LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

From the LA Times:

Strategizing a Christian Coup d'Etat

A group of believers wants to establish Scriptures-based government one city and county at a time.
By Jenny Jarvie
Times Staff Writer

August 28, 2005

GREENVILLE, S.C. — It began, as many road trips do, with a stop at Wal-Mart to buy a portable DVD player.

But Mario DiMartino was planning more than a weekend getaway. He, his wife and three children were embarking on a pilgrimage to South Carolina.

"I want to migrate and claim the gold of the Lord," said the 38-year-old oil company executive from Pennsylvania. "I want to replicate the statutes and the mores and the scriptures that the God of the Old Testament espoused to the world."( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

From the Washington Post:

Military Wrestles With Disharmony Among Chaplains

By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 30, 2005; A01

The growing influence of evangelical Protestants is roiling the military chaplain corps, where their desire to preach their faith more openly is colliding with long-held military traditions of pluralism and diversity.

After accusations this summer that evangelical chaplains, faculty and coaches were pressuring cadets at the Air Force Academy, the Air Force yesterday issued new guidelines on respect for religious minorities. In the Navy, evangelical Protestant chaplains are fighting what they say is a legacy of discrimination in hiring and promotions, and they are bridling at suggestions they not pray publicly "in the name of Jesus."

Much of the conflict is in two areas that, until now, have been nearly invisible to civilians: how the military hires its ministers and how they word their public prayers. Evangelical chaplains -- who are rising in numbers and clout amid a decline in Catholic priests and mainline Protestant ministers -- are challenging the status quo on both questions, causing even some evangelical commanders to worry about the impact on morale.( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

From the Washington Post:

Air Force Sets Rules Limiting Religious Expression

By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 30, 2005; A04

The Air Force, responding to accusations of proselytizing at its academy in Colorado Springs, issued sweeping guidelines yesterday that say prayers are not appropriate at most official events and discourage commanders from speaking publicly about their religious beliefs.

The guidelines apply to all officers, enlisted personnel and civilian employees throughout the Air Force, not just to those at the Air Force Academy. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told a delegation of religious leaders last week that if the rules work well, they will be instituted across the armed forces.( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

A religious supremacist group says that Katrina is "God's punishment for LA having 10 abortion clinics".

The War Room on Salon has this quote:

We knew this was coming.

Two days after 9/11, Jerry Falwell took to the airwaves to proclaim that God had allowed the United States to be attacked because "the pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians" had tried to transform America into a secular society. Just this weekend, wingnuts from the Westboro Baptist Church turned out at the funerals of two fallen soldiers to say that God is punishing the United States in Iraq for its tolerance of homosexuality back home.

So when Hurricane Katrina hit land yesterday, we knew it was only a matter of time before we'd be hearing from the lunatic fringe again. And now, here it is. In an e-mail message we just received, a group calling itself Columbia Christians for Life alerts us to the fact that a satellite image of Hurricane Katrina as it hit the Gulf Coast Monday looks just like a six-week-old fetus.

"The image of the hurricane ... with its eye already ashore at 12:32 p.m. Monday, August 29, looks like a fetus (unborn human baby) facing to the left (west) in the womb, in the early weeks of gestation (approx. 6 weeks)," the e-mail message says. "Even the orange color of the image is reminiscent of a commonly used pro-life picture of early prenatal development."

And in case you're not getting the point, the e-mail message spells it out in black and white: "Louisiana has 10 child-murder-by-abortion centers," the groups says, and "five are in New Orleans."

But why would God single out Louisiana? Other states have many more abortion clinics, and Louisiana and the other states hit hardest by Katrina all voted for the pro-life president of the United States. It didn't add up for us at first, but the Columbia Christians for Life have an answer for everything. God has already punished California with earthquakes, forest fires and mudslides; New York with 9/11; and Florida with Hurricanes Bonnie, Charley, Frances, Ivan, Jeanne and the early version of Katrina.

-- T.G.

...but anyways, here's some notes on whom to donate to and whom not to donate to in regards to NOLA relief and dominionist groups. (Very sadly, dominionist groups will run charity groups taking advantage of people who may genuinely want to help. Most of the time, "help" from these groups occurs with substantial strings.)

I am posting this list for folks to not only know of good groups to donate to in regards to NOLA relief, but also so that you can notify workplaces of both the "good guys" and groups to avoid (due to dominionist links). (There are far worthier charities than dominionist groups, and I'd MUCH rather my money go to them than to support "stealth evangelism" and the like)

( Good Guys: )

( Bad Guys (aka dominionist-run charities) )

( Groups of concern )

EDIT:

Further commentary (including additions to lists of Good Charities/Bad Charities and additional info on "charities of concern") is greatly appreciated. (I actually want to get a good list together so that people who want to donate but don't want to risk their money being diverted towards dominionist groups can have a resource for "responsible donation". The people of New Orleans are going to need a LOT of help in the coming years, and I want them to be able to be helped without being preyed upon by dominionists.)

As noted above, I am *strongly* requesting feedback regarding listing of AERDO associated groups as definitely dominionist-linked. (AERDO seems pretty hard dominionist as do most of the groups; I ask for the input because if we list all AERDO members as "bad guys", both World Vision and the Salvation Army go from the "iffy, you may not want to donate" to the "avoid like the plague". AERDO's general activity concerns me enough I am considering doing just that, but again, would appreciate feedback from others.)

List of "Good Guys/Bad Guys" will be periodically updated on the main page. I will keep updating this until LJ begins to complain that it won't accept the list anymore (after which point I'll note that further groups of note are in the comments). You all have been *extremely* helpful in your suggestions and providing links to both good guys and bad guys, as well as distributing the list. (Should anyone wish to mirror the contents, feel free.)

http://www.give.org/reports/index.asp has a list from the Better Business Bureau regarding financial accountability of organisations, including a specific list for NOLA relief groups.

This list is now mirrored (in slightly different format) at http://nola-biglist.blogspot.com.

If anyone is reading this via a link from someone else's blog or journal, feel free to add a comment with a group (either a "good guy" group, info on a group listed, or a listing of a group to avoid) and I'll add till the LJ post can't hold any more; at that point, the BlogSpot mirror will become the main resource and I'll link to it from the LJ article.