Are mainstream churches finally standing up to the GOP’s hateful “Christian” bli

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" Arlene Montemarano " <mikarl

Sun, 09 Apr 2006 06:15:13 -0400

" RELIGIOUS " RIGHT'S MILLIONS CONNECTED TO VOTING MACHINES

 

 

 

 

Are mainstream churches finally standing up to the GOP's hateful

" Christian " blitzkrieg?

by Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman

 

April 9, 2006

 

Right-wing church movements have been a staple of American politics

since well before the 1692 witch trials at Salem. But only in the past

few decades has the extremist church served as the grassroots base for

a new breed of corporate totalitarianism. That unholy union has been

nowhere more powerful than here in Ohio, and it has finally provoked a

response from the state's mainstream churches.

 

With huge torrents of cash from Richard Mellon Scaife, the Ahmanson

family and other super-rich ultra-rightists, the fundamentalist church

has formed the popular network that has spawned the Bush catastrophe.

The totalitarian alliance between pulpit, corporation and military is

unique in U.S. history.

 

With contempt for the Constitution, and unholy opposition to

separation of church and state, ultra-rich ultra-right preachers like

Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, self-proclaimed messiahs like Rev.

Moon, and sanctimonious errand boys like Ralph Reed and Grover

Norquist, have turned America into a " Christo-fascist " empire whose

twice-unelected executive claims Divine right to rule. When it comes

to their views on violence, empire, greed and intolerance, these are

the most un-Christian men in America. It's no accident that George W.

Bush's first words about the war to follow 9/11 had to do with a

" Christian Crusade " against Islam. And, instead of consulting his

father, a former President, W. chose to consult " a higher father. "

 

That this evil network of mega- churches, cults and electronic Elmer

Gantrys would prove profoundly corrupt should also come as no

surprise. These are the moneychangers that Christ kicked out of the

temple. The ultra-orthodox cash flow from Jack Abramson to " godly "

legislators like Tom DeLay and Ohio's Bob Ney has suffered not the

slightest diversion toward true spirituality. The movement even has

its own sex symbol in Ann Coulter, the " Harlot of Hate " who reaps huge

sums in places like Ohio's World Harvest Church for talking nasty

while dressed in mini-skirts that would get minors arrested off urban

street corners.

 

The real mystery in all this has been an almost total silence from the

religious mainstream. In recent months a number of statements have

finally come from interdenominational organizations worrying deeply

about global warming. The desecration of God's Creation is pretty far

along. But the liberal denominations finally seem to see the curse of CO2.

 

The liberal United Church of Christ is also finally questioning the

theft of Christ's legacy for ungodly GOP purposes. The idea that Jesus

would hate gays, not want them to marry, love the death penalty and

sanction wholesale slaughter in oil-rich nations has always stretched

the imagination even of the irreligious. Finally, the actually

religious seem to be speaking out.

 

In Ohio, the battle has actually hit the courts. More than fifty

Columbus-area clergy have signed formal complaints with the Internal

Revenue Service demanding an investigation of the practices of two

extremist churches in regards to their tax exempt status. The two

documents charge that the World Harvest Church and Fairfield Christian

Church have functioned as de facto campaign organizations for the

gubernatorial campaign of J. Kenneth Blackwell, Ohio's GOP Secretary

of State. Blackwell served as co-chair of Ohio 2004's Bush-Cheney

campaign while simultaneously managing the vote count.

 

Thirty-one pastors filed a preliminary complaint on January 16. The

sequel, with an additional 25 signatories, accuses World Harvest and

Fairfield Christian of six instances of illegally aiding Blackwell's

current campaign for governor. " Something as ordinary as rules for the

activities of tax-exempt organizations must not be abused for the

political gratification of any power, political or religious, " said

the Rev. Al Debelak at a recent press conference. Debelak is pastor of

Columbus's Redeemer Lutheran Church.

 

The pastors cite three instances in which Blackwell admits to being

the only invited candidate at church-sponsored rallies. Blackwell was

also the only politician at church-sponsored rallies for Issue One,

the 2004 referendum that banned gay marriages in Ohio. Blackwell also

ran the Issue One campaign, in part, out of his secretary of state's

office.

 

Blackwell has become very public in his close friendship with the Rev.

Rod Parsley, World's Harvest's ultra-right preacher who has grown

ultra-rich in the leadership of his huge congregation. Blackwell's

trips on Parsley's private plane are among the partisan favors cited.

" This latest complaint filed by a group of left-leaning clergy amounts

to nothing more than a campaign of harassment, " says a World Harvest

statement. " For this group, especially members of the clergy, to

engage in outright falsehoods for the sake of a political agenda is

unconscionable. "

 

World Harvest gained notoriety in the 2004 election for its abundant

electronic voting machines while there were seven-hour lines in

Columbus's inner city. A polling station at a Falwell-related

fundamentalist church in nearby Gahanna became infamous when 4,258

votes were counted for George W. Bush in a precinct where 638 people

voted. This became known worldwide as the " loaves and fishes " vote

count precinct. The Blackwell-orchestrated election drew similar scorn

when at Mt. Vernon Nazarene College, a fundamentalist college in

Gambier, had a five-minute wait to vote, while students from nearby

Kenyon College had to wait eleven hours.

 

Big fundamentalist money has also surfaced in the voting machine

industry through the Ahmanson family, tied deeply into ES & S, the

nation's biggest voting machine company. Ohio Congressman Bob Ney's

ties to Jack Abramson, ES & S and the Ahmansons have also surfaced in

his sponsorship of the Help America Vote Act, that has forced hundreds

of millions of federal dollars to be spent installing nontransparent

electronic voting machines throughout the US.

 

Like Ney, Blackwell has managed to step deep into the world of

potentially actionable corruption. Since attempting the give the

Diebold Company an unbid $100 million voting machine contract in Ohio,

it has surfaced that Blackwell has owned shares in Diebold. The

conflict of interest was deepened in 2005 when Blackwell brought in

millions of dollars worth of Diebold machines which may have been used

to seal the defeat of two election reform ballot issues. Three

Cuyahoga County (Cleveland) election officials have now been

officially charged with rigging the 2004 vote count, and more

indictments are expected.

 

Though Blackwell is a candidate in the upcoming May 2 primary, he will

once again administer the election. At this moment, he has stored in

his office the memory cards for all the machines that will be used to

count that vote.

 

Blackwell has also now revealed that he owns stock in the world's

largest manufacturer of gambling machines, even though part of his

courtship with the fundamentalist churches has been an aggressive,

outspoken opposition to gambling. Blackwell's office says there is no

conflict of interest here. But the professions of extreme

fundamentalist faith, crucial to his race for governor, have been tainted.

 

Republican control of Ohio's governorship is a critical piece of what

happens to the presidency in 2008. The 20 electoral votes stolen in

2004 by Blackwell, Parsley and the rest of the Republican

fundamentalist network gave George W. Bush a second term. No

Republican has ever won the White House without carrying Ohio.

 

That mainstream churches here and around the United States are finally

standing up to the theocratic fundamentalism that has produced

" Christo-fascist " politicians like Blackwell may represent a critical

swing of the political pendulum. The challenge to the powerful World

Harvest's tax status can only embolden churches that actually endorse

the US Constitution.

 

With that might come at last, in Ohio and elsewhere, a spiritual

counterweight desperately needed to help restore American democracy

and the blessings of separation of church and state.

 

--

 

Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman are co-authors of HOW THE GOP STOLE

AMERICA'S 2004 ELECTION & IS RIGGING 2008, available at

www.freepress.org. They are co-editors, with Steve Rosenfeld, of the

upcoming WHAT HAPPENED IN OHIO?, from the New Press.

 

Are mainstream churches finally standing up to the GOP's hateful ...

Columbus Free Press - Columbus,OH,USA

.... World Harvest gained notoriety in the 2004 election for its

abundant electronic voting machines while there were seven-hour lines

in Columbus's inner city. ...