Rev. Luter was elected this summer, he said that the racial rhetoric used to criticize President Obama shows "that we have a long, long, way to go in America as far as racial reconciliation." Now he has an opportunity to stand up and show real leadership by pulling out of this event and disavowing the hateful rhetoric of his fellow conservative evangelicals.

Rev. Luter: If you want the Southern Baptist Convention to overcome its racist past, you must cancel your appearance at iPledge Sunday and denounce the religious-right extremists who've used racial rhetoric to demonize President Obama.

Fischer, a birther and conspiracy theorist who has defended the three-fifths compromise and regularly refers to Obama as an imam, a dictator and a Hitler clone, has said that:

• Obama is a racist: “President Barack Obama nurtures this hatred for the United States of America and, I believe, nurtures a hatred for the white man.”

• Obama is like a “street thug” and a “juvenile delinquent” who is “destroying America.”

• Obama’s “mission in life is to punish the United States” as revenge for anti-black racism.

• Obama is not “authentically black” and not a “real black man.”

• Obama has “drunk deeply from the well of critical race theory” and therefore believes the Constitution “does not need to be obeyed.”

• Obama’s re-election will lead states to “talk about secession” and warned the health care reform law may bring about armed revolt “to resist the tyranny imposed on us.”

In addition, Fischer claimed that African Americans “rut like rabbits” due to welfare.

Welfare has destroyed the African-American family by telling young black women that husbands and fathers are unnecessary and obsolete. Welfare has subsidized illegitimacy by offering financial rewards to women who have more children out of wedlock. We have incentivized fornication rather than marriage, and it’s no wonder we are now awash in the disastrous social consequences of people who rut like rabbits.

Fischer even alleged that African Americans are “like drug-addled addicts.”

The only reason we can see why the Democrat Party still has support in the African American community is because the Democrat Party promises them more goodies, the Democrat Party is handing out stuff, basically getting them addicted. It’s like the government is one big giant methadone clinic and they’re just handing out these injections to people in the form of welfare benefits to get them hooked, so they got to hook up with their supplier once a month, they got to get their fix, they got to hook up with their dealer on a street corner once a month and get their fix from the federal government. They’re like drug-addled addicts and the Democrat Party has gotten them addicted to welfare benefits. That apparently is the only reason they continue to support this party.

Luter rightfully led the SBC to reprimand Land over his inflammatory comments, but partnering with the AFA and its racially-charged rhetoric directed at Obama and the African American community only undercuts his message of racial reconciliation.

One of the most telling features of Glenn Beck’s 2010 Restoring Honor rally were the overtly religious themes of the rally, along with the launching of a Black Robe Regiment filled with right-wing leaders. The day before Beck’s latest really, Restoring Love, Beck and David Barton are hosting a who’s who of Religious Right activists for a “Christian Leadership Conference” called Under God: Indivisible, including some of the most prominent anti-gay preachers, activists and televangelists in the country:

David Barton

• Writes consistently debunked and discredited books about American history with a Christian Nationalist spin, arguing that the Founding Fathers would oppose everything from the separation of church and state to evolution and net neutrality.

• Claims that God is blocking scientists from finding a cure for AIDS in order to punish gay people, urges government regulation of homosexuality and believes public schools are trying to indoctrinate students into homosexuality.

• Asserts that Jesus spoke out against the minimum wage, fair employment practices, anti-discrimination laws and government regulations.

Tony Perkins

• Believes that gay rights advocates are “vile” tools of Satan.

• Accused gay right supporters of being responsible for incidents of suicide among gay youth for creating “a sense of despair that can lead to suicide,” and said that “abnormal” sexuality—not anti-gay bias—leads gay people to commit suicide.

• Likened homosexuality to pedophilia, alcoholism and adultery.

Ralph Reed

• Led the Christian Coalition alongside Pat Robertson but left following reports of financial misconduct, now heads the Faith and Freedom Coalition.

• Became embroiled in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal involving crooked deals with Indian casinos, and Abramoff later said Reed was a “tap dancer and constantly asking for money.”

• Alleges that America “lost its way” by helping the poor, putting liberty in “danger.”

John Hagee

• Claims God sent Hitler to be a “hunter” of Jews and led Hurricane Katrina to New Orleans in order to stop a “homosexual rally.”

• Refers to the Catholic Church as the “Anti-Christ” and the “whore of Babylon” and says the Antichrist will be gay and partially Jewish.

• Warns that God is punishing America due to homosexuality, abortion rights, and Harry Potter.

James Robison

• Believes same-sex marriage will ultimately lead to a “totalitarian” government like in The Hunger Games.

• Says that wealthy capitalists are victims of a form of “racism” similar to what African Americans experienced during the Jim Crow era and victims of an attack from the demonic realm.

• Thinks that Satan is using Glee to “bring us down.”

Rick Scarborough

• Maintains that AIDS is God’s punishment for homosexuality and warns of a looming “sexual anarchy led by sodomites.”

• Bemoans the supposed decline of non-white families because of its purportedly negative impact on “American values” and the Republican Party.

• While he is collaborating with Glenn Beck, a Mormon, he criticized Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith and said Christians should be wary about supporting Mormon candidates.

Harry Jackson

• Alleges that gay rights supporters are recreating the “times of Hitler” and are leading a “Satanic plot” against the black family.

• Asserts that gay rights will “bring us under” just like the iceberg that hit the Titanic.

• Believes a demonic power called the Queen of Heaven is behind the push for same-sex marriage.

Jim Garlow

• Claims the push for same-sex marriage is part of an “Antichrist spirit” that is led by Satan.

• Compares homosexuality to bestiality and same-sex marriage to slavery.

• Says that adoption by gay parents is akin to children losing their parents in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Richard Land

• Lost his radio show due to a plagiarism and racism scandal, despite working as the top ethicist of the Southern Baptist Convention.

• Argues that “the Devil” is behind “the homosexual lifestyle.”

• Defends the criminalization of homosexuality and claimed that gay rights advocates seek the “full-blown sexual paganization” of society.

Ken Hutcherson

• Insists that the gay community stole the rainbow symbol and the word “gay” from Christians.

• Hoped to lead an anti-gay marriage rally that would be a “spiritual bomb” comparable to the 2004 terrorist attack in Madrid, Spain.

• Wants the “promotion” of homosexuality banned just like “sugar and fatty foods in schools” since it is “dangerous and unnatural.”

Kenneth Copeland

• Contends God didn’t create gay people just like “He didn’t create anybody to be a murderer, He condemned murder; he didn’t create anybody a homosexual, ’cause He condemned homosexuality.”

• Became the subject of a Senate probe into his financial practices.

Aryeh Spero

• Maintains that homosexuality will lead to the end of the world because it is “so contrary to the order of God's nature” that God will decide “to annihilate the world and start from the beginning.”

• Accused Obama of engaging in “ethnic cleansing” against Jews.

Southern Baptist Convention’s chief “ethicist” Richard Land signed off from his weekly radio broadcast on Saturday without mentioning why he was leaving the show. He simply stated that his program is ending “due to a variety of circumstances” and asked people to pray for a “spiritual reformation” in America. Land lost his show due to his racially-insensitive tirade about the Trayvon Martin shooting, which he vowed to never apologize for until he eventually did, and for plagiarizing commentaries on his show, including part of his remarks about the Martin.

While the SBC trustees reviewing Land’s radio show said that plagiarism was one of the “practices that occur in the radio industry,” even Religious Right talk show host Steve Deace said in an interview with The Tennessean that plagiarism is not common practice on radio shows, contradicting the trustees’ claims:

Trustees claim that Land was following practices that are common in the talk radio industry.

But Steve Deace, a syndicated Christian radio host from Des Moines, Iowa, said that’s not the case.

He said that radio hosts sometimes hear other people’s turns of phrases and repeat them when talking about issues. But they don’t read word for word from other people’s work.

If a host does that, then listeners will eventually catch them at it.

“They are going to know if you are lifting stuff from people,” he said.

Blogger Aaron Weaver, who first caught instances of Land’s plagiarism, pointed out that Land not only didn’t cite the authors of the articles but was actually “adding extra comments and using different adjectives” to pass commentaries off as his own. Indeed, when he initially defended his racially-charged rant regarding the Trayvon Martin shooting, Land never mentioned in his non-apology that he was reading from a Kuhner column.

Weaver and Robert Parham of the Baptist Center for Ethics think the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, which Land leads, should have been tougher on Land, especially considering the fact that Land teaches at a university where students who commit plagiarism can be expelled:

Weaver, a graduate student at Baylor University who blogs at thebigdaddyweave.com, said that trustees were wrong when they said the plagiarism was a result of “carelessness and poor judgment.”

“He wasn’t being careless,” he said. “This was intentional.”

…

Robert Parham of the Nashville-based Baptist Center for Ethics said that Land’s radio show should have been canceled years ago. He said that the show was more about politics than about religion or ethics.

Allowing Land to keep his job, despite the plagiarism, sends the wrong message, said Parham.

Along with being the head of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, Land also teaches regularly at Baptist seminaries.

“Allowing Land to continue as an SBC official — without even an unpaid leave of absence — will create a banquet of distasteful consequences for the Southern Baptists when it comes to how seminaries deal with students who plagiarize papers and how churches deal with pastors who plagiarize sermons.”

National Organization for Marriage’s Jennifer Roback Morse stopped by Richard Land Live this weekend, where the embattled head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission claimed that homosexuality has demonic origins. Land chatted with a caller who thanked him and Morse for fighting the “demon of homosexuality,” and Land agreed with her that “the Devil takes pleasure in anything that causes destruction in human society and the homosexual lifestyle does cause destruction.” He went on to claim that homosexuality was at least partly responsible for the collapse of empires in the past:

Caller: My comment is that I thank God for you all for standing up for God’s holiness and righteousness against this demon of homosexuality. My pastor past but he once said that this demon will be the last one to leave this earth because it is so strong and over in all of the New Testament and coming up to now it’s—

Land: Let me just say that first of all that the Devil takes pleasure in anything that causes destruction in human society and the homosexual lifestyle does cause destruction. It’s seen as one of the evidences in the decline of every empire we have seen; studies have shown it became rampant in the Persian Empire, the Greek Empire, the Roman Empire, the British Empire.

Land and Morse said that they are working against a “secular theocracy” and “sexual nihilists,” with the SBC’s top “ethicist” maintaining that America is witnessing a return to “paganism” where homosexual priests worshiped sex:

Morse: What we learned in California in the marriage fight is that the secularist thrust, I don’t even know what to properly call it, Richard, maybe you have a good name for it, but the secularists, the sexual nihilists.

Land: It’s a secular theocracy is what it is.

Morse: Yes, that’s exactly—

Land: It’s a secular theocracy driven be a full-blown pagan understanding of human sexuality. It’s just pagan.

Morse: When you say pagan, what do you mean by pagan? I can imagine what you mean.

Land: I mean totally focused on self, anything that feels good do it, just like the Greco-Roman orgies of the 1st Century and 2nd Century AD; same thing that our early Christian forefathers faced.

Morse: That’s very true, the hedonism, the hedonistic aspect of the culture. What I wondered you were going to say is full-on paganism I would think of as somehow worshiping sex, as sex taking on a kind of sacramental role.

Land: As you know many of the Roman religions, the idolatrous religions were sexual, and the priests were homosexuals and they worshiped in Corinth they had homosexual priests had these temples that were pre-Christian paganism.

The Republican National Committee’s Hispanic Outreach Director Bettina Inclan sparked a mini-firestorm today when she told reporters that she could not comment on Romney’s immigration positions because “he’s still deciding what his position on immigration is.”  She later tried to clean up the mess by tweeting that she was mistaken, and that his position was clear, linking to his website. 

Unfortunately for Romney and for the RNC’s Hispanic outreach, his position is all too clear: he opposes not only “amnesty” but all “magnets” – such as the DREAM Act or in-state tuition for students whose parents brought them here as children.  Romney has backed legislation, like Arizona’s, that has the goal of making life for undocumented immigrants so miserable that they will choose to “self-deport.”  That’s a bit much even for some right-wing activists, including some of those at the Freedom Federation’s recent Awakening conference in Orlando, Florida, where one speaker called the “self-deportation” approach “cruel” and “unbiblical” and where the Southern Baptists’ Richard Land called the GOP’s positions on immigration policy “dismal” and “indefensible.”