Dangerous Liasons: Christian Legal Fellowship and the Alliance Defense Fund

In 2004, a twelve-year-old Ohio boy, James Nixon, won the right to wear a T-shirt to school, that read: Homosexuality is a sin, Islam is a lie, abortion is murder ", after his parents sued the school, who asked him not to. (1)

His case was handled by the Alliance Defense Fund, who challenged the courts, not on freedom of speech, but freedom of religion. They used the protection of religious freedom to justify hatred and exploited a child to do so.

A student at Sheridan Middle School in Thornville won a federal court ruling Thursday allowing him to wear a shirt to school that insults homosexuals, Muslims and abortion-rights supporters.

On Sept. 1, 2004, the first day of school, seventh-grader James Nixon wore a T-shirt that read on the front, "INTOLERANT. Jesus said ... I am the way, the truth and the life. John 14:6". On the back, the T-shirt read, "Homosexuality is a sin! Islam is a lie! Abortion is murder! Some issues are just black and white!" (2)

Marlin Maddoux and the Alliance Defense League

One of the founders of the American Defense League who came to the aid of young James Nixon, was Marlin Maddoux (1993-2004), a pioneer of Christian radio broadcasting.

Newspapers usually describe the ADF, which is based in Scottsdale, Ariz., as a "conservative" group but give little additional information. USA Today even called the ADF "a legal alliance that promotes religious freedom...."

Critics say a description such as that doesn't even begin to tell the story. Far from supporting religious liberty, the ADF champions the exact opposite: It was formed by a band of television preachers and radio broadcasters to advance the Religious Right's perspective in the courts.

The ADF, watchdogs at Americans United say, champions a radical agenda to destroy the wall of separation between church and state. It even has close ties to the most extreme faction of the Religious Right--a movement that wants to create a harsh fundamentalist Christian theocracy in America.

Since its founding, the ADF has played a role in nearly every church-state case to reach the U.S. Supreme Court and many lower federal courts. Since 1994, the ADF has directly or partially funded cases dealing with government aid to religion, religion in public schools, abortion, gay rights and religiously based censorship. Throughout, the organization's goal has been the same: merge religion and government. (3)

Maddoux was also a member of the Council for National Policy, which appear to represent the pro-military arm of the Religious Right. It was at a conference of the CNP, held in Montreal in 1997, where Stephen Harper was invited to deliver a speech tearing down the Canadian identity.

He told this group of 'muscular' Christians that: "your country, and particularly your conservative movement, is a light and an inspiration to people in this country and across the world." (4)

Another founding member of ADL is James Dobson, the man who created Focus on the Family. Dobson provided the seed money for a Canadian branch of Focus, started up by Stephen Harper's deputy chief of staff, Darrel Reid. He also indirectly poured thousands of dollars into Harper's election campaign, focusing on the issue of same-sex marriage, which became one of Harper's election promises (wink, wink).

Dobson is also a founding member of the Council for National Policy with a strong belief in creating an aggressive theocracy in both the United States and Canada.

From the beginning, the ADF was clear about what it wanted to achieve. Its founders announced the group's formation in 1994 with a huge direct-mail campaign aimed at fundamentalist Christians. Maddoux and five other high-profile Religious Right leaders endorsed the effort: James Dobson, president of Focus on the Family; Bill Bright, president of Campus Crusade for Christ; D. James Kennedy, a television evangelist and head of Coral Ridge Ministries; the Rev. Donald Wildmon, president of the American Family Association; and Larry Burkett, president of Christian Financial Concepts (now Crown Financial Ministries), a fundamentalist-oriented financial services company.

In a letter soliciting donations for the ADF, Dobson wrote, "By pooling resources, substantial amounts of money can be channeled into a critical aspect of the civil war for values---namely, the legal battle in our nation's courts for the sanctity of life, the defense of religious freedom, and the preservation of traditional family values." (3)

And as you can see from their own website, James Dobson is indeed a founding member of the Alliance Defense Fund.

Cindy Silver and the Religious Right

During the 2006 election campaign, when Ralph Reed suggested that the Religious Right in Canada bring forward as many Christian nationalists (extremists, fundamentalists) as possible, one they hand selected to run was Cindy Silver.

Silver was a lawyer with the Christian Legal Fellowship, the Canadian franchise of the Alliance Defense Fund, and one of her most prominent clients was Focus on the Family Canada, then run by Darrel Reid, Stephen Harper's deputy chief of staff.

She had the endorsement of former Reform Party MP, Sharon Hayes, who is best remembered as the woman who issued a press release on her House of Commons letterhead, that accused the Chinese of eating fetuses, urging Liberal ministers attending the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing to reject "Chinese government policies that endorse the mandated one-child policy, the murder of inmates for body parts and the alleged consumption of human fetuses as health food." (5)

She also presented a petition to Parliament in 1997, asking the government not to overturn the rights of parents to engage in corporal punishment.

These people draw to the attention of the House that section 43 recognizes the primary role of parents in raising and disciplining their children, that the federal government is under pressure from various sources including the UN to change section 43, that the removal of section 43 would strengthen the role of bureaucrats and weaken the role of parents, and that the government now continues to fund research by people opposed to its removal.

These petitioners request Parliament to affirm the duty of parents to responsibly raise their children according to their own conscience and beliefs and to retain section 43 in Canada's Criminal Code as it is currently worded.

Cindy Silver shared those views and as part of a letter to the editor wrote:

"... properly administered corporal punishment educates children to the dangers of disobedience, defiance, selfishness, sassiness, cruelty to others and actions that put the child's life in danger. It teaches them self-control and respect for authority - two characteristics necessary in socially responsible children." (6)

But what concerned the citizens of North Vancouver-Surrey, where Silver was running, was her views on things like abortion and homosexuality. In 2003 she had appeared before a House of Commons committee, as a private citizen, (not representing her client Focus on the Family), and made the following statement:

During the marriage trials, it became evident that EGALE and their partner groups for challenging marriage are not simply seeking equal benefits before and under the law, but are really seeking to ensure and expedite broad social approval for same-sex unions and, by implication, for homosexual conduct. It is really this that is at the heart of the marriage challenge. It is an attempt to use the disciplinary power of language to exact change in people's beliefs and attitudes regarding the moral nature of homosexual conduct.

Sharon Hayes now sits on the board of directors of Focus on the Family, so it shows just how connected they are to James Dobson, the Council for National Policy, and the American Religious Right.

Christian Legal Fellowship:

As mentioned above, Christian Legal Fellowship is the Canadian franchise of the Alliance Defense Fund, a group that challenges the constitution based on freedom of religion, by using legal justification for endorsing hatred toward mostly gays, Muslims and women's advocacy groups.

They also oppose anything that will stand in the way of corporate interests.

A member of Stephen Harper's caucus, and one of the hand picked social conservatives of the Religious Right, is also a lawyer with CLF and has founded a spin off organization the Canadian Constitution Foundation.

Weston is the founder of the Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF). He said he founded the group in 2002 to promote and uphold the rights of Canadians against governments that undermine the rights of individuals.

Weston’s foes on the political left use more critical language to describe the CCF goals. The Ontario Health Coalition described the CCF as an “extremely right-wing” legal advocacy group that uses the Charter of Rights to promote a conservative agenda, including the end of medicare.

In 2005 Weston talked to the Calgary Herald about his counterintuitive approach to the Charter [of Rights and Freedoms] ... “It’s here, there’s not much point in wishing it weren’t. Now, we need to make it mean what it is supposed to mean,” Weston told the Herald. “Conservatives must reclaim it for conservative values.” (7)

His group was behind the attack ads running in the U.S. against President Obama's health care plan, by using one of their clients Shona Holmes, to embellish a story of a "life threatening" illness. (8) Weston's partner, who is now running the Canadian Constitution Federation is John Carpay, an old Reform Party candidate, who is also involved with the Fraser Institute and Preston Manning's the Manning Centre for Building Democracy.

What I find rather disturbing about this movement, is their heavy use of military terms to describe domestic initiatives.

A medieval knight in jousting attire stared from the badges of delegates to the national conference of the Christian Legal Fellowship (CLF). The language of battle resonated through the late September proceedings and permeated the pages of the event program.

Carefully selected verses from Scripture buttressed the conference theme. "Therefore take on the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to stand withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm" (Eph. 6:13). "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love" (1 Cor. 16:13,14).

"As part of a national grassroots association of Christian lawyers, you have aligned with a band of faithful Christian professionals--servants of the most high--committed to standing guard for Canada, its religious freedoms, its traditional family and sanctity of life," writes CLF executive director Ruth Ross. "You have also demonstrated Christ's love, compassion and righteousness to a lost and hurting world." (9)

Marcie McDonald also revealed something else about the group after attending one of their conferences. The guest speaker was Benjamin Bull of the American Defense Fund, who after showing a rather alarming video, sheepishly apologized by saying "It works one way with donors, and another way here." (10)

Ah yes, there it is. "Donors". What it usually boils down to with the Religious Right: MONEY! Self righteous sanctimoniousness is a very lucrative business indeed, not that this group doesn't believe that they are at war. As James Dobson stated in that "fund raising" letter: "By pooling resources, substantial amounts of money can be channeled into a critical aspect of the civil war for values ..."

Unfortunately those "values" include racism, sexism and discrimination, which fall under their "freedom of religion". The religion of hate, that justifies a twelve-year-old boy wearing a T-shirt that reads: "INTOLERANT. Jesus said ... I am the way, the truth and the life. John 14:6". [On the back] "Homosexuality is a sin! Islam is a lie! Abortion is murder! Some issues are just black and white!" (2)

Sources:

1. The God Delusion, By Richard Dawkins, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006, ISBN: 13-978-0-618-68000-9, Pg. 23

2. Thornville student wins free speech case, Court protects shirt condemning abortion, gays, Islam, By Erik Johns, Newark Advocate, August 19, 2005

3. The Alliance Defense Fund's hidden agenda: how a TV preachers' front group is bankrolling the legal crusade to block same-sex marriage, Goliath Media, June 1, 2004

4. Full text of Stephen Harper's 1997 speech, Canadian Press, December 14, 2005

5. Wikipedia from Parliamentary Library

6. Vancouver Sun, 1994

7. New MP profile: West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea-to-Sky's John Weston, By Vancouver Sun, October 16, 2008

8. Shona Holmes and The Canadian Constitution Federation, By Bene Diction, Religious Right Alert, August 2, 2009

9. Onward Christian lawyers, By Doug Koop, Editorial Director, ChristianWeek.org, October 15, 2007

10. The Armageddon Factor: The Rise of Christian Nationalism in Canada, By: Marci McDonald, Random House Canada, 2010, ISBN: 978-0-307-35646-8, Pg. 291

Desert Stream and Living Waters Ministries are Both Contaminated

A CULTURE OF DEFIANCE: History of the Reform-Conservative Party of Canada

"God caused Hurricane Katrina to wipe out New Orleans because it had a gay pride parade the week before and was filled with sexual sin ... All hurricanes are acts of God, because God controls the heavens. I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God, and they were recipients of the judgment of God for that." Pastor John Hagee

Reading a statement like that made by Charles McVety's business partner, John Hagee, would certainly not adhere you to his God. If he is that vengeful, maybe we don't need to eradicate homosexuals, as the Religious Rights suggests, but simply get rid of their God. He sounds down right nasty.

Fortunately, most Christians follow a loving God who would never destroy an entire city, killing more than 1800 people, and uprooting thousands more, just to exact revenge for a gay pride parade. They believe that God made gays too.

However, this isn't really about the Christian Extremists, and their twisted version of the faith. Others have been warning about the dangers associated with this growing group of radical fundamentalists, many of whom have close ties to many members of our current government, but I decided to also expose the rampant hypocrisy that is also often associated with the Religious Right.

An excellent example of this are two 'ministries', actually linked financially, Desert Stream, part of the Exodus group, in the United States, and Living Waters ministry under the umbrella of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada.

Both of these groups claim to be able to "cure" homosexuality, but the two videos (the one above and below) show how they really operate.

Desert Stream

This organization was established by an ex-gay (?) minister, Adam Comisky, who offered "healing" to those who were "sexually broken".

On March 8, Comiskey wrote a blog post entitled “Falling Mercies” where he says DSM had been, “cast out of our home church”, Vineyard Anaheim, as a result of “a darker strain of sin in our own ranks.” He goes onto reveal that this sin was, “a longstanding staff person from Desert Stream had sexually abused at least one teenager who had sought help from us.”

Comiskey alleges that he was a victim of seven-figure blackmail from the relative of one of the abused boys. This led to, “a scourging of our entire ministry through police interrogations, the naked bulb of insurance agents and their lawyers, and Vineyard elders who for good reason wanted to know what was really going on in Desert Stream Ministries.”

As a result of the investigation, Comiskey says DSM was “torn in two” and that “we the righteous became the scum of the earth–not only the defender of victims, but the predators.” (1)

This was not the first time this group was charged with sexual misconduct, and many people refer to them as a cult. In 1998, The Los Angeles Times reported that one family had sued Desert Stream, alleging that a minister had sexually abused a teenager while the youth was undergoing 'therapy' to turn him heterosexual.

It would appear that this ex-gay minister is using his hideaway as a dating service and yet Exodus is still standing behind him. The cult has not closed up shop but just moved to another state.

Now lets go to Canada.

Living Waters Ministry

According the the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, who have quite an array of groups all promising to "fix broken sexuality"

Living Waters is Canada’s most widely used Christian program for those who battle with sexual and relational problems. The intensive 30-week course originated in California in 1980, when Andy and Annette Comiskey started a Bible-based support group for people struggling with same-sex attractions ..

Canadian national directors Toni and Mardi Dolfo-Smith have overseen Living Waters programs from their headquarters in Vancouver for the past six years. The program is currently used in 22 cities across Canada and 20 countries around the globe. “We’ve seen Christians from all walks of life benefit from this interdenominational program,” says Toni.

“Jesus is committed to healing people so that individuals are free to love again. When we’re confused or broken in our sexual and relational identities, it limits our capacity to love others according to the will of Christ,” adds Mardi.

“People who join our program are willing to face their present state while delving into a painful past,” states Toni. “In an age when pornography is okay, same-sex relationships are accepted and abuse is rampant, it is God’s grace that heals and restores our sexuality. Living Waters aims to minister that healing.”

But while Jesus may be committed to healing people, Living Waters has a different goal. MONEY!

Ottawa, Ontario, June 8, 2009... The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has revoked the charitable registration of Living Waters Ministry Trust, a London-area charity. This revocation was effective June 6, 2009.

On April 24, 2009, the CRA issued a notice of intention to revoke the charitable registration of Living Waters Ministry Trust, in accordance with subsection 168(1) of the Income Tax Act. The letter stated, in part, that:

Our audit has concluded that from August 11, 2004 to December 31, 2006, Living Waters Ministry Trust issued in excess of $41.6 million in receipts for cash received through a tax shelter arrangement. The Charity, in turn, directed $40.7 million of the cash to another registered charity also participating in this arrangement. Our audit revealed that the vast majority of the cash sent to the other participating charity was subsequently paid to the promoters of the tax shelter arrangement. Of the remainder, the Charity itself paid $443,000 in fundraising fees to the tax shelter promoters and retained $416,000 for use in their own activities.

It is our position that the Charity has operated for the non-charitable purpose of promoting a tax shelter arrangement and for the private benefit of the tax shelter promoters

So Living Waters Ministry is simply a tax shelter that has taken in million of tax free dollars. And their parent company, Desert Stream, has preyed on and exploited minors for their own sexual gratification.

And yet both of these groups appear to still be operating. In Canada they are part of what is now called 'Jason Ministries', billed as 'International Christian ex-gay ministries' and their contacts in Canada are none other than Toni & Mardi Dolfo-Smith.

And they are part of an international group that all claim to be friends of Desert Stream. Other friends of this organization that has been referred to as a cult and charged with sexual misconduct, include Focus on the Family.

The Canadian founder of Focus on Family, who received seed money from their American counterpart, is Darrel Reid, who is now Stephen Harper's deputy chief of staff, and many members of Harper's caucus, including Rob Anders, Maurice Vellacott and Brad Trost, also belong.

Reid once compared those who support gay rights to Nazis, and Anders, Vellacott and Trost are vocal homophobics.

Sources:

1. Desert Scream: Exodus Leader’s Shocking Admissions of Ministry’s Sexual Abuse, By Wayne Besen, TWO, March 13, 2010

2. Healing For Sexual Brokenness, By Simon Presland, The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, May/June issue 2001

3. The Canada Revenue Agency revokes the charitable status of Living Waters Ministry Trust, Government of Canada

How Stephen Harper and the Theo-Cons Helped to Engineer an Election

A CULTURE OF DEFIANCE: History of the Reform-Conservative Party of Canada

"For Harper, the courtship of the Christian right is unlikely to prove an electoral one-night stand. Three years ago, in a speech to the annual Conservative think-fest, Civitas, he outlined plans for a broad new party coalition that would ensure a lasting hold on power. The only route, he argued, was to focus not on the tired wish list of economic conservatives or “neo-cons,” as they’d become known, but on what he called “theo-cons”—those social conservatives who care passionately about hot-button issues that turn on family, crime, and defence.

"Even foreign policy had become a theo-con issue, he pointed out, driven by moral and religious convictions. “The truth of the matter is that the real agenda and the defining issues have shifted from economic issues to social values,” he said, “so conservatives must do the same.

"Arguing that the party had to come up with tough, principled stands on everything from parents’ right to spank their children to putting “hard power” behind the country’s foreign-policy commitments ... " (1)

Stephen Harper's exploitation of the Religious Right was planned and nurtured over many years. Even back in the Reform Party days, he tapped into many front groups, who were able to enjoy enormous tax benefits, while claiming to be religious, charitable or civic enterprises; when in fact they were highly motivated to get the Reformers elected. Many fell under the Northern Foundation (2), a group to which he was as founding member (3) and included the anti-feminist REAL Women of Canada. (4)

But it wasn't until Stockwell Day and Jason Kenney hit the federal political scene, that their armies became mobilized. This was going to be a culture war that not only pit Christian extremists against government, but "Bible-believing fundamentalists against their Christian brethren." (5) It was not merely an attempt to replace politicians at all levels with Christians, they had to be "born again" Christians. People who believed in the absolute, literal word of the Bible. Or at least how they interpreted that word.

And one of the people leading the charge was Charles Mcvety, a close personal friend and long time supporter of Jim Flaherty.

McVety .. turned to key strategists who choreographed the religious right’s takeover of the Republican Party to help ... In February of 2004, he imported Jerry Falwell for an “Emergency Pastors Briefing” to rally six hundred evangelical clergymen against a bill that included making denunciations of homosexuality a hate crime. In December of 2005, he helped to launch the Institute for Canadian Values with a gala dinner tutorial from Ralph Reed "the boyish tactical wizard behind Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition, which succeeded Falwell’s Moral Majority and helped mobilize the South for Bush." (5)

With nearly two million believers in his grassroots guerrilla force, Reed terrified liberal Republicans with his organizational stealth. “I paint my face and travel at night,” he once boasted. “You don’t know it’s over until you’re in a body bag. You don’t know until election night.”

... his appearance a day after the federal election call drew a sold-out crowd of evangelical and Conservative activists, including Senator Anne Cools and McVety’s old friend Jim Flaherty who, as Ontario’s attorney general, had once called for jailing the homeless.

But Reed also offered a lesson on how to take over a nomination contest or a riding. “He taught us all that only a handful of people actually go and seriously volunteer to get someone elected,” McVety says. “We’re talking about 150 people per riding. Tiny numbers! This is the size of a small church.” (1)

Rondo Thomas and Equipping Christians for the Public Square

Working through another Flaherty supporter, Tristan Emmanuel, founder of a group called Equipping Christians for the Public Square; Mcvety began his covert operations. I don't know if he painted his face and travelled at night, but he set his sights on a few dozen ridings scattered across the country.

McVety himself zeroed in on one particular target: Mark Holland, the Liberal MP in his own riding of Ajax-Pickering, who had organized the pivotal caucus petition that convinced Paul Martin to push Bill C-38 [same-sex marriage bill] through before the Commons’ summer recess last year. (1)

McVety helped to engineer the nomination of Rondo Thomas, his longtime deputy at Canada Christian College, but then a video surfaced of Thomas that questioned his ability to function in the world.

A video has recently surfaced showing Ajax Pickering Conservative candidate Rondo Thomas whipping up his troops in the battle against equal marriage for same-sex couples. As the top lieutenant of Defend Marriage Coalition leader Charles McVety, Mr. Thomas played an active but mostly low-profile part in the
fight against passage of Bill C-38, the equal marriage bill.

In the video, Mr. Thomas was quoted as saying:

“There is going to be a clash of morality views between those who believe in righteousness and those who believe in immorality and when we collide there is going to be conflict…It doesn’t matter what the media says, it doesn’t matter what the government says — the facts don’t count. We are going to win this conflict.” Rondo Thomas is one of the top leaders of those against equal marriage and he is intimately connected with everyone from Charles McVety to Campaign Life Coalition to American Ralph Reed, founder of the Christian Coalition.”(6)

But McVety did something else that even more disturbing. He phoned Mark Holland, the Liberal candidate who went on to win the election.

“How are your constituents going to feel about you not being married?” Almost no one knew that Holland and the mother of his three children had never tied the knot in their fourteen years together. The MP was stunned. “To me it was a veiled threat,” he says. (1)

Tristan Emmanuel

Emmanuel was a candidate in the 1997 federal election for the Christian Heritage Party, and has been a long time political activist for Canada's far right. He was behind a group called Canadians for George Bush, who rallied for Canada to join the Iraq War. Speakers included Jim Flaherty, Stockwell Day and Tim Hudak, who is Mike Harris's protegee.

Galloping Beaver discusses how Tristan Emmanuel and his Equipping Christians for the Public Square worked behind the scenes to get Stephen Harper elected.

If anything is not receiving sufficient attention during this election campaign it is the hard link between Stephen Harper's Conservatives and the likes of Tristan Emmanuel ... which should be a clear reminder that the Conservative Party of Canada is not the old Progressive Conservative Party. In fact, the CPC is rapidly becoming more and more like the US Republican Party and that is particularly so with respect to the influence of the dominionist bible movement or, the "Christian right".

He has been active in promoting "Christians" to run for the Conservatives who now have at least nine candidates sporting radical Christian credentials. All of them openly campaign against same-sex marriage, most want abortion made illegal and some are virulent racists. A good proportion of them have been or are leaders of the Canadian branches of organizations such as Focus On The Family and the Promise Keepers.

Emmanuel has some rather disturbing beliefs of his own. He praised Franklin Graham for his openly stated opinion that Islam was an "evil and wicked religion" and endorsed the belief that Christians and Muslims did not share the same God, which in Emmanuel's view made Muslims infidels. He has described gays and lesbians as "sexual deviants". Canadians have a reason to be nervous. The CPC is moving closer to the position in which the US Republican Party finds itself. If the Conservatives form government, the differences will be difficult to distinguish. (7)

It has been four years since that election and the Religious Right has actually become even more powerful, a force that is going to be very difficult to remove from "office".

Religious front groups now dominate the political landscape, and as Stephen Harper and his Reform movement work diligently to turn Canadians off politics, they will continue to strengthen their hold on Canadian governance.

Unfortunately, our media ignored this threat simply becasue they didn't want to attack someone's religious beleifs. But we are under attack now. And you have to remember that these Christian extremists are even going after mainstream Christians who promote a social gospel.

They only want fundamentalists like themselves.

Sources:

1. Stephen Harper and the Theo-cons: The rising clout of Canada's religious right, By Marci McDonald, The Walrus, October 2006

2. Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper demonstrates continued ultra right wing affiliations by blocking pro social justice Toronto candidate, By Dr. Debra Chin, The Canadian

3. Preston Manning and the Reform Party. Author: Murray Dobbin Goodread Biographies/Formac Publishing 1992 ISBN: 0-88780-161-7, pg. 100

4. Of Passionate Intensity: Right-Wing Populism and the Reform Party of Canada. Author: Trevor Harrison Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1995. ISBN: 0-8020-7204-6, Pg. 121

5. The Armageddon Factor: The Rise of Christian Nationalism in Canada, By: Marci McDonald, Random House Canada, 2010, ISBN: 978-0-307-35646-8

6. Rondo Thomas: Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: Campaign cover-up going on, Egale Canada, January 16, 2006

7. The Albatross Around Stephen Harper's Neck, The Galloping Beaver, January 2, 2006

Dirty Deeds and the Selling of Souls

The state should take a more activist role in policing social norms and values ... To achieve this goal, social and economic conservatives must reunite as they have in the U.S., where evangelical Christians and business rule in an unholy alliance. Red Tories must be jettisoned from the party ... Movement towards the goal must be "incremental, so the public won't be spooked." Stephen Harper (1)

In 2000 when Stockwell Day decided to run for the leadership of the Alliance Party against Preston Manning, a young pastor named Roy Beyer joined his team, wanting to promote a candidate who would preserve "Christian Values'. Jason Kenney acted as campaign chair and head speech writer, while Beyer set up a website "Families for Day". (2)

Stockwell won the leadership and went on to claim a seat in a by-election where he reportedly bought off the man then holding the riding of Okanagan-Coquihalla, Jim Hart. The bribe came to light when Hart was forced to sue Day (3) because he hadn't received the promised money. Day paid up, and the case went to the RCMP.(4) (Day was in charge of the ministry that oversaw the RCMP at the time, and I believe he got off)

Beyer would also work doggedly during the federal election of November 2000, but gaffes and revelations of Day's past while teaching at the Bentley Bible Schools went public (5), and the electorate got "spooked".

Another Important Election:

Meanwhile south of the border, another man had thrown his hat into the ring to lead his country: George W. Bush, and like Stockwell Day, he had many young devotees eager to see him get elected. One of them was the born-again Christian Ralph Reed, an up and coming preacher and political activist for the Republican Party.

When evangelist Pat Robertson failed to make headway with his moral majority the media thought it was the end of the Religious Right in the United States. However, Robertson was smart enough to hire the young doctoral student, Ralph Reed "... to build a grassroots network, focusing first on the takeover of school boards and town councils before ultimately commandeering the Republican National Committee itself. This took place almost entirely beneath the media's radar, and by the time it caught their attention, Reed's Christian Coalition controlled both houses of Congress and would later play a major role in putting George W. Bush in the White House, not once but twice." (6)

After this success, the Canadian Religious Right believed that if Reed and his Christian Coalition could get George Bush elected, maybe he could show them how to get Stephen Harper elected in Canada. Harper had taken over as leader of the Alliance, after a mutiny forced Day from the spot, and they were now calling themselves the Conservative Party of Canada. (The Progressive Conservatives disbanded in 2003, ending a century and a half tradition)

So in December of 2005, Reed headed north to address a gathering of social conservatives to offer tips on how to win the election for Stephen Harper:

“How are you gonna do it?” he rhetorically asked and gave four points. “Number one”, he emphasized, “you have to build a grassroots organization that will touch every single voter in the country between now and election day”. Point two was “train your people to be effective”. Next was set and meet “achievable goals” and lastly Reed told the assembled group of leaders anxious to influence this crucial election that they had to work very hard “to get out the vote”.

His very attentive listeners were challenged by Reed to “get on your work boots and tennis shoes and go out there like it all depends on you, pray like it all depends on God and let’s usher in the greatest victory in the history of this country.” A few Conservative candidates from the Toronto region also attended the event, including Ontario PC Jim Flaherty, John Carmichael, Rondo Thomas, Michael Mostyn, and Tim Dobson. (7)

But then the wonder boy got caught up in a scandal when his ties to the convicted former G.O.P. super lobbyist Jack Abramoff, surfaced:

For a high-profile religious conservative like Reed, the stories of being paid millions by one Indian tribe to run a religious-based antigambling campaign to prevent another tribe from opening a rival casino made him look like something worse than a criminal--a hypocrite. He had once called gambling a "cancer" on the body politic. And the e-mails to Abramoff didn't help, especially those that seemed to suggest that the man who had deplored in print Washington's system of "honest graft" was eager to be part of it. "I need to start humping in corporate accounts!" he wrote Abramoff a few days after the 1998 election. (8)

Canada Family Action Coalition

Meanwhile Roy Beyer fearing that there was a plot under way to destroy families, by "legalizing" homosexuality, decided he should do something about it. Though he had never been to divinity school, he and fellow pastor at the Victory Church, Brian Rushfeldt, began taking a correspondence course offered by Canada Christian College, run by Charles McVety.

It was later decided that the two should try to turn McVety's Canada Family Action Coalition into the same kind of activist group created by Ralph Reed, that would become a political force demanding the restoration of biblical principles to government.

The Canada Family Action Coalition (CFAC) is a social conservative organization that actively promotes anti-choice, anti-same sex marriage agendas. Sandy Rios, then President of Concerned Women for America, recommended in 2003 radio show that Canadians interested in opposing same sex marriage enlist with CFAC. CFAC also has close ties with Focus on the Family Canada, including joining forces with that organization as part of the Coalition for Family Autonomy (CFA), a group of “pro-family” organizations which joined forces to advocate on behalf of parents right to spank their children.

Based in Calgary and founded in 1979, CFAC seeks to promote a Bible-based society by equipping “citizens to take back their rightful place as part of the decision-making process of our courts, tribunals, legislatures and Parliament.” It concentrates its efforts on grassroots organization in order to provide training, tools, strategy and networking opportunities to permit Canadians to influence their government. CFAC’s founder and President, Dr. Charles McVety, is also President of the Canadian Christian College. Dr. McVety strongly supported the provincial Tory leadership bid of Jim Flaherty .. (9)

So Beyers and Rushfeldt went to Washington to speak with Reed and convinced him to help (10):

On November 29th, 2005 [CFAC] it organized a seminar in partnership with the Institute for Canadian Values at which Ralph Reed, a “senior advisor to President George W. Bush’s election campaign,” counselled attendees on strategy for the current election. Previously, Mr. Reed has counselled social conservatives to practice “stealth politics” and “fool voters” by “hiding, or disguising, their religious agenda by promoting popular issues such as tax reform.” Dr. McVety highly praised Mr. Reed just weeks before he came to Canada, writing that Mr. Reed “has motivated millions of Americans to participate in the election of their leaders and has taught millions how to mobilize others based on sound middle class, common sense moral principles, and solid organizations." (9)

Their "stealth" helped to bring Stephen Harper to power, though the real "power" is now in the hands of Charles McVety. Harper couldn't say no to him if he wanted to. And considering that McVety's inner circle includes Jim Flaherty, Stockwell Day and Jason Kenney, we know who's really calling the shots, and those are three members of his caucus that he will never reprimand.

World Congress of Families

Canada Family Action Coalition falls under the umbrella of the World Family Congress, and includes several other Canadian faith based advocacy groups, like Focus on the Family. Many Reform-Conservatives belong to both CFAC and FOTF.

In 2000 they hosted the World Congress of Families Millennium Youth Assembly, in Lethbridge, Alberta, where the young people were asked to write personal statements about one of the pro-family statements, "which use international consensus language."

Here are some sample responses:

1. "Recognizing the dignity and worth inherent in the human person," and that "the child, by reason of his physical and metal immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth, motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance."

2. "The family is the child's first introduction to society and is the essential link between the child and the society they live in. Children can best learn these values when a mother and father who are legally married are present in the home to teach them. The values taught in the family can never be replaced and will guide them all their lives."

3. "I believe that enough emphasis isn't being focused on the family, that is, the nuclear/biological family. The "family" should consist of a mother and a father. Allowing gay and lesbian marriages is a step in the wrong direction and is a mockery to what was and will always be a sacred institution, which is marriage. I think the rights of parents should be put back into law and parents should have the right to discipline their own kids but not to the point of abusing their children."

4. "Human Life is very important, but the world does not see this. Our population is becoming very few because families are having less kids and abortion is killing off a number of people too. Life is a great thing even through all the trials. At the end of these trials comes happiness." (11)

These children are being indoctrinated into the social conservative agenda. Their statements marginalise any family that does not have a married heterosexual couple at the helm.

What Else Did Ralph Reed Teach Roy Beyer?

Roy Beyer also belongs to an investment group that falls under the auspices of Harvest Capital Management Inc., a faith based investment corporation involved in mostly real estate transactions. They have many little offshoot groups and projects, and Beyer's includes Foundation Capital Corporation:

A Lethbridge land development firm will pay a $100,000 penalty as part of a settlement with the province’s securities regulator. Foundation Capital Corporation was asked to answer a claim it made misleading statements in marketing a 923-acre residential development south of Calgary. Its president, Ronald Aitkens, will also pay $30,000 to settle the allegations against him along with $15,000 toward the costs of the Alberta Securities Commission proceedings.

Foundation Capital Corporation, registered as a Lethbridge company, was cited earlier this year along with two related businesses, Spruce Ridge Capital Inc. and Spruce Ridge Estates Inc. A 20-day hearing into those claims had been scheduled for next January. All allegations of misleading statements about the Priddis project were withdrawn after the company’s officers reached an agreement with ASC officials, says Foundation Capital spokesperson Roy Beyer. But company executives agree “confusing statements were made about the exact nature of the company’s bonds.”

Beyer, an Edmonton-based consultant who provided marketing and promotional services for the development, will also pay $20,000 plus $5,000 costs to settle the allegations against him. (12)

Oh but there's more. From a personal testimonial:

"... I received an email from one of Harvest's [Capital Management Inc.] ex-pastor 'financial planners' recommending a couple of investments. One of them was the land development company, which I promptly warned him about as the president had been penalized by the securities commission and had been involved in another real estate scam, Eagle Lake. About a year later it was closed down by the securities commission.

The marketing director, Roy Beyer, formerly sold 'charitable donation tax shelters' for the ParkLane Group. Google it if you want to find out the gory details."(13)

So I did, and this is what I found:

Canada's coffers have been cheated of more than $1.4 billion by scams that provided taxpayers with inflated charitable receipts they used to reduce their income tax. From coast to coast, donors wrote cheques to charities and tax scheme promoters that boasted they were saving the deathly ill, the poor and disabled, overseas and in Canada.

Now, at least 106,000 individual Canadians are learning the Canada Revenue Agency considers these schemes a sham, and wants to claw the money back. Some also are being hit with major financial penalties. Among the shelters operating recently (according to research by the Star) are: Canadian Organization for International Philanthropy (COIP); Canadian Literacy Initiatives; Initiatives Canada Corporation; ICC Worldwide Missions; Canadian Gifting Initiatives; Global Learning Gifting Initiatives; the Banyan Tree Foundation; and ParkLane Donations for Canada. (14)

Like Reed, the goal may be to force the government to work using the literal word of the Bible, but they clearly don't live under any such notions.

Because it all boils down to what it always boils down to: MONEY!

Sources:

1. Harper, Bush Share Roots in Controversial Philosophy: Close advisers schooled in 'the noble lie' and 'regime change', By Donald Gutstein, The Tyee, November 29, 2005

2. The Armageddon Factor: The Rise of Christian Nationalism in Canada, By: Marci McDonald, Random House Canada, 2010, ISBN: 978-0-307-35646-8

3. Requiem for a Lightweight: Stockwell Day and Image Politics, By Trevor Harrison, Black Rose Books, 2002, ISBN: 1-55164-206-9, Pg. 116

4. Day under fire: Liberals ask the RCMP to investigate the nomination of the Public Safety Minister nearly seven years ago, By Kady O'Malley, Macleans, March 23, 2007

5. Bentley, Alberta: Hellfire, Neo-Nazis and Stockwell Day: A two-part look inside the little town that nurtured a would-be prime minister - and some of the most notorious hate-mongers in Canada, By Gordon laird, Now Magazine, November 2000

6. McDonald, 2010, Pg. 5

7. US Political Wiz Ralph Reed Urges Canadian Social Conservatives to “Make History” This Election, LifeSite News, December 2, 2005

8. The Rise and Fall of Ralph Reed, Time Magazine, By James Carney, July 23, 2006

9. Conservative Party links to Right-Wing American Groups, January 13, 2006

10. McDonald, 2010, Pg. 69

11. World Congress of Families Millennium Youth Assembly, Lethbridge, Alberta, April 28 - 29, 2000

12. Lethbridge Land Developer Fined: Firm hit with $145,000 in penalties, by Dave Mabell, Lethbridge Herald, August 26, 2009

13. Harvest Capital Management? Canadian Business Forum, February 24, 2007

14. STAR EXCLUSIVE INVESTIGATION $1.4B tax scams nail donors, By Kevin Donovan, Staff Reporter, Toronto Star, September 29, 2007

Should Plato's Books Be Burned or Just Banned?

A CULTURE OF DEFIANCE: History of the Reform-Conservative Party of Canada

Plato, the great philosopher, believed that human reproduction should be monitored and controlled by the state. However, he understood that this form of government control would not be readily accepted, and proposed the truth be concealed from the public via a fixed lottery.

Mates, in Plato’s Republic, would be chosen by a “marriage number” in which the quality of the individual would be quantitatively analyzed, and persons of high numbers would be allowed to procreate with other persons of high numbers. In theory, this would lead to predictable results and the improvement of the human race. However, Plato acknowledged the failure of the “marriage number” since “gold soul” persons could still produce “bronze soul” children. (1)

Other ancient civilizations, such as Rome, Athens and Sparta, practiced infanticide. In Sparta, newborns were inspected by the city's elders, who decided the fate of the infant. To Sparta, this would ensure only the strongest survived and procreated. Adolf Hitler considered Sparta to be the first "Völkisch State," and praised Sparta due to its primitive form of eugenics practiced, and he applied this to deformed children. (1)

Leo Strauss, the father of the neoconservative movement was a follower of Plato and many believe that the "ultimate warrior" can be bred.

During the days of slavery in the southern United States, slave owners chose the best "bucks" to mate with the best of the females to create genetically superior future slaves.

And yet the Religious Right blame Darwin for the introduction of eugenics and even the Holocaust.

Darwin was a Christian, who had been baptized Anglican. He studied Paley's Natural Theology which made an argument for divine design in nature, explaining adaptation as God acting through laws of nature. (2) And he once wrote:

“The aid which we feel impelled to give to the helpless is mainly an incidental result of the instinct of sympathy, which was originally acquired as part of the social instincts, but subsequently rendered, in the manner previously indicated, more tender and more widely diffused. Nor could we check our sympathy, if so urged by hard reason, without deterioration in the noblest part of our nature.”

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowance

That is the name of a documentary(?) questioning the Origin of the Species and claiming that creationist scientists were being discriminated against. Of course creationism is not scientific, so the aim is simply to challenge the science of evolution.

The film blames Charles Darwin for everything from abortion to the Holocaust, and in fact uses a great deal of footage showing the ovens in concentration camps and stating that Hitler was inspired by Charles Darwin.

That is historically inaccurate and in fact there was very little "intelligence" used in the film, but it didn't stop Charles McVety, head of Canada's Religious Right and friend of Jim Flaherty's, from hosting a gala for the mocumentary claiming it was the best movie ever made. (3)

The fact is the idea for creating an Aryan race came from the Thule Society and was based on ancient research into the Teutonic races. They were a cult that became political, and were responsible for creating the German Worker's Party.

Later they would add National Socialist to the title to try to entice the various trade unions, and well, socialists. A reporter Konrad Heiden, who followed Hitler's career for 23 years, used to march in protest against them and it was he who dubbed them 'Nazis', which was a Prussian slang term for "Country Bumpkin". (4)

The hatred for the Jews was historic but turned deadlier with the publication of the fraudulent Protocols of the Elders of Zion, that convinced people that there was a Jewish conspiracy to take over the world.

Charles Darwin was not involved, and in fact these horrors were perpetrated by Christians. But it wouldn't be fair to blame Christians for this any more than we should blame Darwin.

This was the result of blind hatred. The same blind hatred that this new form of muscular Christianity, embraced by the Religious Right, now turns on feminists, Muslims and gays.

In the video at the bottom of this page you will hear Christians discuss the fact that religion and science do not have to be at odds. Charles Darwin understood that. The Religious Right does not.

Author Malcolm Brocklehurst discusses the need to question the mythology that cloaks all religions, because only then will Christians and Muslims live in harmony "free of dogma that is either outdated or deliberately misleading." (5)

Why can't they accept that it was their God who gave us science. The more they dig their heels in on this issue, the more they discredit themselves.




Sources:

1. Wikipedia

2. "Darwin – A Christian Undermining Christianity? On Self-Undermining Dynamics of Ideas Between Belief and Science". By Momme Von Sydow, 2005, ISBN 0-7546-3996-7.

3. The Armageddon Factor: The Rise of Christian Nationalism in Canada, By: Marci McDonald, Random House Canada, 2010, ISBN: 978-0-307-35646-8

4. Master of the Masses, Time Magazine, February 7, 1944

5. The Secret History of Christianity: How the Church has Exploited the Myth of Christ, By Malcolm Brocklehurst, Magpie Books, 2008, ISBN: 978-1-84529-763-3

Pierre Poilievre Reminds us of Why the Reformers Must Go

"While alleging to work within legal boundaries, they worked to undermine the parliamentary system and foment disorder. As obstructionists, they regularly disrupted proceedings with vulgar and rowdy behavior, if they didn’t boycott them."

No that was not written about the Reform-Conservative movement, though it could have been.

It was written about the Brown Shirts who helped to bring Adolf Hitler to power, though it's a tactic as old as the hills, usually followed by a food fight.

If you want to deflect attention you resort to animalistic behaviour and Pierre Poilievre has mastered it. This may have been a page taken from Stephen Harper's 200 page manual on how to make sure that Parliamentary committees can't function , but little PP made a complete ass of himself.

At issue was staffer Ryan Sparrow's attempt to withhold the fact that Stephen Harper spent five million dollars of our money promoting himself during the Olympics.

And the little pit-bull Poilievre was acting so badly that several times they were forced to turn off his microphone. And yet we are paying him an enormous salary to protect our money from being wasted in such a matter. It's pretty clear that this little Brown Shirt does not work for us.

Obstruct, distract and ignore was the strategy adopted by the Conservative government today at a Commons ethics committee hearing on Access to information.

Tory MPs attempted to block testimony and when that didn’t work they threw softball questions at the witness. Pierre Poilievre, known for his attack-dog nature, also took on the committee chair, Liberal Paul Szabo, after he called Mr. Poilievre out-of-order on several occasions.

It was a tense meeting; at times it was awkward. The chair twice ordered Mr. Poilievre’s microphone be shut off.

American Teabaggers Say Harper is New George Bush

Stephen Harper hosted a teabaggers tea party yesterday on Parliament Hill where the American religious right and their Canadian counterparts are dubbing him the new George Bush for his stand against a woman's right to choose.

Pro-lifers who support a nuclear attack in the Middle East are hardly pro-life, but "forgive them for what they do."

Did I mention they like George Bush?

Thank you so much Stephen Harper for bringing this filth to Canada. But just think of the lovely snap shots you can put on your "I really love myself" wall.

Huge anti-abortion rally hails Canada’s new foreign-aid stand
Biggest-ever pro-life rally puts abortion debate on Harper’s doorstep
Susan Delacourt
Toronto Star
May 13, 2010

“These are tangible, visible threads… we are moving toward a culture of life in Canada,” said Carl Anderson, a former adviser to U.S. president Ronald Reagan
as well as to the Vatican.

“Under President (George W.) Bush, we had the Mexico City policy, which prohibited exporting abortion. As you know, with President Obama, he repealed that policy,” Janet Morana, founder of a pro-life group called Silent No More, told reporters in Ottawa on Thursday morning.

I wish they'd put this kind of effort into a peace rally.

I heard they were also confiscating all the shoes of women on the Hill. They won't need them where they're going - right back to the kitchen!!!!