Repent America (RA) has learned from a law enforcement official that the U.S. Department of Justice has been using its ministry as an example of a Christian “fundamentalist hate group” because of its Biblical opposition to homosexuality during its law enforcement “mediation and conflict resolution” training classes.
On Thursday, May 24, 2007, the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE), which operates 14 publicly-owned universities, manages approximately 300 police officers, and oversees over 100,000 students, hosted a mandatory class entitled “Mediation and Conflict Resolution Skills for Law Enforcement” at its central headquarters in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The class is part of a police training series under the direction of the U.S. Department of Justice Community Relations Service, which is provided at different times to PASSHE police officers.
During this class, Timothy Johnson, Sr. Conciliation Specialist for the U.S. Department of Justice Community Relations Service, falsely characterized “Repent America” as a Christian “fundamentalist hate group” and had law enforcement officials participate in a role-playing activity to illustrate this point. Johnson directed a number of police officers to stage a campus dramatization before the class between a mock Repent America evangelism team and a group of upset homosexuals. While these officers were role-playing the two groups, another officer was instructed to “mediate the conflict” by removing the Christians, instead of affirming their constitutional rights to be on a public campus. The removal instruction was because the homosexuals were hurt and offended by the Biblical message of repentance and call to believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The same dramatization occurred on at least one other occasion before a previous training class.
“When I learned of what happened from a police officer who was in attendance and witnessed the dramatization, I was quite taken aback,” Repent America director Michael Marcavage stated. “It is absolutely astounding that federal government officials are now openly classifying Christians who publicly speak the truth of God’s Word as ‘haters’ and wrongfully training law enforcement to remove them from the public square for their obedience to the Great Commission. This truly is a wake up call to the church in America,” Marcavage said. “This remarkable example of government participation in anti-Christian discrimination shows just how aggressively the war is being waged against Christianity, where now our so-called Justice Department is actively working to silence God’s people,” he continued. “This alarming development provides even more reason why Christians should be vigorously opposing ‘hate crime’ laws, which seek to criminalize Christians for their thoughts and beliefs,” Marcavage concluded.
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