Some of the field organizers against Prop 8 in California have asked me to pass along some information about The Call, the ginormous rally for the proposition that's supposed to be taking place in Qualcomm Stadium today.
You don't get much scarier or much more apocalyptic than these folks. Here's a Call video:
No, my friends, that is not a parody.
Look, I've got nothing against Pentecostal or Charismatic faith or practice, and let us say upfront that it can seem threatening to people who have not been exposed to it before.
What is scary about this is not the ecstatic prayer or the over-the-top presentation. That's par for the course in that world. Pentecostals and Charismatics live with their emotions on their sleeves, and that's okay.
No, what makes this scary is that it is a rather overt attempt to use that emotion to sway an election. The Call literally wants to work people into hysterics so that they can manipulate their feelings and send them out to strip away the rights of their neighbors on Tuesday.
I realize it might be difficult for our atheist friends to understand the bone of contention in that last paragraph. After all, doesn't all religion use emotional appeals to effect new action? Well, yes, to varying degrees. But responsible faith leaves room for rational and critical reflection on our actions. It does not build up something just shy of a mob mentality and then turn it loose on whatever opponent it has carefully constructed as demonic that day. True faith certainly does not do that to meet political ends.
And if you know anything about the people behind this event - and plenty of other ones just like it around the nation - if you knew what their political ends were, you'd be plenty scared.
Here's some information from the press release I was given. It's all easily verified:
Background
TheCall California is scheduled for Saturday, November 1, 2008, from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm, at San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium. TheCall is billed as "a confrontation between light and darkness will happen this November. To the victor goes the soul of the nation".
According to the Prop 8 campaign, "God's Army" is the most effective way to reach voters (Frank Schubert, Prop. 8 consultant, August 24 Conference Call, http://www.goodnewsetc.com/...
While TheCall does not release a speakers list, press reports indicate the following people will be speaking at TheCall who are closely tied to the Prop 8 Campaign:
• James Dobson, Chairman and Founder, Focus on the Family
• Jim Garlow, Pastor San Diego's Skyline Church
• Lou Engle, Founder of TheCall and a leader of Prop 8
• Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council
Lou Engle, Founder of TheCall:
People for the American Way also has a TON of great video and audio on Lou Engel:
http://site.pfaw.org/...
http://site.pfaw.org/...
Lou Engle, founder of TheCall, says the November rally is a "blitzkrieg moment" in the culture war (Source: www.rightwingwatch.org).
"This is a time to resist mightily the spirit of peaceful coexistence and apathetic resignation in the face of this prevailing darkness."
Lou Engle, TheCall Website
"The powers of darkness shall not prevail — this is a call for war. California is the Armageddon of the cultural wars of today."
Lou Engle, Goodnewsetc.com website
James Dobson, Focus on the Family:
Focus on the Family donated over $550,000 to the Prop 8 campaign. (Source: California Secretary of State Website, protectmarriage.com contributions). Dobson said that tolerance and diversity are "buzzwords for homosexuality."
"Tolerance and its first cousin, diversity, 'are almost always buzzwords for homosexual advocacy."
James Dobson, New York Times,
January 30, 2005
Describing Obama's 2006 Call to Renewal: "I think he's deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own world view, his own confused theology… [he is] dragging biblical understanding through the gutter." James Dobson's Radio Show, June 24, 2008
James Garlow, Skyline Church:
Skyline Church hosted a protectmarriage.com bus tour stop on October 27, 2008.
James Garlow is a "kind of General Patton in an evangelical army poised to try to pass the ballot measure" (San Diego Union Tribune, September 14, 2008).
Garlow said of gays: "Homosexuals are not monogamous. … They want to destroy the institution of marriage. It will destroy marriage. It will destroy the earth." James Garlow, speech in Oklahoma City, October 22, 2004
Jim Garlow on gay marriage: "If I were Satan, I'd want to destroy marriage as we know it on Earth." Houston Chronicle, October 25, 2008
Jim Garlow on the importance of Prop 8: "If we lose, we go to jail" Jim Garlow, Newstex, September 23, 2008
Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council
Tony Perkins blames gay marriage for the economic crisis: "As there's a breakdown in the family and the family weakens, it's only logical it will hit Wall Street." Associated Press, September 2008
Tony Perkins says humanity will not survive if Prop 8 loses: "It's more important than the presidential election…. We've picked bad presidents before, and we've survived as a nation. But we will not survive if we lose the institution of marriage." New York Times, October 27, 2008
Scary monsters and super-creeps them all.
Given my stance on fear, you shouldn't take my "scary" rhetoric too literally. But it is worth concern that these right-wing nutjobs are out there, and they're determined to shove their Strong Father families down our throats. They've got a lot riding on tearing down Prop. 8 on the simple principle that it keeps alive their ability to intimidate gays, lesbians, and anybody to the left of the Zombie Jerry Falwell.
It sure would be nice to send them a belated All Saints' present, wouldn't it? Remind them that we will not be divided by hateful politics and prayer directed toward hurting others?
I even have the perfect inscription, courtesy of Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite: "Perfect love casts out fear."