On February 26, 2008, just a week before the Ohio Primary, John McCain announced at a rally in Cincinnati that televangelist Rod Parsley was his "spiritual guide." This was an important "get" for McCain because Parsley is the pied piper of the religious right in Ohio, and McCain had been struggling with those in the Religious Right and fellow uber-conservatives, and he also needed to end Huckabee's constant needling. McCain can now put a small checkmark in the religious right voting box...but that checkmark comes with some HEAVY baggage...
As I live just down the road from Parsley’s church and home, this hits home for me in a big way, and I felt compelled to prep a diary on the subject. Also, I’d promised Anastasia, Meteor Blades and some others in a few diary comments that I’d follow up with a diary on this. So, if you’re interested, read on below the fold for additional details and for an excellent link to videos of McCain’s "big toe" and spiritual guide, Rod Parsley (aka, the Parsley Flake).
Well, for starters, Rod Parsley ( http://www.rodparsley.com ), a fundamentalist Christian, has called for the eradication of Islam as a false, anti-Christian religion, and for Christians to wage a new crusade against Islam. Parsley wants his followers to man their battle stations, ready their weapons, and lock and load to let the reformation begin. Guess this fits right in with McCain’s "bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran" favorite song and philosophy.
Additionally, Parsley and his Center for Moral Clarity have called for the outright prosecution of people who commit adultery, and have compared Planned Parenthood workers to Nazis. The CMC pushes a strict biblical response to moral issues like abortion.
Further, Parsley's World Harvest church and ministries have been accused of engaging in pro-Republican activities in violation of its tax-exempt status, but have never been investigated or found guilty, amazingly enough, by the Republican-controlled Ohio (and federal) government. In recent elections in Ohio, Parsley and his ministries have been a key to fundamentalist Christian GOTV efforts, for the likes of George Bush in 2000 and 2004 and for the failed (thankfully!) gubernatorial run of Ken Blackwell in 2006.
I live less than 5 miles from the Parsley compound, home to World Harvest Church, Bible College and Harvest Prep High School, and to his internationally televised Breakthrough Ministries, all located at 4595 Gender road in Canal Winchester, Ohio, a southeastern suburb of Columbus. If you want to say "Hi" to the good reverend, you can do so here: customerservice@rodparsley.com.
I also live less than 5 miles from Parsley’s million dollar mansion, located at 10720 Allen Road NW in Pickerington, Ohio. My sister’s family lives less than a mile away. It may sound odd, but one beef I have with Parsley is a simple inconvenience in that when his 12,000-member church lets out on midday Sunday, his bought city policemen hold all other traffic up until the flock exits the compound. It’s on a two-lane road in a rural/suburban area, but when church lets out and you get caught in it, you might as well be living in LA at rush hour.
Both of the massive Parsley properties can be viewed by going to Google Maps. Interestingly, according to the Fairfield County Auditor’s webpage, Parsley has his home in a trust in his wife’s name. Guess it wouldn’t look good to have than hulking mansion in his name. Wonder how many in the flock know he lives in a mansion?
According to his web page, the Rod Parsley ministries started out as a small garage church back in 1977 and have grown at a staggering rate ever since. The Parsley ministries are committed to fulfilling their responsibility to be accountable to God, and to the government and all of their requirements...particularly those associated with the exemption from federal income tax under §501(c)(3) for religious non-profit organizations. Yup, Gawd wouldn’t want it any other way...at least for McCain’s spiritual guide.
Discussion on some of the Parsley Ministries:
Breakthrough
According to the web page, "Breakthrough is a Rod Parsley-hosted television show taking biblical doctrine and the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a potential viewing audience of 97% of homes in the United States. Breakthrough is seen in nearly every nation and carried on 1,400 stations and cable affiliates, including Daystar, INSP, Cornerstone Television, World Harvest Television, The Church Channel, The Trinity Broadcasting Network, ENLACE, which broadcasts in Spanish to 20 nations, and Europe 7."
McCain can see it already, his name and positions being televised on Breakthrough by his spiritual guide round-the-clock, all over the country and world for the next six months, free of charge to McCain...and tax-free for the Parsley Flake.......and moral-free if we’re keeping it real.
The Center for Moral Clarity
The Center for Moral Clarity, ahhh, pomposity and moral superiority practically drip from the name alone. Parsley, a self-described Christocrat, founded the CMC in 2007. Parsley and the CMC have called for the outright prosecution of people who commit adultery, and have compared Planned Parenthood workers to Nazis. The CMC pushes a strict biblical response to moral issues like abortion.
Here’s a little text from the CMC web page:
Abortion: Life's Greatest Enemy
Rod Parsley is leading our nation into a new awareness concerning the tragedy of abortion. People from all faiths and cultural backgrounds are coming to understand that abortion has been nothing less that an American genocide over the last 35 years, claiming the lives of 46 million unborn babies. In fact, Dr. Parsley has been so moved by this issue that he directed his staff to produce the DVD set, Life’s Greatest Enemy, which exposes how African American children, in particular, have been the target of a generation of homicidal doctors and so-called "family-planners." Over 25 percent of the African-American population has already been exterminated by abortionists. Nearly as many black babies are aborted in American as are allowed to be born. Rod Parsley is determined to bring this outrage to an end. Through education, the establishment of crisis pregnancy Hope Centers, and serving as our voice on this issue in our nation’s capital, Rod Parsley has directed the collective might of his 10 ministries to fighting murderous abortion in America and throughout the world. With your generous support, Rod Parsley’s crusade against abortion will continue both gaining strength and saving the lives of thousands of unborn children.
Hope Centers? Yikes.
Here’s some more text from his web page:
Defund Planned Parenthood
In the past two years alone, Planned Parenthood has received more than half a billion dollars from the federal government to execute their horrific policies and facilitate the national scourge of abortion on demand. Abortion is a crime against humanity. It is horrible enough that this tragedy is legal in the United States ... but to sponsor it with our tax dollars — yours and mine — is unconscionable."
"Abraham Lincoln took on the daunting task of sounding an alarm and calling like-minded men and women to battle and to sacrifice for a noble cause. Today, our battle is not a war between the states, it is a war within the states ... a clash with our culture over the absolute sanctity of human life. And so, we call upon every committed Christian citizen to join in this battle for the sanctity of life in America and to rise up with a clarion call to the Congress of the United States to STOP funding Planned Parenthood through a major nationwide initiative, challenging our leaders to put a stop to this outrageous, yet long-standing, policy. There is a price to pay to rescue an entire generation ... and with your help, we will continue to fight against this culture of death. Give your most generous gift right now and let us stand together in calling on Congress to right this wrong.
Give until it hurts... to stop young people from planning parenthood.
Reformation Ohio
Reformation Ohio is a coalition of denominational and independent churches, ministries, businesses and other organizations committed to making a permanent impact on the state of Ohio by preaching the Gospel, performing acts of compassion throughout the state and empowering individuals and communities through non-partisan voter registration."
According to their web page, "liberal policy organizations and some Ohio media outlets have consistently misrepresented Reformation Ohio in that regard. This type of criticism is proof that opponents either misunderstand the purpose of Reformation Ohio or choose to disseminate inaccurate information. The truth is that Reformation Ohio has never been a political organization. Its focus is preaching the Gospel, feeding the poor and encouraging voter participation – something any Christian organization, regardless of its politics or values concerning moral issues, should be able to support. At a Reformation Ohio evangelistic event, you will never hear participants encouraged to vote for or against a particular candidate. You will hear exhortations to participate in the political process, guided by one’s own values.
Guess we’ll just have to take him "on faith" that he’s not doing anything illegal that would jeopardize his multi-million dollar tax dodge as a religious non-profit. As an aside, I talked to a co-worker awhile back that attended a Reformation Ohio function on a lark, and she noted that their people at the voter registration table tried to feel folks out to see if they were the "right" kind of voter before they signed them up. I’ve also heard that for those they did sign up that didn’t have the "right" feel to them...well, those registration forms were placed in old file #13 for safe keeping. Nice, eh? McCain’s spiritual guide hard at work!
Books by Rod Parsley
Are you looking for answers, for the truth? How about some light Fundie reading from the pen of the Parsley Flake?
Silent No More includes a chapter titled "Islam: The Deception of Allah," which states that there is an ongoing war between Islam and Christian civilization, that Islam is an anti-Christian religion, and that the U.S. should launch a crusade to eradicate Islam. The Flake notes that Muhammad received his revelations from demons and not the true God and that Allah was a demon spirit. And in a show of "F them all" idealism, Parsley does not differentiate between Islamic extremists and the many other non-violent followers.
In Silent No More, Parsley also thoroughly trashes activist judges, civil libertarians advocating separation of church and state, and homosexuality. Yup, nothing controversial here...this is right up McCain’s alley. I’m sure all Americans would feel quite comforted knowing the Parsley Flake is McCain’s spiritual guide.
The Flakes other self-proclaimed bestseller, Culturally Incorrect, includes a table of contents with chapters titled, Surveying the Battlefield, Pretenders to the Throne, and The Battleground of Science. Hmmm...do you smell a book chock full of unsubstantiated Fundie talking points. McCain’s spiritual guide sure can write a page-turner! Guess WE are going to have to spoon-feed McCain’s spiritual guidance to the MSM, as all I hear now is "cricket, cricket." FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting at http://www.fair.org/... is working to refocus the MSM on this issue.
I haven’t written at all about McCain’s religious positioning over the years, but the details are sordid and many. During McCain’s 2000 presidential bid, he called Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell agents of intolerance, but over the last year he was backtracked in double time on that sentiment. And in the last few months, after McCain sought and devoured the endorsement of Texas televangelist John Hagee, who called the Catholic Church "the great whore" and a "false cult system," he has since had to renounce to some extent due to the Catholic League’s loud protestations.
I also have not written about all of Parsley Flake’s individual ministries, but if you want to see this Fundie preacher in action, check out these most excellent videos at Brave New Films:
http://bravenewfilms.org/...
Foul demons that have clogged this vacuum cleaner...BE GONE!! Sorry, just flashing back to a funny Gary Larson cartoon. Holy Mackerel is right! McCain has picked himself a real winner to serve as his spiritual guide...and it is our job to make sure America knows just what a weiner he is. Good night and good luck...
PS...in memoriam:
The funeral for former U.S. Senator Howard Metzenbaum of Ohio is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple, located at 23737 Fairmount Boulevard in Beachwood, Ohio. Burial will be at Mayfield Cemetery, located at 2749 Mayfield Road in Cleveland Heights. Metzenbaum served in the Senate beginning in 1976 until his retirement in 1994 and was a true champion of the working people. He died Wednesday at the age of 90. Contributions can be made in his name to the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism ( http://rac.org ) and/or to the Consumer Federation of America ( http://consumerfed.org ).
Rest in peace Metzy, you served your community, state and country well...