Soldiers of Christ II .....Feeling the hate with the National Religious Br

[RedEarth]

Soldiers of Christ II
Soldiers of Christ II
Feeling the hate with the National Religious Broadcasters

Posted on Monday, May 30, 2005. Originally from May 2005. By Chris Hedges.
SourcesSince the reelection of George W. Bush in November, the rhetoric on the Christian right has grown triumphal and proud; rumors of spiritual war are abroad in the heartland, and fervent whispers of revolution echo among the pews and folding chairs of the nation’s megachurches. I have traveled to Anaheim, California, to observe the rising power of the evangelical political movement at first hand. Orange County, along with Colorado Springs, is a center of the new militant Christianity, and it is here, among friends, that the National Religious Broadcasters association—which brings together some 1,600 Christian radio and television broadcasters, who claim to reach up to 141 million listeners and viewers—is holding its annual convention.

I am standing in line at the Starbucks in the Anaheim Hilton with Dee Simmons and her friend Samantha Landy. Around her neck Simmons wears a cross of gold studded with diamonds, and her face, which betrays neither line nor crease, is carefully highlighted with heavy makeup. Scores of men and women, all conservatively dressed in coats and ties or skirts, stand expectantly, waiting for a sign to beckon them next door to the Anaheim Convention Center, where speeches, booths, and seminars await.

We’ve known each other just a few minutes, but already I can tell you that Simmons once led a life of constant sorrow, that in 1987 she was diagnosed with breast cancer and before long underwent a modified radical mastectomy. That tragedy led her, she says, to turn her focus away from the designer-clothes boutiques she owned in Dallas and New York. “When God gave me my life back,” she says, “I decided to make a difference in people’s lives.” And so she embraced nutrition.

Simmons reaches into her purse and draws out several pamphlets from her company, Ultimate Living. She tells me about her books, which include It’s a Miracle! It’s a Green Miracle & It Saved My Life!, and mentions the numerous Christian talk shows she regularly appears on, including Pat Robertson’s The 700 Club, Hope Today, Praise, Something Good Tonight, and The Armstrong Williams Show.

http://www.harpers.org/FeelingTheHate.html

[GOPBasher]

1. These people are so scary.

:scared:

[RedEarth]

2. They sure are scary and very powerful....

You should also read Soldiers of Christ I. It deals with a very powerful mega-church in Colorado Springs. The Southern Povery Law Center has an article on their site also dealing the the radical Christian Right....bascially calling them hate groups. Here's a link to their article......

Holy War

The religious crusade against gays has been building for 30 years. Now the movement is reaching truly biblical proportions

By Bob Moser

On June 26, 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the convictions of two Texas men arrested for having sex. Writing for the majority in Lawrence v. Texas, Justice Anthony Kennedy said that the two men were "entitled to respect for their private lives." The state, he declared, "cannot demean their existence or control their destiny by making their private sexual conduct a crime."

The decision was unusually popular. A national survey found that 75% of Republicans and 88% of Democrats wanted to see sodomy laws struck down. But not everyone cheered.

"Six lawyers robed in black have magically discovered a right of privacy that includes sexual perversion," said Jan LaRue, chief counsel for Concerned Women for America. "This opens the door to bigamy, adult incest, polygamy and prostitution," said Ken Connor, president of the Family Research Council.

For anti-gay crusaders, who have been fighting gay rights for three decades, Lawrence was the most unsettling court decision since Roe v. Wade. Fundamentalist groups had filed 15 briefs supporting Texas' sodomy laws, only to see their arguments — that gay sex was a threat to public health and "traditional family values," and that gay people do not deserve equal rights — shot down.

And with the Massachusetts Supreme Court widely expected to rule that fall (as it did) that gay citizens had a right to marry under that state's constitution, anti-gay leaders realized the time was ripe to ratchet up their call to arms. "America stands at a defining moment," said Lou Sheldon, founder of the Traditional Values Coalition. "The only comparison is our battle for independence."

http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=522

[RevCheesehead]

3. Colorado Springs is also center for "Focus on the Family."

I'm sure you've heard of them. Mr. Dobson doesn't like SpongeBob.

[RedEarth]

4. Oh yes, the wonderful James "Dog Beater" Dobson

Many people feel he's the most powerful figure of the radical Christian right..even though he's not a minister. However, New Life church in Colorado Springs is spreading their hatred world wide(Soldiers of Christ I and their web site...

http://www.lifegivingchurch.com/index.cfm?FUSEACTION=alc.member_benefits



Here's an excert from Dobson's best selling book, "The Strong Willed Child".


"Please don't misunderstand me. Siggie is a member of our family and we love him dearly. And despite his anarchistic nature, I have finally taught him to obey a few simple commands. However, we had some classic battles before he reluctantly yielded to my authority.

"The greatest confrontation occurred a few years ago when I had been in Miami for a three-day conference. I returned to observe that Siggie had become boss of the house while I was gone. But I didn't realize until later that evening just how strongly he felt about his new position as Captain.

"At eleven o'clock that night, I told Siggie to go get into his bed, which is a permanent enclosure in the family room. For six years I had given him that order at the end of each day, and for six years Siggie had obeyed.

"On this occasion, however, he refused to budge. You see, he was in the bathroom, seated comfortably on the furry lid of the toilet seat. That is his favorite spot in the house, because it allows him to bask in the warmth of a nearby electric heater..."

"When I told Sigmund to leave his warm seat and go to bed, he flattened his ears and slowly turned his head toward me. He deliberately braced himself by placing one paw on the edge of the furry lid, then hunched his shoulders, raised his lips to reveal the molars on both sides, and uttered his most threatening growl. That was Siggie's way of saying. "Get lost!"

"I had seen this defiant mood before, and knew there was only one way to deal with it. The ONLY way to make Siggie obey is to threaten him with destruction. Nothing else works. I turned and went to my closet and got a small belt to help me "reason" with Mr. Freud."

What developed next is impossible to describe. That tiny dog and I had the most vicious fight ever staged between man and beast. I fought him up one wall and down the other, with both of us scratching and clawing and growling and swinging the belt. I am embarrassed by the memory of the entire scene. Inch by inch I moved him toward the family room and his bed. As a final desperate maneuver, Siggie backed into the corner for one last snarling stand. I eventually got him to bed, only because I outweighed him 200 to 12!"

[RevCheesehead]

5. Shit.

That's just sick. A battle of the wills with a DOG?

Dog is, of course, GOD spelled backwards. Does he realize that he beat God with a belt?

And can you imagine how screwed up his family must be? :scared: