Pictured above is the 'hateful' and 'violence-prone' Matt Barber, Board Member of Americans For Truth, in his days as a professional boxer.

By J. Matt Barber

Though always left of center, the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) once had a reputation as a fairly objective civil rights group. Founded by direct-marketing millionaire Morris Dees and partner Joseph Levin Jr. in 1971, the SPLC made important and honorable contributions to many of the historic civil rights gains of the 20th Century. According to its own materials, the SPLC was “internationally known for tracking and exposing the activities of hate groups.”

Alas, “power corrupts,” as it goes, and the SPLC, having amassed tremendous power and wealth over the years, has regrettably become corrupt to its core. By way of an ever-escalating wave of “us-versus-them” money-grubbing schemes, Today’s SPLC has morphed into a far-left political activist outfit, famous for promoting a panoply of extreme liberal causes.

Ken Silverstein, writing for Harper’s Magazine, addressed this untoward metamorphosis in 2000:

“Today’s SPLC spends most of its time – and money – on a relentless fund-raising campaign, peddling memberships in the church of tolerance with all the zeal of a circuit rider passing the collection plate. ‘He’s the Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker of the civil rights movement,’ renowned anti-death-penalty lawyer Millard Farmer says of Dees, his former associate, ‘though I don’t mean to malign Jim and Tammy Faye.’

“The American Institute of Philanthropy gives the Center one of the worst ratings of any group it monitors,” continued Silverstein. “Morris Dees doesn’t need your financial support. The SPLC is already the wealthiest civil rights group in America, though [its fundraising literature] quite naturally omits that fact. … ‘Morris and I…shared the overriding purpose of making a pile of money,’ recalls Dees’ business partner, a lawyer named Millard Fuller (not to be confused with Millard Farmer). ‘We were not particular about how we did it; we just wanted to be independently rich.’” (You say Fuller. I say Farmer. The two Millards say “call the whole thing off.”)

So, what happens when a dragon slayer – paid per dragon head – runs out of real dragons to slay? Well, he invents new ones, of course. Gotta keep those sprinklers-a-sprinklin.’ (According to Harper’s, “Dees bought a 200-acre estate appointed with tennis courts, a pool, and stables.” SPLC’s 2008 Form-990 shows net assets of over 219 million at the beginning of that year. Yup, there’s a spate to be made in the hate trade.)

Silverstein explains:

“The Ku Klux Klan, the SPLC’s most lucrative nemesis, has shrunk from 4 million members in the 1920s to an estimated 2,000 today [year 2000], as many as 10 percent of whom are thought to be FBI informants. But news of a declining Klan does not make for inclining donations to Morris Dees and Co., which is why the SPLC honors nearly every nationally covered ‘hate crime’ with direct-mail alarums full of nightmarish invocations of ‘armed Klan paramilitary forces’ and ‘violent neo-Nazi extremists…’

Self-described Trotskyite and longtime AFTAH-basher Bob Schwartz of Gay Liberation Network lobbied the SPLC to name Americans For Truth a "hate" group.

But as the real dragons dry-up, new dragons emerge: “Tea Party” conservatives; Evangelical Christians; anti-abortion zealots and anti-gay bigots (read: pro-life and pro-family traditionalists); and, of course, gun-toting, knuckle-dragging 2nd Amendment rednecks. All bundled together – courtesy of the SPLC and Janet “the system worked” Napolitano – in that neat little pejorative package know as – Dun-Dun-Dun! – THE RIGHT-WING EXTREMIST! (You know, basically Middle America.)

So, sadly – shamefully, really – today’s SPLC has become nothing more than a “non-profit” extension of the black helicopter, Huffpo-wing of the Democratic Party – a gaggle of partisan hacks bent on lining their pockets, defaming good people (along with the bad) and filling DNC coffers. (SPLC Director Mark Potok even doubles as a Huffington Post columnist. Seriously. They make it that easy.)

The real problem lies in the fact, however, that the SPLC holds itself out as an objective monitor of potentially violent or subversive hate groups. It presents to municipal, state and federal law enforcement, regular “intelligence files” and an annual “Year in Hate” report. Ostensibly, these reports contain facts – even actionable intelligence – aimed at helping law enforcement officials prevent and/or monitor potentially violent criminal activity.

Then? Perhaps. Now? Not so much.

In recent years the SPLC reports have been utterly tainted – weaponized and used against the leftist group’s ideological and political adversaries. This is a despicable, bad faith abuse of others’ good will, and of the SPLC’s past reputation.

Case in point: Recently, the SPLC came under fire for comparing the “Tea Party” movement and other grassroots conservatives to “terrorists.” Potok slandered “Tea Party” goers, suggesting that “they are shot through with rich veins of radical ideas, conspiracy theories and racism,” and are widely linked to “hate” and “vigilante groups.” Of course there are always a few nuts in any movement, but clearly Potok’s intent was to defame tens of millions of patriotic “Tea Partiers,” simply because he disagrees with them.

It was earlier reported that Janet Napolitano and the Department of Homeland Security relied upon similar reports by the SPLC in preparing the DHS’ own slanderous – now infamous – “Right Wing Extremist” report. You may recall: it painted pretty much all conservatives with that broad, multi-colored brush of “domestic terrorism.” (The report was later pulled, and Napolitano forced to apologize in shame.)

Even more recently, the SPLC launched another in a series of politically motivated attacks against a well-respected Christian organization. The group arbitrarily tagged as an official “hate group” Americans for Truth about Homosexuality (AFTAH).

AFTAH promotes biblical morality, opposes the radical homosexual activist lobby and publicly decries both violence and hatred against homosexuals or anyone else. Although it has been in operation for a number of years, the SPLC only recently labeled AFTAH a “hate group” after being pressured by the Chicago-based “Gay Liberation Network” to do so.

GLN is a fringe group of self-described Marxists and sexual anarchists best known for disrupting peaceful Christian gatherings with raucous, bullhorn-laden protests. In a twist most ironic, GLN leader Bob Schwartz once threatened AFTAH founder Peter LaBarbera in front of witnesses, telling him that if the police weren’t present at a rally, he would have pushed LaBarbera into oncoming traffic. (“Hate crime, anyone?” Love that “tolerance” and “diversity.” Where’s the SPLC when you need them?)

You can only cry wolf so many times before people begin to ignore you. Today, the SPLC’s “hate group” reports have begun to resonate almost exclusively within a far-left echo chamber. Newsflash: Moveon.org wants Bush tried as a “war criminal,” Charlie Sheen thinks the U.S. government was behind 9/11 and, yes, the SPLC has once again awarded its now meaningless “hate group” distinction to yet another conservative organization with which it is admittedly – in every way – both politically and ideologically opposed. Who would’ve thunk it?

Don’t get me wrong. Again, in the past, the SPLC has actually done some good by identifying and monitoring real hate groups such as the KKK, neo-Nazis and Skin Heads.

But now, regrettably, the SPLC has traded in its limited usefulness for radical left-wing activism. It has become much like that which it previously sought to expose. Today it uses the very tactics employed by white nationalists and other bona fide hate groups to malign large groups of people whom the SPLC most decidedly “hates.”

It’s nauseatingly transparent. With empty, ad hominem attacks and pejorative “hate group” smears, the SPLC strives to politically marginalize its ideological opponents. It’s a cynical “guilt-by-false-association” scheme, through which the SPLC hopes – in the public mind’s eye – to equate Christians, “Tea Party” conservatives and other traditionalists to the KKK and neo-Nazis.

Still, in going after Americans for Truth, the GLN surprisingly betrayed its SPLC ally by publicly acknowledging SPLC’s nefarious tactics. GLN boasted that this was the strategy all along. The Gay Liberation Network’s stated goal in goading the SPLC to label AFTAH a “hate group” was to “help assist” in AFTAH’s “political marginalization.”

Of course, by kowtowing to an already deeply marginalized GLN; by so obviously abusing its once-respectable reputation; and by spending its last remaining political capital on such folly, the SPLC has only succeeded in further marginalizing itself.

But, as they say: What’s good for the goose… Let’s try it on for size. It’s a “hate group,” mudslinging good time! In exercise of the SPLC’s trademark “I-know-you-are-but-what-am-I” criterion for arbitrarily determining “hate group” status, I hereby declare the Southern Poverty Law Center an “anti-Christian, anti-conservative hate group.” There, it’s official. Try it. It’s fun!

But seriously, if AFTAH is a “hate group,” then so is Liberty Counsel, Focus on the Family, Family Research Council, American Family Association, the Southern Baptist Convention and the Roman Catholic Church. Any group that observes and defends traditional sexual morality would have to be labeled such.

Heck, for that matter, so would the U.S. Armed Forces, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the FDA. These groups publicly expose the undeniable medical and societal pitfalls associated with the homosexual lifestyle and, therefore, must be “hate groups,” right?

Of course, like any bully, the SPLC only goes after those it believes it can push around. But really, it confers a badge of honor upon every legitimate Christian and conservative organization it so disingenuously mislabels “hate group.” It’s a tacit admission by the SPLC that these groups represent a political threat; that their activities undermine the SPLC’s not-so-thinly-veiled, left-wing agenda. (Kind of like winning a conservative Grammy.)

Indeed, I can’t speak for the many conservative and Christian organizations and ministries with which I’m associated. And of course I hate absolutely no one. Nonetheless, I’d like to officially request that the SPLC add my name to its spurious “anti-gay hate list.” It’s good for one’s conservative and biblical bona fides.”

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(Hater Matt Barber hatefully sits on the hate-filled board of the official SPLC “hate group” Americans for Truth.)

Matt Barber is an attorney concentrating in constitutional law. He serves as Director of Cultural Affairs with both Liberty Counsel and Liberty Alliance Action. Send comments to Matt at jmattbarber@comcast.net. (This information is provided for identification purposes only.)

Matt Barber's brutally honest description of homosexual sodomy was too much for Exodus International.

By Peter LaBarbera

Folks, a few days ago we ran a story about CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) allowing a homosexual activist group to be a co-sponsor, in which I quoted my friend (and AFTAH Board Member) Matt Barber offered a colorful description of homosexual sodomy and same-sex “love.” It was appropriately dismissive toward this “detestable” act (Leviticus 18:22) once known as a “crime against nature,” and you can read it HERE.  The point was: no true “conservative” can support or celebrate homosexual perversion.

Well, thanks to the politically correct overreaction of Randy Thomas and Alan Chambers of Exodus International (an ex-”gay” umbrella group), Liberty Counsel (Barber’s current employer) issued an apologetic statement that was not fully accurate in that it left out a key fact: Matt’s ownership of the bold sodomy description. This could create the  impression that Barber might not have made the comment, which he did.

Today Matt issued his own clarification (emphasis added):

“This is for clarification only. As affirmed in Liberty Counsel’s statement, neither I nor anyone with Liberty Counsel ever publicly ‘wrote or made’ the comment in question – an unapologetically direct and accurate depiction of the sin of sodomy (a sin that God directly and accurately calls both an ‘abomination’ and ‘detestable’). Some years before I began working with Liberty Counsel, I made the comment in private conversation with Peter LaBarbera. At the time, Peter asked if he could ‘quote me on it’ and I said yes.

“On a personal note, let me take this opportunity to share with those caught-up in this particular sin lifestyle that I am no less a sinner and no better a person than they. None of us are. The good news is that, through Christ’s earth shattering sacrifice on the cross, we are redeemed. We need merely believe, call upon His name, repent and make every effort to ‘go and sin no more.’

“Unfortunately, however, we live in a society where this particular sin is embraced, promoted  and even celebrated. People erroneously equate this unnatural and sinful behavior with ‘identity’ and ‘orientation’ even taking ‘pride’ in an objectively deviant lifestyle. My hope and prayer is that this silly faux ‘controversy’ might actually make people reflect –– if only for a moment –– upon the emotionally, spiritually and physically destructive nature of homosexual conduct. ‘Gayness’ is about what people do, not who people are. It’s about feelings and behaviors alone. But those feelings and behaviors don’t make those caught-up in them any less precious to God, to me or to anyone I know.

“Scripture tells us that the ‘wages of sin is death.’ It breaks my heart that so many ‘gays’ and ‘lesbians’ continue in a lifestyle that ultimately results in spiritual and, yes, even physical death. I’m very grateful for ministries such as PFOX, Exodus and others that reach out to those who seek to escape the homosexuality snare. In the meantime, I will push forward, undeterred, on the front lines of the ongoing culture war, fighting the militant homosexual activist organizations that enable and encourage those trapped in homosexuality to continue down that changeable path of destruction. Shame on them and shame on those who support them.” – Matt Barber

Exodus published two blog posts by Randy Thomas (first THIS ARTICLE and then THIS FOLLOW-UP pegging off the LC statement) highly critical of Barber’s remark and this writer for using it. Predictably, these Exodus articles have been exploited by homosexual activists such as Wayne Besen — who typically exaggerate the story in their zeal to embarrass Americans For Truth and by extension the pro-family movement. (Besen is also a malicious liar whose life ambition is to discredit ex-”gays”; he revels in ad hominem attacks on Barber, me (he came up with and continues to use the nasty smear “Porno Pete”) and others in the pro-family movement. Needless to say, he despises and maligns Exodus on a regular basis. By the way, the hateful Besen is also a strong contender for AFTAH’s “Gay Grinch of the Year” 2009 award due to — among other mean-spirited acts — his bullhorn harassment of Boston’s Park Street Church, which was holding an ex-”gay” conference.)

Below is a reprint of my original response to Liberty Counsel”s statement — which I published as a comment on Randy Thomas’ Exodus blog.  AFTAH will continue to work with Exodus even though occasionally we have philosophical and semantic disagreements with them about the proper approach toward homosexuality and the “Gay” Activist Lobby. The reality of our movement — like all coalitions — is that different groups take different approaches, hopefully all with the same end goal in mind. Exodus has a problem with re-stigmatizing homosexual behavior; we believe doing is essential to turning back the GLBT Lobby’s gains.

We also appreciate the work of Liberty Counsel and look forward to partnering with them as always in the fight against the aggressive and anti-Christian homosexualist movement.

This episode made a mountain out of a molehill and we regret that Exodus chose to draw more attention to it and to condemn us in such a self-righteous manner. If you would like to read my four responses to Randy’s posts (and to a comment by another writer critical of AFTAH) on the Exodus blog, go HERE to see all four posts. I look forward to reading Randy’s responses to my questions if he can find the time to answer. — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org

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Peter LaBarbera’s first comment on Randy Thomas’ Exodus blog post, “Liberty Counsel Responds to Crass Quote Attributed to Matt Barber”:

December 18, 2009 at 2:00 pm

This is Peter LaBarbera. The quotation in question by Matt Barber — a brutally honest and necessarily accurate description of homosexual sodomy — is printed verbatim and was made in conversation between the two of us years ago — long before he went to work for Liberty Counsel. I asked Matt at the time if I could quote him on it and he gave me permission to use it, and ultimately I did — in the context of showing how CPAC or any organization that defends sodomy (as GOProud and countless other GLBT organizations implicitly and explicitly do) cannot call itself “conservative.”

I presume and hope that what Mat Staver and Liberty Counsel meant to say was that Matt Barber’s quoted words were not uttered or published under the auspices of Liberty Counsel — as they were made several years ago in private conversation long before Matt came to work there.

Frankly, I am appalled at Randy’s “spiritualized” condemnation of Matt Barber’s phrase. Sorry, Randy, I disagree with your self-righteous take on Christ-like compassion. Philosophically, I believe that you are conflating behavior with a supposed “identity” — “sexual orientation”/”gayness” — found nowhere in the Bible. Sin is what we do in our fallen nature, not who we are. Is Tiger Woods’ serial infidelity part of his “core” identity? I think not.

Would Randy be upset at a similar, direct condemnation/description of other sinful sexual behaviors condemned in the Bible, like pornography, adultery or incest? We’re talking about behavior here (sodomy) that God calls an “abomination.” Using the same logic, is Randy going to get on God’s case next for His very unambiguous (you might say harsh) classification of homosexual sodomy as detestable? Is Almighty God demonstrating “insensitivity” toward “gay” men with such language?

Let me ask you, Randy: how would you accurately and honestly describe the act of sodomy, and are you opposed to forcefully condemning it?

There is so much to disagree with regarding Randy’s posts that I will leave that for a formal reply on my site (Americans For Truth: http://www.americansfortruth.org). But I do want to clarify that Matt Barber’s candid description of homosexual sodomy — typical of his bold, entertaining and decidedly non-PC style –  is completely accurate; that he stands by it; and that he did indeed give me permission to use it years ago — which has nothing whatsoever to do with Liberty Counsel today.

Next time please shoot me an e-mail and we’ll clear this up easier.

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Randy Thomas responds to Peter LaBarbera’s comment:
December 18, 2009 at 3:02 pm

Peter, I have tried to dialog with you in person and via email in the past and it hasn’t cleared up anything before. You nod, say nice things and then go do something else that stigmatizes people who struggle with or embrace homosexuality. This time you wrote a hateful public quote attributed to someone else and contextualized it as a current reaction to the GOProud situation. We went through the direct and appropriate avenue to follow up with the person you alleged made this quote and got the above response.

Do what you got to do Peter.

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Peter LaBarbera responds to Randy Thomas’ “snippy” answer:
December 18, 2009 at 4:26 pm

Nice snippy non-response, Randy.  Talk about presumption. Perhaps you are correct: dialogue between us is not very productive as you seem to have one foot still in the “gay” camp (at least sympathy-wise) and another in the Christian pro-family camp. I sometimes wonder if you are more troubled by conservative pro-family groups like AFTAH than you are by homosexual activists. According to your loaded and misguided definition of “hate,”  I suppose you could make the case that the God of the Bible is a “hater” because He calls sodomy “detestable.” Matt and I and others are re-stigmatizing homosexual behavior, Randy — not people. Please, I beg you, show me anything close to “sexual orientation” in the Bible!  If you cannot, then stop defining people by destructive behaviors and treating homosexuality like some sort of special sin that deserves more deference than all the others. In fact, if criticizing bad sexual behavior is truly “hating” people, then much of the country is hating Tiger Woods right about now. (Do you “hate” Tiger? I don’t, and yet it makes me sick what he has done.) The practice of anal sodomy — or the infamous “crime against nature,” as that “hater” Noah Webster defined it — has caused untold physical destruction in this country, and across the world: I make no apology for agreeing with Matt’s dismissive and bold condemnatory description of it.

Highlighting Outside ‘Gay’ Extremism in Maine:

The NGLTF boasts HERE how they helped mobilize grassroots activists to pass homosexual “marriage” in the Maine legislature, and then how they stepped up their grassroots and monetary assistance in an attempt to defeat Question 1, a ballot measure to be decided today. If Question 1 passes — i.e., a YES vote — it would repudiate the “gay marriage” legislation signed into law by Gov. John Baldacci (D).

Here’s the link for the audio on lesbian activist Pam Spaulding’s AFTAH-bashing website. (There are audio files and video links.) If you are a glutton for punishment, you can read the hateful ad hominem attacks and irrational putdowns by “Louise” (from Maine) and others on Pam’s left-wing-nut blog. (Looking for a straw man to knock down, Louise calls our event a “rally” though it was an informational press conference.)

You want to see some more raw homosexual hatred? Go to this snippet from the press conference posted on YouTube, and read the comments under the video. Nobody — and I mean nobody — hates like the nasties on homosexual side. [Clarification: by this I mean not all homosexuals, of course, but the activists among them who traffic in vilification and mean-spirited verbal assaults against their opponents, and even blatantly anti-religious attacks.] This movement more than any other hates people of faith, or I should say those who act on their heartfelt belief that homosexuality is wrong. — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org

AUDIO LINKS to Maine press conference found on this page: http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/13803/peter-labarberas-antigay-rally-at-maine-statehouse-draws-feeble-numbers

——————————————————————————–
From: ColdCountry [mailto:--------]
Sent: Thursday, October 22, 2009 7:55 AM
To: americansfortruth@comcast.net
Subject: [AFT Web Site] Kevin Jennings

The following message was sent from the Americans for Truth Web site:

__________________________

Re: “BREAKING: Obama ‘Safe Schools’ Chief Kevin Jennings Used Pro-Pedophile, pro-NAMBLA Publisher for First Two Books” … Gee, that’s huge! Does he also drive the same make car as Ted Bundy? And why are you still pushing that lie about an “underage” boy, when we now know [Brewster -- a sophomore student counseled by Jennings after the boy had a sexual encounter with an older man] he was not underage? [The Age of Consent in Massachusetts is 16.] Have you no shame at all?

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AFTAH’s Response:

Dear Sir, it appears that it is you who has no shame. Yes, we think it’s scandalous to be linked in any way to an organization that encourages predatory, exploitative man-boy sex. It would be like signing up with a pro-Nazi publishing house. And in my mind, under 18 is “under age.” How sad and pathetic that your “gay” movement is resting on the technicality that Brewster was (allegedly) 16 and not 15 (as his teacher Jennings recollected) — to absolve Jennings of his reckless counsel to the boy.

NOTE TO READERS: the following Americans For Truth transcript, derived from an audiotape recording of a speech made at a 1997 GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network) conference, is at the source for the current “Harry Hay-NAMBLA” controversy surrounding GLSEN founder Kevin Jennings — President Obama’s “Safe Schools” deputy at the Department of Education. (The left-wing group Media Matters cites it HERE.) This transcript was provided by Brian Burt, then a volunteer writer/reporter for the Americans For Truth publication “Lambda Report.” We will endeavor to provide the tape to the public to counteract the absurd attempts to discredit this and other first-hand AFTAH reports on Jennings and GLSEN simply because AFTAH is a conservative organization. — Peter LaBarbera, President, Americans For Truth About Homosexuality, www.aftah.org

P.S. It would seem fairly easy for Jennings to clarify his position on NAMBLA — all he has to do is issue a clear statement of his opposition to this evil “man-boy love” organization. Homosexual activist groups and leaders similarly denounced NAMBLA — which marched in early “gay pride” parades and whose “right” to do so was enthusiastically defended by “gay” icon Harry Hay –  when they perceived that being tied to the notorious pederasty group was an impediment to their progress.

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Have Kevin Jennings and GLSEN almost won? Obama Department of Education appointee Kevin Jennings looked forward to the day when people would shrug their shoulders at the news that “gay” groups like the one he founded (GLSEN) are “promoting homosexuality” in schools. Has America become so corrupt and decadent that this “queer” activist’s twisted vision has become true?  TAKE ACTION: write Education Secretary Arne Duncan (arne.duncan@ed.gov) or call him (202-401-3000) with the message that you do not want your tax dollars spent on “promoting homosexuality” in schools. Also, urge your Senators and Congressman (202-224-3121) to call on Duncan to withdraw the appointment of Jennings — an anti-religious bigot who said (in a church) “[F**k] ‘em” and “Drop dead” to religious traditionalists — as “Safe School” Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Department of Education. Photo at left is from MassResistance’s coverage of the 2009 homosexual “Youth Pride” parade.

The following transcript of a 1997 speech by Kevin Jennings is reprinted from the Lambda Report, Jan.-Feb. 1998 [LR, published by Peter LaBarbera, preceded Americans For Truth About Homosexuality]:

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GLSEN’s Jennings: ‘That is our mission from this day forward’

The following is a transcript of GLSEN founder and executive director Kevin Jennings’ comments before “Looking to the Future” panel at GLSEN’s Mid-Atlantic conference, held October 25, 1997 at the Grace Church School in New York City. A few incidental words and phrases have been removed for clarity:

Two years ago, one of our board members, one named Ann Simon, was called to testify before Congress when they had hearings on the promotion of homosexuality in schools. And we were busy putting out press releases, and saying, ‘We’re not promoting homosexuality, that’s not what our program’s about. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.’ And my best friend, who’s a straight women who lives in London, e-mailed me…and she said, ‘So what if you are?’ And I thought of how I can get so wrapped up in my own defensiveness, and…the day-to-day struggle, and stuff, that being finished might some day mean that most straight people, when they would hear that someone was promoting homosexuality, would say ‘Yeah, who cares?’ because they wouldn’t necessarily equate homosexuality with something bad that you would not want to promote. And when we were talking there, and Mike said, ‘You know, and I’d like five years from now—right now let’s face it, for large swells of people they think of GLSEN and kids, and they think, ‘GLSEN is bad for kids.’ They do because of their stereotypes and misinformation—I’d like five years from now for most Americans when they hear the word GLSEN to think, ‘Ooh, that’s good for kids.’’

I’d like you to step back for a second if you can, and I know that many of you here are going to return to meetings on Monday where the euphoria of today will dissipate quite quickly…But if you could just close your eyes for a second. I know this is very Californian. Close your eyes for a second and think, ‘What would the world look like if we were through with our work? If we were done. If we could close the doors on 27th street [GLSEN’s New York City headquarters], and shut down the chapters, and disband the board. What would be happening?’… [Audience responses]

…As the son of a Baptist preacher from North Carolina…I can remember a time when having a conference like this, for me, certainly as a teenager, seemed completely impossible. And I would see in certain people’s faces when people would say certain things, or this visioning part, and we’d get little snickers, like,  ‘Yeah, [bulls--t].’ This is the only thing that can stop us, is if we believe that our dreams cannot come true.

One of the people that’s always inspired me is Harry Hay, who started the first ongoing gay rights groups in America. In 1948, he tried to get people to join the Mattachine Society [the first American homosexual “rights” group]. It took him two years to find one other person who would join. Well, [in] 1993, Harry Hay marched with a million people in Washington, who thought he had a good idea 40 years before. Everybody thought Harry Hay was crazy in 1948, and they knew something about him which he apparently did not—they were right, he was crazy. You are all crazy. We are all crazy. All of us who are thinking this way are crazy, because you know what? Sane people keep the world the same [sh*tty] old way it is now. It’s the people who think, ‘No, I can envision a day when straight people say, ‘So what if you’re promoting homosexuality?’ Or straight kids say, ‘Hey, why don’t you and your boyfriend come over before you go to the prom and try on your tuxes on at my house?’ That if we believe that can happen, we can make it happen. The only thing that will stop us is our lack of faith that we can make it happen. That is our mission from this day forward. To not lose our faith, to not lose our belief that the world can, indeed, be a different place. And think how much can change in one lifetime if in Harry Hay’s one very short life, he saw change from not even one person willing to join him to a million people willing to travel to Washington to join him. You can see the same changed happen in your lifetime if you believe you can.’’

– Brian Burt, Lambda Report, Jan.-Feb. 1998

Kevin Jennings, founder of the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network and President Obama’s new Deputy Assistant Secretary for Safe and Drug-Free Schools.

By Peter LaBarbera

Folks, Dr. Michael Brown gave an excellent presentation at AFTAH’s monthly dinner-lecture last week. We hope to post a YouTube on Dr. Brown’s succinct and compelling response to my question on the “Big Three” hostile questions thrown at Christians who defend the Bible’s prohibitions against homosexual conduct:

1. “But Jesus Christ never said anything about homosexuality”;
2. “Why should we believe the Old Testament says about homosexuality when it also bans wearing polyester and eating shellfish?”; and
3. “You Christians are so judgmental.”

Dr. Brown, a world renowned biblical scholar, hit it out of the park. He also challenged what he calls the “celebration of ambiguity”in describing neo-evangelicals’ and the “Emergent Church’s” evasive and equivocating — and unbiblical — positioning on the issue of homosexuality.

Brown specifically challenged Chicago evangelical Andrew Marin (right), founder of the Marin Foundation and author of “Love Is Not an Orientation.” Brown praised Marin for wanting to reach out to homosexuals and the portions of the book in which Marin relays personal stories of homosexuals he has encountered who have been hurt by the Church. But he was highly critical of Marin’s misuse of Scripture in interpreting verses dealing with homosexuality.

Brown said of the Emergent Church — which is much more accepting of homosexual identity, uses the controversial term ”gay Christian,” and generally scolds Christians for actively condemning homosexuality and the “gay” political/cultural agenda: “Their cure is worse than the sickness …. [they] have shown more solidarity with [homosexual] people than with God.”

“How are we helping anyone when we make the clear unclear … the unambiguous ambiguous? … How is that love?” Brown asked, calling on Christians to share the full truth of the Gospel in love. After first noting that Christians need to repent for neglecting to lovingly share God’s salvation plan with people caught up in homosexuality, Brown warned against believers falling into a “soulish sympathy” for homosexuals that overrides Biblical truth and their Christian conscience. [AFTAH will be offering a DVD of Brown's talk; write americansfortruth@comcast.net for more information.]

“There is a fundamental denial of the power of the Gospel,” Brown said, noting that a key requirement of being a disciple of Christ is to “deny yourself.”

Brown — who strongly urged Christians to humble themselves and repent for not offering the grace and love of Christ to homosexual friends and acquaintances — will be writing a review of Marin’s book for AFTAH. We will also transcribe Brown’s important critique of Emergent philosophy in a future post.

DISCLAIMER: I have not read Marin’s book yet, but have been deeply troubled by his chameleon-like approach to ministry and his watered-down Gospel as it relates to the issue of homosexuality. Marin — a self-described former “bible-bangin’ homophobe” who moved to Chicago’s homosexual “Boystown” community to reach homosexuals after three of his friends “came out” to him as “gay” – turned on me last year after we both appeared on a Moody Radio broadcast in Chicago.

After our mutual appearance on Moody’s WMBI Radio, I posted a sympathetic Moody commentary about it by WMBI’s Julie Roys. After we republished Roys’ piece, Andrew and his wife pleaded with me to take it off AFTAH’s website to accommodate their covert-like approach to ministry (an approach that has earned him criticism and distrust from both homosexual activists like Michaelangelo Signorile and biblically faithful Christians). After I rejected his appeal, Marin did an online interview on ExGayWatch, a homosexual activist website, to supposedly “clear the record” and distance himself and his work from Americans For Truth.

Marin’s turnaround came just days after he praised me enthusiastically on Moody Radio for “[taking] the bullet for all of us” in opposing the homosexual activist movement. Predictably, ExGayWatch used Marin’s interview as an opportunity to bash my alleged “shameless self-promotion.” I was appalled that Marin would use a blatantly anti-biblical website — one bitterly hostile to the truth that Jesus Christ can help homosexuals leave the lifestyle – to undermine a fellow Christian believer.

(I have worked with Andrew before: in 2006 he once almost appeared at a press conference that I organized as executive director of Illinois Family Institute — comprised of local pro-family leaders confronting the “Gay Games,” which were being held in Chicago. Marin supported IFI’s efforts — which included a Gospel outreach to Gay Games participants – but he pulled out as a speaker at the press conference, fearing that his public stance would hurt his ministry.)

Below is Marin’s startling post on the ”gay”-affirming site, ExGayWatch. I say “startling” because Marin — who regularly works with Moody Bible Institute and is promoted through sympathetic Moody Radio interviews – now seems intent on muddying up the Bible’s clear truth: that homosexual practice is sinful yet changeable through Christ. Dr. Brown noted the exact same tendency in Marin’s book, which he critiqued at AFTAH’s talk.

Needless to say, Christians like Marin who equivocate on biblical truth will be championed by the same homosexual activists who viciously (and erroneously) denounce AFTAH and groups like us as “hateful.”

The highly “ambiguous” Marin “Is Homosexuality a Sin?” piece below is actually a long comment posted on the same ExGayWatch thread that contains his self-serving online interview with homosexual activist David Roberts. To be honest, I was so disturbed by Marin’s actions that I could not bring myself to listen to his XGW interview, but now that he’s “out of the closet,” as it were, with his “Love is an orientation” approach toward homosexuality, it’s time to review his comments and correct the record ourselves. We will respond point-by-point to Marins’ take on what transpired with WMBI and his dubious exegesis of Scripture.

I do not believe — or at least I hope — that the equivocating Andrew Marin, who seems ashamed of the Gospel of Christ (at least as applied to homosexuality),  represents Moody Bible Institute’s approach towards the homosexual issue. Moody has faithfully served the Lord for decades. And I regret that despite Julie Roys’ hopeful commentary, we must now openly oppose Marin’s habit of downplaying the sin of homosexuality — forgiveness for which is part of the great transforming work of Christ!

Dr. Brown is absolutely right: there is a great need for ministry-minded Christians to lovingly share the Gospel with practicing homosexuals, but they should never resort to publicly obfuscating or denying biblical Truth to carry out that mission. Please pray for Andrew Marin – that he will return to the truth on this issue, including the parts that are politically incorrect. – Peter LaBarbera, Americans For Truth

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DL Moody once preached:

That’s the trouble with the sinners in Chicago.  They’ve turned against God, broken His commandments, trampled His law under their feet, and their sins hang upon them; until they show signs of repentance their sin will remain.  But the moment they see their iniquity and come to God, forgiveness will be given them and their iniquity will be taken out of their way.  Said a person to me the other day, “It is my sin that stands between me and Christ.” “It isn’t,” I replied, “it’s your own will.” That’s what stands between the sinner and forgiveness.  Christ will take all your iniquities away if you will. Men are so proud that they won’t acknowledge and confess before God.  Don’t you see on the face of it, if your boy won’t repent you cannot forgive him, and how is God going to forgive a sinner if he don’t repent? If He was allowing an unrepentant sinner into His Kingdom, there would be war in Heaven in twenty-four hours.  You cannot live in a house with a boy who steals everything he can lay his hands on.  You would have to banish him from your house.

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Andrew Marin’s Post on ExGayWatch

Andrew Marin’s comment posted on the homosexual activist website “ExGayWatch,” on April 24th, 2008:

Hello Everyone,

I am part of the subject of this post [referring to his online interview] and I wanted to say a few things. First, I appreciate the opportunity that I was given by David to explain what happened. I also appreciate everyone’s comments, and I want to let all of you know that I want to be as open and transparent as I can possibly be.

With that in mind I would like to address Bob’s concerns one by one because I am not trying to hide anything from anyone. I want to be honest about my life, my experiences and my organization – and so here are detailed answers for each of the concerns that were raised.

1. To explain my verbiage of “love” and “not judging” and how that influences our “educational work”:

As I said on the interview, my view of love is lived out through the following definition – love is a tangible and measurable expression of unconditional behaviors that no matter who you are, what you say or what you do I have your back 110% and will never leave or give up on your salvation/belief in God. I believe that the word love has become a trivial word coming from the Christian community to gays and lesbains because too often Christian expressions of love has become conditional. My goal is to unconditionally be apart of, and involved in people’s lives to overcome that negative perception and truth of what “love” has become. The Father is unconditional; Jesus is unconditional; and so to do I want to follow that example whether or not there is any “change” because at the end of the day only God can allow someone into heaven. So why not seek validation from the One who can bring eternal validation. Humanly opinions have no bearing on heavenly judgment, and therefore my wish is to take those humanly judgments away and focus on our Lord and let Him do as He sees fit for each of our lives. Therefore our entire educational work is based off of this premise.

2. Is homosexuality a sin?

Does anyone else ever wonder why when it comes to the most divisive topic in the church today that most questions revolve around one word, yes or no answers? I started to think about that, and I’ve come to the conclusion that both sides ask those same yes or no questions at the beginning so they can then label you and place you on their side, or the opponent’s side. This is nothing more than an expression of an “us vs. them” mindset. Building bridges cannot happen through an us vs. them mindset. Therefore, is homosexuality a sin?

I have three clear answers:

1. Romans 3:23 – we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God

2. James 2:10 – in God’s eyes, if you have committed one sin you have committed them all

3. Matthew 7:1-2 – the measure you use to judge others will also be used to judge you

Theologically I believe that sin has been propitiated to us all through the Original Sin, and we are all born sinful into a sinful world. My position is that it is time to elevate the conversation past what is always fought about and shift our mind-frames to belief and communication with the Creator. If we can focus on a tangible expression of love, belief and a humbled understanding of ourselves, and each other’s point of view as valid to their experience – in our lives and our sexuality (from both sides) –then we can advance the worship and dialogue past negative debates and onto more important eternal issues. I strongly believe that we are all on the same plain constantly learning and growing in our lives and faith trying to figure this life out. The unique juxtaposition is that we will never figure it out and have to live by that same faith to continue on another day, in what many times is a non-felt security by God. We know He’s there and yet there are times, especially during the extremes of when things are great and when things are horrible, that we don’t feel Him. Hebrews 11:1 states that faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. I feel as though it is my job to tangibly reach out to the GLBT community and apologize for what has happened in the past – and then help both sides to move forward to bring faith and spiritual reconciliation to a community evangelical Christians have traditionally only fought against.

3. Where do I stand of civil rights issues such as marriage equality?

I let the politicians handle the politics. I head a religious organization that is solely focused on religion and spirituality and to a bridge being built between time-tested opposing communities. I believe that politics does not have to enter into every conversation. I understand that many of the “religious right” have placed themselves in the middle of political debates and agendas, as well as many on the “left” have done the same. I will do neither. I have been put here for spiritual things, and that is my only focus. When our government decides either way, I will so live by those laws and not argue, disagree or fight in either direction. My world is not of this world because of what is to come.

4. “If I love gays, why do I oppose gay rights?”

I have never commented on gay rights so I am not sure where that statement is coming from – this is the first time. Just because I was connected by a third party to LaBarbera does not mean I agree or disagree. Others can continue to fight over politics, I just wish to focus on being as best of a representation I can to the one true God.

5. “In a Reader interview I flunked both tests”

The link to the Reader article is
http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/andrewmarin/

and if so inclined, please read it in its entirety. I believe that all quotes need further context, but becuase this issue was brought up here is a direct quote from that article:

The Marin Foundation takes no official position on gay marriage or gay adoption, although Marin praised one of his gay students who took in foster children from a third world country with his partner. And he says there’s no reason gays shouldn’t serve in the military. But these familiar debates are, for Marin, “nitpicking,” so mired in the realm of politics and worldly power that they detract from his broader spiritual mission. “I’m not political,” he insists. “I’m religious.”

6. There are other denominations that affirms the GLBT community so why do you need a “ministry”?

First, The Marin Foundation is not a ministry. We are an organization that is not connected to a church or denomination. We work with 9 different denominations in fact, including Episcopal and UCC churches. We are here because there are many people in the GLBT community who are frightened of church – the building, the dogma, the stigma that comes with the name. As a non-profit organization we are not a church, and therefore a safe place for people to come to talk, be validated as a child of God, listened to and not have to feel like they are being preached to or tied down to one thing or the other. Many people in the GLBT community who participate in our organization say that is the reason they go to us and not a church. Also, the Episcopal and UCC are traditionally liturgical in their approach. We have found that there are many GLBT people who were raised in evangelical homes and wish for that same environment. The Marin Foundation is one of the ways to return into spiritual things that are more comfortable for them then attending a church of any particular denomination. My denomination is the belief in God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit who love me as their child.

7. Bob [Schwartz, of the hard-left Gay Liberation Network] called me an “unabashed homophobe” and that I am a “velvet-gloved hammer of antigay bigotry and discrimination.”

I in deed was, for the first 19 years of my life a homophobe. There was no two-ways about it. But to call me that now, with so many people in the GLBT community who love and respect me and the work that I do through The Marin Foundation who has helped so many GLBT people who have been really hurt by religion, is off base. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and after I read Bob’s post I had an epiphany this morning.

“I need to release the burden of having to feel like I have to convince people who don’t like me, of the things that I know are true in my life whether they agree or not.”

This might seem like old hat to all of you reading that, but my problem is that I take way too much too personally. So when I am insulted it really hurts my soul. I’m not a hardened season veteran of this issue that insults don’t hurt. I don’t have people call me names everyday of my life, so it stings when it does happen. Maybe it’s because I’m younger than most who are already involved, maybe I am naive? I don’t know. But regardless of where it comes from the reason I felt that I needed to write all of these issues down was to clear my conscious of being saddened by what Bob said.

I believe now, that I have covered all of his major points. I am very open to peaceful discussion and I look forward to continuing this very important dialogue.

Thank you very much.

[Marin posts again in the discussion on ExGayWatch; you can also listen to his interview in which he opposes AFTAH's Peter LaBarbera; go to: http://www.exgaywatch.com/wp/2008/04/labarberas-shameless-self-promotion-may-damage-a-real-ministry/]

WARNING: Offensive Language (required to expose hateful “gay” extremism)

Lying Leatherman: homosexual atheist blogger Joe Jervis (left) didn’t appreciate that Americans For Truth called attention to the vicious comments posted by his online followers against Patricia Mauceri (below right) — the Christian soap actress who was dumped by ABC’s “One Life to Live” after objecting to a pro-homosexuality story line. And it looks like Mauceri is not the first soap actor to object to the faith-undermining requirements of pro-”gay” political correctness in the business. Blogs like Jervis’ “Joe. My. God.” give evidence that no activists are as mean and hateful as homosexual activists — who project their beef with the Creator (unacknowledged, in Joe’s case) on to His followers.

TAKE ACTION: contact ABC and tell them enough is enough with their promotion of the homosexual agenda and sexual immorality in general. Tell them you are outraged at the politically correct firing of Patricia Mauceri (right). And ask them to cast happy, contented “ex-gays” in major TV roles and sympathetic Christian/religious characters who remain faithful to their faith convictions — for the sake of diversity. 

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Ah, I see that Joe Jervis (above), the non-average “Joe” behind the homosexual activist “Joe. My. God.” blog, has focused his intellectual energies (or should I say bigoted, emotional impulses) into crafting a response to AFTAH’s post about his blog yesterday. We were simply highlighting some of his buddies’ crude and very mean attacks on Patricia Mauceri, the Christian soap actress who says she was fired for objecting to a pro-homosexual story line.

Here is the essence of Jervis’ response:

1. I have a comb-over hair style (ouch — problem here is I have so little hair to comb over — if this were true it would really be an exercise in futility: see tragic evidence at right);
2. I’m really a gay-porn-obsessed homosexual (hence the nickname: “Porno Pete”: this smear term was actually invented by Wayne Besen, the truth-challenged professional homosexual zealot behind the “ex-gay”-bashing group “Truth Wins Out”; some “gay” activists have stopped using Porno Pete in favor of the much more mature “The Peter” — peter being a boyish slang term for the male sex organ);

1. I have a small penis (note the continuing theme: Jervis is a gay “leatherman,” so we’ll cut him some slack on this one since by definition he has an unhealthy interest in male genitalia);
2. I am one of the biggest homosexual “closet cases” on the Internet (here Joe is applying that strange and creepily self-hating homosexualist putdown: the more you criticize the homosexual agenda, the more you are likely to be a secret homosexual yourself. Applying this curious standard to other causes, right-wing Republicans covertly support Obama and can’t wait to have their taxes raised — and lurking inside every pro-life activist is a person yearning to kill unborn babies).

Let’s see. Am I forgetting anything? Well, Jervis has filed his response under these categories:

• assholism (I didn’t know that was a word);
• closet cases (lest you forget that I, Peter LaBarbera — father of five and happily married for 20 years — am a covert homosexual-wannabe; Joe wrote a previous piece on me entitled — this is not a joke – “Peter LaBarbera Wants To Have Sweaty Mansex With Every Single One Of You”; strangely, I couldn’t find the “mansex” post among the AFTAH-bashing pieces on Jervis’ site – don’t tell me you’re embarrassed about that one, Joe?);
• needledicks (see #3 above);
• Peter LaBarbera

Wow, you must be doing something right when your name is an actual category on several “queer” websites. (One nasty homosexualist website uses my last name as an “award” to put down other conservatives fighting the “gay” agenda.) Jervis ends with a swipe at me for not allowing reader comments on the AFTAH website, but frankly, it would require a full-time staffer just to monitor the infantile, crude and hate-filled posts that would end up as “comments” on Americans For Truth’s site. And that doesn’t even factor in the “gay” activists who would pose as “Christian fundamentalists” to post irrational, homosexual-bashing (even violent) comments to make conservatives look bad. (This is not to say that there are no wacky fundamentalists like Fred “God Hates Fags” Phelps out there, but AFTAH has denounced such extremism — as opposed to atheist Jervis, who stokes it on his website.)

Christians, pray for this New York City blogger Joe Jervis, a lost soul if there ever was one. The same “Jeebus” (Jesus) he and other Christian-bashers mock one day will judge them (2 Timothy 4:1 and 4:8). Homosexual activists like Jervis seem to project their own hatred — of God’s moral law — against the pro-family advocates who are only trying to defend it. (Jervis has a special animus against AFTAH because our actions put a damper on the disgusting leather orgies that he supports.) Thankfully, it’s never too late to cease the rebellion and come back to God; they didn’t call them “gays” but there were “homosexuals” and former homosexuals in Bible times (note emphasis):

Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

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TAKE ACTION: contact ABC and tell them enough is enough with their promotion of the homosexual agenda and sexual immorality in general. Ask them to cast happy, contented “ex-gays” in major TV roles and sympathetic Christian/religious character who remain faithful to their faith convictions — for the sake of diversity. 

Jeremy Hooper, left, as featured three year ago in the homosexual magazine The Advocate. Click on photo to enlarge.

By Peter LaBarbera

Leave it to Jeremy Hooper, the indefatigable, youthful Homosexuality Apologist over at the “Good as You” blog, to misconstrue our Easter presentation of the Gospel, “Was Jesus Powerless?” Hooper, who comments on AFTAH’s website and those of other conservative groups with amazing alacrity, is irritated by my comparison of practicing homosexual sinners with other sinners covered by God’s grace.

Pegging off my non-comprehensive list of people who offend God but find forgiveness and hope in Jesus Christ, Hooper writes (bold and “shouting” (caps) emphasis is his):

So let’s see here — we homosexuals are compared to those (of any orientation or gender) who abuse substances, make wagers, objectify women, talk [sh*t] about others, force sex upon someone against their will, take a life, sell their bodies, sell other people’s bodies, patronize those who sell their bodies, take on a job in which they are motivated by profit, run for and carry out office in an unethical way, base their worldview in a mindset that’s detached from religious rule, don’t feel themselves bound by conventional wisdom, utilize their freedom to terminate a pregnancy (either through their medical practice or personal body decisions), have faith in science rather than God, are egocentric assholes, spread untruths, and/or cheat on their committed partners. Weird, because all this time we’ve viewed our always-present biological desires more like, say — THE ALWAYS-PRESENT BIOLOGICAL DESIRES OF OUR HETEROSEXUAL FRIENDS!

Who knew that when we were taught proper comparison techniques way back when, the idea of noting similarity between two or more things came with the caveat: “EXCEPT WHEN DEALING WITH SEXUAL ATTRACTION”? Clearly our kindergarten teacher was nothing more than an atheistic libertine!

What Jeremy doesn’t understand is that just because he feels that his homosexuality is some innate “orientation” — a natural, innocuous desire — that does not make it true. The Bible — regarded by Christ-followers throughout the centuries as the divinely-inspired Word of God — takes a view that is polar opposite to that of today’s homosexual advocates. Let’s return to that “obscure” New Testament book, Romans, for some guidance:

Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. (Romans 1:24-27)

“Clobber Verses”?

This is just one of the so-called (“anti-gay”) “Clobber Verses” loathed and ridiculed by homosexual activists because they, well, clobber their sin. Many committed homosexuals come to resent or even despise Christianity because it so clearly condemns their favorite sin. Others seek to redefine the faith to get around those offensive passages, but you would have to apply Bill-Clinton-esque semantics (on steroids) to come away with an interpretation of the Bible that does not proscribe homosexual practice. (See Professor Rob Gagnon for more Biblical scholarship on this point.)

There is no singling out the poor homosexuals here: advocates of special treatment for other sins would have to undergo the same semantic gymnastics to gain approval for their errant behavior(s) and attitude(s) of choice. (Strange how you never hear people complain about the “clobber verses” against adulterers? That’s because, despite the abundance of philandering in our decaying culture, there is no hugely-funded, organized National Adultery Task Force to defend that sin.)

The Bible is an equal opportunity offender, and Jesus only tightened the standards of holiness (e.g., Matthew 5:27-29), while also making God’s grace much more accessible to everyday people — that is, sinners like you and me. The older I get, the more I realize that I simply cannot be “good,” in a godly, Biblical sense, without Christ. He is my goodness. I’m pretty rotten inside without Him. That’s not false humility but a cold (hearted) reality.

Anyway, if you believe the Bible, God does not give homosexual-practicing sinners a pass because homosexuality is an “always-present biological desire” (a thesis which is not supported by facts or science, although you’d never know it by the frequent assertions to the contrary by Jeremy and fellow homosexual activists). In fact, one thing we humans have in common is that each of us struggles with something that truly is “always present” in our lives — sin.

No, Jeremy, you weren’t “born gay,” but you were born a sinner. Join the club. It’s got billions of members.

If you don’t believe in the “natural” depravity of mankind, try watching young children at a playground, or siblings at home: nobody taught them to be selfish, envious, greedy, disobedient, etc. That’s just how they are — why, I wonder, if people are naturally “good” as so many believe these days?

So my answer to you, Jeremy, is that the vices against which I struggle — envy, pride, lust, greed, selfishness, lack of love and grace, and more — seem to have been “always present” in my life — at least that’s something I realized when I came to Christ after college and saw myself as I really was. Could it be that the deceitful heart that the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah mentions (Jeremiah 17:9) describes your heart and that you could be wrong — and God could be right — concerning what you believe to be your natural “orientation”? (By the way, in a future essay we must address how the Christian Church, like everyone else, spends way, way too much time and effort discussing, debating and pondering the “cause” of homosexuality — further proof that many erroneously regard this as a “special sin” that is not really a sin.)

‘Gay’ Fundamentalism

Perhaps it was destined to be that much of the debate over homosexuality in our culture would come down to a religious or philosophical discussion. Savvy homosexual activists well understand the power of religion in American life and increasingly frame their arguments using morality language borrowed from the Church.

We have our absolutes, Biblically grounded, and the “Gay Fundamentalists” have theirs. I use that term because honest homosexuality advocates (“gay” and straight) will admit that they have their own set of non-negotiables — “articles of faith,” as it were. Perhaps their paramount tenet (fundamental) is that homosexuals have no “choice” over their “sexual orientation” — therefore there is nothing to be guilty about! (To be fair, some homosexual activists reject the “born gay” artifice and/or admit that they chose to embrace homosexuality.)

Rationalization takes two main forms on the “gay” side: Religious Homosexual Fundamentalists create a “gay-positive” “christianity” — preposterous as that is, historically speaking — while Secular Gay Fundamentalists reject Christianity and assert a new metaphysical reality based on their homosexual “condition.” Both camps say their new doctrines are superior to and more up-to-date than historic Christian teachings on sex and marriage.

Despite all this, we committed Christians, we traditionalists, offer our most politically incorrect solution to mankind’s predicament: that people need Jesus Christ, that He changes people (2 Corinthians 5:17), and that if we reject Him — and His “free gift” of salvation (Ephesians 2:7-9) — we will one day receive a harsh eternal judgment (hell) (2 Thesselonians 1:6-10). The answer for each of us — homosexual, straight and in between — is found in the atoning sacrifice of the God-man, Jesus Christ, the “one mediator between God and man” (1 Timothy 2:5-6) — who C.S. Lewis described as either a liar, a lunatic, or the Son of God.

That’s all I meant to suggest with my list of sinners: not another condemnation of homosexuals but a picture of mankind’s universal, egalitarian need for Christ, Who endured the Cross of Good Friday to rise again on Resurrection Sunday, so that we, too, could live forever with Him.

P.S. For those who are Christians, please remember to pray for this young man, Jeremy Hooper; see: www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2008/03/apples-vs-orang.html.

Recently, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) appeared before a massive fundraiser put on by the largest homosexual pressure group in the world, the Human Rights Campaign, to accept their 2007 National Equality award. In her speech — which you can watch by clicking HERE — Pelosi praised HRC “for being a powerful and positive counterbalance to the voices of hate.” Thus she confuses, as does the group that honors her, defense of marriage and the natural family — and opposition to homosexuality – with “hate.”

Here is how Speaker Pelosi ended her speech:

“Thank you, HRC. May God bless you. God has certainly blessed America with the work of the Human Rights Campaign.”

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Support AFTAH with a Year-End Gift! 

Will you support Americans For Truth with a year-end gift to sustain us in our daily battle to answer the lies of the homosexual movement and their powerful allies? Click HERE (http://www.americansfortruth.org/donate/) to donate by credit card or Paypal.  Or you can send your tax-deductible gift of $500, $100, $50 or whatever you can give to: Americans For Truth (AFTAH), P.O. Box 5522, Naperville, IL 60567-5522. 

_____________________________

Please forward this appeal on to your friends and family members:

A Note from Americans For Truth to Our Supporters:

By Peter LaBarbera

They have the power, the money and the influence.

We have the Truth.

They have Hollywood and the media.

We have the Truth.

They have the schools, the universities, the professional organizations, the corporate “diversity” programs.

We have the Truth. And the simple truth is that homosexual behavior is always wrong, but it can be overcome — like any sin — in a person’s life through the power of the Christ of Christmas, who came not to “condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” (John 3:17)

You know what? I wouldn’t give up God’s Truth for all the power and money in the world.

In the last 16 months since AFTAH came on the scene as a full-time organization, we have been mocked, vilified and, well, HATED by homosexual activists as few other pro-family groups. Here’s one example from a fanatical homosexual blogger who called me “one of the most hated men in America”:

LaBarbera, a man who would bury the Constitution under six feet of damp earth, haunts us thanks to the freedom he’s allowed by that very same document.  In many civilized countries, LaBarbera would be in jail for hate language that makes all other hate language seem like benign nursery rhymes.

 

In any case, LaBarbera has started a new website called “Republicans For Family Values.”  Of course, LaBarbera is as much of a Republican (not my favorite people) as cancer is a sentient life form and LaBarbera is as familiar with family values and values overall as you and I are familiar with why Peter LaBarbera’s mother hasn’t killed herself out of embarrassment.

Such cruel slanders come with the territory, from lost souls who project their own hatred for God and His values onto those of us who “agree with God,” and who are merely doing our best to uphold godly values in the culture — against a multi-faceted “gay” lobby that spends far more in promoting homosexuality than all the pro-family groups combined do in opposing it.  

Yes, they call us “pornographers” because we expose the unique, vanguard role of the homosexual lobby in promoting shocking public indecency and perversions like the “Folsom Street Fair,” which occurs every year in Nancy Pelosi’s own district, and which she can’t seem to condemn despite it’s unprecedented and illegal public nudity and sex acts in the streets, and its awful anti-Christian bigotry.

They say that I must be secretly “gay” – because I fight the homosexual movement.

They say that I have a homosexual bathhouse obsession — because we seek to expose and close down the resurgent homosexual sex clubs that serve as breeding grounds for deadly diseases — the same sort of clubs facilitating anonymous homo-sexual acts that helped spread AIDS in America in the first place (see Randy Shilts’ And the Band Played On).

They call us “judgmental” — because we affirm the truth that “gay (c)hristianity” mocks God and His Word — and is no more plausible than, say, ”adulterous (c)hristianity.”

The despise us when we speak the truth in love that homosexual men and women can change and overcome homosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ, whose humble earthly birth we celebrate this season.

Yes, they absolutely HATE us because we stand unapologetically against their sexual ideology as one that a holy Creator can have no part of. This “culture war” is not about us — it’s about right versus wrong, and those who, “wise in their own eyes,” would cast God and His moral law aside by calling ”evil good and good evil.” (Isaiah 5:21)

Nancy Pelosi could not have been more wrong in what she told the adoring audience of homosexual activists at the Human Rights Campaign gala: our holy and loving God cannot “bless” sin — much less a sexual sin group like HRC that spends tens of millions of dollars every year to promote homosexuality in politics and culture, even to America’s youth.

But God will “certainly bless” you when you stand for His Truth, no matter what the cost.

Will you stand with Americans For Truth today? Please prayerfully consider as generous a year-end gift as you can to AFTAH, as we prepare for another year of standing against the lies of the pro-homosexuality movement in our culture.

God bless you, and Merry Christmas!

Peter LaBarbera

Americans For Truth (www.americansfortruth.org)

“For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not sent his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:16-19; NIV)

_____________________________

Support AFTAH with a Year-End Gift! 

Will you support Americans For Truth with a year-end gift to sustain us in our daily battle to answer the lies of the homosexual movement and their powerful allies? Click HERE (http://www.americansfortruth.org/donate/) to donate by credit card or Paypal.  Or you can send your tax-deductible gift of $500, $100, $50 or whatever you can give to: Americans For Truth (AFTAH), P.O. Box 5522, Naperville, IL 60567-5522. 

Please forward this appeal on to your friends and family members

By Peter LaBarbera 

In a manner similar to what it did regarding the “hate crimes” bill, the White House has issued a “Statement of Policy” raising constitutional and policy objections to H.R. 3685, the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA), sponsored by homosexual Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.). The Administration statement states, “The bill raises concerns on constitutional and policy grounds, and if H.R. 3685 were presented to the President, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.”

REMAIN VIGILANT: please keep those calls and letters coming to the White House (202-456-1111 or -1414; www.congress.org), urging President Bush to do so — regardless of the form the bill takes.

Also, even some key Republicans are supporting ENDA, so call Congress today (202-224-3121; www.congress.org) and urge your U.S. Representative and both Senators to oppose ANY form of ENDA. A House vote on H.R. 3685 could come tomorrow. Homosexuality is not a “civil right” — period, and H.R. 3685′s “religious exemption” wording in ENDA is still very weak, as this memo from the Alliance Defense Fund asserts. See our paper, “14 Good Reasons to Oppose H.R. 3685, the ‘ENDA Our Freedom’ Bill.”

Americans For Truth’s revelation that a White House official had boasted to pro-family leaders that the White House had helped craft ENDA’s religious exemption language raised concerns among pro-family groups counting on an Administration veto of ENDA. It also touched off a flurry of blog posts on the GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) side, where there is a ferocious battle taking place over ENDA. Barney Frank’s decision to back a version of ENDA that does not include “transgenders” has infuriated the pro-transsexual groups. Meanwhile, Human Rights Campaign, the country’s leading homosexual lobby group, is playing both sides of the fence — backing Frank’s compromise while publicly supporting Rep. Tammy Baldwin’s pro-transsexual amendment to H.R. 3685 to shore up its pro-”T” (transgender) credentials.

Traditional Values Coalition lobbyist Andrea Lafferty, who with father Lou Sheldon has done more than anyone in America over the years to keep the homosexual agenda in check on Capitol Hill, told Americans For Truth that at a recent pro-H.R. 3685 press conference called by Rep. Frank, the various homosexual/trans groups favoring a more radical (they say “inclusive”) ENDA were kept out in the hall, while HRC staffers were allowed in the room. Lafferty said that the homosexual newspaper Washington Blade played down the GLBT infighting.

Regardless, savvy homosexual activists (led by HRC) understand that passage of ENDA in any form is a huge advance for the homosexual cause – which is why we raised concern over talk of Christian leaders looking to craft “acceptable” exemption language in the bill, with White House input.

__________________________

Here is the White House’s statement on ENDA (emphasis added):

EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20503

    October 23, 2007    (House Rules)

STATEMENT OF ADMINISTRATION POLICY

H.R. 3685 – The Employment Non-Discrimination Act

(Rep. Frank (D) MA and 9 cosponsors)

H.R. 3685 would extend existing employment-discrimination provisions of Federal law, including those in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, to establish “a comprehensive Federal prohibition of employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.”  The bill raises concerns on constitutional and policy grounds, and if H.R. 3685 were presented to the President, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.

H.R. 3685 is inconsistent with the right to the free exercise of religion as codified by Congress in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).  The Act prohibits the Federal Government from substantially burdening the free exercise of religion except for compelling reasons, and then only in the least restrictive manner possible.  H.R. 3685 does not meet this standard.  For instance, schools that are owned by or directed toward a particular religion are exempted by the bill; but those that emphasize religious principles broadly will find their religious liberties burdened by H.R. 3685.

A second concern is H.R. 3685’s authorization of Federal civil damage actions against State entities, which may violate States’ immunity under the Eleventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The bill turns on imprecise and subjective terms that would make interpretation, compliance, and enforcement extremely difficult.  For instance, the bill establishes liability for acting on “perceived” sexual orientation, or “association” with individuals of a particular sexual orientation.  If passed, H.R. 3685 is virtually certain to encourage burdensome litigation beyond the cases that the bill is intended to reach.

Provisions of this bill purport to give Federal statutory significance to same-sex marriage rights under State law.  These provisions conflict with the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as the legal union between one man and one woman.  The Administration strongly opposes any attempt to weaken this law, which is vital to defending the sanctity of marriage.

By Peter LaBarbera 

It wasn’t tough predicting that homosexual activists like Pam Spaulding would take a look at our photo-story on the raunchy “Folsom Street Fair” in anything-goes San Francisco — in which men were allowed to walk around totally nude and even have “gay” sex in the streets — and vent their anger and ridicule at … US!

And so they did. Click here to read Pam’s piece attacking our Folsom piece, complete with the usual round of bashing comments from her online fans. The most curious part of Spaulding’s blog post is her attempt to slam me for my photo of a child viewing the booth for the Berkeley bathhouse Steamworks (see above). Pam writes:

By the way, Steamworks, a bathhouse that Peter has intimate knowledge of (since the Chicago branch is where he has gone undercover to report on man-on-man depravity), has an almost magnetic draw for LaBarbera (“where men go to engage in anonymous sodomies with other men”) — he managed to photograph a Steamworks booth at Folsum [sic].

Now Pam, now let me explain the reason I shot and posted that particular photo: see the young boy at left in the photo, in the black jacket? He should not be there. He should not be in the middle of a street fair where men were walking around completely nude and masturbating in the streets. He should not be within 10 miles of adults engaging in public street sex, or whipping one another. He should not have to see the sickening spectacle of human beings leading around other human beings (their “slaves”) on dog collars.

By the way, Pam has her facts wrong (shocking, I know): I’ve never gone “undercover” at the Steamworks bathhouse in Chicago. Last year, when I was at Illinois Family Institute, we held a Christian outreach outside of Steamworks, in the heart of Chicago’s “Boystown” homosexual neighborhood, urging men not to go inside. Later, we held a protest outside of Steamworks during the Chicago “Gay Games,” opposite pro-bathhouse forces led by the Chicago-based Gay Liberation Network. We have opposed such sex clubs because they are dangerous for men and also for women whose husbands/boyfriends go there to engage in secret homosexual sex on the side.

There’s an interesting piece on Stacy Harp’s blog about the wacky homosexual fringe. Stacy’s a friend and a pretty smart cookie — she’s way too intelligent to think you can actually make any sense of the lunatic ranting of Joe Brummer, “GayLeftBorg,” Wayne (“Anything But Straight”) Besen, and other homosexual extremists. But hers is a worthwhile read to get a glimpse of the lies, hatred and outright nuttiness we have to endure from the homosexual Left.

Memo to Joe: for the twelve thousand, three-hundred and sixty-second time, we abhor violence against homosexuals, or anyone for that matter. (See my piece, “Stoning Homosexuals: Which is the Real Voice of Hatred,” contrasting how radical Islam and Biblical Christianity treat homosexuality.) … Anyway, click HERE for Stacy’s article.

Bad Boys 

Speaking of militant homosexuals attacking, we’re sorry that due to summer doldrums — and yes, my own procrastination – we have yet to put up a post on the latest clever little attack (in their own obsessed minds) on yours truly by Jim Burroway and Boys at Box Turtle Bulletin. (Try saying that ten times fast.) Seems Jim created a “LaBarbera Award” to spoof me – after I dared to write about a young man, Russell Groff, who died prematurely — at age 26 — of AIDS after entering the homosexual lifestyle.

Jim says that I engaged in reckless rhetoric and he even called me a “despicable coward” for writing about Russell (I unwisely linked to a pro-homosexual tribute of Groff to provide background about him). Ouch. We’ll have more on “Fact-Checker” Burroway’s distortions later. Suffice it to say that Russell’s grieving mother feels otherwise and wants to use his tragically cut-short life to warn other parents and children about the dangers of homosexuality.

Then there’s the unfunny graphic on the Box Turtle site that mocks me, perpetuating the tired, “queer” activist theme that because I expose homosexual excesses, I must secretly be perverse myself.

Yawn. How many variations of “Kill the Messenger” can the homosexual activists come up with to discredit us? And all this time people on both sides of the debate have been saying how creative “gays” are. Go figure. Regardless, I’m sure Jim and the Box Turtle Boys were quite taken with their own wit.

Apologies to all for ever calling Burroway’s site, which strangely gets promoted by Christian therapist and psychology professor Warren Throckmorton of Grove City College — yes, that Grove City College — “high minded.” Warren assures me that Jim is a nice guy but somehow I’m not seeing it. 

Please pray for these poor souls who spend their lives defending a lifestyle that God clearly rejects. – Peter LaBarbera

Spaulding and I are on polar opposite sides of the “gay” issue — and we take issue with her rhetoric linking pro-family groups’ words to extremist violence against homosexuals – but we agree that you can have a debate without threatening violence. — Peter LaBarbera

PS. Meanwhile, we checked again and the nasty, violence-encouraging post at www.gaystraightalliance.org remains on the site. See our post on that HERE.

Original story, posted July 15, 2007 

Homosexual activists are upset that we used the case of Russell Groff — a Tennessee boy who entered the homosexual lifestyle as a teenager and died of AIDS at 26 – as an example of the extreme health risks of (male) homosexual behavior. More on that later: we’re on vacation, and there is considerable “gay” misinformation to counter — including homosexual “fact checking” blogger Jim Burroway’s specious claim – relying on a Maryland homosexual activist group’s website – that Russell died of a “staph infection following gall bladder surgery.” (Russell’s mother Carolyn Groff sent us his Maryland death certificate showing HIV/AIDS as a cause of death.)

The following comment was posted July 15 on lesbian activist Pam Spaulding’s blog, which seems to have a problem with violence-prone contributors. (In February, a South Dakota man published our address on Spaulding’s blog with the words, “Sniper’s, take note”; he received a formal police warning for the threat and Spaulding, who said she was unaware of the comment, banned him from her blog.)

For the full thread including “underbear1′s” menacing comment below (emphasis added), click HERE:

Having survived a lover who died of AIDS

 

 

If I’d have faced a Baptist Fred Phelps-type protest, and a f*cktard like Petey using someone else’s memorial to twist to his hateful message, I would have snapped, and taken them all out with an AK-47, and not given a sh*t if it cost me my life, because at that point, (I was considering suicide anyways.)

 

Petey be glad you still are breathing, you picked on someone much more forgiving than I am.

 

——————————————————————————–
by: underbear1 @ Sun Jul 15, 2007 at 16:16:57 PM CDT 
[ Reply ] 

Lesbian blogger Pam Spaulding published a post on Mar 3, 2007, entitled Intimidation Tactics In the Name of Religion Will Not Stop Change. In it, she accuses Christians of inciting violence against homosexuals — for example,

• Bil Browning, head of Indiana Action Network and Bilerico blogger, claims that, following his coverage of a protest in Indiana over SJR-7, he received threatening phone calls and that the window of his car was smashed.
• 72-year-old Andrew Anthos of Detroit was taunted and viciously beated with a metal pipe, leaving him paralyzed and in a coma for ten days until he finally died. A sketch of the suspect has been released, but no arrests have been made at this point.
• A 19-year-old Hoboken High School student, Andy Rivera, has been charged (and a second person is sought) in the brutal beating of a 21-year-old man, allegedly for wearing pink pants.

Ms. Spaulding, a Duke employee whose blog has been lauded by the university (which has historic ties to the United Methodist church), says:

“This behavior occurs because many fundies actually justify explain violence against gays and lesbians as God’s wrath being visited upon them. It’s about controlling the behavior of people who are different, who may or may not share their worldview, or else, dag nab it, ‘God’ is going to work in his mysterious ways by inspiring someone to take a pipe to beat a 72-year-old gay man to death or beat up a gay man for wearing pink pants, for instance.”

Though none of the perpetrators have claimed to be Christians nor to have acted on God’s behalf (some are not yet identified), Ms. Spaulding blames these heinous crimes on “fundie” (fundamentalist) Christians — and she is not the only activist to make such claims.

On Feb 24, 2007, Matt Foreman, Executive Director of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force (which takes in over $30 million/year), issued the following statement blaming Christians:

“The hatred and loathing that led to the vicious murder of Andrew Anthos only because he was gay is not innate. Instead it is being taught every day by leaders of the so-called Christian right and their political allies. They disguise their bigotry as ‘deeply-held religious beliefs.’ They cloak themselves in ‘family values.’

“For years, Michigan has been subjected to the homophobic rants of Gary Glenn of the American Family Association of Michigan, while so many otherwise good and decent people have been silent. Just two years ago, the state endured an ugly campaign, led by Cardinal Adam Maida, to ‘protect marriage’ by writing anti-gay discrimination into its constitution. Based on that amendment, a three-judge panel of Michigan’s court of appeals voted last month to terminate medical insurance coverage for families of LGBT government workers throughout the state.

“It is appalling hypocrisy for these forces to pretend that their venomous words and organizing have no connection to the plague of hate violence against gay people, including the murder of Mr. Anthos…”

That’s right: Matt Foreman publicly (and falsely) accused Gary Glenn and Cardinal Maida as accessories to the murder of a 72-year-old man, simply because these men exercise their constitutional freedom of speech to vocally uphold the Christian principles upon which our nation was founded — including God’s design for one man to wed one woman for life and His consistent condemnation of homosexual behavior.

Perhaps Matt Foreman took his cue from Sean Kosofsky of Triangle Foundation, a Detroit-based homosexual activist group, who once made this claim against Glenn’s group:

“We personally believe that the AFA may support the murder of gay, lesbian and bisexual people… We are also fairly certain the AFA wants all homosexuals locked up on sodomy charges and put in jail.”

Ms. Spaulding says in her post that “the Christians I know don’t think this way…” We’re not sure if Ms. Spaulding actually knows any genuine Christians — consider that she thinks the pro-homosexual Faith in America are Christians. But as Bible-believing Christians, we at AFTAH have repeatedly condemned violence against homosexuals — for example: HERE, HERE, and HERE.

This just in: Christians are not the only people who oppose homosexuality. Orthodox Jews oppose homosexuality, as do Muslims and Hindus. Secular citizens with traditional American values oppose normalization of homosexuality. And some people who lack compassion and self-control instinctively recognize homosexuality as unnatural, and, most regretably, they respond to their repulsion to homosexuality with verbal abuse and even brutal physical violence that Jesus Christ would (and will eternally) condemn…and which we also condemn.

People who make obscene, threatening phone calls or stalk homosexual men to harangue them and beat them with metal pipes are not reading the Americans For Truth website — nor are they reading their Bibles — nor are they Christian in any sense of the word. They are wicked and must be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

But if Pam Spaulding is so concerned about “hate speech,” she should contemplate her own behavior, for she is deliberately inciting hatred toward Christians:

• Spaulding consistently uses the term “Jeebus” (which apparently originated from “The Simpsons”) or “Jeebus H. Christ” to mock Jesus Christ and His followers. (A search of her site generated 11 pages of results, including this one about Kirk Cameron and Way of the Master.)
• On her site the Christian fish symbol is shown with the words “N Chips” inscribed inside. Another fish symbol has a vulgar phrase inside. These graphics link to an anti-Christian business that sells other perversions of the Christian fish symbol, including one with “Satan” incribed inside and horns.
• She and her fellow bloggers very often refer to their opponents using terms like fascist, Christo-fascist, American Taliban, homophobe, homo-bigot, racist, etc. She makes no distinction between the un-Biblical “God Hates Fags” campaign of Fred Phelps versus those who speak Truth with love. (God does not hate homosexuals — He sent His only Son to die for them so that they, too, might become co-heirs of eternal life. Jesus Christ has demonstrated the greatest love for people caught up in homosexual behavior, as well as for all kinds of sinners.)
• On a personal note, Pam Spaulding still commonly refers to Peter LaBarbera as “Porno Pete” (a search generated 6 pages of results). This slanderous charge is based the strange notion that because LaBarbera exposes homosexual excesses, including public “gay” perversions, he must have some prurient interest in homosexuality himself.

We encourage our readers to look at Pam Spaulding’s blog occasionally and develop an understanding of the lesbian activist’s confused worldview — and then ask yourself which of us incites hatred? Pray for Pam Spaulding and her readers.

The penchant of Spaulding, a Duke University employee, for mean-spirited jabs at ex-”gays” and Christian conservatives — whom she calls “AmTaliban” for “American Taliban” — places her among the most prolific putdown artists in a leftist blogosphere that specializes in bigoted and nasty name-calling. (Click HERE for a good write-up by former Washington Times investigative reporter George Archibald.) We’ll have more on that later, as well as further developments on this story. 

Following is Mr. Wick’s apology, which we accept: 

To Mr. Peter LaBarbera c/o Concerned Women of America … February 7, 2007 RE: Perceived Threat on Pam’s House Blend Blog

 

 

Dear Mr. LaBarbera,

 

I sincerely apologize for what may have seemed like a real threat on your person that I wrote on Pam’s House Blend. There is no sincere threat and I know of no sincere threat in existence from others. I am responsible for the hyperbolic language I used in an atmosphere of verbal pinching…unfortunately, my choice of language was shameful and not intended to do any real harm nor ever to give you the impression that I or others truly wanted to harm anyone. What I thought might be verbal pinching….really was far more and I apologize.

 

My language was over the top and I can understand how concerned you and your family and friends may have been. While we share opposing viewpoints on issues that affect our American culture, I have always stood behind my words and claimed responsibility for them. I was very wrong in this case and have always obeyed the laws of our state and the nation in expressing my viewpoints. There had been some good-natured joking about a very hurtful song posted on that website…and thinking my words would also be taken as so much hyperbole…well, they were not. As a new member of Ms. Spaulding\’s blog community, I got carried away with the atmosphere. I shall not return there.

 

We live in America. A land governed by law. We have differences about what the civil law ought to provide it’s citizens….but we are in agreement….that violence in any form is not the answer. I, too, have been threatened in my activist work of past years. I knew there was no serious substance to them and did not report them. You have used your vast power to swat a fly…and as that fly I feel swatted. I apologize to your wife and family for any fears they may have had. There was never any danger and I stand apologetic and humbled by my misadventurous writing style that has made a wrong turn. Please accept this as a sincere apology on all levels and that I hope this letter will put an end to who is responsible.

 

I heard your thoughts that perhaps the person writing the words was not a real person. Sadly, I am real…the words were wrong and were not taken in a hyperbolic, humorous context. Such “manifestos” are of a period that no longer exists in American social action. Further, I apologize to CWA for having to use its airtime and resources to tell this story to its audience. Nobody in the “gay” community would ever take what I said seriously. Trust me, any friends I may have made by my writing have now deserted me. I hope CWA will report this letter and its true sincerity to the same audience. I have truly supported non-violence in the gay community and continue to do so to this day.

 

If you have an question about my sincerity, feel free to call me at my home number below…anytime to hear these words from my mouth. As a part of the actions I am taking today to assure that I shall not run afoul of my poor creative writings, I have resigned from Pam’s House Blend and apologized to her for violating her rules. I am sincerely apologizing to you and your family. And I sincere apologize to anyone who thought my words were in any way a true reflection of my past actions or future actions nor are they reflective of everyone I know in the gay community. They are not. At 55 years old, I should know better. And this incident of my own creation has taught me another life lesson. I, too, am the father of three children who are now providing me grandchildren (four). I always taught them to accept responsibility when they did something wrong. I was wrong…and what I wrote was not truly intended to frighten or reflect my deepest feelings.

 

Please accept my apologies. I can appreciate that you might think I am a radical. Perhaps more in past years. Certainly not now and certainly not what the words may have appeared to represent. I humbly ask your forgiveness.

 

In All Sincerity, Barry G. Wick [address and phone number given]

Homosexual Activist Files Deceptive Practices Complaint against Ex-Gay Video

Homosexual activist Wayne Besen has filed a complaint with the Illinois Attorney General’s office over an Illinois ministry promoting the video “It’s Not Gay.” Besen claims that the video, which features interviews with those who have come out of homosexuality, is deceptive. A similar charged has been filed against the American Family Association and others who promote or sell the video. Martha Kleder spoke with Matt Barber, CWA’s policy director for cultural issues and Pete LaBarbera, founder and president of Americas for Truth, the ministry targeted by Besen. Listen Online | Download

I ran across this MySpace blog (below) a few days ago. It merits note. I have sat in a number of school meetings where board members, administrators, and teachers insist that 15-16 -17 year old high school students are “mature” and “wise.” This teenager’s post will henceforth suffice as my response to that claim. It is full of typos, misspellings, incorrect punctuation, and (most importantly) misplaced emotion, arrogance, ignorance, poor logic, misinformation, and lies. To set the record straight:

• Americans For Truth (AFTAH) has never used the term “The Solution to the Gay Problem” and never would, except in response to this lie. There is a “solution” to homosexuality, but it’s certainly not akin to the one mentioned below. The solution to homosexuality — and to all sin — is redemption in Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:13-14, 21-23, 3:1-7).

• Why does this young man suggest that Americans For Truth advocates a homosexual holocaust? The claim is absurd; AFTAH and its president, Peter LaBarbera, have condemned all abuse and violence against homosexuals, and have also condemned unbiblical messages such as Fred Phelps’ “God Hates Fags” protests (which are now targeting the funerals of American soldiers). More than likely, this youthful MySpace writer is repeating nonsense that he heard from pro-homosexual teachers or adult “gay” activists. He didn’t read such a thing on this website.

• This teenager claims that AFTAH has taken a position against the violence in Iraq, yet AFTAH has not addressed Iraq.

• Contrary to our young friend’s assertion, homosexual activists are indeed asking for society’s blessing — something most would admit. Not only do they want to redefine marriage and family to accommodate their aberrant lifestyles; they advocate teaching homosexuality and transgenderism as positive lifestyles to very young children. Moreover, homosexual activists routinely smear those who disagree with them as “haters” and ultimately will push for “hate speech” laws against those who affirm the truth that God condemns homosexual practice. (Already, Christians in foreign countries like Canada, Great Britain and Sweden are being persecuted under such pro-homosexual “hate speech” laws — yet American homosexual activists for the most part are not renouncing the growing pro-”gay” totalitarianism abroad.)

• Affirming God’s Word by teaching that homosexuality is physically, emotionally, and spiritually destructive is not hate but Truth. There is abundant secular research to confirm these aspects of the homosexual lifestye (see the website of NARTH, the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality). And people can overcome homosexuality, as proven by countless ex-”gays” living contented lives across the world.

If teenagers are so “mature” and “wise,” then why do we send them to school to learn? Maybe these “educators” should spend less time adoring youthful impudence and more time with adults to regain proper perspective. The fact is that teenagers are not yet mature or wise, but they can attain both qualities in due time, through prayer, studying God’s word, and experience, including actually researching what groups like Americans For Truth believe rather than making up lies about us.

——————————

MySpace posting bashing Americans For Truth:

Doc Holid♠y

Male
16 years old
Naperville, ILLINOIS
United States

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Rodney Dangerfiled was right
Current mood: disappointed
Category: Life

There simply is no respect anymore. No respect for beliefs, no respects for individualism, no respect for humanity. I just read my friend Emily’s note about a group called ‘Americans For Truth’ and I visited their website. It made me want to vomit and cry. This group is dedicated to ‘educating’ America and the world about what they call “The Solution to the Gay Problem”. This made me remember something else along those lines, it was called “The Final Solution to the Jewish Problem”. The ‘Final Solution’ to this imaginary malady was thought up by none other than Adolf Hitler. The solution as he saw it was mass extermonation and genocide. I want to know, where does all this hate come from. The same people who run this orginization also claim to be devout christians adn against the violence in Iraq and many other places in the world. Yet they fail to realise that just because it isn’t neccesarily physical, that doesn’t mean it is any less disgusting or violent. One thing every parent tries to preach, or at lest should try to, is understanding and compassion. Where is the understanding and compassion anymore? When did it become acceptable to shout hate and ignorance becasue you don’t understand teh way someone live’s their life. They are not asking you to take part in anything you don’t want to, they aren’t even asking for your blessing. all tehy are asking is that you let then life their life, and live it in peace. You may not agre with it, in fact i guarantee there are things in this world that make you want to spriral into blind rage at the near mention of, but I ask you, I beg you, do not hate something because you cannot understand it. Do not hate because the masses dictate that you should, groupthink is genocide of the mind. Finally, I ask you, love your neighbor like your brother and love the world like you love your friend. I have always made sure above all else that my friends know one thing about me if nothing else, that is that I would readily take a bullet for them, that no sacrifice is too great, and that nothing comes before them.

God’s condemnation of homosexuality is abundantly clear—He opposes it in every age:

• In the patriarchs (Genesis 19:1-28)
• In the Law of Moses (Leviticus 18:22; 20:13)
• In the Prophets (Ezekiel 16:46-50)
• In the New Testament (Romans 1:18-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Jude 7-8)

Why does God condemn homosexuality? Because it overturns God’s fundamental design for human relationships—a design that pictures the complementary relationship between a man and a woman (Genesis 2:18-25; Matthew 19:4-6; Ephesians 5:22-33).

An open letter to Peter LaBarbera and posted Dec 30, 2006, on lesbian Pam Spaulding’s blog, Pam’s House Blend, reads:

An Open Letter to Peter LaBarbera
by Rick
Sat Dec 30, 2006 at 17:16:20 PM EST

(I never did receive a response from LaBarbera [he wrote me first, see my open response]. Blender Rick decided to tackle a letter to the Americans for Truth honcho. Will he get a reply — promoted by pam)

Note: After reading a post about Autumn Sandeen, I got the general impression that Peter LaBarbera spends at least some time reading the goings on here at the Blend. Since this is the case, I wanted to write an open letter to him, just to give him some insight as to how some of us see him.

I wanted to start by pointing out an ideology that’s seemed to creep into Evangelical Christianity in recent years. When I came to Christ 9 years ago, I saw small bursts of it, but it appears that things have reached a fever pitch in recent years. Peter, there’s a big difference between not condoning homosexuality, and condemning it, and that’s where the Golden Rule applies in spades. I can understand how you feel the Bible condemns homosexuality, but I have a hard time understanding why you need to actively condemn it on at least a weekly basis in a very public arena. Didn’t Christ start a second epoch where the justice and wrath of God has already been fulfilled due to His sacrifice? Why the active campaigning against a people group you disagree with? These aren’t the money changers in the temple, these are the sinners Christ ate with.

Peter, how do your actions convey the Golden Rule? Do you love Pam, Autumn, and the rest of the gay community as you love yourself? Truly, do you? In what ways are you reaching out to the gay community to convey the love of Christ to them? How are you helping to defend the poor, sick, and weak? And let’s be perfectly frank here, telling people that they’re sick and perverted only makes them feel attacked, since in all reality, it really is a character attack. Are you showing the love of Christ to these people, or committing character assassination? Perhaps it’s time to turn away from press releases for a while, and actually follow the Golden Rule. You could volunteer with your local LGBT community center doing HIV prevention, and show them the love of Christ more than you ever will with hollow words. Perhaps at next year’s pride parade or leather ball, it would be more fitting to show your love in meaningful ways (such as passing out water bottles) rather than standing in judgement with picket signs. Or, perhaps we could see you actively campaign against other sins, such as gluttony (obesity in the Church, anyone?) divorce, greed, or any other myriad of sins. Constantly harping on the issue of gay sin while you ignore others only makes you look like a hypocrite, and turns away members of the gay community. Remember, you will have to answer to Christ when he asks if your actions deterred gay people from coming to Him, rather than leading them to Him. What will you be able to say?

And why don’t you feel the need to turn the other cheek? If you feel attacked by what’s written about you here, shouldn’t you just confess your pain to God and get on with life? Why the need to post retaliation-based press releases at AFT and Agape Press? Here’s a little constructive criticism too; lose the vitriolic intonations, and maybe the gay community wouldn’t take such offense to your writings. Oh, and stop making up the “Gay Agenda.” We both know there’s no such thing. People saying they want equality or recognition doesn’t deserve the borderline-slanderous militant bent you’re labeling it with. Bearing false witness is bearing false witness, and that’s a sin.

Seriously, I’d suggest a good ol’ “quiet time” for you reading the book of John and making sure there’s no sin in your life. If you’d like, I can loan your my John MacArthur study Bible, as there are some excellent resources in there. I’m not saying these things to be mean. I’m not referring to you as “Porno Pete” or any other epithets used against you. I’m saying these things to you because I’m genuinely concerned about you. I worry that your heart is following a dark path of hatred against your fellow man, guised in the cloak of righteous indignation. Remember, brother, vengence belongs to the LORD.

Sincerely,
Rick

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Now, you might be thinking that our friend Rick must be a sincere and godly man — but we are thinking that he might need to read his John MacArthur study Bible a little more carefully or perhaps visit Grace to You for additional resources. You see, Rick is also known as Blandella and, as you evaluate his criticism of Peter LaBarbera, you might consider his choice of casual wear (read carefully):

How I wish he were enjoying Coca-Cola instead.

What should be your response to the homosexual? Make it a gospel response — confront him with the truth of Scripture that condemns him as a sinner, and point him to the hope of salvation through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

– John MacArthur

Rick, please study what John MacArthur has to say about the Bible and homosexuality, as well as Hebrews 10:26-31 and I John 3:6. No one can practice or approve of homosexuality and please God. — Sonja Dalton

… this is what becomes of a party that compromises for political expediency, especially when it involves pro-family moral values. Liberal Republicans and so-called “moderates” are precisely why a real conservative agenda never gets enacted. And the idea of a “Log Cabin Republican” is simply abhorrent.

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