Christians Flex Muscles/Wallets: Gov't Influence

The number of religion-related lobbying groups in Washington has grown five-fold in the past 40 years, with their spending reaching almost $400 million annually, the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life latest study showed. It identified 212 groups, up from 158 a decade ago and 40 in 1970.

This certainly doesn't make the liberal media happy.

-- From "Religion-related lobby groups thrive in Washington, grew 5 times in 40 years" posted at Reuters 11/22/11

. . . in 2008, the Family Research Council spent $14 million and the American Jewish Committee $13 million.

In 2009, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops spent $27 million, Concerned Women for America $13 million, Bread for the World $11 million, the National Right to Life Committee $11 million and the Home School Legal Defense Association $11 million.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Study: Religious lobbying soars in D.C." by MJ Lee, Politico 11/22/11

. . . the economic downturn seems to have taken a toll on the expenditure of many religion-related advocacy groups, the study shows. Of the 104 groups for which expenditure data were available for 2008 and 2009, 56 of them said their spending was lower in 2009 than in the previous year, with an average decline in spending of about $500,000. The 104 groups altogether saw a net drop in spending of about $14 million during the two-year period.

The study found 15 percent of the groups that answered a questionnaire on their activities said meeting with officials was their most frequently used method of advocacy. This came in second after the most popular strategy — educating constituents on issues — which 41 percent of the groups cited as their most-used method.

The study shows that a majority of the groups, 64 percent, work on both domestic and foreign issues, while 20 percent engage in domestic issues only. The domestic topic most commonly addressed by the groups include the relationship between church and state, civil rights and liberties for religious and other minorities, life issues (such as abortion and capital punishment) and family and marriage.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Religious lobbying groups multiply on Capitol Hill" by Michelle Boorstein, Washington Post 11/21/11

The biggest spenders, the survey says, include the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and established social conservative groups focusing on abortion, same-sex marriage and home-schooling.

Some longtime Hill advocates highlighted the report’s finding that the vast majority of religious advocates stick to softer education-type outreach and don’t get into explicit politics, such as donating money to candidates. Others said the report showed how tiny the field is, compared with the tens of thousands of mostly corporate lobbyists that have ballooned in number in Washington.

Compared with their numbers in the U.S. population, Muslims and Jews make up a bigger chunk of advocates. There are 17 Muslim advocacy groups and 25 Jewish advocacy groups, while the faith groups represent less than 1 percent and 1.7 percent of the American public, respectively, according to Pew.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Lobbying for the Faithful" posted at Pew Research Center Publications 11/21/11

Of the 212 groups studied, about half (51%) address domestic church-state issues, such as debates over public displays of religion, hate-crime laws and school vouchers. A similar portion (48%) works on civil rights and liberties, such as gay rights, women’s rights, workers’ rights and the rights of religious and ethnic minorities.

About four in-ten groups in the study (42%) work on bioethics and life issues, which include abortion, capital punishment, stem cell research and end-of-life issues. Roughly as many (39%) address family and marriage issues, including the definition of marriage, domestic violence and fatherhood initiatives. About one-in-six groups (17%) work on other domestic issues, a catch-all category that includes corporate accountability/responsibility, limited government/private enterprise, elections/campaign finance, capitalism, volunteerism and veterans’ issues.

To read the entire Pew study, CLICK HERE.

Liberal Media Still Ignorant of Tea Party Movement

While the Tea Party sweeps America, liberal journalists desperately try to pigeon hole the movement into a pre-Internet mold. They just don't get it: The Tea Party IS American citizens; it's not an old-fashioned political organization with a visible head or a limited number of lead spokesmen.

-- From "Tea party groups choose to stand mute on same-sex marriage ruling" by Sandhya Somashekhar, Washington Post Staff Writer 7/13/10

While many conservative organizations immediately decried a federal judge's decision last week to invalidate the federal ban on recognizing gay marriages, tea party groups have been conspicuously silent on the issue.

The silence is by design, activists with the loosely affiliated movement said, because it is held together by an exclusive focus on fiscal matters and its avoidance of divisive social issues such as abortion and gay marriage. Privately, though, many said they back the decision because it emphasizes the legal philosophy of states' rights.

The large tea party-affiliated organizations, including FreedomWorks and the Tea Party Nation, declined to comment on Tauro's ruling because of their groups' fiscal focus.

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.

Homosexualists Declare War on Obama, DNC

Obama's vocal dedication to the Gay Agenda is simply not enough for the strident homosexualists who helped get him elected. Obama's homosexual celebration at the 'Hate Crimes' law signing two weeks ago has been dismissed, as they blame Obama for the same-sex 'marriage' defeat in Maine.

Not even the Senate hearings on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) a few days ago satisfies the homosexualist's zealousness.

UPDATE 11/10/09: According to The Hill, liberal boycott against Obama catching on

-- From "The War Within: DNC Gets Boycotted Over Gay Rights" by Chris Good, The Atlantic 11/9/09

John Aravosis and Joe Subday of AMERICAblog, two bloggers who frequently cover gay rights issues, have announced that they and a handful of other gay activists and liberal bloggers are organizing a boycott of the Democratic National Committee and Organizing for America (what has become of Obama's campaign apparatus, now led by the DNC) until President Obama puts his political weight behind moving their key issues through Congress--namely, repeals of "don't ask, don't tell" and the Defense of Marriage Act, and passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

The boycott's "cosponsors," as Aravosis and Subday put it, are Daily Kos, Dan Savage, Michelangelo Signorile, Paul Sousa, Pam Spaulding, Robin Tyler, Bil Browning, and Jane Hamsher.

The boycott is a financial one: they're calling on supporters to refuse to donate to the DNC and OFA.

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.

Homosexualists Not Satisfied with Obama's Gay Agenda

As the White House strategizes a stealth implementation of the Gay Agenda upon America, homosexualist opinion leaders give Obama tepid applause, as stealth is not what they want. After all, the entire premise of the Gay Agenda is for society to PUBLICLY PROCLAIM homosexual behavior as glorious.

-- From "Hate Crimes Bill Frustrates Gay Rights Pundits" by Mara Gay, The AtlanticWire 10/29/09

Sexual orientation and gender identity are now included in the definition of a federal hate crime. When President Obama signed the legislation into law Wednesday, it was widely touted as a victory for gay rights groups. The Associated Press called the legislation, "the biggest expansion of the civil-rights era law in decades."

But some pro-gay rights pundits aren't celebrating. While they applaud the legislation for helping to prosecute hate crimes, they're taking the administration to task for failing to address their broader concerns. True political courage, they say, would mean addressing discrimination, repealing the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, advocating for gay marriage, and supporting gay rights on the ballot in Maine, where it is currently in question.

* At The Atlantic, Andrew Sullivan notes with frustration . . . "Their agenda for the gays is pretty much the Democratic party's: Separate, quiet . . . He's for gay rights, but not yet and shhhh!"

* The gay blog Queerty criticizes Democrats for attaching the hate crimes bill to defense spending legislation instead of championing the principle of gay rights on its own.

* At The Atlantic, Chris Geidner says ". . . will this be, like so often in legislative struggles, the single trinket doled out to a loyal constituency group until the next time the group demands action?"

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.

'Gay'-rights leader quits homosexuality

"Homosexuality is death. I choose life."

From "How a 'gay rights' leader became straight" by Art Moore, posted 7/3/07 at WorldNetDaily.com

He was a rising star in the "gay rights" movement, but Michael Glatze now declares not only has he given up activism – he's no longer a homosexual.

Glatze – who had become a frequent media source as founding editor of Young Gay America magazine – tells the story of his transformation in an exclusive column published today by WND.

Although Glatze cut himself off from the homosexual community about a year and a half ago, he says the column likely will surprise some people.

...The radical change in his life, Glatze recalls, began with inner "promptings" he now attributes to God.

"I hope I can share my story," he said. "I feel strongly God has put me here for a reason. Even in the darkest days of late-night parties, substance abuse and all kinds of things – when I felt like, 'Why am I here, what am I doing?' – there was always a voice there.

"I didn't know what to call it, or if I could trust it, but it said 'hold on.'"

...In 2005, Glatze was featured in a panel with Judy Shepard, mother of slain homosexual Matthew Shepard, at the prestigious JFK Jr. Forum at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

"It was after viewing my words on a videotape of that 'performance,'" he writes, "that I began to seriously doubt what I was doing with my life and influence."

"Knowing no one who I could approach with my questions and my doubts, I turned to God," he says. "I'd developed a growing relationship with God, thanks to a debilitating bout with intestinal cramps caused by the upset stomach-inducing behaviors I'd been engaged in."

Toward the end of his time with Young Gay America, Glatze said, colleagues began to notice he was going through some kind of religious experience.

Just before leaving, not fully realizing what he was doing, he wrote on his office computer his thoughts, ending with the declaration: "Homosexuality is death, and I choose life."

Read the rest of this article and Michael Glatze's testimony.

"I believe that all people, intrinsically, know the truth. I believe that is why Christianity scares people so much. It reminds them of their conscience, which we all possess." -- Michael Glatze