Tea Party View from a Liberal 'Christian' Journalist

The Washington Post sent their out-of-touch columnist to the Chicago Tax Day Tea Party rally to provide a skewed opinion of those Americans who are foreign to her.

-- From "'Frightened' tea party comes to Chicago" by Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, The Washington Post's On Faith 4/15/10

The tea party movement held a rally in Daley Plaza today at noon. A core group of about 300-400 mostly middle and retirement aged white people listened to speeches and carried signs. "Axis of Evil--Obama, Pelosi and Reid," "Abolish the Federal Reserve," "My Favorite Marxist" [with a picture of President Obama as an alien], "Please dispose of socialism carefully," and "Reload and Repeal" as examples. Around them another circle, about half as large, more racially and ethnically diverse, with Chicago police walking between, was made up of the anti-tea party folks. They carried signs like "Teabagging = bigotry," "CHI-town is Obama country," "Support health care," and "Equal rights for Gay Americans." Anti-war signs abounded. At first glance, the whole plaza looked exactly like democracy in action.

I walked around, asking people if they'd talk to me. When I identified myself as a blogger for The Washington Post's On Faith site, quite a few of those with tea party signs or T-shirts refused to speak to me, and two men pointedly turned their backs. A couple of folks were willing to talk, however, and I spent nearly half an hour sitting on benches in the shade with an older couple from Wheaton, Ill.

. . . This couple was of retirement age. I asked them if they were on Medicaid. They both nodded. They also are on Social Security. "Aren't those big government programs?" I asked. "Well, we wish we didn't have to take this money, but we need it," the wife replied.

I asked them if they were Christians and active in their church. They assured me they were. The husband had a copy of the Constitution in his hand, so I asked him about what he thought about the Establishment clause of the first Amendment and political activity like this. "People have been brainwashed about separation of church and state," the husband assured me. "The government's plan is to get rid of religion."

. . . About an hour into the rally, there was a scuffle. I couldn't see, but the crowd became more charged. Chicago Police moved in. "What was that about?" I asked several people closer to the stage. "A guy went crazy and started shouting." "He was just a plant to make us all look crazy." This was debated among the crowd for a short while, and then things calmed down and the drone of the speeches continued.

. . . I also happened upon Kathy Kelly of Voices for Creative Non-Violence, the long-time anti-war tax resister, peace activist and three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee. She and other anti-war folks were also protesting taxes, only because tax dollars are used to support war. . . .

I wish I could be more like Kathy Kelly, calmly witnessing for peace as the tea party unfolds around her. But I'm frightened too. I'm frightened of the undercurrent of fear that was right below the surface of Daley Plaza in Chicago today.

To read the entire column, CLICK HERE.

Leftist Teaching at Wheaton College, Illinois

[T]he current document known as the “conceptual framework” of the education department at Wheaton College [includes] the father of the social justice movement, Brazilian Marxist, Paulo Freire and former Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers.

UPDATE 7/1/13:  College officially changes "conceptual framework" back to Christianity

UPDATE 9/12/11: College revises teaching, hopefully for the best

UPDATE 3/11/10: Teaching Social Justice at Wheaton College (from Illinois Family Institute)

UPDATE 3/5/10: Wheaton College's Promotion of Social Justice (includes link to audio quotes from the College)

UPDATE 3/2/10: Wheaton responds, but provides no evidence to refute the accusations below (post dated 2/25/10)

-- From "Billy Graham Meets Bill Ayers" by Sandy Rios, Culture Campaign (posted at Townhall.com) 2/26/10

There’s hardly an evangelical who doesn’t know about Wheaton College. Alma Mater of the Reverend Billy Graham . . .

So imagine the dismay of many to learn that, in an effort to educate its students, Wheaton has moved to the left, so much so that in a survey by the Wheaton Record, 60 percent of its faculty voted for President Barack Obama, the most pro-abortion, pro-homosexual agenda, spiritually confused president the nation has ever elected.

How can this be? Perhaps much of it can be attributed to a movement widely embraced by the campus known as “social justice.”

. . . Why would Wheaton College embrace such a philosophy? “…these are people you can learn from because they’re going to teach us Christians that maybe we have some blind spots here, that we’ve been oblivious to certain areas of injustice,” said President Duane Litfin.

Dr. Jillian Lederhouse, chairman of the department of education defended the conceptual framework by saying “we don’t teach our students to be afraid on an ideology as long as we give them a critical perspective. We do not have a list of people we do not read. Our goal is to produce a thinking Christian teacher.” And that is as it should be in an institution of higher learning, except for one thing. Lederhouse went on to admit that the people who were foundational to Wheaton’s conceptual framework were all on the far left.

To read the entire commentary above, CLICK HERE.

From "Wheaton College Invites Leftist, Pro-Homosexual Evangelical Jim Wallis to Speak" By Peter LaBarbera, AmericansForTruth.com February 2008

[Wheaton College's Center for Applied Christian, CACE, in September 2007 invited] homosexual “gay christian” activist Harry Knox to speak at a panel discussion on “HIV and Morality,” as a representative of the (traditional-Christian-bashing) homosexual activist group Human Rights Campaign.

. . . If I’m not mistaken, Harry talked about his relationship with his male partner at the Wheaton panel discussion, which was titled, “Thy Kingdom Come: Christian Moral Engagement in the World.”

The following excerpt is taken from page 229 of “The Great Awakening” [by Jim Wallis, the Wheaton College CACE speaker of February 2008:]

“I support civil rights laws for same-sex couples. That, for me, is a justice issue. Many Christians, and I include myself, prefer the solution of ‘civil unions’ from the state, and even spiritual ‘blessings’ for gay couples (from congregations prepared to offer them), rather than altering the church’s sacrament of marriage as between a man and a woman, but those differences should not be fundamentally divisive. Gay marriage should not be the primary battleground in the fight for the health and stability of marriage and family in our society. In a pluralistic democracy, we should support civil and human rights for all our citizens, regardless of our different theological and biblical interpretations of the complicated and thorny issues surrounding homosexuality. New evidence and understanding around those issues could cause any of us to alter our views. But we should find common ground by supporting concrete practices and practical policies that strengthen families and nurture all our children.”

To read the entire commentary above, CLICK HERE.

Sandy Rios Speaks at Tea Party - Lisle, IL 4/15/09

Rick Warren - another Easter denial

by Sandy Rios, President, Culture Campaign 4/14/09

"Even if others do, I will never deny you," declared the Apostle Peter some 2,000 years ago just hours before he did exactly that, three times, when the heat was on. Ten others boasted the same, but when the risk was more than theoretical, all deserted Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Only one was seen at the cross.

A fascinating story...the "old story," as the secularists like to call it. Barack Obama alluded to this in his speech in France. We need a new story...a discovery of "new ways" of thinking. We must throw off the old, and embrace a much more enlightened, intelligent point of view, he said. By doing so, our president argued, we remove inconvenient barriers, cumbersome moral values and achieve self-determination with our new understanding of the world guiding the way. Surely we cannot be bound in this advanced new age by the old moral codes or put plainly, by what Jesus taught -- certainly not if we are to curry favor with the world in which we live.

During Holy Week, Peter's portion of the "old story" was revisited in a very contemporary way. The last instruction Jesus gave as He left earth was that His followers should tell His story of forgiveness and redemption not only in their communities, but to the "ends of the earth." And as His followers told the "old story," they should not leave out all the other things He had carefully taught them. He wanted future generations to go beyond mere intellectual understanding and move to actually living out the principles.

One of those principles was marriage. "For this reason shall a man leave his parents and join with his wife and the two shall become one flesh," Jesus instructed. One man...one woman...for a lifetime; no sex outside of that union. His clear moral teaching applied to homosexuality and never entertained a discussion of same-sex "marriage," because it would have been unthinkable. "I have come to fulfill the law, not to destroy it," Jesus said in regard to Old Testament moral standards.

Fast forwarding to November 2008, California voters of various religious persuasions -- in a ballot measure called Proposition 8 -- held to the Judeo-Christian teaching that marriage should only be between a man and a woman. Pastor Rick Warren -- author of the multi-million selling book The Purpose Driven Life; pastor of Saddleback, one of the largest churches in the country; deeply influential -- rightly told his congregation just weeks before the election: "...if you believe what the Bible says about marriage, you need to support Proposition 8. I never support a candidate, but on moral issues I come out very clear."

Until last week...Holy Week.

"Though others may turn away, I will never deny you," promised Peter. But then in the chill of night in a courtyard just outside the place of Jesus' trial, as others around the fire began to probe his relationship to Jesus, he denied even knowing him. No one was threatening his life, but the derision increased, until Peter's denial escalated to a curse to more emphatically deny he had ever known Jesus.

Peter was worried about his reputation. He didn't want to be the odd man out in the courtyard over the fire...it wasn't a Roman soldier with a sword who challenged him, it was a servant girl.

"On moral issues I come out very clear," declared Warren when speaking in the safety of his church last October. But when confronted by homosexual friends and by CNN's Larry King, he folded like Peter. He told a national television audience that he had "apologized" to his homosexual friends for making comments in support of Proposition 8. He "never once gave an endorsement" of the marriage amendment, he declared in that much larger, electronic courtyard. "I never once issued a statement." But that was not true. He had given an impassioned plea on camera for support of Proposition 8...a plea worthy of a Christian leader...a plea to follow Jesus' teaching on marriage. Then in one CNN moment, he not only backed away from the hard teaching, but lied in the process. On camera...both times...for all to see.

Seduced by the pressure of fame? Driven by the desire to please his friends? Afraid to be seen as bigoted to a national television audience? Whatever the motivation, the denial is no less significant.

After Peter finished his denial, he went out and wept bitterly. Jesus later forgave him in a personal exchange, and Peter became one of the greatest examples of Christ following of all time...crucified upside down for his faith...fearless to the end.

But he repented. If Rick Warren does not, he has lost his moral authority as a Christian leader.

Without repentance, he joins the apostate ranks of others who declare Jesus' teaching when it is expedient and deny it when it interferes with choice or reputation.

Another Easter denial -- but we pray Warren will not let his story end there.

McDonald's, Media Give Christians the Silent Treatment

Chicago media team up with McDonald's to shield the public from what McDonald's spokesman terms the 'hate' of Christians who oppose the Gay Agenda

Photo from Illinois Review (CLICK HERE to read article)

Read Sandy Rios' address to McDonald's at the press conference (CLICK HERE)

-- From "Very Sad But Not Surprising" by Dave Diersen of GOPUSA Illinois 7/17/08

It is very sad, but not surprising, that the Combine [Chicago politicians of both parties] got its news media members to keep the boycott off their websites.

The boycott was announced at an outstanding 10:00 AM press conference yesterday at the McDonald's restaurant across from McDonald's world headquarters in Oak Brook.

Because the Illinois Democrat Party Platform promotes homosexual activity and the Illinois Republican Party Platform discourages homosexual activity, the boycott is a political story. I was hoping to see Mary Ann Ahern, David Beery, Mike Flannery, Rick Preason, Andy Shaw, and other political reporters at the press conference, but I did not.

Speakers at the outstanding press conference included Matt Barber, Peter LaBarbera, Sandy Rios, and David E. Smith.

Sadly, McDonald's is a member of the Combine. Hopefully, Illinois Republican Party (IRP) Chairman Andy McKenna Jr. will get his father, Andy McKenna Sr., the President of McDonald's, to get McDonald's to stop promoting homosexual activity.

Also, read the WorldNetDaily article of 7/19/08 (CLICK HERE).

Contact McDonald's:

Andrew J. McKenna, President
McDonald's Corporation USA
McDonald's Plaza, Oak Brook, IL 60523
Phone: 1-800-244-6227
or: 630-623-3000
Fax: 630-623-5004

CLICK HERE for commenting via McDonald's website

McDonald’s Supports Same-sex 'Marriage' and other Radical Homosexual Causes

Press Conference at McDonald's worldwide headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois
July 16, 2008

by Sandy Rios

Good morning! My name is Sandy Rios. I am the President of Culture Campaign, and the host of the Sandy Rios Show on AM 1160, WYLL [Chicago].

I am also the mother of two grown children who like millions of American kids, grew up loving Happy Meals and Ronald McDonald. McDonald's has become a uniquely American institution, recognized worldwide by its golden arches and family-friendly atmosphere. We have loved its food and trusted its message….until now.

The fact is that children come from two parents…mom and dad… and are best served when that Mom and Dad form a family to secure their environment and nurture them into adulthood. We used to all agree about that, but somewhere we lost our moorings.

Television and movies would tell us there are “other families” of equal value, that men should be able to marry men and women marry women. Interestingly enough, a great majority of our American family still do not hold that view. And the reason is that no matter how loud the voices or how convincing the sitcoms, we know deep down marriage between a man and a woman is the only real, healthy marriage, forming the very best family.

But now in a deeply disappointing move, McDonald’s has decided to use the money we give them to support homosexual marriage and other radical homosexual causes. One franchise in San Francisco proudly supported the Gay Pride Parade where men simulate copulation publicly, and both lesbians and gay men present a bawdy display of nudity and sex.

And when concerns have been raised by their loyal, family customers about the unacceptable duality of appealing to children while undermining their innocence and future, we have been accused of “hate.”

So “good-bye” to Ronald McDonald, Happy Meals and the family tradition of the Golden Arches. I cannot and will not spend one more dime there and am encouraging all those who are part of the Culture Campaign family and my radio audience to do the same. It is a matter of personal conscience.

And by the way, I have discovered lots of great fast foods in the interim! McDonald’s has the brand, but not necessarily the best food. That’s why this boycott may be less painful than you think!

Sex in Their City

By Sandy Rios

Over 60 percent of New Yorkers wanted Governor Eliot Spitzer to resign at the revelation he had solicited sex with a prostitute. What’s wrong with these people? The home of “Sex in the City” doesn’t want their chief executive doing what the natives are doing?

Why are they so upset, so outraged, and for that matter, why are we? Why does it disturb so many to see Silda Spitzer stand next to her husband of 20 years as he made his public, quasi-remorseful apology? Didn’t we learn from Bill Clinton and surrogates that private behavior has no effect on public life? That the judgment and deceit it took to arrange sexual favors from a young intern in the Oval Office had no bearing on the judgment and trust required to conduct the nation’s business or lead the free world? Can’t a brilliant governor of such a forward-thinking state possess superior wisdom on matters of state while privately choosing to betray his wife and children, even putting Silda at risk by engaging in unsafe sex with his trollop? A private matter, said Spitzer, hinting that it was not related to his decisions as a publicly elected official.

“Big deal. Married man goes to a prostitute,” declared Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz. In Europe, it would hardly have made the papers. A “uniquely American” story of our “pandering” and hypocrisy “when it comes to sex,” he concluded. In a Los Angeles Times article published in the aftermath of the revelations about Spitzer, evolutionary biologist David Barash says, “I told you so,” informing us that the only reliable life form practicing monogamy is “a parasitic worm that inhabits the intestines of fish. Before Western colonization, 85 percent of human societies unabashedly favored polygamy.”

So what’s wrong with us?

Could it be that too many of us have suffered the pain of being lied to and betrayed in that most intimate part of our lives? That we have seen in the faces of our children the realization of deep betrayal absorbed by their young, innocent minds? That we have seen mothers and fathers ripped apart, houses disassembled, children shuffled between parents, broken or hardened by the loss of what should be theirs: a loving home with two parents disciplined enough to love and be faithful for a lifetime?

Could it be that we have gazed into the eyes of a loved one knowing that, through the exercise of our own unrestrained appetites, we were the betrayer? Have we, too, known the agony of inflicting pain on those we would once have given our lives for? Could it be that too many of us still long for a “Leave it to Beaver” existence, with parents who love us and each other and the most difficult days are the ones with too much homework or not enough peanut butter and jelly? Could it be that we remember enough to have retained the dream that somehow, some way “happily ever after” is still possible? Why else would no-longer-innocent young girls still long for white dresses and meaningful weddings and dare to pledge their love for a lifetime, in spite of the statistics that mark them for failure? Why would men’s chests still swell at the anticipation of being a father in the fullest sense in spite of a history of multiple conquests offered freely. Could it be that Americans, in spite of the sexual saturation of movies, television, music, art and public school still long for something more … something that requires sacrifice, commitment, hard work and integrity? Marriage, for a lifetime? Alan Dershowitz doesn’t believe in God and I’m thinking most New Yorkers wouldn’t necessarily be comfortable discussing faith in God. But the truth is the Old Testament, shared by Christians and Jews alike, tells us that God, in addition to giving Charlton Heston the Ten Commandments, promised one day to write those laws, firmly, indelibly, in our hearts. Could it be that hard-wired in our souls, all of our souls, is the truth that there is a better way, a faithful way that unleashes love and contentment and human potential through restraint that license and personal indulgence never can? What’s wrong with us? Aren’t we too sophisticated, too progressive to go back to the old morals of the past? Evidently not. That’s why we collectively wish and some of us pray for the restoration of the Spitzer family, for his personal cleansing, for Silda’s strength in the process and for no permanent damage to their precious three girls. And New Yorkers have now resoundingly weighed in on their view of what Sex really should be in their City. Isn’t it amazing?

Sandy Rios is host of the "Sandy Rios Show", heard weekdays from 3 to 5PM on WYLL AM1160 in Chicago and serves as President of Culture Campaign, a non-profit dedicated to awakening a sleeping army of concerned citizens never before involved in public policy.

DaVinci Code, Move Over!

Take a good hard look and see if the natural progression of "tolerating" everything is producing the world in which you really want to live.

From "DaVinci Code, Move Over!" by Sandy Rios, posted 9/27/07 at Townhall.com

It looks like a pagan worship scene from a Cecile B. DeMille rip-off featuring half-clad homosexual sadomasochists with animal masks and sex toys.

Trouble is it isn't a scene intended to expose debauchery, but to celebrate it. Da Vinci Code, move over! You've been replaced by a new version of "Last Supper mockery" in honor of the "world's largest leather event," the Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco.

Amidst black leather, tattoos and feather boas, homosexuals pose as apostles who in the original painting are depicted gathered at a table with their sweet savior to partake of the last meal together.

DaVinci's famous painting features the bread, a symbol of Christ's body "broken for you" as Jesus said, and the wine representing his blood, soon to be given in sacrifice for the sins of His disciples as well as for all mankind.

But on this table, rather than the symbols of that great act of a great Savior, rests sex toys—symbols for the object of their worship: the god of sex and unlicensed physical pleasure. These are perfect symbols, actually, because sex drives, motivates, consumes and demands homage in this radical community more than any other thing. It defines their lives, gives them their names, establishes their relationships, maps out their days, determines their holidays and dominates their nights.

Read the rest of Sandy's commentary.

The Runner-up for “Worst Person in the World” Speaks Out

MSNBC’s Keith Olberman named Sandy Rios the runner up for "Worst Person in the World" for her objection to the San Diego Padres drawing kids to the ballpark with a hat giveaway the same night they celebrated gay 'pride...'

From "The Runner-up for “Worst Person in the World” Speaks Out" by Sandy Rios, posted 9/8/07 at Crosswalk.com

“Please do us all a favor … get raped and then killed. You rancid, filthy ___.” That’s a direct quote from an e-mail I received after appearing on “The O’Reilly Factor.” I was on the show objecting to the San Diego Padres celebration of “Gay Pride” on the same day they invited hundreds of children for a floppy hat giveaway.

“You are a shameful disgrace and hate monger,” penned another in response to my statement that homosexuality is an unhealthy, life-shortening lifestyle that should not be promoted by the Padres to children.

For such “hate” I was named runner up for the “Worst Person in the World” by MSNBC’s Keith Olberman. This kind of vulgarity, exaggeration and the not-so-veiled threats are nothing new to those of us who dare speak the truth to a world turned upside down. Homosexual activists have propagated their deceptive message so effectively that their own community tragically believes they cannot change, they have no choice—and that people who oppose their “choice” hate them.

Forgive me for interrupting Sandy here, but I've come to the conclusion that they convince themselves that we hate them because that way they don't have to actually answer our objections...

It's easier to just shoot the messenger.

And because they have managed to so effectively intimidate anyone who would question their claims, thousands of homosexuals have never heard there is a better way … a God who forgives and a life to live that’s more abundant and free.

While I will never enjoy death threats and vulgar accusations, I know they can, at times, be the natural response of evil to truth. Committed Christ-followers for centuries gave their lives rather than be silenced. Can we not bear these comparatively little consequences in our own lost generation? Yes, we can.

But the responses that bother me most are ones that out of confusion or, worse, intentionally try to equate a Biblical perspective on homosexuality with godless criminal acts. A recent report from ABC News, “Hate Takes a Life in Houston,” tells the story of Kenneth Cummings, Jr., 46, a gay male flight attendant murdered by Terry Magnum, 26, who claimed, “I believe with all my heart that I was doing the right thing. I planned on sending him to hell.” Terry said he’d been called by God to “carry out a code of retribution” because “sexual perversion” is the “worst sin.”

That story was forwarded to me with the following e-mail: “I just wanted to write and say that I lay the blame for this incident and hundreds of others like it on you … as far as I’m concerned, you have blood on your hands.”

Let me be clear: The murder of Kenneth Cummings and the loss to his loving family is tragic, but to think that the circumstances of his death should force others to be silent on the dangers of the homosexual lifestyle would be wrong-headed and irresponsible. I would have far more to answer for if I kept silent while he and other homosexual brothers and sisters remained tormented in this life and facing condemnation in the next.

Read the rest of Sandy's commentary.