Religious Right Leader Excoriates His Own for Aiding and Abetting 'End Of Times' Hype and Hysteria

Move over Nostradamus, "Rapture" kings and queens, "End Times" prophets, and Y2K hucksters. Here comes the real "end of days," brought to you by the Mayan calendar: Not!

In its first weekend, the film "2012" was a box office sensation; it took in $225 million -- $65 million domestically and $160 million internationally. "2012" is an special effects spectacular, combining the star power of its cast with the kind of doomsday scenario -- derived from the end of the Mayan Calendar - that apparently is being lapped up by movie audiences everywhere.

Talk about going global!

In attempt to both explain and neutralize both the hype and the hysteria generated by the film's doomsday scenario, Gary DeMar, president of an organization called American Vision ("Exercising Servanthood Dominion"), recently wrote a column titled "Avoiding Doomsday Hype and Hysteria." In the piece, DeMar - who is not so well-known amongst the general public -- excoriates those Religious Right leaders that have consistently set a date for the end of time, the rapture, etc.

National Association of Evangelicals' resolution on immigration trashed by the Institute on Religion & Democracy's Mark Tooley

If you think that the debate over health care reform has taken some decidedly nasty, and often unexpected, turns, just wait until the issue of immigration returns to the spotlight on Capitol Hill.

Imagine rowdier Town Hall meetings and a slew of anti-immigrant tea parties. As Al Jolson, one of the early 20th century's stars of vaudeville, might have put it, "you ain't seen nothing yet!"

While the national debate over immigration may be a ways off, an assortment of evangelical Christian organizations are already at odds over the issue.

In early October, the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) -- which has over 40 member organizations and is made up of nearly 30 million U.S. evangelicals -- passed a resolution endorsing "comprehensive" immigration reform.

In no time, Mark Tooley of the Institute on Religion & Democracy pounced.

Bill Robinson's Correction Concepts Inc. is proposing an all-Christian prison based in the small town of Wakita, Oklahoma.

If Bill Robinson gets his way, Wakita, Oklahoma, a small town near the Kansas border consisting of 380 residents, will be the home of the first all-Christian prison in the U.S. Robinson, who runs a Dallas-based outfit called Corrections Concepts Inc. (CCI), hopes to have the facility up and running within 16 months.

Founded in 1898 and located in Grant County Wakita (pronounced Wok-ih-taw) was "featured in the 1996 blockbuster movie 'Twister' starring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton in which [the town] was destroyed by an F4 tornado ...," Wikipedia notes.  

OneNewsNow, a news service of Donald Wildmon's American Family Association, recently reported that while there are a number of prisons with "Christian or faith-based units," no prisons have "an all-Christian staff." "All of the employees will be Christians," Robinson said. "We have an opinion letter from the [Equal Employment Opportunity Commission] that says we can do that." Christian guards and staffers would supervise volunteering inmates.

The Rev. Sun Myung Moon-owned Washington Times fired three top executives on Monday, November 7, "amid reports that the paper's top editor might also be leaving," the New York Times reported. However, despite billion dollar losses, a series of editorial shake-ups over the past few years, the tough economic climate for newspapers in general, and ownership by the controversial Moon,  newspaper officials are assuring its staff and readers that it doesn't intend to cease operations.

The dismissed included Thomas P. McDevitt, the president and publisher who was a former pastor at Washington's Unification Church, Keith Cooperrider, the chief financial officer, and Dong Moon Joo, the chairman. Jonathan Slevin, a former vice president of the paper, was named acting president and publisher.  

This week, three years after a sex and drugs scandal torpedoed the powerful pastor, he is back

After a much publicized HBO documentary, a feature story in People magazine, an appearance on Oprah, an aborted church-supervised restoration program and travels around the country, Ted Haggard has decided its time to convene a prayer group in the living room of his house.

Haggard, the former head of the National Association of Evangelicals and founder and pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, who resigned those posts after revelations of his sex and drugs scandal came to light three years ago, recently sent out a tweet announcing the upcoming meeting: "For those of you who love the Word and payer (sic), Gayle and i are having a prayer meeting at our place next Thursday [November 12] at 7:00. You are welcome!"

"This is a Thursday night prayer meeting in our home," Haggard later commented. "What we want to do is be able to tell our schedule and our story and know that we're covered in prayer. And we want to hear their stories and give them the assurance that they're covered in prayer as well."

The International Coalition of Apostles was formed in 2001* and represents probably the biggest religious constituency that most Americans have never heard of. As President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Council, which purports to represent roughly ten million Hispanic Protestant evangelicals and five million Charismatic Catholics, the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez is now the ICA's highest profile apostle; it should be national news. Rodriguez has prayed together with Barack Obama and shared a podium with the late Ted Kennedy. Dubbed the Hispanic Karl Rove, Rodriguez  played a significant role in helping craft the Third Way's "Come Let Us Reason Together" governing agenda and has publicly declared his intent of fusing together the message of Billy Graham with the message of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Representative Bart Stupak (D-Mich) has repeatedly protested that he isn't trying to kill health care reform. But, as Stupak told the arch-conservative CNSNews service on Thursday November 5th, he hasn't been able to reach a compromise with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi concerning language dealing with abortion in the H.R. 3962 health care bill. So Stupak is still poised to enact his threat to lead a block of Democrats up to forty strong to join with Republicans and block the health care bill from getting to the House floor when it comes up for a vote, either over the weekend or early next week.

First openly gay nominee for spot on Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is attacked by Traditional Values Coalition, Focus on the Family and the Alliance Defense Fund

Thus far, no video has surfaced of her saying "I would hope that a wise Jewish lesbian with the richness of her experiences would, more often than not, reach a better conclusion," a la the recently confirmed Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, nor has any bizarre petition shown up with her signature affixed to it, a la Van Jones, the president's former point man on green jobs. Nevertheless the Christian Right -- led by the always agitated folks at the Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) -- is up in arms over Chai R. Feldblum's nomination to become a Commissioner on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency that enforces civil rights laws.

Feldblum's record indicates that she is a perfect fit for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; a compassionate advocate for the rights of the disabled and the disaffected. Au contraire say several Religious Right groups: Her appointment will be a victory for the 'forces of darkness,' and mark the end of 'religious liberty.'

Feldblum is the first openly gay or lesbian to be nominated to the EEOC -- as one of five commissioners, her nomination must be confirmed by the Senate -- which issues regulations implementing anti-discrimination laws and which authorizes test case litigation under anti-discrimination laws.

Ahmadinejad's visit to the United Nations stirred Mike Evans and Joel Rosenberg, two leading Christian Zionists, to once again open fire on Iran

I am in New York City standing up for Israel and against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Please pray for me. I have been boycotted by the UN because of our 9/11 NoVisa campaign. - Michael Evans, September 23, 2009

They're not Evans and Novak, and they're not officially tied together like Martin and Lewis, Abbott and Costello, Laurel and Hardy, or even Seth Rogen and Judd Apatow, but best-selling authors Michael Evans and Joel Rosenberg appear to be busting out their anti-Iran arsenals at just about the same time.  

While Mike Evans was fighting to keep Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, out of the United States - thereby preventing him from speaking at the United Nations (he failed) - and battling the U.N. to get press credentials for its session (which he eventually received), Joel Rosenberg, fresh from a successful 9/11 National Town Hall Meeting, was warning that "Rumors of a major war between Iran and Israel in 2010 continue to swirl here in Washington and in Jerusalem."  

Reading stories about the religious right often led me to questions as to how organizations in the group came up with so much money.  I ran across several reports about ministers like Gerald Smith being hired as a union buster.  Business men like Henry Ford saw unions as a threat to their fortunes.  During this period some anti-union sentiments were connected to fears of Communist infiltration.  Growing up in Oklahoma and living in a white collar town meant I received a two fold indoctrination on the evils of unions.  As a general rule of thumb the religious right has been anti union.  It has a legacy of hostility towards organzied labor. Christian talk radio often uses the word "union" in the same disdain they would  mentioning  the ACLU.

Matthew Hagee is ready to step into his father's shoes, but Pastor John Hagee is not quite ready to leave the building

As a number of older Religious Right leaders pass on, retire, and/or slip reluctantly into history, many of their sons are heeding the call, and are stepping in to take their place. Jerry Jr. and Jonathan Falwell have succeeded their father, the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, in the running of Liberty University and in the pulpit at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Va., where their father had presided for 40 years before his death; Gordon Robertson has taken on a major role at Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network; and for the past several years, Tim Wildmon has been playing a significant role in the Rev. Donald Wildmon's American Family Association.

Now, it's closing in Matthew Hagee time.

He's a preacher, a talented singer, an author, the host of his own television program, and he's waiting in the wings for his father, Pastor John Hagee -- who late last year underwent open heart surgery -- to ride off into the sunset.

Does Matthew have his dad's fire in his belly? Will he be as controversial a figure as his father? Is he ready for prime time?

Ignacio Reyes and David Schmidt have the look of a boy band; they're young and flashy, earnest and media-savvy. As leaders of the group Live Action, they're committed to organizing a corps of young anti-abortion activists. Pro-choice groups should take notice.

During a town hall meeting hosted by Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), a neatly attired young man rose to ask the congresswoman a question. He identified himself as Ignacio Reyes: "We know that over 90 percent of abortions are purely elective, not medically necessary. Why is this being covered when abortion is not clearly health care?" The question -- fair and asked politely -- was greeted by a round of applause and cheers from some in the audience. "Abortion will be covered as a benefit by one or more of the healthcare plans available to Americans, and I think it should be," Lofgren responded.

On hand to videotape the proceedings, and quickly post it on You Tube, was David R. Schmidt. (Schmidt's video is titled "Dem Congresswomen Admits ObamaCare = Taxpayer Funded Abortion Coverage" -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTYvK4h44RU)

Both Reyes (the questioner) and Schmidt (the videographer) are members of Live Action, the anti-abortion organization founded by Lila Rose.

The video quickly bled over into a number of other outlets, from Web sites and blogs to newszines and news aggregators; LifeSiteNews.com's story was headlined "Cat out of the Bag: Dem Congresswoman Admits ObamaCare Covers Elective Abortions," and the Heritage Foundation titled it, "Townhall Downfall: Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) Admits Obamacare Will Fund Abortions."

Perhaps not surprising in this age of proliferating media, Live Action's activists had become significant content providers. This wasn't a Susan Boyle moment, and their video will never top then-candidate Barack Obama's speech on race which within 48 hours garnered nearly 1.5 million viewers, but it did provide for another serious distraction for President Obama's health care reform project.