Christian Historian Says He Was Evicted from First Baptist Church of Jacksonville Conference Over Ravi Zacharias

Historian and former Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary archivist Jim Lutzweiler attended the How Should We Then Pastor Conference for pastors held January 25-28 at First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, FLfbc jax logo hoping to find out more about Ravi Zacharias. Zacharias received the Lindsay Award, an annual award given by the church. Lutzweiler attended a Q&A session the afternoon before Zacharias was slated to get his award (Jan. 28). Lutzweiler told me he wanted to ask lead pastor Mac Brunson, “In this conference about how to pastor, how did you as a pastor deal with the question of Ravi’s phony credentials, sexting, and suicide email, and still retain him on the program?”
I too would like to know the answer to that question. Zacharias has numerous loose ends remaining but has gone quiet since his ministry issued incomplete statements about credentialing issues several weeks ago.

I Will Call Security

According to Lutzweiler, he attended a Q&A session where he intended to ask lead pastor Mac Brunson his question. However, he said Brunson’s son, Trey, got to him before the microphone did. Lutzweiler quoted Brunson as saying, “No, do not ask the question. If you do, I will call security.” Lutzweiler said he complied with that request.
After the Q&A, Lutzweiler said he went to the auditorium for the meeting during which Ravi Zacharias was to get an award. He told me he looked for a good seat:

I got one four rows back.  Suddenly a security guard came to my seat and asked me to follow him.  I did.  When we got to the foyer, he said, ‘We want to ask you to leave.  We understand you want to create a scene.’  I said, ‘What? I am not here to create a scene, I just came to hear Ravi.  In fact, I pointedly did NOT create a scene across the street during a Q&A when Trey asked me not to ask a question about Ravi. I politely consented to his request.’ I could quickly tell this made no difference, that they had a mandate to get me out of there without compromise (like sitting in the balcony 200 feet-or-so away from the platform).  There were two other pistol-bearing guards right there, ready to haul me away.

I sent emails and a tweet to First Baptist Church of Jacksonville and Trey Brunson and asked for their side of this story. I received no response.
Jim Lutzweiler is a Baptist and wanted to raise issues which would no doubt have been inconvenient and uncomfortable but given the information available and recent media coverage were fair to raise. In particular, Lutzweiler wanted to know how Brunson evaluated the evidence which is very compelling. Apparently, if you follow this example, how pastors are supposed to pastor is to ignore such things; and have good security guards packing heat.

Gateway Business Leaders to Feature Credit Card Mogul

_MG_2556Remember the Gateway Church program that puts a bullseye on rich people? Despite (or maybe because of) the layoffs and other woes at Gateway, the church is still hunting for rich folks via the Gateway Business Leaders program. On March 1, Gateway will feature two successful businessmen as a way to attract “C-level” business leaders with, as former Gateway pastor Bobby Bogard put it, “influence and large capacities of wealth.”

Gateway Business Leaders

Here is the announcement:
Gateway Biz Leaders
Notice that the last fellow, Jimmy Blanchard, started the largest credit card company in the world. This should make him less than a popular figure around the Gateway ranch since the church has been a big fan of Dave Ramsey’s credit card discouraging financial advice. However, given his influence and large capacity for wealth, he probably has one rather large bullseye on him.

Healthy in So Many Different Ways?

Not so long ago in January of 2017, Pastor Bobby Bogard was touting the health of Gateway. Now, with the layoffs of about 35% of the staff, he is no longer at the church. As a reminder of the rationale for the Gateway Business Leaders program, here is Bogard talking about Gateway’s “grace lane” to the rich and influential.

Transcript:

Gateway Church will be 17 years old this Easter.  We’re a spirit filled Charismatic church without the weird or the goofy.  I’ve seen the weird and the goofy, believe me in  my charismania days.  Um, we have over 30 thousand in attendance on a weekly basis.  That’s six campuses, with 26 services. I say all that to say this, big is not always better.  Big is not better. But what we are at Gateway Church is we’re healthy and I wanna talk to you about healthy church.  We’re healthy in so many different ways.  And health is probably one of the main ingredients of our success.  In all of the growth that we’ve taken place we’ve remained a healthy organization and a healthy church.  A healthy ministry.  A healthy people.  A healthy staff.  Healthy pace.  And so, part of our secret sauce is that we’re healthy.  Our goal is to become healthy, not to fill buildings with people.  Because here’s the deal.  If we can become healthy, we will see people filled with God, and then the principle of ‘healthy things grow’ right?  So that’s a value that we hold.  Healthy things grow.  And so church growth is really a byproduct of a healthy church.
Number two is people.  We’re all about people.  That’s our slogan, it’s been our slogan from the very  beginning.  I’m gonna drill down to some of this in just a minute.  I wanna fly by on a 30,000 foot view, okay?   But, we’r e all about people.  And the reason we’re all about people is because  God’s all about people. Am I right?  And so if we’re all about people because God’s all about people, it’s because we know God loves people, and if God loves people  we need to love people.  But how many of you know, sometimes, in our journey we love Jesus with all of our heart.   Right?  It’s just some of the people He hangs out with that we have a  problem.  C’mon somebody?  And so, God loves people.  I love what Johnny shared, man.  I love the fact that John Maxwell is passionate about a million souls, because souls are people.  People have problems.  People have issues. People have transition.  But God loves them in every season of their life.  He never turns himself away from people.  And so, if you help people, God will send you more people, because God loves people. I’ll say that again.  If you love people and you help people, God will send you more people.  Why?  Because God loves people.
And so as we, as we, look at health, and as we look at people, there are some considerations that we go after in preparing ourselves to be healthy and to love people.  And that’s number one is: We’re always asking ourself, who is are target?  Who’s our bullseye?  Do you know who your bullseye is?  Your bullseye, not that you’re not gonna reach all people, because we’re gonna reach all people.  We’re gonna be all things to all people, to reach all people.  But there’s something that God has gifted you with.  There’s a Grace Lane that you have.  And that Grace Lane is directed to a bullseye.  And who is your bullseye?  Who are the people God’s called you to reach?
And so, as we look at our bullseye, God has called us, to reach professional people.  That’s our bullseye.  We’re still gonna help the down and out.  We do it every week.  We’re still gonna help single moms.  We do it every week.  We-we’re still going to uh, look and help marriages and blended families.  We’re gonna work through their issues.  But our bullseye is the business professionals.  Matter fact, in one of our depart- we have a whole department that’s built towards reaching business people.  I’m talking about people with influence and large capacities of wealth.  That’s our bullseye because we feel like that’s something God’s graced us to do.  And if we can reach our bullseye, it will create a ripple, if you will, so that we can reach the others more effectively.

 

Military to Hear From Kenneth Copeland Who Teaches PTSD Can Be Cured by Bible Verses and Rebuking Satan

A military religious freedom watchdog group is asking Commanding General Major General Pete Johnson to uninvite Kenneth Copeland from theKenneth Copeland Jet February 1 prayer breakfast at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Kenneth Copeland has a rather checkered history but the main reason for the outrage is Kenneth Copeland’s past teaching on how to address post-traumatic stress disorder. On that topic, the head of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation Mikey Weinstein told the General:

But there’s something else that makes Copeland an even more outrageous choice to speak to any military audience. He has claimed that PTSD isn’t real because it isn’t biblical, saying on a 2013 Veterans Day episode of his TV show:
“Any of you suffering from PTSD right now, you listen to me. You get rid of that right now. You don’t take drugs to get rid of it, and it doesn’t take psychology. That promise right there [referring to a Bible verse he had just read] will get rid of it.”
Copeland’s guest that day, Christian nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton, wholeheartedly agreed, adding that warriors in the Bible fighting in the name of God were “esteemed” and in the “faith hall of fame” because they “took so many people out in battle.”

At the time, Barton and Copeland took a lot of heat over that “advice.” Before I go on, here is the segment:

Gospel Destroying and Demonic Advice

The Gospel Coalition’s Joe Carter called this advice “gospel destroying” and “demonic.” Copeland still has aspects of this advice on his website (source and source). I did a short series on PTSD which highlighted damaging aspects of Copeland’s and Barton’s advice. In short, their advice was insulting to PTSD sufferers. The military should warn their people about Copeland, not invite him to lecture them.

Copeland Disqualified Himself

I hope the General decides to find another speaker. In my opinion, Copeland disqualified himself to speak to our service men and women. In addition to his bogus advice about PTSD, he teaches that people who recite certain Bible verses will survive war. In essence, his teaching is that Christians will survive if they do the right things and recite the right magic Bible verses (Psalm 91 is one he suggests). In his PTSD video, he claims that the Bible gives a promise of survival to soldiers who fight for God. I don’t know what happens to people who don’t believe these things according to Copeland.
I can’t imagine what he will say that will be of general benefit or encouragement to people of all faiths. His teaching in his Veteran’s Day video and on his website requires a rather close adherence to his specific interpretation of the Bible. There are many Christians who reject this approach, not to mention those of other faiths and no faith. Surely, General Johnson can find someone who can bring people together and respect troops of all faith traditions.
Here is the announcement in the Fort Jackson newsletter:

National Prayer Breakfast to take place Feb. 1 at NCO Club sponsoring the National Prayer Breakfast for the Fort Jackson Community 7:30-9 a.m. Feb. 1 at the NCO Club. Nationally recognized televangelist Kenneth Copeland will be the speaker. Tickets are available from your unit. The event is free, but offerings will be accepted at the event. Attire will be duty uniform or civilian equivalent. The purpose of the NPB is to emphasize the importance of prayer for the Nation, Fort Jackson, our armed forces, and our Families. The themes for the breakfast are: prayers for the nation, community relationship and spiritual fitness.

 
This tip came from fellow Patheos blogger Hemant Mehta (who got it from Chris Rodda).

Another Article on Understanding David Barton

Out today, Vox has an article by Tara Burton hoping to help progressive readers understand the David Barton phenomenon. Over the years, Barton

David Barton
David Barton

has been identified as the “historian” behind a Christian nationalist narrative of the nation’s founding. Burton correctly connects newly appointed Religious Liberty Ambassador Sam Brownback and PA Republican candidate for Congress Rick Saccone with Barton. Brownback and Barton have a long relationship. I wrote about the Saccone-Barton link early last year.
Overall, to me as a long time student of this subject, there isn’t much new here.

When an Earned Degree Isn’t Earned

I am disappointed that Burton didn’t use the Vox platform to point out Barton’s academic fraud. She touched on it but left an incomplete impression:

Barton is a self-taught historian and activist. He’s received little formal historical training and his sole credentialed degree is a bachelor’s in religious education from evangelical Oral Roberts University, although he later claimed to have earned a doctorate from officially unaccredited Life Christian University on the basis of his published works.

Yes, he claimed one day to have an earned doctorate, but then the very next day, he took down his boastful claim when I revealed that the “earned doctorate” wasn’t earned but came from diploma mill Life Christian University. Barton no longer claims the degree. He won’t answer questions about his initial claim. Given that Burton said Barton gives Christian nationalism a “veneer of academic respectability,” I think this detail is quite significant.
The issue isn’t simply that he claimed a degree from an unaccredited school. Such that it is, he does have a piece of paper from Life Christian University. The claim which goes to Barton’s credibility is that he said that the degree was earned without specifying the means of earning it. Barton never said the degree was earned based on his published works. That rationale came from the president of Life Christian University, Douglas Wingate.
Despite this missed opportunity, I think Burton’s gets Barton’s influence mostly right when she says:

Barton remains a prominent figure in evangelical and dominionist circles and a regular on conservative conference circuits. He continues to speak on his nationally syndicated WallBuilders radio show, on which he describes himself as “America’s premier historian.” That said, since his fall from grace, Barton has publicly been cited by fewer and fewer prominent politicians, which makes Saccone’s choice to feature him at an early rally striking. But despite this, his influence is such that his particular narrative of American history is still taken by some on the right as, well, gospel.

These days almost no students who take my classes know who Barton is. More younger people seem wary of his claims. However, among those who strongly believe America is a Christian nation, Barton can do no wrong.

Tony Perkins: Christianity is Great Except When It Isn't

The title of this post summarizes what I get out of this Tony Perkins interview with Politico. Tony Perkins is the head of the Family Research Trump court evangelical picCouncil which claims to promote family values. Because FRC has historically called for politicians to exemplify family values, Perkins gets a lot of questions about his support for Trump.  This exchange between Perkins and reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere  is especially revealing:

Evangelical Christians, says Perkins, “were tired of being kicked around by Barack Obama and his leftists. And I think they are finally glad that there’s somebody on the playground that is willing to punch the bully.”
What happened to turning the other cheek? I ask.
“You know, you only have two cheeks,” Perkins says. “Look, Christianity is not all about being a welcome mat which people can just stomp their feet on.”

Shorter Perkins: when Christian teachings don’t get you want you want, then try something else. As I understand Perkins here, there is a limit to Christianity. You can follow it so far, but when it doesn’t work to get power in the situation, you resort to whatever tactics might be necessary. Otherwise, the unthinkable might happen: Christians might lose political power.

Christianity? What Christianity?

To me, this is another example of an evangelical leader changing Christianity to fit the requirements of being a Trump follower. Today, it is Perkins; often it is Franklin Graham, most days it is Jerry Falwell, everyone’s favorite fallen angel. After Trump’s indecorous reflections on third world nations earlier this month, Jerry Falwell went out with an defense – Trump was being presidentially authentic.  Columnist Jonah Goldberg was having none of that.

Falwell, in a riot of sycophantic sophistry, not only wants to argue that whatever a president does is presidential but also seeks to elevate the idea that authenticity is its own reward. This is contrary to vast swathes of conservative and Christian thought. A person can be authentically evil, crude, bigoted, or asinine. That is not a defense of any of those things. I’m no expert, but my understanding of Christianity is that behavior is supposed to be informed by more than one’s “authentic” feelings and instincts. Satan is nothing if not authentic.

We live in a time when some of our Christian leaders model how Christian leaders act when they believe Christianity has failed as a practical matter. “You know, you only have two cheeks,” Perkins said. Once you’ve turned both of them, it must be time to move on to some other approach.
And nearly every day, we see evidence that they have moved on.

Samaritan's Purse Loses Erick Erickson's Recommendation

If Erickson has given up on Samaritan’s Purse, Franklin Graham should start to worry that his unwavering support for Trump will hurt his bread and butter.

Scroll down for a satirical look at Franklin Graham’s defense of Trump.
……………………….
Erick Erickson is a conservative pundit who is an evangelical Christian. If Erickson has given up on Samaritan’s Purse, Franklin Graham should start to worry that his unwavering support for Trump will hurt his bread and butter. After watching Graham’s defense of Trump’s morality in the face of Trump’s deceptions, Erickson has had enough.


When Bill Clinton was president, Christian leaders expressed so much concern about the corrosive effect of Clinton’s immoral behavior on theTrump court evangelical pic morals of the nation. Now, Trump’s behavior is rationalized or denied.
Many people commenting on Erickson’s tweet agree but some don’t. There are many reasons to consider another charity. Franklin’s excessive salary ($800k or so) is a good reason. Franklin spends a lot of time on political commentary which is ultimately underwritten and associated with his non-profit ministry.
If you have some extra funds to donate, I suggest your local food pantry.
 
 
A satirical look at Graham’s reaction to Trump. This is satire.
 

Graham: Trump Isn’t the Same Person as Five Minutes Ago
Boone, NC – Son of famed evangelist Billy Graham, Franklin Graham yesterday brushed off reports from the Wall Street Journal claiming that President Trump had an affair with porn actress Stormy Daniels and then covered it up with payment of hush money during the 2016 campaign. He said President Trump wasn’t the same man today he was a couple of days ago.
“He is constantly changing,” the evangelist said. “President Trump, at 70 years of age, is a much different man than he was last week or even five minutes ago. God isn’t finished with him yet.”
“I am sure he isn’t done changing. I don’t think anyone but God knows what’s coming next,” said the famous preacher.
Graham said even if the charges leveled by the WSJ are true, Trump isn’t the pastor of the nation and shouldn’t be held to the same standard as evangelicals have held other politicians.
Graham asserted that America has a sin problem and no one has a grasp on that problem like President Trump. He said Trump uses his own resources to address the problem head on and used the Stormy Daniels situation as an illustration. Graham explained, “In Donald Trump, we have a president who isn’t afraid to put his money where his mouth was.”

What's Next for Evidence-Based Practice at SAMHSA?

NREPP SAMHSA statementOn January 11, Assistant Secretary Elinore McCance-Katz addressed the controversy over the terminated National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices. After several days of silence from SAMHSA, the McCance-Katz sought to explain why SAMHSA ended the registry which lawmakers and mental health providers alike had both lauded and criticized.
Her defense of the move was forceful and appealed to the nation’s opioid addiction crisis. In a conference call with reporters she said, “We in the Trump administration are not going to sit back and let people die.” Without giving any instances linked to NREPP, she added that people will die “if we leave things up on the website that don’t help people.”
In her statement, McCance-Katz lamented that the registry was inadequate. She especially regretted the lack of evidence-based treatments for severely mentally ill persons. She added, “If someone with limited knowledge about various mental and substance use disorders were to go to the NREPP website, they could come away thinking that there are virtually no EBPs for opioid use disorder and other major mental disorders – which is completely untrue.” In fact, I was able to find two such treatments but they were short term interventions.
McCance-Katz also faulted developers of evidence-based practices. She said:

We at SAMHSA should not be encouraging providers to use NREPP to obtain EBPs, given the flawed nature of this system. From my limited review – I have not looked at every listed program or practice – I see EBPs that are entirely irrelevant to some disorders, “evidence” based on review of as few as a single publication that might be quite old and, too often, evidence review from someone’s dissertation.
This is a poor approach to the determination of EBPs. As I mentioned, NREPP has mainly reviewed submissions from “developers” in the field. By definition, these are not EBPs because they are limited to the work of a single person or group. This is a biased, self-selected series of interventions further hampered by a poor search-term system. Americans living with these serious illnesses deserve better, and SAMHSA can now provide that necessary guidance to communities.

There is some evidence for her criticism. I found at least one program which had next to no peer reviewed evidence (“moral reconation therapy”). The journal listed as providing the bulk of the data was a newsletter published by the originators of the therapy.

Plenty of Blame to Go Around

However, one proponent of evidence-based practice said SAMHSA shouldn’t assign blame exclusively on developers and providers. Steven Hayes, Foundation Professor of Psychology at the University of Nevada and one of the developers of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy told me that SAMHSA set the standards for developers and should raise them if the agency wants better results.
Hayes told me, “If SAMHSA was unhappy with the standards, why didn’t they raise them?” Hayes said there are gaps in research knowledge, but wonders how SAMHSA is going to bridge that gap by terminating NREPP. Hayes asked, “If large bodies of such research exist, why didn’t researchers submit the data before? If it existed, why didn’t SAMHSA just take steps to ensure that it was submitted to NREPP?”
Hayes continued, “The reasons there are gaps in research knowledge is that gaps can only be filled by creativity, linked to adequate funding to test creative ideas. Of course SAMHSA can declare that providers should do this or do that based on what their experts say, but this will be a far more political process and it is certain to be both conventional and more dominated by experts who are beholden to those with strong financial interests in the current system.”
Hayes is concerned that drug companies may play an outsized role. He said, “We know who those voices are in the main. We are already at a place in which more than 60% of those with mental health needs receive medications only, and 10% or less receiving psychosocial methods only. Given the issues of side effects, long term effects, opponent processes, and cost effectiveness, the data simply do not support this huge imbalance.”
Since NREPP was a way for developers to get their programs to the public, Hayes said, “Cutting off one of the few avenues program developers had available to them to provide scientifically valid information to the public, will likely leave the public with access to fewer voices and less information rather than more.”

Timing of SAMHSA’s Move to the Policy Lab

One of my concerns about the termination of the NREPP has been the lack of anything to replace it. Chris Garrett, spokesman for SAMHSA told me that SAMHSA is sensitive to this concern and provided this statement:

SAMHSA is working as expeditiously as possible to stand up the Policy Lab in order to carry forward this important work. Expert staff from SAMHSA are being reassigned to the Policy Lab as it stands up. We expect basic operations of the Lab to follow within the next month. In the meantime, SAMHSA has a number of evidence-based approaches already available on our website in the form of Treatment Improvement Protocols and Technical Assistance Publications. We highly recommend their use. The TIPs series can be found here. The TAPs series can be found here. The SAMHSA store also has a number of toolkits that describe evidence-based practices, as well as provide instructions on how to implement them.

Garrett said users could search for “toolkits” in the SAMHSA store to access these resources.
 
 

Kenneth Copeland Loves His New $36 Million Jet

Kenneth Copeland is one lucky dude. It seems pretty obvious to me that his ministry is about him and how much stuff he can accumulate.

Kenneth Copeland Jet
Kenneth Copeland is one lucky dude. It seems pretty obvious to me that his ministry is about him and how much stuff he can accumulate. In this video, he can barely contain his gleeful pride in his latest acquisition: a $36-million jet. Watch:

Why does Copeland need another jet? According to him, flying commercial would require him to rub elbows with “a long tube of demons” and real people who might want him to pray for them. Watch this video done before he acquired this recent jet:

These rich preachers justify their jets to themselves and to their sheep with the most outrageous stories. The men of God need to concentrate on God and being bothered by people and demons would just mess things up. They couldn’t do ministry without them. Pity the poor local church pastor who can barely keep his used car running.
These preachers think they are so important that they must go to a different city everyday to preach their gospel as if there are no other Christian churches or preachers in these cities. There is an arrogance and narcissism in these “explanations” that is astounding.
I feel a mix of sadness and anger when I think of what $36-million could do for the truly needy. In addition, I suspect someone is getting a tax write off for the donation(s) to Kenneth Copeland “Minitries” which went to the purchase of the plane. It may be that a rich donor simply gave the plane to Copeland as a year end donation. If owned by the nonprofit, the plane is supposed to somehow provide for the public good. Since Copeland won’t disclose how he spends his nonprofit funds, we may never know.
For more on Copeland, see the following:
Taxpayers Pay for Televangelists’ Lavish Lifestyles Churches Damaged by Lack of Oversight and Disclosures
Televangelist’s Family Profits from Ministry
News 8 Investigates Kenneth Copeland
 
UPDATE: Copeland also has his own airport, provided by the sheep.
copeland airport

Yesterday, Liberty Counsel Celebrated Christian Freedom Day

Yesterday, like presidents before him, President Trump issued a proclamation commemorating Thomas Jefferson’s work in writing Virginia’s

Cover of Getting Jefferson Right, used by permission
Cover of Getting Jefferson Right, used by permission

Statute for Religious Freedom (full text here) which was adopted by the Virginia legislature on January 16, 1786. The law ended the establishment of the Anglican church in Virginia and recognized freedom of conscience in the state.
Jefferson meant for that freedom of conscience to extend beyond Christian denominations to all religions or none. However, ultra-conservative Liberty Counsel does not appear to recognize the breadth of Jefferson’s work. In their press release, the Statute on Religious Freedom is described as follows:

Religious Freedom Day is celebrated in America each year on January 16 to commemorate the 232nd anniversary of the passing of the 1786 passage of Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom that ended the state-established church in Virginia, finally protecting religious rights for all denominations. The Anglicans had fined, persecuted, jailed and murdered Christians who were not part of the state-established church. However, Jefferson, a lifelong fervent advocate for the rights of religious liberty and religious conscience, worked hard to protect and defend those Christians. (emphasis added)

Liberty Counsel’s presser refers to denominations of Christianity and to Jefferson’s work to defend Christians. In the past, Liberty Counsel chairman Mat Staver has questioned the status of Islam as a religious worthy of First Amendment protection. Staver is also of the David Barton school of thought regarding the First Amendment — that the purpose of it was to prevent a Christian denomination from being established. In other words, when the First Amendment says religion, it means Christianity.

What Did Jefferson Mean?

In fact, there was an effort in the Virginia legislature to limit the scope of Virginia’s statute to Christians during debate on the bill. Jefferson wrote about it in his autobiography:

The bill for establishing religious freedom, the principles of which had, to a certain degree, been enacted before, I had drawn in all the latitude of reason & right. It still met with opposition; but, with some mutilations in the preamble, it was finally past; and a singular proposition proved that it’s protection of opinion was meant to be universal. Where the preamble declares that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed, by inserting the word “Jesus Christ,” so that it should read “departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion” the insertion was rejected by a great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of it’s protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan [Islam], the Hindoo, and infidel of every denomination.

According to Jefferson, the effort did not succeed. He meant his religious freedom bill to cover all people, of all religious ideas or no religious ideas.

What Religious Freedom Really Means Now

Ultimately, religious freedom at this particular time for this particular group means the freedom to discriminate against people, usually GLBT people in providing public services. In general, I think those who provide services to the public should provide them to GLBT people, even if they personally disagree with some aspect of those they serve.
But that’s just me and my beliefs. I know others believe differently, and the beauty of this nation is that they are free to believe it. What we will find out over the next few years is if they are free to discriminate based on that belief.

Keep Faith in America is a Christian Nationalist Celebration

photo-1432164245265-ab19a48c3d09_opt
Live via webcast from noon to 8pm is a Christian nationalist celebration called Keep Faith in America.  Hosted by former Congressman Randy Forbes and self-styled historian David Barton, the event is sponsored by the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation, a non-profit organization aligned with the Congressional Prayer Caucus.  You can watch various state legislature events and guest speakers via live stream here.

Keep Conservative Christianity in America

I watched it for over an hour and saw three state events. The first one I couldn’t identify because I tuned in too late and then later on I heard Kansas and Delaware politicians talk about keeping faith in America. Several of the speakers talked about faith and mentioned people of all faiths but the only representative of any faith besides Christianity was a rabbi (I didn’t catch his name). All other people featured during the event were Christian. It became obvious the longer I listened that the event should have been named: Keep Conservative Christianity in America.
These conservative Christians seemed to feel that their faith was under attack. They spoke as if their freedom to practice their religion was in jeopardy. How strange a sight it was to see elected officials standing in places of power praying in the name of Jesus, invoking their specific religion without restriction, and complaining about limitations on their religious liberty. They quoted the Bible as if all religions and people of no religion should respect those teachings. Remember these are legislators who are proclaiming that they, as legislators, need to keep faith in America, but when they say faith, the only faith they are talking about is Christianity.

Bad History

In the Delaware session, bad history was evident. The final speaker of the session (I couldn’t hear his name) told the story of Ben Franklin’s call to prayer as if the Constitutional Convention delegates actually heeded Franklin’s call and prayed daily during the Convention (they didn’t).
Unfortunately, this looks like another concerted effort to confuse Christians about the actual events of the founding era and church-state relations. This can only continue to lead many churches into a false mission of political activism, aligning themselves with Republican candidates who speak Christianese.

Another Idea

Better campaign than Keeping Faith in America: Keeping Christ in Christianity.