LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

The good people at Jews on First have been doing a bang-up job tracking the involvement of evangelical groups in the military.

While it's OK for religious groups to have access to the troops, it is NOT OK for the military to officially sponsor any religious group. But that was exactly what happened on Memorial Day weekend in Stone Mountain Park near Atlanta, GA:

Last-minute intervention by constitutional watchdog organizations forced the Army and Air Force to drop their sponsorship of a right-wing evangelical Christian event.

The event, "Salute to the Troops," at Stone Mountain Park near Atlanta ran without official government sponsorship. Planned military involvement in the three-day Memorial Day weekend event was also greatly reduced after Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) wrote to the secretaries of the Army and Navy.

Nevertheless, Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, said he is planning to sue the Pentagon over the event.

The Salute to the Troops event was advertised locally as having official Army and Air Force sponsorship. It was to have featured official military displays and speakers, most notably Army parachute jumps and hourly Air Force flyovers -- until Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation learned of it.

Americans United wrote to the secretaries of the Air Force and the Army, confronting them with evidence of their services' official involvement in the event.

In its May 23rd letter, AU exposed the services' involvement and forced both Army and Air Force to make statements backing away from their endorsements and to greatly tone down their official participation. AU quoted a Robins Air Force Base publication calling the Stone Mountain event an "official" Air Force event. The URL AU cited, "http://www.robins.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-070504-20.pdf," appears to have been taken down.

Task Force Patriot USA
The Salute's main sponsor was Task Force Patriot USA, a suburban Atlanta group whose website says:

Task Force Patriot exists for the purpose of sharing the fullness of life in Jesus Christ with all U.S. military, military veterans and families. The outreach is to those in need of gaining new growth and balance in their lives.... as they assist others, while serving Him.

According to a local paper, the Gwinnett Daily Post, TFP has ambitions to expand across the country.

This super show is not a one-shot deal. Salute to the Troops is on the calendar for the next 10 years, and Task Force Patriot is planning similar events in other major cities.

But weekend celebrations are only a minor detail. The group’s main task is to set up military support groups like theirs all over the nation.

The article linked above has all the embedded links. This was a partial excerpt. There's more- lots more- at the site.

For the newcomers here, the military has long been a very juicy target for infiltration by elements of the hard Christian Right. Unfortunately, the diversity of chaplains serving in the military has been nearly obliterated by a huge inflow of Assemblies-sponsored chaplains, who apparently are not as obedient to the requirements of being a military chaplain as the older corps was. They have flaunted the requirements of non-sectarian prayer at public events, actively pursue 'unchurched' soldiers, openly proselytize people who are their inferiors in rank, and do many other things that have started to turn the military into a religious right bastion. It goes all the way up to the Pentagon. Check the 'military' tag for past posts about this.

Worse, the influx of these chaplains and believers has created a climate of open distaste for non-believers, which was very sharply demonstrated at the USAF Academy. Mikey Weinstein's own children were cadets there, and they, along with others, reported open evangelicizing, and punitive assignment to 'heathen squads' for those who either did not bow to the pressure, or would not convert. "Jews on First" has done an excellent job in covering this. I recommend exploring their site, along with Mikey's, to learn more about this ongoing problem.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY jehovahsfitness)

I've also got some good news for Texans. I discovered the Trinity Foundation a year ago before I joined this community. Don't let the name fool you, these guys are actually opposing the likes of the Trinity Broadcasting Network and other televangelists. They're ashamed of the bad name that the likes of Hinn, Falwell and Robertson give to Christianity, and they're fighting back. They're also heavily involved in helping Dallas' homeless.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY cheap_laugh)

http://www.jewsonfirst.org/

this site was started to declare that the FIRST AMENDMENT vital to us all. or, as they say:

because if Jews don't speak up, they'll think we don't mind...

I believe, they speak for all in this regard

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY gleef)

Fran Quigley, executive director of the Indiana Civil Liberties Union, writes about how the Dominionist's unfounded allegations about the ACLU's alleged role in the alleged War on Christmas have led to a flood of angry phone calls, letters and emails against the ACLU (and presumably the state CLUs as well).

How the ACLU Didn't Steal Christmas

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY juliarandolph)

Biting the Hand: Why is the ADL going after evangelical Christians?

No responses posted as of my posting this. Anyone who has a better grasp than I on why the author is totally missing the point should probably write a polite, succinct response.

If anyone doubted the ADL is sick of dominionists, they've put that nicely to rest; their featured article on their front page is all about dominionism:

http://www.adl.org/Religious_Freedom/religion_public_square.asp (which is the speech that Ha'aretz was referring to in their news release)

One of the especially interesting things is that the ADL freely admits this is going to be, in their own words, "delicate":

On one hand, there is an extreme element in the community that believes
it is unsafe to confront Christianity. We heard it, read it, saw it in
the Mel Gibson debate. Rabbi Marvin Hier and I were the subjects of a
“fatwa” because we were supposedly undermining the safety and security
of the Jewish people by supposedly criticizing Christians or
Christianity, when in fact we were criticizing Gibson’s portrayal of
Jews in his film, “The Passion of the Christ.” There are also those who
say that because evangelicals are friends of Israel, “don’t fight
them;” “don’t make them angry;” “don’t upset them.”

This is why the ADL is being *very* careful to emphasize they are not criticising Christianity but rather dominionism--to the extent of explaining not only to Ha'aretz, but also in an editorial in rebuttal to a previous editorial by David Klinghoffer (an Orthodox Jew writer who has frequently championed dominionist causes including attempts to make the Smithsonian Institution include sections on "intelligent design" and has even claimed the Holocaust was G_d punishing the Jewish people).

The ADL has not only confirmed now on their website their condemnation and concern regarding dominionism, but also has written a specific letter to Ha'aretz newspaper clarifying that their concerns are regarding dominionism, not Christianity in general. (Ha'aretz, as you recall, originally broke the story on ADL officially taking a stand against dominionism.)

The ADL is now the second major anti-hate group, and the first Jewish-affiliated anti-hate group, specifically to take a stand regarding the tactics of dominionist organisations; the first group was the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has written an extensive report on dominionist hate speech, is now investigating multiple dominionist groups, and has listed two Christian Reconstructionist groups (as well as the major group spewing nearly all of the pro-"degaying therapy", anti-gay/les/bi/trans spew used by dominionist groups, in particular the AFA, Freedom's Heritage Forum and Repent America) as hate groups equivalent to the Ku Klux Klan or neo-Nazi groups. (In fact, most of the same groups the ADL has listed as being of specific concern are the same groups listed by SPLC as of concern.)

I have been in contact with the ADL giving them some backgrounder info (and also giving them some additional information regarding at least one "Christian Zionist" group associated with dominionist groups that has claimed ADL support, as well as info re the AoG being the *other* major force in targeting Jews for conversion; the latter has been a concern for them for awhile). The ADL will need support from non-dominionist groups in the coming months, as (at least based on the Ha'aretz article comments) dominionists are *already* starting to dead-agent them.

The ADL has given some condemnation of attempts by the Southern Baptist Convention of promotion of "Messianic Jew" (as in "kosher dominionist") groups, but this is the first time they've explicitly come out against dominionism in general.

In another indication of the ADL's new antidominionist stance, they have issued a statement that the "Bible curriculum" promoted by the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools is unacceptable due to it being essentially a dominionist indoctrionation program. (Texas Freedom Network, a major antidominionist group, has already reported on how the NCBCPS curricula is heavily skewed towards dominionist viewpoints, and a long list including many Biblical scholars and theologians has joined in the condemnation of that particular program. The same curricula was the target of a court challenge in Florida which led to it being removed from the schools in that state.)

The ADL is also a party in filing an amicus curae brief in a court case involving a public school board in Louisiana opening meetings with dominionist prayers and in fact blatantly refusing to allow nonsectarian prayers; the ADL has also recently issued statements criticising promotion of creationism and "intelligent design" in schools as well as statements criticising the USAFA tolerating dominionist abuse of non-dominionist soldiers.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY kalibex)

'ADL's Foxman warns of efforts to 'Christianize America''

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

If I mentioned this community before, I apologize, but it's good enough to mention again: DefCon: The campaign to Defend the Constitution. It's another community whose focus is to counter the Religious Right. It just officially launched yesterday.

They've started with a bang, too- their Islands of Ignorance map shows where the ID-iots are making inroads into school cirriculae. If you live on one of these 'islands', you should consider making your presence known and disdain for ID-iocy felt.

...namely, both have strong connections with MLM and pyramid schemes.

On the end of being victimised by pyramid scheme operators, there have been quite a number of pyramid schemes targeting dominionists (especially those into "word-faith"/"seed offering"/"name it and claim it" theology, which is rather a sort of "spiritual pyramid scheme" in and of itself); in fact, the problem is severe enough that experts in the field term it "affinity fraud":

( lots of info on 'Affinity Fraud' targeting dominionists, by dominionists )

At least one promoter of MLM schemes--Amway/Quixtar/Alticor (which itself can be considered a type of affinity fraud, due to heavy targeting of dominionists including AoG)--is a major bankroller of dominionism. Rich DeVos has been listed as a member of the Coalition on National Policy (a dominionist think-tank), and more than a few websites have reported on the fact that DeVos is one of the major bankrollers of dominionist and Christian Reconstructionist groups:

( more info on Amway/Dominionism links than you can shake a stick at )

Amway/Quixtar/Alticor itself is considered by most major exit counselors to be a coercive group. In fact, AmWay no longer promotes itself as AmWay but as Alticor *because* there have been so many reports of coercive tactics (occasionally with doses of good old fashioned "name it and claim it"/dominionist coercion). (Alticor is the third name it operated under--it operated formerly under Quixtar, but many walkaways pointed out it was AmWay renamed.)

Info as follows:

( Info on Amway as coercive group in and of itself, not to mention the mother of all Affinity Frauds )

Very interestingly, many of the same coercive tactics used in AmWay itself are used in dominionist religious groups (including the AoG, which seems to have many a link with AmWay); shepherding, deception (it is widely acknowledged that AmWay was the original source of the persistent urban legend regarding Procter and Gamble's association with diabolism: http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/weekly/aa061098.htm), heavy pressure to recruit and "sell", encouraging "stealth" in selling/prosyletising, etc.

In fact, the internal structure of many dominionist churches *is* in essence a multilevel marketing scheme, especially those churches that have "cell churches" like many megachurches do; a "cell group leader" reports with other leaders, who report with others, up to the pastor himself (http://www.bright.net/~1wayonly/pyramidscheme.html mentions it, ironically). More info below:
( Dominionist churches as pyramid schemes? Yup. They call it 'discipling' )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY kalibex)

The Moderate Christians Strike Back

As I have previously noted, the Southern Poverty Law Center is now aggressively investigating hate activity (including hate activity against les/bi/gay/trans folks and, for that matter, hate activity against anyone who isn't dominionist) and considers several of the major dominionist groups hate groups on par with Klan or Neo-Nazi groups (see http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/intrep.jsp?iid=31 for this months' Intelligence Report)

I have been providing SPLC as much info as I can (including links to Dark Christianity here, as well as to Yurica Report, mikeditto.com, and Theocracy Watch) regarding this, including detailed info on Frank Simon (Kentucky's local hater) who, as it turns out, *is* linked to Family Research Institute (which is one of the groups SPLC lists as a hate group) and the info on the FRC/David Duke associations.

Per private email from SPLC, their next Intelligence Report will be focusing on the "ex-gay" movement, and they will be doing heavy focus in future regarding hate activity among dominionists. (I would also expect that the list of groups formally listed as hate groups will also expand.)

When the new Intelligence Report comes out, I will post a link.

Anyone who has info that may be helpful to SPLC is *strongly* encouraged to forward this to them via their comments page (at http://www.splcenter.org/center/contact.jsp and yes, they will keep your comments anonymous). (Sunfell, anyone who's suffered harassment at the hands of dominionists--this means *you*. One of the biggies that would be useful is if we can get folks from Yurica or Theocracy Watch *directly* to contact SPLC, too--I've emailed them both to let them know regarding the SPLC beginning active investigation of and warnings regarding dominionist groups. We also need to get more info to them regarding things like links between groups (I've notified them on how the Family Research Council is pretty much the "official" political wing of Focus on the Family, and how Exodus International links together many groups--the more they have, though, the more it's going to be helpful) and how dominionist groups infiltrate organisations (the US Airforce Academy's takeover by dominionists is a *prime* one here).)

(Again, as backgrounder for folks who might not know--Southern Poverty Law Center is the group formerly known as Klanwatch. They, along with the Anti-Defamation League, are probably the two single largest and most active groups fighting racism and hate. SPLC offers, among other things, training courses to law enforcement on hate groups and hate activity; SPLC has also successfully sued and shut down Klan and neo-Nazi groups in past. This is *very* historic for them to start listing dominionist groups as hate groups and investigating dominionism as hate--for that is, at its core level, what it is--and they are going to need all the support and help they can get on this, especially from those of us who are walkaways from those groups.)