Help! L.A. Katrina Survivors being held by evil doomsday cult!

[RadiDem]

I'm a committed Atheist living in L.A. I just found out that hundreds of Katrina evacuees have been sent to 'The Dream Center' a branch of the Assembly of God Church. These are the fundies who talk in tongues, flop around on the ground, and slap people on the forehead to 'heal' them.

Here are some of their beliefs taken DIRECTLY from the AOG website.

http://ag.org/top/beliefs/

"Sickness and disease, including AIDS and HIV, are present in our world because of Adam and Eve’s sin. Satan, not God, desires to use AIDS as a means of destroying millions of youth and adults around the world. What Satan plans to use for man’s destruction, God can use to bring glory to himself."

Sadly, the perverse gay agenda of today’s sinful culture has created suspicion toward the very concept and idea of friendship. Gay lifestyles have been so strongly pushed and given such large media exposure that many today wonder about normal friendships among members of the same sex.


"WE BELIEVE...in The Millennial Reign of Christ when Jesus returns with His saints at His second coming and begins His benevolent rule over earth for 1,000 years. At that time many in the nation of Israel will recognize and accept Him as the Messiah, the Savior who died for them and all mankind."


"WE BELIEVE...A Final Judgment Will Take Place for those who have rejected Christ. They will be judged for their sin and consigned to eternal punishment in a punishing lake of fire."

It sickens me that this group of American Talibaners now has control ove these hurricane victims, many or most of whom might be in a state of shock and unable to resist the brainwashing techiques of these sick fucks. What if some are Agnostics ? Atheists ? Catholics ? Muslims ? I assume this doomsday cult will be getting reimbursed hundreds of thousands of Dollars for taking these people in.

I want to make sure that they have the possibility of 'opting out' of any religious aspects of this program, and that the ones of other religions are provided the opportunity to follow their path, or no path at all.

What should I do ?

[Cocoa]

1. what is the Dream Project

where is it, how do you know the evacuees were sent there, etc.

[RadiDem]

3. Here's the info

It's the Dream Center, not Project. I corrected my original post. It's here in Los Angeles. They took over a giant empty hospital a few years ago. The arrival of several hundred Katrina survivors was on the local news.

http://www.dreamcenter.org

[MisterLiberal]

22. Sheesh

And some of us want the Jesus freaks in our party?

Sorry, not in this lifetime.

[eShirl]

2. I'm sure they're not the only cult doing this, either

In earlier footage from the Astrodome, I saw two guys wearing identical t-shirts - "Scientology" on the front and "Volunteer Minister" on the back. Ack.

[orpupilofnature57]

4. Read the Bible, Wicked variance between it's self-ordained Authorities...

and what Jesus taught about Forgiveness and happiness.

[ima_sinnic]

5. just some ideas:

seems the first problem is to make people aware of (a) who these people are and (b) the fact that survivors are being sent to them. LTTE, letters to local and state legislators, Congresspeople. You could also work with the local peace and action community, stage demonstrations and vigils at the gates, write press releases. Someone should see if they can get in to interview the survivors. Some reporter somewhere must want to expose this. My heart goes out to these people; this situation would be a living hell for me, who cherishes my individuality and privacy.

on edit: also forgot to mention: get your post onto other forums and message boards.

[JDPriestly]

6. More news items on this.

. . . . Earvin "Magic" Johnson was one of the first celebrities to visit 300 evacuees who can now call the Dream Center home for as long as they need to.

Pledging his own designer tennis shoes, jobs, a trip to the movies and a return visit to play ball, Johnson said the resources of his foundation and business franchises ranging from Starbucks to movie theaters would be with the Dream Center evacuees "every step of the way."

"I am from New Orleans and I have never seen this much love in my 47 years," said Thomas "T-bone" Quinn, one of the first to fly from Louisiana to Los Angeles on a private jet loaned to the Dream Center, which has been working with the underprivileged of Los Angeles for almost 10 years.

Graves, who used to work as a chef, already likes Los Angeles so much, he plans to stay. There are no mosquitoes and "I wanna be an actor some day," he said. . . . .

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N08374247.htm

Note that the Dream Center is not just giving charity. It expects the government to pay for the costs of housing the people according to this article:

Magic Johnson promised jobs to some Hurricane Katrina victims living at a shelter in Los Angeles, in addition to helping provide them with shoes, food and entertainment.

. . . .

Johnson told more than 300 families staying at the Dream Center in Echo Park near downtown that he would find jobs for some of them.

Johnson said his self-named foundation had partnered with a drug store and grocery store to fill prescriptions and provide groceries for evacuees for free.
. . . .
Johnson said he expected the government to pay for temporary housing for all displaced families.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/09/09/sports/s022328D55.DTL

And more. Seems lots of local politicians including Richard Riordan, Gloria Molina and more and more are involved:

In Los Angeles, meanwhile, Johnson, the legendary former Lakers point guard, announced that his companies will assist the more than 300 families currently staying at the Los Angeles Dream Center, formerly Queen of the Angels Hospital, in Echo Park.

. . . .

The Assembly resolution also directs the state Franchise Tax Board to evaluate the possibility of offering tax credits to California families who take in Katrina evacuees. And a bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Carol Liu, D-La Caada-Flintridge, would allow California's community colleges to waive nonresident tuition this year for students from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama whose colleges have closed because of hurricane damage.

Some expressed concern, however, that the county's resources would be stretched thin.

"Unfortunately, they won't be able to meet the need and these same people will find themselves on the streets of L.A.," homeless advocate Ted Hayes said, noting that the county has 270,000 homeless people that need resources. "And when their relatives back East find out how great it is here in L.A., I'm concerned about a human tsunami."

http://www2.dailynews.com/news/ci_3012596

I just hope this wave of kindness and charitable giving and government involvement in helping people is more than just show and that the politicians and celebrities who are putting their names and faces out there now will be there for the poor and homeless not just from NO but in the entire nation from now on. I note that Schwarzenegger raised college tuition this past year for California students including, without of course breaks for California's less affluent students.

[Silverhair]

7. Damned if we don't, and damned if we do.

There have been numerous threads here on DU asking why the churches aren't doing something. They assumed, without any evidence, that the churches were not doing anything and were simply wanting to throw rocks at the churches. When I have found those threads I have posted some of what I have personally seen our local churches do.

If you will bother to check the web site of any major denomination, and most minor ones, you will find that EVERY one is doing something to help. So far Christians have raised over one billion dollars to help victims and are still raising more. Very little of that is used up in overhead, almost all of it gets to the victims, because the overhead is carried by volunteer workers and the regular church budget pays the staff.

Now someone is going berserk because a church is helping. The Assemblies of God, as a denomination, has been around since 1914, and has about 1.6 million USA members.

So if a church doesn't help, someone screams at us.
And if a church does help, someone screams at us.

Further, the beliefs that you listed from the site are standard to almost almost all evangelical churches, to include Southern Baptists, all variations of Pentacostals, Church of Christ, etc.

Sounds to me like you just hate churches. I will pray that God show his mercy to you.

[orpupilofnature57]

8. Wait a minute, lots of us on DU are christians, you are doing what ..

you are accusing DU of.Because I Believe in God I spew the things I do, and the only truth I've learned this last couple years comes from the devoted commie, Atheistic bastards I am proud to call my fellow DUer's.Thank you Cooleyhurd for turning me on.

[Silverhair]

16. There have been threads such as I described.

That is a fact.

[orpupilofnature57]

19. I'm sorry your right, there are people on DU quick to attack Christianity.

[MisterLiberal]

24. I dont get

how a person can literally believe that a man raised himself from the dead two thousand years ago and consider themselves rational people.

Those are the people that scare the crap out of me.

[Silverhair]

25. So only athiests are allowed to be Democrats?

Jimmy Carter was/is a strong believer.
Bill Clinton was/is a Baptist.
Gore and Kerry both claimed to be believers.

I guess they scared you?

[leesa]

10. Ahhh.. the Fundie insult..."I will pray for you".

I agree that any help is terrific. But it does make the hair stand up on the back of my neck.

[LittleClarkie]

20. When Kathy Lee said that to Howard Stern

It made my teeth itch.

AND I'M A CHRISTIAN!

But that's just such a self-righteous thing to say. Esp. when Howard had a point about Gifford showing her children on television. She didn't listen to his criticism. She reacted like a Repub, just to the fact that she'd been "attacked," and the answer was to pray for him.

Don't open your mind there hun.

[MisterLiberal]

23. uh

Someone might want to point out the separation of church and state to you sometime.

I'm telling you guys, the moment we let the religious nuts in our party, we're screwed. That's what happened to the Repukes. They were wrong but at least respectable before the born agains infiltrated.

[noonwitch]

9. Assemblies of God churches are usually large and have facilities

to house people, so despite their pentecostal ways, it makes sense that their buildings get used in a disaster.

On top of that, the whole congregation will be donating food and clothing to the people staying there. As long as there is no expectation of conversion, I don't have a problem with it. The people in need are probably not being all that particular about the religious beliefs of those who are helping them.

[politicat]

11. Contact Atheists United

www.atheistsunited.org

They're local to you and are sure to be interested.

[ZigSteenine]

12. churches

The churches in my area are sheltering refugees if they have the room. The smaller churches that don't have the facilities are sponsoring the refugees in their own homes!!

[politicat]

13. So are the Secular Humanists.

We don't own buildings because we don't get tax subsidies like churches do, but there's a lot of full guest rooms....

[Silverhair]

15. Churches do NOT get tax subsidies.

Donations to the church can be deducted from income tax by the person giving the donation EXACTLY THE SAME AS ANY OTHER CHARITY.

The church does not have to pay sales tax on item that it buys, JUST LIKE OTHER CHARITIES.

In all respects, we are treated exactly as any other non-profit charity.

The minister has to pay income tax on his/her income, just like everybody else.

The reason that you don't have large buildings is that secular humanists don't have regular large meeting to celebrate their humanism, therefore - no building.

[politicat]

21. Actually, you do get a subsidy in that you do not have to pay property

taxes while other non-profits do. The few buildings that Sec Hums and other non-religious, equivalent organizations to churches own all come with an annual property tax bill that equivalent churches don't have to pay. Most cities, municipalities, counties and states don't charge property taxes on church properties that other non-profits must pay. Therefore, churches are subsidized by the government in ways that other non-profits are not.

And according to the IRS, those in clergy positions get a reduced income tax rate (TurboTax even deals with it). So, if I make $30,000 a year in my non-profit, non-religious job, I pay income tax at 17% percent. However, if I made that same amount as a religious leader, I only pay 8.79%. There's a reason that some Sec. Hum. groups have eaten the humble pie and declared themselves religions... and that reason is money.

The reason that we, and other charities don't buy buildings is that we can't afford them.

[JNelson6563]

26. Secular humanists don't need regular large

meetings to reaffirm their non-belief. Non-belief never needs a bolstering, belief in the unbelievable does.

Julie

[rinsd]

18. A couple of things...

The poster didn't say a deragotory word about non-church goers and in no way implied that churches were the only ones doing this.

Why the unnecessary slam?

I am just glad these people are being housed and cared for somewhere. I don't care if its this church, scientologists, atheists, mosques, synagogues, etc etc.

[Lars39]

14. What is especially worrisome about this is that those who

need mental health help will be unlikely to get it while under this group's care. :(

[Trish1168]

17. Jesus loved sinners and didn't judge

He hung out with tax collectors (considered crooked and slimey) and prostitutes and others with sin. He would not let others judge or condemn them.

These people don't know shit about theology.