Sunday, July 15, 2007

The Unholy Trinity Of Christian Radicals

Two old Truths came to life this past week one is history repeats itself. The other is history teaches that great nations crumble from within . These two sayings is something that even home schooled children learn at a fairly young age.
The truth of the sayings came clear with President George W. Bush in Cleveland, OH this past week repeating the lie about the link between Iraq and the attacks by Islamic Radicals on September 11th, 2001; and the media allowing the lie to go again unchallenged.

The Islamic Radicals were funded by Saudi Arabian billionaire Osama Bin Laden. They were schooled and nurtured in a country with a conservative, God fearing, government called the Taliban. They were the Deciders of right and wrong in all aspects of the life of its citizens. If you did not pray the way those in power prayed and believed in the way their holy men interpreted the holy book- then you were in big trouble. The government ruled through the Fear of God's wrath and the apathy of it's own people.
The Unholy Trinity pictured here have dedicated their lives to bringing into power the very same type of religious fanatics that ruled Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. They support religious schools tha
t teach children that only their brand of the holy book they study is the true way to heaven. And they will say and do just about anything to get that last dollar out of your pocket and into theirs. And to fight to keep secret just how much of the good life they have made from selling the good book.
Jay Sekulow is an attorney who has been named one of the most influential evangelicals in the United States. He runs the American Center For Law And Justice and another non profit, CASE. He says he fights for religious freedom. And the ACLJ does market itself as a Christian legal advocacy group. It does file lawsuits on behalf of Christians who feel their beliefs have been jeopardized by such things as not seeing the not a big enough bibles on display in court houses. Jay not only has made himself a millionaire from the kindness of strangers, but has also managed to enrich family members as well: his wife, brother, sister-in-law, and sons have been on various boards and payrolls of groups which he either controls or has a lot of influence with. Many stories have appeared about Jay and his millions.His good friend and golf buddy is Gary Taylor, founder and Chairman of telemarketing firm InfoCision Management Corporation. Gary's corporation raises money for Jay Sekulow. The staff at InfoCision write scripts using the Fear of God to move people to give up their last dollar to kick the infidels out of office and to keep their kind of God Fearing Christians in power. They raise enough money for Jay Sekulow to keep him and his family and the cousins of his family flying in plush private jets to luxury golf resorts 'til the Second Coming. Another power broker in the Army of God is Rod Parsley, pastor of the World Harvest Church in Columbus.
Rod, much like Gary and Ja
y seems to dream of a day when the United States becomes a Christian State. As reporter Sarah Posner wrote in an October 23, 2005 article, called With God On His Side:
In his church, Parsley claims to be fomenting revolution at God's direction. This revolution -- theocratic in character, of course -- is portrayed by Parsley as a battle between the beleaguered, persecuted Christian and a secular culture that has devolved into chaos. Parsley, a man by turns bellicose, ingratiating, and kitschy, has placed his cult of personality front and center in the “culture war” -- a label that suits his depiction of an apocalyptic showdown between good and evil. Whether he is discussing the distinction between Christian and Muslim (“I do not believe our country can truly fulfill its divine purpose until we understand our historical conflict with Islam”), straight and gay (“the pressure on society to accept the audacious behaviors and disastrous consequences of homosexual activity is not a matter of cultural drift or shifting mores; it is a highly orchestrated, highly organized, and extremely disciplined political program”), or atheist and theocrat (the media has engaged in a “high-tech persecution of my faith”), Parsley sees battle lines drawn clearly. And he is the Decider of what's right and wrong because, as he is unafraid to say, God told him so. In a broadcast of TBN's
Praise the Lord television program, Tony Perkins, a prominent leader of the theocratic elite, introduced Parsley to the audience as one of the “new generals” of a Christian army bringing a revival “in every realm of life” to fruition. According to excerpts of World Harvest's bylaws made part of the public record in a lawsuit filed against Parsley in the 1990s, “the government of the Church is in the hands of the Pastor, who has ultimate authority under Christ”; “the church must function as a theocracy”; a democracy “is not God's way”; and “the purpose of the Church is not to do the will of the majority, but the will of God.” Exactly how much money Parsley brings in is something only he and his Fundraiser of Choice- Gary Taylor, may know. Rod has said that his church has never applied for membership in the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, a voluntary-membership organization of nearly 1,200 evangelical groups that requires, among other things, public disclosure of audited financial statements and reports, including financial information about specific projects for which a ministry is soliciting gifts. Parsley claimed that World Harvest conducts an annual independent audit “through the scrutiny of the board of directors,” which consists of himself and his parents. (Council standards also prohibit insiders from maintaining exclusive control of church governance.) He does not make that “audit” available to the public, however, nor does he provide documentation of how money he says he raises for humanitarian projects is spent.
So what course of action can we the people take? How about writing letters to the editor of the Akron Beacon Journal asking for a story on the Republican Radical Christian money making machine that is now seeking a deal from the city of Akron for their new corporate offices? How about demanding a public audit of the these profitable Christan non profits from the media and the our government officials?

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Very interesting article.
Roman Catholic organizations fund raising in Portugal is sometimes hazy too, but they tend to give some general explanations. Goverment's left them without some tax pruvilege recently.