False Churches - Focus on the Family Declares Itself a "Church"

FOTF founder and Trump BFF, James Dobson

I have long believed that all churches that are not putting the vast majority of their revenues toward true charitable purposes -e.g., feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, aiding the poor, etc. - should not be afforded tax-exempt status. Now, another glaring example of the manner in which taxpayers are being forced to indirectly financially underwrite non-charities is provided by Focus on the Family ("FOTF") which has annual revenues of over $89 million has declared itself a "church."   Where does FOTF spend its money?  One one, it is a leading purveyor of anti-gay lies and disinformation.  It also seeks to control elected officials who will push its Christian dominionist agenda.  And, of course, its leadership cadre laughs all the way to the bank. Very little of the moneys reach what most people would consider true charitable works.  Right Wing Watch looks at this latest abuse of the Internal Revenue Code and IRS rules.  Here are highlights:

Focus on the Family, the behemoth Religious Right organization founded by James Dobson, has declared itself to be a church, thereby avoiding a requirement that it file public tax documents, according to IRS records and a document available on the organization’s website.

Focus on the Family filed as a non-church 501(c)(3) nonprofit as recently as the 2014 fiscal year, submitting to the IRS a publicly available Form 990 as most tax-exempt nonprofits are required to do. But when the group posted a Form 990 for the 2015 fiscal year on its website—dated October 26, 2017, and reporting a massive budget of $89 million—it was emblazoned with the message “Not required to file and not filed with the IRS. Not for public inspection.”

On the part of the form on which it is required to identify the reason for its public charity status, the group indicates that it is a “church, convention of churches or association of churches.”

Focus on the Family declaring itself to be a church is puzzling. While the Colorado Springs-based organization has somewhat softened its image since it was led by the firebrand Dobson, it remains active in political debates and advocacy (even in a nominally nonpartisan way). A “social issues” section on the group’s website currently features information on a supposed threat to bathroom safety posed by transgender people thanks to LGBTQ activists fighting in politics, churches and popular culture, and contains an update on “cultural issues in the courts.” 

Gail Harmon, an attorney who has advised nonprofits on tax law for more than 30 years, said that she had never before seen a nonprofit organization declare itself a church. “I just found it shocking,” she said.

“There’s nothing about them that meets the traditional definition of what a church is,” she said. “They don’t have a congregation, they don’t have the rites of various parts of a person’s life. There’s a whole system for what a church is.”

The IRS lists a number of factors that it considers in determining whether an organization is a church, including whether it has a “definite and distinct ecclesiastical government,” “established places of worship” and “regular religious services,” but notes that an organization “need not have all of the characteristics” listed in order to be considered a church.

We have requested documents on the tax status change from Focus on the Family and from the IRS. Focus on the Family has not responded to our request for comment.

Pence to Hate Group: You Have President Trump’s "Unwavering Support"

Much of Der Trumpenführer presidential campaign focused on fomenting racial hatred among white voters and pushing the Christofascists' agenda of placing them above the law under the smoke screen of "religious freedom" - religious freedom for them and no one else.  Since taking office, Trump has sought to deliver on his promises to the Christofascists - numerous anti-gay executive actions and promises of special rights for churches - even as he breaks promises right and left on everything else, not the least, his promises that millions would not lose their health care coverage.  Both the Republican House bill and now the Republican Senate bill which Trump is lauding demonstrate just how big Trump's lie was in fact.  But back to the Christofascists.  Mike Pence recently attened a gathering of religious extremists at Focus on the Family - an anti-gay hate group with strong white supremacist leanings - and reassured them that they have an unwavering ally in Der Trumpenführer.  Here are highlights from LGBT Nation:

Vice President Mike Pence spoke at an event in Colorado today honoring the work of an anti-LGBTQ organization Focus on the Family at a celebration of its 40 year anniversary.

“The vice president is a man of faith,” Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family, said in his introduction. “He’s one of us. And I’ve been asked by the media over and over again, why did you invite the vice president? It’s a simple answer: He’s a man of faith, he believes in life, he believes in marriage.”

Pence was then welcomed to the stage, alongside his wife Karen Pence.

Pence congratulated the organization on 40 years of work, and promised them that “you have an unwavering ally in President Donald Trump.”

“He was excited that I was coming here today and wanted me to give you all his thanks and regards,” Pence added to applause.

Pence called Focus on the Family a “cornerstone of American life for so many Americans” and called its founder, James Dobson, on whose radio program he appeared during the presidential campaign, a “friend and mentor to me.”

When Pence wasn’t talking up the work of Focus on the Family, he was promoting the administration’s agenda, and presenting Trump as a president who was one of them.
He pointed to the president’s words at the National Prayer Breakfast, where he spoke of the importance of so-called “religious freedom,” so often used as a license to discriminate against the LGBTQ community.

Pence also noted Trump’s signing of an executive order going after the Johnson Amendment, which prevents nonprofits, including churches, from politicking for any particular candidate or party.

He asked those in attendance to rally behind the health care bill, to help get it “across the finish line.”  “While discussions will continue, let me be very clear that the president and I are very supportive of the Senate bill,” he added.

The Senate bill would make deep cuts to Medicaid, putting the lives of many at risk, including those living with HIV/AIDS.

To make matters worse, Trump’s proposed budget would cut $300 million from HIV/AIDS funding. The president’s obvious apathy on the issues led to six members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) to quit in protest.

Ted Cruz Continues to Garner Hate Group Support

As noted in a previous post, Ted Cruz is increasingly the candidate of choice among far right Christian hate groups that hide behind the label of "family values" organizations.  Many of these groups are not only virulently anti-gay but are also stridently anti-immigrant and have overt white supremacists leanings.   Indeed, they make up the leadership of those I refer to as Christofascists.  Yesterday, Cruz picked up another hate group endorsement when James Dobson, founder of both Focus On The Family and the Family Research Council, endorsed Cruz.  Here is part of Dobson's disingenuous statement via press release.

“Ted Cruz’s record on religious liberty, life, and marriage is second to none in this Republican field,” Dobson said. “I have met with the senator on multiple occasions: he is brilliant, articulate, and informed. Shirley and I have been praying for a leader such as this, and we are confident that Ted Cruz has the moral and spiritual foundations to lead our nation with excellence. Speaking as private individuals, we urge conservatives and people of faith to join us in supporting his race for the presidency.”

Both Focus On The Family and the Family Research Council disseminate deliberate lies about LGBT Americans and other demographic groups.  How Focus on the Family has avoided a formal hate group designation is mind boggling (FRC has been so categorized).  Make no mistake, Dobson has wants a Christian theocracy in America and is a proponent of license to discriminate laws and has signed the Manhattan Declaration, which calls on Christians to disobey LGBT civil rights and non-discrimination laws.  His endorsement of Cruz ought to send decent, thoughtful individuals - admittedly a rare breed in today's GOP - running and screaming away from Cruz. Cruz is very, very dangerous.

Who's Who of Christofascist Groups Files Amicus Brief with SCOTUS

Not surprisingly, a veritable who's who of lunatic Christofascists organizations with ties to Focus on the Family and Family Research Council  - e.g., Citizen Link,  . . . .  Virginia's own hate group, The Family Foundation, and a host od similar state affiliate hate groups  - have filed an amicus brief with the U. S. Supreme Court in the marriage case, OBERGEFELL v. HODGES, which will be argued before the Court later this month.  As has been the case in Lawrence v. Texas, and other gay rights cases, the brief may actually help the cause of those fighting for marriage equality because the arguments put forth (i) are batshit crazy, and (ii) underscore that same sex marriage bans stem principally fro extreme religious belief and anti-gay animus.  As Joe Jervis notes, the brief argues that gay marriage will result in same-sex marriage must not be approved because otherwise the nation will be overrun with slutty girls and violent boys.  Here's a taste of the lunacy, none of which relates to the issue of equal protection and due process rights under the United States Constitution:

A mother plays a vital role in the development of a male child’s identity and ability to relate to members of the opposite sex. In particular, research shows that mothers enable their sons to “play the role of a loving boy [and] man[.]”. . . male children have an innate need to understand what it means to be a boy and a man, and the presence and care of a loving mother is critical in fulfilling that need.

Fathers also discipline less frequently than mothers, but are more consistent in applying predetermined consequences for particular actions. Indeed, the mere presence of a father in the home significantly reduces the likelihood that boys will engage in delinquent behavior. For boys, fathers also serve as role models by engendering a healthy respect for femininity, and that respect discourages compensatory masculinity and associated aggressive and violent behavior. For girls, an involved father reduces the likelihood of early sexual activity and teenage pregnancy, promotes self-esteem and a positive body image, and decreases the risk of eating disorders. . . . Studies have also “shown that dads have a more powerful influence than moms when it comes to convincing kids to steer clear of cigarettes and sex. 

. . . . only the mother-father parenting structure fosters child development in a comprehensive, holistic manner, from birth to adulthood.

Parents in all kinds of family structures should be recognized for the contributions they make in their children’s lives. This, however, does not diminish the legitimate interest of the State to exclusively recognize man-woman marriage due to the unique benefits of dual gender parenting.

Redefining marriage, moreover, would seriously erode the existing marital norm that encourages gender-diverse parenting. By itself, the fact that marriage is defined as the union of a man and a woman makes clear to society that marriage is really about procreation and children, and that it is expected to carry with it both a masculine and a feminine aspect.

If anything, the brief is an argument for banning heterosexual divorce, not same sex marriage, even though it ignores abuse heterosexual parents and seemingly argues that straight parents, no how horrible the marital/family situation should be forced to remain together.  That , of course, defies logic and reason, tow things scorned by the "godly folk."   Among the brief's "authorities" is discredited researcher Mark Regnerus who is facing calls for discipline and possible firing at his home university. Let's hope the non-responsive brief convinces at least 5 justices that these groups represent bigoted idiots whose arguments should be ignored..

The Secret Antigay U.S. Money Behind The Global Evangelical War on LGBT Rights

I and - others - increasingly believe that supposedly religious "charities" that blatantly violate the ban on political activities under the Internal Revenue Code need to lose their tax exempt status.  Many of the organizations under close analysis do little or no charitable work and instead funnel huge amounts of money into anti-gay (and sometimes anti-minority) political activities.  American taxpayers should not be forced to indirectly underwrite the activities of what are little more than hate groups.   The piece in TwoCare.org looks at the money flowing from supposed "Christian" charities to fund a global war against LGBT rights and which, in the process whip up hate and homophobia that often leans to anti-gay violence.  Pieces kike this one underscore why conservative "Christians" need to become social pariahs in America. They are anything but nice and decent people.  Their mindset is separated from ISIS only by the degree of violence they use on those who refuse to conform to the ugly version of religious belief.  Here are article highlights:

Note to readers: this is the first installment in a Twocare.org/Center Against Religious Extremism series that will examine extensive ties - both financial, organizational, and ideological - between the community of philanthropists, evangelical leaders, and Christian organizations that revolve around the event known as The Gathering and evangelical promotion of anti-gay hatred and anti-LGBT rights activism on a global scale, from Uganda to Russia.

"The Homosexual Agenda: Exposing the Principal Threat to Religious Freedom Today" (B&H Publishing Group, 2003), which states "[homosexual] activists have followed a strategy akin to what Hitler used back in the 1920s and 1930s to take over Germany” and is currently distributed by the Alliance Defending Freedom, one of the top American organizations participating in WCF events. The ADF is linked to anti-LGBT rights activism in nations spanning three continents, from the United States and Belize to Russia. In 2012, ADF received over 25% of its funding from the National Christian Foundation; . . . . .

A Twocare.org analysis shows that out of the 101-odd American speakers featured at major World Congress of Families congresses from WCF I, held in Prague in 1997, to WCF VI, held in Madrid in 2012, 48 of those speakers, almost half, were attached to organizations that have been funded by the National Christian Foundation, the biggest foundation at the yearly event known as The Gathering (featured in the April 2014 Twocare.org special report The Gathering: The Religious Right’s Cash Cow) – an event at which leaders of top Christian right anti-LGBT groups such as the Family Research Council, Focus on The Family, and the Alliance Defending Freedom (formerly the Alliance Defense Fund) frequently mingle with billionaire financiers of the religious right, representatives from the right-wing DeVos, Coors, Friess, Ahmanson, Prince, DeMoss, and MacLellan families and the rapidly growing National Christian Foundation – now America’s 12th biggest charity according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy and which funds multiple “ex-gay” ministries.

By its own description, the event known as The Gathering – whose attending nonprofit foundations give out, according to a Twocare.org analysis, over $1 billion dollars a year in grants – was launched in 1985 from a meeting at the Arlington, Virginia headquarters of The Fellowship, which hosts the annual National Prayer Breakfast.  

Speakers scheduled this year for The Gathering 2014 include NYT columnist David Brooks,  . . . . . Among those Joining Brooks at The Gathering 2014 will be Terry Parker, co-founder and board member of the National Christian Foundation, which since 2005 has given over $1.5 million dollars to the His Servants ministry of Don Schmierer, producer and vendor of a Fieldstead & Company-commissioned line of “ex-gay” books and curricula translated into dozens of languages . . . 

In 2006 Family Research Council head Tony Perkins told The Gathering that the “second greatest threat:” to America, besides “radical Islamists” was “radical homosexuals”. 

Despite ongoing critical media coverage of the World Congress of Families, that over the past decade has come to the fore as a leading U.S.-based initiative which has helped export the culture war agenda of the American religious right – including anti-LGBT hatred and hostility to reproductive freedoms – to Russia and Eastern Europe, one transcendent question has largely been neglected: who funds the American nonprofits that have comprised the dominant presence at WCF events ? And, are the efforts of these nonprofits uncoordinated or are there traceable strategic and leadership connections between these groups ?

The answer to both questions points directly to the elite annual event known as The Gathering and to its biggest nonprofit foundation, the National Christian Foundation, exposed in an ongoing Twocare.org investigation of NCF 990 tax forms from 2001-2012 as probably the biggest – and without a doubt the most prolific – anti-LGBT rights funder in America.

$10,065,726: that’s the amount of funding that the Alliance Defending Freedom – whose leaders have spoken at and helped organize four major World Congress of Families events, and is “easily the most active antigay legal group” according to Human Rights Campaign Vice President Frederick Sainz – received in 2012 from the National Christian Foundation . . . . 

Consider the following quotes, from the Alliance Defending Freedom’s top leaders: . . . . “[Homosexual] activists have followed a strategy akin to what Hitler used back in the 1920s and 1930s to take over Germany… The very future of our nation is at risk if the homosexual agenda continues to advance unchecked.” — from pages 27-28 of The Homosexual Agenda, a 2003 book by ADF President Alan Sears and Craig Osten currently offered for free by the ADF to contributors who donate over $10

[A]s detailed in the Twocare.org special report The Gathering: The Religious Right’s Cash Cow, from 2001-2012 the National Christian Foundation provided $163,384,988 in funding to the ADF, FoF, FRC, and five other major anti-LGBT rights activist groups: the Alliance For Marriage, the American Center For Law and Justice, the American Family Association, Campus Crusade For Christ, and the National Organization For Marriage.  

In a column in the Summer 2012 The Gathering newsletter, President of the 501(c)(3) nonprofit The Gathering Fred Smith discussed the results of a survey done by a private consultant hired to ask Gathering participants “what makes them reluctant to recommend people they meet to The Gathering.” More than a few participants, it seems based on Smith’s column, considered The Gathering to be a “secret society”. 

But judging by a survey of audio recordings from The Gathering, it is not hard to understand why participants might hold such a view; Gathering speakers often describe the need to “infiltrate” secular society: the use of stealth and deceit to further the dominionist “Seven Mountains” mandate, the goal of bringing the seven major spheres of society – government, business, education, media, arts and entertainment, religion, and the family – under the influence of control of “the kingdom” and its ranks of “believers”.

Such an anti-democratic and anti-pluralist, religious supremacist ethic – which has influenced disturbingly wide swaths of the global evangelical missions movement – is interwoven through the culture of The Gathering. 

There is more and readers should read the entire piece.  These organizations not only further a global war against LGBT individuals but ultimately, would overthrow the U.S. Constitution.  In my view, that is tantamount to treason and should be dealt with accordingly.  These are not decent organizations.  They and their agenda are frightening. 

Louisiana House Votes to Retain Unconstitutional Law

Here in Virginia the Republican Party of Virginia is little more than an arm of the extreme Christofascists at The Family Foundation which disingenuously pretends to be a "family values organization" rather than an organization which seeks to subvert the U.S. Constitution.  Based on a vote in the Louisiana House of Representatives, things are not much different in Louisiana where the Louisiana Family Forum (which like The Family Foundation is an affiliate of Focus on the Family and the hate group, Family Research Council) carries more weight than the United States Constitution and the rulings of the U. S. Supreme Court.  The proof?  The Louisiana House of Representatives voted 67 to 27 to retain Louisiana's unconstitutional sodomy statute.  A statute that was ruled unconstitutional under Lawrence v. Texas and which is similar to Virginia's now former sodomy statute which was struck down a second time by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.  Think Progress looks at the batshitery reigning in Louisiana:

The Louisiana House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly — 27–67 — to retain a law banning “crimes against nature,” including oral sex and all forms of same-sex sexual contact. The law has been unenforceable for over ten years, since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Lawrence v. Texas that laws criminalizing consensual private sexual behavior are unconstitutional. The 67 lawmakers who opposed the repeal thus violated their oath of office, in which they swore to support the Constitution of the United States.

Repeal of the unconstitutional law was opposed by the Louisiana Family Forum, a state affiliate of Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council. In a letter to lawmakers, the group argued that “Louisiana’s anti-sodomy statute is consistent with the values of Louisiana residents who consider this behavior to be dangerous, unhealthy, and immoral.” The Louisiana Family Forum also alleged that the law was essential to protect children from sodomy, even though several other laws account for such protections.

The group also claimed that the law was necessary for punishing crimes against nature in public places. The law, however, was still being used as of last year to entrap gay men who consented in public places to have sex in private places.

As Joe.My.God. points out, though Louisiana’s unenforceable ban on oral sex and same-sex relations will remain on the books, necrophilia — sex with dead people — may remain legal there.

As the piece correctly notes, every legislator who voted to retain this law breached their oath of office by which they swore to uphold the United States Constitution, not some set of hate and fear based religious beliefs held by religious extremist.  Technically, every one of them should be removed from office.

Wave of New Bogus State "Religious Freedom" Bills Seek to License Discrimination

As LGBT Americans have gained additional civil rights - often as a result of state and federal court decisions - the Christofascists have begun shrieking that their rights of "religious freedom" are under attack.  Indeed, hate groups like Mission America have been disseminating screeds that claim that gay rights are incompatible with Christians' religious freedom.  Now through a network of hate groups "family values" organizations is pressuring state legislators (read Republicans) to pass bills that would exempt Christofascists from non-discrimination laws applicable to other citizens.  It is yet another example of far right Christians demanding special rights and believing that they are above the civil laws.  One can only hope that these laws are not enacted or, if they are, they are struck down by the courts.   Aljazeera America has details.  Here are highlights:

If a bill approved by the Kansas House Committee on Federal and State Affairs Thursday becomes law, businesses and government employees could legally refuse service to citizens because of their sexual orientation or marital status, claiming it violates their religious beliefs.

HB 2453, if passed, would permit “any individual or religious entity” to claim an exemption, based on religious views, from providing nearly any kind of services, and to be relieved from “treat(ing) any marriage, domestic partnership, civil union, or similar arrangement as valid.” Although the bill would require government agencies to make another employee available to provide the service if one employee objects, opponents of the bill say that arrangement could prove unworkable in small locales.

The Kansas measure is an extreme permutation of a wave of new bills in state legislatures that purport to bolster religious freedom, but that opponents say constitute a troubling new trend to craft a license to discriminate based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and marital or family status. The state efforts are apparently connected to a network with the Christian advocacy group Focus on the Family at its core.

“We are really seeing this dovetailing with LGBT people across the country gaining greater rights,” said Eunice Rho, advocacy and policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, which opposes these bills. “We are now seeing this reaction where people are claiming based on religious belief that there should be special authorization to break laws or have new rights.”

[C]onservative legislators are also reacting to the possibility of same-sex marriage bans being struck down, as federal cases decided in Utah and Oklahoma move through the courts — and Witt said the Kansas bill would give government employees the right to refuse service even if same-sex marriage were legal in the state.

The Kansas Family Policy Council, a Christian conservative group in favor of the bill, said in an alert to its members that the bill “would extend important legal protections to individuals, business owners and religious institutions when it comes to their rights to stand on their religious views when declining to participate in and celebrate homosexual ‘weddings.’”

In addition, a bill moving through the Arizona Senate specifically identifies corporations as parties with religious freedom to be protected — one of the issues the Supreme Court has been asked to take up in cases brought by Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood in their challenges to the contraception coverage.

Cornerstone in Idaho, the Kansas Family Policy Council, and the Center for Arizona Policy, which supports the bill there, are all part of a network of 38 state “family policy councils” pressing for these laws under the umbrella of Citizen Link, the advocacy arm of the conservative Christian powerhouse Focus on the Family.

These bills evidence a frightening trend and demonstrate that the Christofascists need to be forced to obey the same laws as all other citizens.  One definitely has to wonder when Focus on the Family will get the hate group designation that it so richly deserves.

Christianists and GOP Continue to Stand By David Barton's Lies

I've looked at David Barton - a faux historian if there ever was one - on this blog.  Frighteningly, the man continues to rewrite history, particularly American history, to reenforce the myth that America was founded as a "Christian nation" despite all of the evidence to the contrary.  Barton writes what the Christofascists and increasingly ignorant GOP base wants to hear.  When it comes to truth a veracity, Barton seems to have taken the work of Nazi propaganda head Joseph Goebbels as his template.  Truth, objective facts, and reason simply have no place in today's Republican Party.  A piece in Right Wing Watch looks at Barton's continued embrace by the far right.  Here are excerpts:

Over the weekend, Politico ran a profile of David Barton which pointed out that he remains extremely popular with the Religious Right and members of Congress, despite the fact that he is the author of the "least credible history book in print" and his "scholarship" is laughable.
The piece noted that even his supporters have been forced to secretly edit videos and programs posted on their websites in order to remove some of Barton's more egregious falsehoods, yet they continue to stand by him, as Barton brags that the mounting evidence of his fundamentally inaccurate history has not damaged his reputation one iota:

During their campaign to point out the errors in Barton’s work, his Christian critics asked two of the nation’s biggest evangelical advocacy groups, the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family, to stop promoting his faulty scholarship.
The FRC responded by quietly pulling from its website a popular video showcasing clips of Barton leading one of his Capitol tours. FRC Vice President Kenyn Cureton said the video was removed because of “a few historical inaccuracies.”
But the group continues to promote Barton elsewhere on its website as a “good friend” and “close ally.”
Focus on the Family, meanwhile, edited two videos on its website featuring a lengthy interview Barton gave to Focus radio. The editing deleted a segment in which Barton declares that Congress printed the first English-language Bible in America — and intended it to be used in schools. That’s one of Barton’s signature stories — it’s a highlight in his Capitol tour — but historians who have reviewed the documentation say it’s simply not true.

- See more at: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/among-religious-right-david-bartons-reputation-remains-untarnished#sthash.LAlkQiu7.dpuf

Over the weekend, Politico ran a profile of David Barton which pointed out that he remains extremely popular with the Religious Right and members of Congress, despite the fact that he is the author of the "least credible history book in print" and his "scholarship" is laughable.

The piece noted that even his supporters have been forced to secretly edit videos and programs posted on their websites in order to remove some of Barton's more egregious falsehoods, yet they continue to stand by him, as Barton brags that the mounting evidence of his fundamentally inaccurate history has not damaged his reputation one iota:

During their campaign to point out the errors in Barton’s work, his Christian critics asked two of the nation’s biggest evangelical advocacy groups, the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family, to stop promoting his faulty scholarship.

The FRC responded by quietly pulling from its website a popular video showcasing clips of Barton leading one of his Capitol tours. FRC Vice President Kenyn Cureton said the video was removed because of “a few historical inaccuracies.”

But the group continues to promote Barton elsewhere on its website as a “good friend” and “close ally.”

Focus on the Family, meanwhile, edited two videos on its website featuring a lengthy interview Barton gave to Focus radio. The editing deleted a segment in which Barton declares that Congress printed the first English-language Bible in America — and intended it to be used in schools. That’s one of Barton’s signature stories — it’s a highlight in his Capitol tour — but historians who have reviewed the documentation say it’s simply not true.

Barton again signifies what has become of the Republican Party where once upon a time crackpots like Barton would either not have been given the time of day or would have been dismissed as a crack pot.  That was then.  Now, Barton is main stream in a political party that is increasingly an extremist sectarian organization. 

Focus on the Family Again Seeks to Censor Gay Inclusive School Books

Offering yet more proof that the Christofascists at Focus on the Family - which seems to be working hard to earn a hate group designation - want gays to literally disappear, a new push has been mounted to stir up "godly" wingnut parents to challenge any curriculum content that might acknowledge the existence of LGBT people.   How this approach prepares children in a diverse culture is, of course, never addressed.  Nor does it face the reality that many of these same parents unknowingly are raising gay children of their own.  All it really shows is the mental healt issues of people like FOTF spokeswoman Candi Cushman (pictured above).   Think Progress looks at this latest batshitery.  Here are highlights:

With the school year set to resume, Focus on the Family is once again encouraging parents to censor any curriculum content that might acknowledge the existence of LGBT people. Focus’s “Empowering Parents” guide teaches families how to navigate all the hurdles they might have to jump in order to remove LGBT-inclusive materials from the classroom. In a conversation with Stuart Shepard set up by the question, “What do you when what your public school is teaching about relationships is out of sync with God’s design for relationships?”, Candi Cushman explained that it’s “Orwellian” to talk to young people about LGBT families:

CUSHMAN: In math class for instance, there is a lesson plan material out there called, “Ready, Set, Respect.” This is created by one of the largest homosexual advocacy groups, called GLSEN, the Gay Lesbian, and Straight Education Network. Let me just give you an example of what they recommend for educators: “Write math problems with contexts that include a variety of family structures and gender expressions.” And so the example they then give is, “Give a math problem about Rosa and her dads going to the grocery store.”

Cushman believes such curriculum is “Orwellian” because her definition of family does not include same-sex couples and their children. The reality is that for many children — an estimated 2 million — their families do include either same-sex parents or at least one gay parent and possibly a same-sex step parent. Cushman would prefer they not see their families represented in class.

What’s truly Orwellian is erasing those families and attempting to use public schools as a form of propaganda to hide the existence of LGBT people. There may well be LGBT students in the classroom, who deserve to see diverse representations that include their own identities. Focus on the Family calls these efforts “true tolerance,” but the first step to tolerance is acknowledging that a group of people exist and beginning to appreciate their life experiences.

Christianists Vow To Defy Supreme Court If It Rules For Marriage Equality

It yet another display that they believe themselves to be above the civil laws and that their rights should trump those of everyone else, some 200 Christofascists are vowing to defy the rulings of the U. S. Supreme Court should it hand down decisions supportive of gay marriage.  With the Christofascists, it is always first and last all about them and their demand that they have the unfettered right to mistreat and discriminate against others of differing beliefs, and all too often, different skin colors.  The Christofascists have truly made Christianity into something ugly and contrary to the principles of the Founding Fathers.  Think Progress looks at this mindset which is akin to that of the hardcore segregationists who sought to defy Supreme Court rulings in the 1950's and 1960's.  The list of those issuing the threat comprises a who's who of hate group leaders and far right Republicans.  Here are article excerpts:

Drawing what they called a line “we cannot and will not cross,” more than 200 conservative activists released a letter Thursday vowing to ignore any U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of marriage equality for same-sex couples. The signers include prominent anti-LGBT activists and major figures from the national conservative movement.

Circulated by Liberty Counsel Action chairman Mat Staver and Common Good Alliance chairman Deacon Keith Fournier, under the banner of the equally ironically named Freedom Federation, the statement bore the title, “We Stand in Solidarity to Defend Marriage and the Family and Society Founded Upon Them.” After arguing that same-sex marriage goes against “natural moral law,” the signers claim that the Supreme Court has “no authority to redefine marriage,” writing:

As the Supreme Court acknowledged in the 1992 decision of Planned Parenthood v. Casey, its power rests solely upon the legitimacy of its decisions in the eyes of the people. If the Supreme Court were to issue a decision that redefined marriage or provided a precedent on which to build an argument to redefine marriage, the Supreme Court will thereby undermine its legitimacy. The Court will significantly decrease its credibility and impair the role it has assumed for itself as a moral authority. It will be acting beyond its proper constitutional role and contrary to the Natural Moral Law which transcends religions, culture, and time.

Worse, the letter ends with a clear threat that conservatives will refuse to comply with any court ruling in support of marriage equality: “[M]ake no mistake about our resolve. While there are many things we can endure, redefining marriage is so fundamental to the natural order and the true common good that this is the line we must draw and one we cannot and will not cross.”

In addition to designated hate group leaders like Family Research Council president Tony Perkins and Traditional Values Coalition chairman Rev. Louis Sheldon, the list included Tea Party activist Ben Carson, Oklahoma State Rep. Sally Kern (R), former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell (R), former Republican presidential candidate Gary Bauer, . . . . , Focus on the Family founder Rev. James Dobson, birther Joseph Farah, and disgraced Abramoff scandal figure Ralph Reed.