Christianist Crazy Fest

I had done a post last month on a confab of Christianist lunacy that was to take place in the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area over the last two days. Since the event titled "Rediscovering God in America" was closed to reporters, details are brief - such as did Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell, the GOP candidate for governor sneak in even though he is pretending to be a moderate - but it definitely sounds like the wingnuts were in full force bleating their theocratic message. Among those speaking at the event which took place at Rock Church in Virginia Beach were the loon from Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, failed senatorial candidate Oliver North, David Barton (WallBuilders), Lou Engle (TheCall visionary), and Ron Luce (Teen Mania founder). The three hours of lunacy was broadcast live on God.TV, an evangelical Web site, and will replay Sunday evening. Here are some highlights from the Virginian Pilot:

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Two leading voices of the Republican Party's evangelical wing visited Rock Church on Friday for a forum aimed at recapturing some of the movement's political momentum. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee urged Christians to get involved in politics to preserve the presence of religion in American life.

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They and other speakers warned about the continuing availability of abortion, the spread of gay rights, and attempts to remove religion from American public life and school history books. Gingrich and Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas, argued the rights of Americans stem from God and to ignore that connection is perilous. The two were among several speakers, including former U.S. Senate candidate Oliver North, at the three-hour "Rediscovering God in America" event. The event was closed to reporters but was broadcast live on God.TV, an evangelical Web site.

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Huckabee told the audience he was disturbed to hear President Barack Obama say during his speech in Cairo, Egypt, on Thursday that one nation shouldn't be exalted over another. "The notion that we are just one of many among equals is nonsense," Huckabee said. The United States is a "blessed" nation, he said, calling American revolutionaries' defeat of the British empire "a miracle from God's hand." The same kind of miracle, he said, led California voters to approve Proposition 8, which overturned a state law legalizing same-sex marriages.

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"I am not a citizen of the world," said Gingrich, who was first elected to the U.S. House from Georgia in 1978 and served as speaker from 1995 to 1999. "I am a citizen of the United States because only in the United States does citizenship start with our creator." Huckabee urged his listeners to get engaged in public life or their views won't matter.