Tornado Alley (PROG)

[F6]

Tim Tebow Attacked By American Family Association For Canceling Anti-Gay Church Appearance

By Cavan Sieczkowski
Posted: 02/22/2013 2:33 pm EST | Updated: 02/22/2013 6:07 pm EST

The American Family Association (AFA) attacked NFL player Tim Tebow for canceling an appearance at an anti-gay church, claiming that he "caved" to the "liberal media" [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3ranZfsshE (above, as embedded)] and has lost his "street cred." Readers, in turn, slammed the conservative group for its response.

It all started when news surfaced on Feb. 14 that Tebow was scheduled to speak in April at First Baptist Church of Dallas [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/14/tim-tebow-church-anti-gay-first-baptist-dallas_n_2687167.html ], a Texas megachurch led by senior pastor Robert Jeffress and known for anti-gay, anti-Catholic, anti-Semitic rhetoric. An uproar ensued, and Tebow announced on Feb. 21 that he had cancelled the appearance [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/21/tim-tebow-cancels-speech-_n_2733947.html ] due to "new information" brought to his attention.

After the Jets player nixed the gig, the AFA took to its One News Now website and Twitter (with the hashtage #TebowCaves) [ https://twitter.com/AFAActionAlert/status/304622680420782080 ] to bash Tebow for ostensibly crumbling under media pressure [ http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/american-family-association-attacks-tim-tebow-gets-attacked-by-its-own-supporters/news/2013/02/22/60987 ], David Badash from The New Civil Rights Movement reports. But once readers began criticizing the AFA's argument, the group allegedly took down the piece and refocused it.

Via The New Civil Rights Movement:

Last night, the article had well over 200 comments, the vast majority of them slamming not Tim Tebow, but the American Family Association and the head of its One News Now “news” website, Tim Wildmon.

The readers were so angry that One News Now removed the story [ http://www.onenewsnow.com/latest-headlines-from-the-web/2013/02/21/breaking-tim-tebow-caves-to-liberal-media-pressure ] (note the “404? not found) and republished it, drastically changing the focus [ http://www.instantanalysis.net/afa-blogs/2013/2/21/tebow-caves-to-pressure-from-liberal-media ] from trying to create a Frankensteinian peoples’ villager burning of Tim Tebow, to one claiming “This was more of a story about the bullying by the media.”

Still, prominent AFA members maintain that Tebow has wronged Christians [ http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2013/02/22/american-family-association-accuses-nfls-tim-tebow-of-losing-christian-street-cred-for-shunning-anti-gay-church/ ].

AFA spokesman and "Focal Point" radio program host Bryan Fischer posted a lengthy diatribe against Tebow on his Facebook page on Thursday, alleging that the cancellation diminishes the football player's "street cred with the Christian community."

Writes Fischer:

If Tebow does not in fact disagree with Jeffress on any of these points, then his decision looks like nothing more than craven capitulation to the nattering nabobs of negativism and intolerance ... Tebow has established his street cred with the evangelical community by being unapologetic and unwavering in his faith. If his NFL career washes out, this street cred with the Christian community is all he has left. He is squandering that enormous reservoir of goodwill and admiration as we speak, by taking a knee rather than stepping up in the pocket.

Commenters criticized Fischer for damaging Tebow's evangelical message and asked why such a hateful church like First Baptist deserves respect.

Still, Jeffress claims Tebow never cancelled [ http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/tebow-cancels-appearance-robert-jeffress-church ] his appearance at First Baptist Church of Dallas. In an interview with the AFA's Tim Wildmon [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymQB1pwpLYA (next below)],

Jeffress said that Tebow has merely rescheduled the speech to a later date once the controversy blows overs, Right Wing Watch reports.

Jeffress' inflammatory preachings have made headlines for the past 15 years.

In 1998, he checked out all books from the Wichita Library that included gay parents [ http://www.advocate.com/politics/religion/2013/02/17/church-where-tim-tebow-will-speak-very-very-antigay ] and refused to return them, The Advocate notes. He called homosexuality "filthy" and "degrading" [ http://www.dmagazine.com/Home/D_Magazine/2012/January/The_Savior_Robert_Jeffress_of_First_Baptist_Dallas.aspx ] in a 2008 speech, titled "Gay Is Not OK." In 2010, he claimed Islam is a religion that "promotes pedophilia [ http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/09/dallas_pastor_islam_promotes_pedophilia_video.php ]." During the 2012 presidential election he advised his congregation to vote against Mitt Romney and claimed Mormonism is a "cult [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/07/romney-in-a-cult-dont-vot_n_1001157.html ]."

(Hat tip, Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters [ http://www.holybulliesandheadlessmonsters.blogspot.com/2013/02/american-family-association-faces.html ( http://www.holybulliesandheadlessmonsters.blogspot.com/2013/02/american-family-association-faces.html?m=1 )])

Copyright © 2013 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/22/tim-tebow-american-family-association-cancels-church-christian_n_2742119.html [with comments]


--


Jeffress: Gays Brainwashing America

Uploaded on Oct 11, 2011 by RWWBlog

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/jeffress-denounces-gays-promiscuous-manipulative-and-abnormal

Robert Jeffress cites the anti-gay group NARTH to argue that gays are brainwashing America.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Fes7nfn4i0


--


Jeffress: Gays Can't Be Monogamous

Uploaded on Oct 11, 2011 by RWWBlog

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/jeffress-denounces-gays-promiscuous-manipulative-and-abnormal

Robert Jeffress misrepresents a Dutch study to claim that gays can't have monogamous, long-term relationships

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYQxzRRpR_w


--


Jeffress: Voting For Obama Is "Asking For God's Judgment On Our Country"

Published on Oct 25, 2012 by RWWBlog

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/were-asking-gods-judgment-our-country-exercise-hypocrisy

Robert Jeffress says America is engaged in "high-handed sins" and that re-electing Barack Obama will brings God's judgment upon America.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwqhZF2rDgQ


--


Fischer: Obama Is An Antichrist

Published on Feb 8, 2013 by RWWBlog

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/fischer-obama-antichrist

Bryan Fischer declares that President Obama is an antichrist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVHDKXBAPLE


--


Megachurch Pastor: Obama Re-Election "Reign of the Antichrist"

Published on Nov 14, 2012 by MidweekPolitics

Texas megachurch pastor Robert Jeffress indicated that President Obama's reelection would lead to the "reign of the antichrist," and we wonder whether this is a political-enough statement to meet the threshold for having his church's tax exemption removed.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jackson-williams/robert-jeffress-obama-antichrist_b_2084303.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSMDUB4jjW4


--


PASTOR SAYS OBAMA PAVES THE WAY FOR ANTI CHRIST ?!

Published on Nov 12, 2012 by RantWithJeff

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/texas-megachurch-pastor-says-obama-will-pave-way-for-antichrist-84639/ . He also claims 70 percent of gay people in the USA have aids and that Mormons are a cult, even though he supported Mitt Romney.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdcYTk-b3Eg


--


Mike Malloy exposes the crazy Dallas pastor who hosted Tim Tebow

Published on Feb 20, 2013 by andrewsaccount09

February 15, 2013, hour 1, segment 3, topic 2. Mike Malloy comments on a report that Tim Tebow is to speak at a Dallas megachurch headed by a controversial homophobic pastor. Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/14/tim-tebow-church-anti-gay-first-baptist-dallas_n_2687167.html

Excerpts:

"First Baptist Dallas is an approximately 11,000-member church led by senior pastor Robert Jeffress, an evangelical Christian who has built up quite a reputation for himself in circles among the religious right.

In October 2011, Jeffress endorsed Texas Governor Rick Perry for president, then went on to claim that Islam and Mormonism are heretical religions "from the pit of hell," and "you can't be saved being a Jew."

On the eve of the presidential election in November 2012, Jeffress warned his Dallas congregation that President Barack Obama's re-election would "lead to the rise of the Antichrist," according to The Christian Post.

Jeffress photo:

http://www.dallasvoice.com/quarterback-tim-tebow-speak-baptist-church-dallas-10139823.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8s762Hvwug


--


Robert Jeffress: Bill Maher, Mormons, and America's Demise (LIFE Today)

Published on Mar 14, 2012 by lifetodaytv

The pastor of First Baptist Dallas and author of "Twilight's Last Gleaming" talks about his controversial views and the sociopolitical issues impacting our culture.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40bxLBjk2e8


--


Ben Allen And Justin Hudgins, Texas Gay Couple, Says Wedding Venue Turned Them Down
02/22/2013
A Texas-based gay couple is crying foul after they say they were turned down by a reception venue who refused to host their forthcoming wedding.
As WFAA News 8 reports [ http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/tarrant/Company-tells-gay-couple-to-take-business-elsewhere-192182421.html ], Ben Allen and Justin Hudgins hoped to book a reception for 150 guests at the All Occasion Party Place near Fort Worth. But the couple says they were told by phone and email that the venue wouldn't host a same-sex wedding.
“It is because of God that I will not be a part in your reception, and I know he loves you, but not what you are doing,” All Occasion Party Place employee Robin Hearne is quoted by the news channel as having written to Hudgins in an e-mail. “I simply said I can not rent to you which is also my right.”
[...]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/22/ben-allen-justin-hudgins-texas-gay-reception-hall_n_2741503.html [with comments]


--


Spirited Debate with Nick Fish and Dr. Robert Jeffress

Published on Dec 15, 2012 by Nick Fish

FoxNews.com's "Spirited Debate" with Lauren Green, talking about the tragedy in Newtown, CT and the "War on Christmas". From American Atheists, Nick Fish and from First Baptist Dallas, Dr. Robert Jeffress. Recorded on Friday, December 14, 2012.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aJz52bBS3c


--


Mitt Romney Gets Ass Handed to Him by Gay Veteran in New Hampshire

Published on Dec 16, 2011 by MidweekPolitics

Mitt Rommey gets confronted by a gay veteran while campaigning in New Hampshire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H9FKfECKDk


--


Austin congregation dissents on denomination’s stand on homosexuality


The Rev. John Wright and his wife, the Rev. Barbara Ruth, are co-pastors at First United Methodist Church. First United voted this month to join the Reconciling Ministries Network, which is pushing to change the denomination’s position that homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.
Ralph Barrera


The Rev. John Wright and his wife, the Rev. Barbara Ruth, are co-pastors at First United Methodist Church. First United voted this month to join the Reconciling Ministries Network, which is pushing to change the denomination’s position that homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.‘In our judgment, the church policy is incompatible with the Christian Gospel,’ says the Rev. John Wright, co-pastor of First United Methodist Church of Austin.
Ralph Barrera


‘In our judgment, the church policy is incompatible with the Christian Gospel,’ says the Rev. John Wright, co-pastor of First United Methodist Church of Austin.
Ralph Barrera

By Juan Castillo
American-Statesman Staff
Posted: 6:08 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013

First United Methodist Church of Austin has joined a national group trying to change the denomination’s position that homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.

First United voted earlier this month to join the Chicago-based Reconciling Ministries Network, which has more than 500 United Methodist churches, including a handful in Central Texas, plus campus ministries and associated groups. The network advocates changing parts of the denomination’s Book of Discipline dealing with homosexuality to be welcoming to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender church members.

The Book of Discipline contains church doctrine. It prohibits the ordination of self-avowed homosexuals and forbids ministers to conduct gay marriage ceremonies or bless same-sex unions. The denomination’s general assembly reaffirmed its positions on homosexuality last May.

First United is the oldest and one of the largest United Methodist churches in Austin, and local supporters of the reconciling network say the move could push other churches to consider joining.

First United Methodist’s pastor, the Rev. John Wright, said congregation members decided they could no longer be silent, because silence implied consent to denomination policies on homosexuality.

“We have to stand up and say, ‘This is wrong, and we need to change it,’” Wright said. “In our judgment, the church policy is incompatible with the Christian Gospel. It’s not the other way around.”

Wright said a “super majority,” at least 75 percent, of the 357 church members present for a church conference vote approved a motion to join the network.

First United Methodist, at 1201 Lavaca St., has about 1,800 members, Wright said. Based on average weekly attendance, it is believed to be the sixth-largest church in the national network, said the Rev. Andy Oliver, a spokesman for the network and a pastor with the Florida conference of the United Methodist Church.

First United is the fifth United Methodist church in Austin to join the network and the largest of them. Others are Trinity United Methodist, University United Methodist, Grace United Methodist and St. Luke United Methodist. Journey of Faith United Methodist in Round Rock is also a member.

In 1992, Trinity United became the first United Methodist church in the Austin area to join the reconciling network. The church’s pastor then and now, the Rev. Sid Hall, called First United’s decision a momentous step because he said it could lead other United Methodist congregations on the fence to join the network. “It’s like a big ship that leaves a big wake,” Hall said.

Until now, Austin churches in the network “had a reputation of being out there and progressive on social issues,” Hall said. But First United, though it is heavily involved in homeless ministry and social justice causes, is seen as having “more diversity in terms of theology and style,” Hall added. “So to take that kind of stance is a little different than churches known as being activist.”

With an estimated 7.5 million members in the United States in 2011, the United Methodist Church is the second largest Protestant denomination in the nation. As with other Christian denominations, homosexuality is controversial within the church. Wright said about 10 families left First United as a result of its decision. He said that the congregation has had discussions about homosexuality for more than two decades and that this month’s vote came after six months of study and meetings.

Wright said the church will not perform gay weddings and will continue to abide by current church law.

The United Methodist Church’s General Conference is the body that votes on changes to the Book of Discipline. Its next meeting is in 2016.

© 2013 Cox Media Group

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/austin-congregation-dissents-on-denominations-stan/nWYCB/ [with comments]


--


UK cardinal contests 'inappropriate' acts claims


A Thursday Sept. 16, 2010 photo from files showing Cardinal Keith Patrick O'Brien speaking to the media in Edinburgh, Scotland. Roman Catholic priests should be allowed to marry and have children, Britain's most senior Catholic cleric said Friday, Feb. 22, 2013. Cardinal Keith O'Brien, who heads the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, said the requirement for priestly celibacy is "not of divine origin" and could be reconsidered. He told BBC Scotland that "the celibacy of the clergy, whether priests should marry _ Jesus didn't say that."
Scott Campbell, File / AP Photo

By SYLVIA HUI
Posted on Sunday, 02.24.13

LONDON -- The Vatican is looking into allegations of "inappropriate behavior" by Cardinal Keith O'Brien, Britain's most senior Catholic cleric, officials said Sunday. The claims came at a sensitive time, as O'Brien and other cardinals prepare for a conclave to choose the next pope.

O'Brien, who heads the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, was taking advice from lawyers after British newspaper The Observer reported that three priests and a former priest have filed complaints to the Vatican alleging that the cardinal approached them in an inappropriate manner.

The paper did not cite the names of the priests, but it said their allegations date back to the 1980s.

"Cardinal O'Brien contests these claims and is taking legal advice," Peter Kearney, a spokesman for the Scottish Catholic Church, said. He declined to comment further.

A Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the complaints had been channeled through the office of the papal nuncio - the Vatican's ambassador - in London. ''The pope has been informed, and the question is in his hands," Lombardi said.

In the coming weeks, O'Brien, 74, is expected to join a conclave of cardinals at the Vatican to elect the next pontiff, following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. Benedict announced earlier this month that he will step down on Thursday - the first pope to resign in some 600 years.

O'Brien has not been the only cardinal to become embroiled in negative news as the papal election approaches. Across the Atlantic, thousands of people have signed a petition to keep California Cardinal Roger Mahony from the conclave because of revelations he had shielded sexually abusive priests.

Mahony has made it clear he will attend the gathering and that no one can force him to recuse himself.

In comments on the papacy made to the BBC on Friday, O'Brien said the next pope would be free to consider changing church policy on issues that were not "basic dogmatic beliefs." He said he believed that the requirement for priestly celibacy is not "of divine origin" and could be reconsidered.

O'Brien also said it was time to think seriously about having a pope from outside Europe. He said he would be "open to a pope from anywhere if I thought it was the right man, whether it was Europe or Asia or Africa or wherever."

The cardinal is due to retire when he turns 75 in March.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/24/3251099/uk-cardinal-contests-inappropriate.html


--


(linked in):

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=84927836 and following

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=84937095 and preceding (and any future following)

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=84938127 and preceding (and any future following)

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=84938492 and preceding (and any future following)

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=84940131 and preceding and following

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=84940567 and following

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=84940589 and preceding (and any future following)

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=84940676 and following

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=84940792 and preceding and following

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=84942963 and preceding (and any future following)

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=84943793 (and any future following)

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=84943805 and preceding and following;
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=84947181 and preceding (and any future following)

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=84945873 and preceding (and any future following)

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=84948661 and preceding and following

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=84951222 and preceding (and any future following)

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=84959598 and preceding (and any future following)

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=84964044 and preceding (and any future following)

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=84964148 and preceding (and any future following)