LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY theonides)

The Supreme Court may have ruled in 1983 that is was okay for Congress and state legislatures to have chaplains pray before each session in exception to the rule against allowing public religious expression at government events, but it did say that these prayers had to be non-denominational, non-sectarian, and non-proselytizing.

Would that it were so simple.

It seems have evangelicals have taken over the prayers in the Ohio State House and have been using the prayers to evangelize, invoke Jesus way too much, and have been commenting on bills to be debated on the House floor that same day.

Nothing quite like the voice of god telling you how to vote today, is there?

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

5th_estate has a really interesting post with links to three really in-depth articles about the religious battleground of Ohio.

It's a must-read.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY cheap_laugh)

ban on GOP adoptions in the works in Ohio

Scroll down until you see "Gay Adoption" in bold letters.... This is just great!

(crossposted to Talk2Action--as this is a fairly major development in the fight against dominionism in Ohio, and--if the pastors in question win--possibly nationwide)

Two particular churches which have been linked to the Ohio Restoration Project--World Harvest Church in Columbus and Fairfield Christian Church (also in Columbus)--may be in serious tax trouble.

An alliance of thirty moderate churches has teamed together to file formal complaint against World Harvest Church and Fairfield Christian Church for electioneering violations.

As groups such as DefCon America are gathering documentation of illegal electioneering in churches, it's very encouraging to also see mainstream churches finally standing up to dominionists attempting to hijack Christianity.

( More details, including a backgrounder )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Ohio is the first (but not only) battleground in the orchestrated takedown of conventional government by religious supremacists. It is the home of Pastor Parsley and his "Patriot Pastors", and its legislature is currently deciding on whether or not to pretty much hand the reigns of power over to these people.

Theocracy Watch has some background on what is going on in this state.

Americans must be 'Christocrats" -- citizens of both their country and the Kingdom of God -- the Rev. Rod Parsley told his congregation at the World Harvest Church, located just outside Columbus, Ohio. "And that is not a democracy; that is a theocracy," he said. "That means God is in control, and you are not."

Think about that. These people see the 2006 election as an "apocalyptic clash between a virtuous Christianity and the evildoers who oppose Christianity's values," and they are feeling their oats, and are confident that their side will win.

If you live in Ohio, it's time for you to stand up and start demanding that these people get run out of power. It's time to push back. Because if Ohio goes down, that will embolden these people even more, and the juggernaught will take off, chewing through state legislatures and turning state governments into theocratic governments.

If you live in a state where such people are crawling around in the background and are grasping for power, stand up to them. Do your homework. Find out about your candidates. Write letters to the editor of your local paper. Expose the theocrats for what they are. We are not the 'hordes of hell', as one would-be theocrat would describe us. We are citizens, and by All, we have to stand up for our country, our government, and our rights.

I am. Are you? Will you?

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY dingbatz7)

...Hi, I'm new here. And I live in Toledo, Ohio...

And I have a question:

Does she sound dominionist to you?

...Her name is Opal Covey and she was a candidate for mayor...
And she scared me...

Her claim to fame: ...saying that "God sent her to chaaaaaange Toledo"..

...oi.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

"The Yurica Report" is an amazing and very thorough compilation of research on the Religious Right, which is very much worth a visit. She updates her site fairly regularly, and sends an email to her subscribers telling us what's up. I've decided to post the latest letter, with links, so that readers here can visit her site and read her latest postings.

Hi again,
Usually we only send out our newsletter once every six weeks or once a month. However, we have been working on the story of Ken Blackwell and the Ohio State legislature for many weeks. Then Hurricane Katrina interrupted the work on this article. But as you will see, this essay is of utmost importance to all Americans. It marks the first time a state has adopted a character code that at its heart is religious and designed to create a docile submissive population easily controlled by leaders.

This story is a scoop.
NEW: Blackwells Un-American Scheme:
Under the Guise of Character and Civic Renewal
Ohio State Foists a Religious Moral Code upon Its Citizens
by Katherine Yurica

J. Kenneth Blackwell has stepped to the forefront of the American culture wars. He has posted his official endorsement of a 20-point religious moral code claimed to be a shared vocabulary of character-building ethics on the Ohio Secretary of State web site. But to a lot of people, civic character renewal means the opportunity to not only religionize our government, but, as we shall see, it is an opportunity to convert our citizens into docile followers of a new authoritarian rule. The essay includes a linked glossary of definitions of terms plus parallel columns that compare the text.

The essay is at: http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/BlackwellsUnAmericanScheme.html

The glossary is at: http://www.yuricareport.com/Strategies_Propaganda/GlossaryOfTermsUncommonSense.html

The parallel columns with annotated text is at: http://www.yuricareport.com/Strategies_Propaganda/UncommonSenseParallelColumns.html

Thanks for reading our stuff! Let me know if you think this is an important news story. Take care, Katherine

It's worth the visit for the glossary alone.

Yurica Report has more info on Blackwell, the Ohio secretary of state and a politician linked to the "Ohio Restoration Movement" and its associated groups:

http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/BlackwellsUnAmericanScheme.html

Yurica's reported in past on the link:

http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/DominionistsTryToControlOhio.html
http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/BlackwellAndChristianRightOhio.html

Other resources:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/6/1/171415/3286
http://kbonline.typepad.com/random/2005/03/the_conservativ.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-08-02-christian-cover_x.htm
http://markmaynard.com/index.php/2005/06/05/what_is_the_ohio_restoration_project
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050826/NEWS01/508260404

(I note this because, among other things, one of the folks in the Texas-affiliated group--which the Governor of Texas has been at official functions of at least twice--has claimed NOLA deserved to be destroyed :P)

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WST_ACADEMY_RELIGION_COOL-?SITE=COCOL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2005-09-09-17-48-30
notes how the dominionist/Avengelical chaplains at the US Air Force Academy are blatantly disregarding both court orders and orders from the US Military to stop blatant prosyletisation and harassment of non-Avengelicals.

Speaking of Colorado Springs:
http://journals.aol.com/richardbk8/TheSentryNewsDigest/entries/1020 reports on how dominionist pressure is attempting to shut down a Samhain gathering at an American Legion post (which allows anyone, including other religious groups, to attend)--thus showing the dominionist rot is pretty much endemic in that town. :P

A group associated with a pastor in Columbus Ohio (and his dominionist/Avengelical group, the "Ohio Restoration Project") is apparently soliciting members in Texas: http://blog.au.org/2005/09/austin_altar_ca.html

The major Republican gubernatorial candidate in Ohio is apparently linked with aforementioned dominionist: http://www.citybeat.com/current/news3.shtml (Among other things, it gives some backgrounder on the group Rod Parsley runs--he runs a church called World Harvest Center ("World Harvest Center" is a very common name for dominionist churches, to the point that "World Harvest Center" or "World Prayer Center" can be reliably counted on as a dominionist codephrase for "dominionist church"); it also includes mapping between dominionist groups associated with aforementioned candidate)

The Republican candidate for Cincinnatti's mayor is apparently a dominionist:
http://blog.au.org/2005/09/austin_altar_ca.html
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050810/NEWS01/508100369 (from the Cincinnatti Enquirer)

(Based on notes from the latter article, I'm thinking the mayorial candidate may be towards the Avengelical end of the dominionist spectrum. "Christian Center" or "Christian Life Center" is a common dominionist codephrase for dominionist-friendly churches; he is also likely supported by the "Ohio Restoration Project" which is dominionist/Avengelical.)

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY swisscelt)

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/08/11/hyatte.details/index.html

Here's the story in a nutshell: A woman helps her convict husband escape from authorities in Tennessee. They head out of state, finally ditching the vehicle in a Kentucky suburb of Cincinnati. From there, they take a cab to a Columbus hotel (115 miles away), telling the cabbie that they're on their way to an Amway convention. "They didn't strike me as the Amway type because to be honest they weren't very pushy about their product and I've dealt with them before so -- that was my only real suspicion," said the cabbie, Mike Wagers, who called local police upon returning to the Cincinnati area.

Guess Amway is good for something after all. ;-)

Update: WCPO in Cincinnati has more, including video of a news conference with the cabbie. The fare, in case you were wondering, was $185.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY deridetenebras)

Pastor Russell Johnson paces across the broad stage as he decries the "secular jihadists" who have "hijacked" America, accuses the public schools of neglecting to teach that Hitler was "an avid evolutionist" and links abortion to children who murder their parents. [...]

Johnson leads the Ohio Restoration Project, an emergent network of nearly 1,000 "Patriot Pastors" from conservative churches across the state. Each has pledged to register 300 "values voters," adding hundreds of thousands of like-minded citizens to the electorate who "would be salt and light for America."

This guy is not very logical. Hitler was also a vegetarian; does that make vegetarians evil? But I guess logic is not usually these people's strong point... Negative points for playing the 9/11 card and the Hitler card all at once.

full article (USAToday)

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

This Talk To Action article goes into the "Patriot Pastors" and the history of the involvement of Dominionist Christians with the political Right:

Ohio, Blackwell & the Christian Right Part II
Recently, the Ohio Restoration Project announced plans to mobilize conservative Christian voters towards the 2006 elections. The principal beneficiary appears to be Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell who is running for the Republican nomination for governor. (I referred to this in passing in Part I, which described Blackwell's involvement in a dominionist seminar at Cedarville University on June 17th.) The story has been widely reported, including by the New York Times, and much blogged, for example by Bruce Prescott at Talk to Action.

But there was one part of the Ohio Restoration Project action plan that was strikingly familiar to me. It incorporates a feature of two pivotal events in the development of the contemporary Christian Right -- the Washington for Jesus rallies held on the mall in Washington, DC in the 1980s. Interestingly too, they may very well also follow the model of abuse of non-profit tax-exempt organizations that accompanied these events. ( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Thanks to twistedchick for this find. Here's the website: Ohio Restoration Project And here is what twistedchick said about it on her blog:

"This is a Dominionist move to install religious law instead of civil law in the state of Ohio, with recruitment for support through conservative churches; I linked in my last post to a pastor's letter to the editor opposing it.

What's involved? Let's look at the website itself. When you read the following excerpt, please remember that the buzzwords like freedom and harvest and spiritual warfare may mean something different to the people for which it was written:"[emphasis mine]( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY brigidsblest)

Drawing the line between churches and politics

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

A member of my church gave to me a copy of the Ohio Restoration Project. This project is led by so-called Christians who have a plan for Ohio. The project will target 2,000 pastors throughout the state to become "patriot pastors." These patriot pastors will be briefed on a specific political agenda and asked to submit names of their parishioners in order to increase a database to 300,000 names. These pastors will be asked to place voter guides in their church pews.

Ken Blackwell, Ohio's secretary of state and a governor hopeful, is named throughout the document. Blackwell will be featured on 30-second radio ads promoting this group's agenda and supporting the "Ohio for Jesus" rally set for the spring of 2006. At the end of the document are the words, "America has a mission to share a living savior with a dying world."

( more behind the cut )

The article can be found at:
http://www.cleveland.com/letters/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1117532001135062.xml&coll=2


Cross-posted to my own journal.

I think that hearing this from a Christian pastor says a lot about how far things have gone, don't you?