Many of you know that Oklahoma has turned an unrecognizable shade of red in recent years.  Yesterday, one of the leading members of the New Apostolic Reformation all but declared that he was responsible for that rightward swing.  Last week, I mentioned that John Benefiel stopped by Cindy Jacobs' webcast show and claimed that the United States was under satanic control because ancient Egyptians came to North America and dedicated the entire continent to Baal.  Well, just yesterday Benefiel stopped by again and claimed that for the last decade, he's been doing his part to reverse that curse in his home state of Oklahoma.  People for the American Way got a clip.

Benefiel said that back in 2004, he and a team from his Heartland Apostolic Prayer Network were prayer-walking in the Oklahoma State Capitol and casting out demons.  Wen the sergeant-at-arms of the state house found out what they were doing, he invited them to come into the state house chamber and pray over it as well.  They spent an hour in there praying and "making our declarations about Baal."  Later that year, the Republicans gained a majority in the state house for the first time ever--and according to Benefiel, much of that majority was made of "born-again, conservative Christians."  They did the same thing just before the 2006 elections in the state senate--with similar results even as the Republicans were getting their heads handed to them nationally.  Needless to say, Jacobs and her husband, Mike, were delighted.

They were even more delighted when Benefiel told them that the state's four highest elected officials--Governor Mary Fallin, Lieutenant Governor Todd Lamb, state attorney general Scott Pruitt and state house speaker Jeff Hickman--all have longstanding relationships with him.  He even claims that he helped lead Fallin in the baptism of the Holy Spirit several years back.  

Friends, this is a BFD.  The NAR believes that it can bring about the Second Coming by taking over the world.  A major part of that task is taking control of government--one of the "seven mountains" that influence our society.  So a significant number of Oklahoma's elected officials may be in bed with an overt fascist.  And not only that, one who thinks the Statue of Liberty is a demonic idol, that homosexuality is an Illuminati plot and that the 2012 DC earthquake was divine punishment for Masonry.  Even for a state that has foisted the likes of Jim Inhofe and Tom Coburn on us, this is freaking scary.

Watch the whole thing here.

 

You may remember that Rick Perry put together his "Response" prayer rallies with the help of a slew of NAR figures.  One of them was John Benefiel, an Oklahoma City-based "apostle."  He heads up the Heartland Apostolic Prayer Network, one of the numerous prayer networks that is at the grassroots of the NAR.  Among other things, he thinks that the Statue of Liberty is an idol, that homosexuality is being used by the Illuminati to control the world and that his prayers caused DC to be hit with an earthquake in 2012 to punish us for the influence of Masonry.  Well, this weekend he paid a visit to Cindy Jacobs, the mentally unhinged "prophetess" who is one of the NAR's top leaders.  Benefiel claimed that the entire North American continent, including the United States, is under satanic influence because ancient Egyptians dedicated it to Baal.  People for the American Way got a clip.

 

Benefiel and the Jacobses were talking about the need to do "spiritual archeology" in order to better understand how to break demonic curses over our nations.  Benefiel then discussed an "assignment" that God had given him.  He claims that thousands of years ago, ancient Egyptians and Phoenicians came to North America and left scads of rock art, or petroglyphs, claiming it for Baal.  One problem--Baal was not an Egyptian god.  I know that these fundies think that anyone who isn't a Christian is a closet satanist, but this is ridiculous.  Watch the whole thing on Vimeo, if you can stand it.

PFAW thinks that Benefiel may have based a lot of his "research" on the findings of Barry Fell, a marine biologist who delved into the origins of numerous inscriptions found all over North America.  Fell claimed that several of these inscriptions are proof that several Old World civilizations visited North America years before Columbus.  That claim has been completely debunked by several better-versed scholars, and some of his claims have been called outright fraudulent.

That being said, I have to wonder--is this claptrap being taught in Christian schools and Christian homeschool curricula?  Wouldn't surprise me if it was.

 

Yes, that's right. We have totally lost our religious freedom in Mississippi and it must be restored by our legislators.

This caught me by surprise. I guess times are a changin in Dixieland.
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Cross posted from the HRC blog.

Starkville Becomes First City in Mississippi to Pass Resolution Recognizing LGBT Residents
January 21, 2014 by Dan Rafter, Associate Director of Communications

The city of Starkville, Mississippi today passed an inclusivity resolution recognizing the inherent worth of all its city's residents - including those who are LGBT. This is the first time any municipality in Mississippi has recognized the dignity of its LGBT residents. HRC President Chad Griffin issued the following statement:

"The city of Starkville, Mississippi is sending a message to its residents that all people - regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity - are worthy of respect and equality. These are fundamental American values, and Mayor Parker Wiseman and the Starkville City Council are setting an inspiring example for their fellow lawmakers in surrounding cities and towns. While we must continue pushing for ordinances that codify these values into law across the state, the impact of this resolution on LGBT people - particularly youth - will be powerful."

"I want to thank the Board of Alderman and all those involved with the equality resolution," said Starkville Mayor Parker Wiseman. "The resolution makes it clear that Starkville is a community that works proactively to prevent workplace discrimination before it happens. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that "we must learn to live together as brothers..." I hope the equality resolution lives up to the beliefs of Dr. King and sends a message that Starkville is a city that is intolerant of discrimination against anyone and in any form."

Public opinion on equality in Mississippi is ahead of the law in the state. A poll conducted last summer found that nearly 60 percent of Mississippians under the age of 30 support marriage equality, while 64 percent of residents back workplace non-discrimination protections for LGBT employees.

http://www.hrc.org/blog/entry/starkville-becomes-first-city-in-mi ssissippi-to-pass-resolution-recognizing

In one of the starkest instances yet of how far gone the religious right is, one of its leading activists thinks that he's found another potential wedge issue that could drive more people into the waiting arms of the GOP.  Robert Knight, a frequent columnist at Town Hall and the Washington Times, tells OneNewsNow that the GOP could reap a major windfall if it runs on--wait for it--opposition to evolution!  He was heartened by that Pew Research poll that shows only 43 percent of Republicans believe in evolution, and thinks this could potentially be a winner both in 2014 and in the long run.

"Evolution is at the core of a left-wing, secular, humanist worldview that has been breathing down everybody's necks in America for years [and telling us that] the best we can do is empower government to make our decisions for us," he offers. "That leads to terrible things like socialism and communism and fascism and Nazism and the more extreme forms of liberalism in this country."

The political commentator is encouraged that more Republicans reject the concept – and believes it could bode well for the GOP at election time later this year.

"The Republicans have a great opportunity to say Look, we've witnessed the collapse of a lot of lies that liberals have told over the years, and now we're questioning evolution more than ever as a basis for people's worldviews," Knight suggests. "So the dynamics are fascinating – and I think they could add up to an enormous conservative revival in this country."

So let's get this straight.  Knight thinks that if the GOP declares itself the party of scientific ignorance, it will not only win in 2014 and beyond, but win big.  Apparently Knight's forgotten that the reason any competent Democrat starts out with at least 245 electoral votes is that moderate suburbanites in the Northeast, Midwest and West turned on the GOP when it started running hard right on social issues.  This demographic swung hard to Clinton in 1992, and have been solidly in the Democratic column ever since.  Knight also seems to forget that a significant bloc of younger evangelicals aren't as hung up on social issues as people of Knight's generation.  So he wants to take the GOP into fantasyland?  Please proceed.

Last year, Monsignor William Lynn, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia's secretary for clergy, was convicted of reassigning a priest whom he knew had molested a young boy to a parish that had a school attached to it.  That priest, William Avery, later pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting an altar boy at his new parish.  To prosecutors' minds, that was child endangerment--and a jury agreed, sentencing Lynn to three to six years in prison.  Yesterday, an appeals court threw out Lynn's conviction, saying that the law under which he was convicted didn't apply to him at the time.

In their 43-page ruling, the judges - John T. Bender, Christine L. Donahue and John L. Musmanno - sided with Lynn's attorneys, who argued that the child-endangerment law that was on the books in the state when Avery held his position only applied to people who had direct supervision of children, like parents and other caregivers.

The law was changed and broadened in 2007 to include employers whose employees end up harming children.

"I'm happy. This is very rewarding," Thomas Bergstrom, one of Lynn's attorneys, said yesterday.

"This was a labor of love. We fought long and hard, so it's nice to know that you were right."

Bergstrom said he hopes that Lynn will be released from a state prison in Wayne County in the next few days.

Prosecutors were not so pleased.

"I am disappointed and strongly disagree with the court's decision," District Attorney Seth Williams said in a statement distributed to the news media.

"While we are deciding what our next course of action will be, we most likely will be appealing this decision."

Read the full ruling here.  It found that while Lynn put the archdiocese's reputation above protecting children, it was not enough to prove intent to endanger kids.  In essence, it found that while Lynn's actions ultimately ended up putting kids at risk, the law didn't apply to him at the time.

Lynn's lawyer, Thomas Bergstrom, appeared on CNN's New Day earlier, and claimed that the acquittal happened mainly because prosecutors knew they were prosecuting the wrong man.  When CNN's Chris Cuomo wondered how Lynn wasn't responsible by way of transferring Avery, Bergstrom said that in order to get a conviction, Lynn said that Williams and his team would have had to prove Lynn was the equivalent of a parent, a guardian or a supervisor--and Lynn was merely a supervisor of a supervisor.  Incredibly, though, Bergstrom maintains that Lynn did the right thing--even though he didn't report Avery to the police.  Watch here.

Incredibly, church officials are actually considering whether to let Lynn back into the ministry again.

Kenneth Gavin, the Archdiocese's director of communications, said church officials would have to decide whether Lynn will return to active ministry.

"I know the monsignor would like to be able to serve in some capacity," Bergstrom said.

Lynn most recently had served as pastor of St. Joseph Church in Downingtown, which opened a new $9 million facility earlier this year.

Apparently there are some in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia who forget that the bar for acceptable behavior is a much lower one than the bar below which you go to jail.  The fact they're even considering letting Lynn preach again shows just how much cleaning up needs to be done in the higher levels of the church.

The point of this comparison is not to cast Sarah Palin as a Nazi. Rather, my intent is to underline uncomfortable similarities between contemporary "war on Christmas" talking points propagated by elements of the American right (e.g. Fox News' Megyn Kelly and Bill O'Reilly) and the evangelical right (Sarah Palin, Bill Donohue, The American Family Association and the Family Research Council, etc.) and anti-pluralist themes to be found within overtly Christian anti-Jewish propaganda that was originally written by Americans and published in America, and then distributed by Hitler and his Nazi Party in the early 1920s.

Late yesterday Pope Francis announced--apparently after some prodding--that he will set up a panel to advise him on how to deal with child abuse by priests.

The announcement was a forthright acknowledgment by the Vatican of the enduring problem of abusive priests, and fit with Francis’ pattern of willingness to set a new tone in the governance of the church nine months into his tenure.

Whether the new commission portends a significant change in how the Vatican deals with abusive priests and their protectors remains to be seen, experts on the church said. Yet the timing of the announcement, two days after a United Nations panel criticized the Vatican over its handling of abuse cases, suggested that the pope and his closest advisers wanted to at least be seen as tackling the issue with greater firmness.

Had it not been for the death of Nelson Mandela yesterday, this likely would have been THE major story yesterday.  No word yet on who will be on this commission, but according to Sean Cardinal O'Malley, the archbishop of Boston and one of the main fixers in the abuse scandals, it will include priests, men and women from religious orders and laypeople and will have a sweeping mandate to develop "norms, procedures and strategies for the protection of children and the prevention of abuse of minors."

However, in what can only be described as a disappointment, it will focus mainly on pastoral care rather than judicial functions.  And that gives two groups serving as watchdogs on this issue pause.

(T)he Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, the leading United States-based support group for clergy abuse victims, called the news a disappointment that reflected badly on the new pope. David Clohessy, executive director of the group, said the announcement suggested that the Vatican remained strongly resistant to making sexually abusive members of the clergy and their church protectors accountable to external criminal prosecution.

“A new church panel is the last thing that kids need,” Mr. Clohessy said in a telephone interview. “Church officials have mountains of information about those who have committed and those who are concealing horrible child sex crimes and cover-ups. They just have to give that information to the police.”

BishopAccountability.org, an organization that has amassed an enormous collection of documents on the abuse problem in the church, gave a cautious welcome to the announcement, but also expressed skepticism.

“It’s good that the Vatican will be giving this terrible problem high-level and focused attention,” Anne Barrett Doyle, the group’s co-director, said in a statement. “But we are concerned that the commission will be toothless and off-target.”

In a press conference, O'Malley claimed that it was important to focus on pastoral care as well as the judicial aspect.  The problem with that argument is that there are quite a few bishops who turned a blind eye to abuse, and one word from Francis would end their careers on the spot.  Most notably, Robert Finn, who knew or should have known as early as 2010 that one of his priests, Shawn Ratigan, was a pedophile--and yet didn't do anything until the issue was essentially forced on him.

When John Hagee opens his mouth, you expect to hear lunacy.  An appearance earlier this month on TBN was no different.  On Friday, People for the American Way stumbled on a special prophecy-focused edition of Praise the Lord that aired on November 1.  On this show, Hagee claimed that the Jewish people will make a deal with the Antichrist just before the End Times start.  As a result, they won't accept Jesus until he returns.  Watch here.

When Hagee said this, another "prophecy" snake oil salesman, David Reagan of Lamb and Lion Ministries, claimed that two-thirds of Jews won't survive the End Times, and the one-third that will survive will "come to the end of themselves" before accepting Jesus.

Watch the whole thing--if you can stand it--here.  Hagee also claims that the 2008 financial crisis and the 9-11 attacks were both divine retribution.

 

 

Doug Phillips resigned as president of Vision Forum earlier this week, citing an "inappropriate relationship."  

Phillips posted an announcement on the Vision Forum website, stating,

There has been serious sin in my life for which God has graciously brought me to repentance. I have confessed my sin to my wife and family, my local church, and the board of Vision Forum Ministries.  I engaged in a lengthy, inappropriate relationship with a woman. While we did not "know" each other in a Biblical sense, it was nevertheless inappropriately romantic and affectionate.

Phillips, who founded Vision Forum in 1998, is one of the biggest names in the world of homeschooling as well as Biblical patriarchy, Quiverfull ideology, and the Family Integrated Church.  He is the son of the late Howard Phillips, founder of the Conservative Caucus and U.S. Constitution Party.