I was engaged with another discussion group and, once again, found myself defending the ACLU against some pretty serious ACLU haters.
They kept throwing out all this stuff about the founder being a Communist and the ACLU "agenda" being Communism and anti-Americanism. The usual wingnut spew.
As usual, I quoted from the ACLU's own website and such "tried and true" sources as wikipedia, etc. When I asked for sources for their allegations, I got the usual, "Look it up!" So, I did . . . and THAT is where things got interesting . . . .
I googled: "ACLU agenda" and found this site:
http://www.reclaimamerica.org/...
Wow! Snarling wolf/dog picture and all kinds of allegations about the nasty ACLU! But I noted the copyright to something called "Coral Ridge Ministries." Hmmmm . . . and, thought I, what is this?
So . . . a few googles later, we learn about all the connections between Rev. D. James Kennedy, Judge Roy Moorem, the "Left Behind" evangelism and connections to the Christian ultra-right wing!
[Excerpted from www.atheist.org, Copyright © 2005 American Atheists, Inc. All rights reserved.] Coral Ridge Ministries is a "mega-church" outreach headed by controversial televangelist D. James Kennedy, who has a long history of involvement in religious right political causes. In 1979, he sat on the board of directors of the new Moral Majority group organized by preacher Jerry Falwell and political operatives like Tim LaHaye (wife Beverly founded Concerned Women for America) and Paul Weyrich. Kennedy was also in on ground floor efforts involving former Rep. John Conlan of Arizona who worked to organize the nation's burgeoning evangelical movement behind the political candidacy of former President Ronald Reagan.
As an evangelist, Kennedy is best known for his stern positions regarding sex education and equal rights for gays. His Coral Ridge Ministry television program has been a forum for those speaking out in opposition to AIDS testing. He also hosted anti-choice zealot Randall Terry of the Operation Rescue movement which terrorized clinics and women seeking abortion services.
While he is considered a Presbyterian evangelical, Kennedy has endorsed books and other materialists published by the extremist Christian Reconstructionist movement which supports establishment of an Old Testament style theocracy and the implementation of "bible-based" law. Jay Grimstead, a Reconstruction activist, once declared, "There are a lot of us floating around in Christian leadership -- James Kennedy is one of them -- who don't go all the way with the theonomy thing, but who want to rebuild America based on the Bible..."
Kennedy has also flirted with other religious authoritarians, including Rev. Sun Myung Moon and his Unification Church movement. Moon has referred to himself as the Messiah, and denounced American women as "prostitutes" for their immodesty. The bizarre cult leader bankrolled a group in the mid-1980s known as the Coalition for Religious Freedom which included a slew of American religious right evangelists including discredited preacher Jimmy Swaggart, Jerry Falwell, Rex Humbard, and, of course, D. James Kennedy.
Kennedy's cozy association with Moore began in 1995 when the future Chief Justice was a Judge in Etowah County, Alabama. Moore generated national attention when he placed a hard-carved wooden plaque symbolizing the Ten Commandments above his courtroom dais, and began opening the day's judicial proceedings with Baptist invocations. Lawsuits were quickly filed, and Moore remained recalcitrant, refusing to take down the Decalogue symbols or "secularize" them by including other non-religious documents like the U.S. Constitution. A suit filed by freethinkers in Alabama was dismissed on a technicality, and Moore became a heroic figure for religious and political groups across the nation which supported issues like prayer in public schools and display of the Commandments on government property. Along the way to the state capital, Rev. Kennedy was a staunch supporter of the combative Roy Moore.
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You get the drift? There is more . . .
According to the Sourcewatch entry on Coral Ridge Ministries:
Sister Organizations
-The Center for Reclaiming America
-Knox Theological Seminary
-Westminster Academy
Major Donors
Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation
In 2003 its income was $20,842,558, $9,722,424 of which was donated.
And finally, just for some enterprising kossack out there with some time, I came across this little window into the political links between conservative Republicans and Christian conservatives: http://www.responseunlimited.com/...
Enjoy!