Think Progress

More than 200 people show up for bring-your-gun-to-church day.

Ken Pagano, the pastor of the New Bethel Church in Louisville, KY, recently invited his congregation to bring their unloaded firearms into the house of worship to “celebrate our rights as Americans!” Yesterday’s bring-your-gun-to-church day, to which more than 200 people showed up, also featured “a $1 raffle of a handgun, firearms safety lessons and a picnic.” Pagano reportedly thought up the event “after some church members expressed concern about members of President Barack Obama administration’s views on gun control, though the president hasn’t moved to put new restrictions on ownership.” Since Obama’s election, there has been a boom in gun sales, stoked largely by a multi-million dollar misinformation campaign by the National Rifle Association.

Gingrich: Americans ‘surrounded by paganism.’

On Friday, Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, and Oliver North visited Rock Church in Hampton Roads, Virginia to give a three-hour long lecture on “Rediscovering God in America.” The speakers warned the audience about the “continuing availability of abortion, the spread of gay rights, and attempts to remove religion from American public life and school history books.” The Virginia-Pilot reported that Gingrich argued that, while Christianity is the foundation of American citizenship, Americans are experiencing a period where they are being “surrounded by paganism”:

GINGRICH: I am not a citizen of the world. I am a citizen of the United States because only in the United States does citizenship start with our creator. [...] I think this is one of the most critical moments in American history. We are living in a period where we are surrounded by paganism.

Huckabee also equated America’s victory against the British in the Revolutionary War with the right-wing’s success in the Proposition 8 fight in California as being miracles “from God’s hand.”

Specter cancels appearance at ‘anti-Islamist’ conference.

Last week, media reports announced that Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) was scheduled to speak at a conference, hosted by Daniel Pipes’s Middle East Forum think tank, looking at how “Islamist lawfare” is threatening free speech in America. However, Specter has now pulled out of today’s conference. ThinkProgress spoke to one of the senator’s staffers, who cited a “scheduling conflict.” “We canceled this event last week, Tuesday or Wednesday.” (The Council on American-Islamic Relations notes that as recently as yesterday, Specter was still listed as a speaker in media schedules for the event, although he is not listed on the materials at the conference today.) The Specter staffer also told us that the cancellation had nothing to do with the controversy over Specter’s participation.

Dobson surrenders: The hate crimes bill is ‘utter evil,’ but there’s nothing I can do about it.

Focus on the Family’s James Dobson yesterday used his daily broadcast to complain about the hate crimes legislation that recently passed the House. Dobson called it “utter evil” and said it will “undermine the rule of law and seriously damage morality and decency in the culture.” Dobson frequently rails against various cultural issues. But as Dan Gilgoff at U.S. News notes, what was different in this broadcast was Dobson’s utter hopelessness:

I want to tell you up front that we’re not going to ask you to do anything, to make a phone call or to write a letter or anything.

There is nothing you can do at this time about what is taking place because there is simply no limit to what the left can do at this time. Anything they want, they get and so we can’t stop them.

We tried with [Health and Human Services Secretary] Kathleen Sebelius and sent thousands of phone calls and emails to the Senate and they didn’t pay any attention to it because they don’t have to. And so what you can do is pray, pray for this great nation… As I see it, there is no other answer. There’s no other answer, short term.

Dobson recently made headlines when he conceded that the far right had lost most of the recent so-called “culture war” battles. “Humanly speaking, we can say that we have lost,” said Dobson, adding that he would keep on fighting.

Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter to speak at ‘anti-Islamist’ conference.

The Washington Independent’s Dave Weigel notes that on May 19, a coalition of conservative legal groups will be hosting a conference titled, “Libel Lawfare: Silencing Criticism of Radical Islam.” Here’s a description of the event:

Islamists have launched a two-pronged effort to suppress free discourse on such subjects as Islam, radical Islam, terrorism, and terrorist funding:

* By filing predatory lawsuits.
* By passing “hate speech” and defamation laws.

Victims of these “lawfare” attacks have included the famous and the obscure, politicians, journalists, analysts and plain citizens. This inhibition has great consequences, for when discussion of Islam and terrorism are limited, radical Islam is empowered and Western civilization is imperiled.

Issues to be discussed on May 19 include: A close analysis of Islamist methods; the possible need for legislation to protect free speech on these topics; a comparison of the situation in Europe and the United States; and ways to prevent the United Nations from curtailing discussion of Islam.

Speakers include Frank Gaffney, Daniel Pipes, and…Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA), who will be giving the opening speech.

Steele ‘regrets the way his comments’ against GOP base ‘have been interpreted.’

On Saturday, ThinkProgress reported that RNC Chairman Michael Steele recently made comments suggesting that the GOP base is bigoted. Guest-hosting Bill Bennett’s radio show, Steele argued that the Republican primary voters “rejected Mitt because it had issues with Mormonism.” That comment has engendered criticism from many conservative activists over the last 48 hours. Now, Steele’s press secretary is expressing regret for “the way his comments have been interpreted”:

Gail Gitcho offered this statement: “Chairman Steele regrets the way his comments have been interpreted. Chairman Steele believes Mitt Romney is a respected and influential voice in the Republican Party and looks to his leadership and ideas to help move our party and our nation in the right direction.”

Note that Steele isn’t actually apologizing for suggesting the GOP base is bigoted. He’s merely upset that we “interpreted” his comments. ThinkProgress interpreted Steele’s remarks the only way they can be interpreted.

Al Jazeera report: U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan have Pashto Bibles, told to ‘hunt people for Jesus.’

A report by Al Jazeera English shows soldiers in Afghanistan passing around Bibles in Pashto and Dari, the languages of Afghanistan, presumably to be distributed. The chaplain leading the discussion acknowledges that “proselytizing” is against military rules, but one soldier says, “you can give gifts“:

But in another piece of footage taken by Hughes, the chaplains appear to have found a way around the regulation known as General Order Number One.

“Do we know what it means to proselytise?” Captain Emmit Furner, a military chaplain, says to the gathering.

“It is General Order Number One,” an unidentified soldier replies.

But [Sergeant Jon] Watt says “you can’t proselytise but you can give gifts“.

A military spokeswoman said the Bibles “were never distributed as far as we know.” The Al Jazeera report also shows Lt. Col. Gary Hensley, the chief of the US military chaplains in Afghanistan, telling a congregation of U.S. servicemembers that their job as Christian is to “hunt people for Jesus.” “That’s what we do, that’s our business,” he said. Watch it:

Dobson concedes that the far right has ‘lost’ the culture war.

In a farewell address to the staff of Focus on the Family, James Dobson conceded that evangelical conservatives had lost most of the recent so-called “culture war” battles. Attributing the right’s recent failures to the “internet” and the election of Bill Clinton, Dobson said, “Humanly speaking, we can say that we have lost.” He added that the nation is now “absolutely awash in evil“:

The battles that we fought in the Eighties now, we were victorious in many of those conflicts with the culture, trying to defend righteousness, trying to defend the unborn child, trying to preserve the dignity of the family and the definition of marriage. We fought all those battles and really it was a holding action. [...]

[W]e made a lot of progress through the Eighties but then we turned into the Nineties and the internet came along and a new president came along and all of that went away and now we are absolutely awash in evil. And we are right now in the most discouraging period of that long conflict. Humanly speaking, we can say that we have lost all those battles, but God is in control and we are not going to give up now, right?

Steve Benen writes, “[W]hether Dobson and his cohorts give up now or not, his assessment about their lack of success is nevertheless accurate.”

Obama will be the first U.S. president to attend a White House Seder.

Last night, the White House released President Obama’s schedule for the remainder of the week, which included participation in the White House Seder on Thursday:

On Thursday, President Obama will participate in an event at the White House where he will discuss the need to enhance the quality of healthcare afforded to members of our Armed Forces and our Veterans. The Press Secretary will brief in the afternoon. President Obama and his family will mark the beginning of Passover with a Seder at the White House with friends and staff.

The Jerusalem Post notes that Thursday’s event is “believed to be the first White House Seder attended by an American president.” Yesterday, Obama also issued an official White House letter with his “warmest wishes to all celebrating the sacred festival of Passover.” “Chag sameach,” he added. (HT: JMZ)

Obama sends a direct message to the Iranian people.

Last night, President Obama sent “a special message to the people and government of Iran” on Nowruz, the beginning of the Persian New Year. Obama acknowledged the strain in the relationship between the two countries and said that he seeks “engagement that is honest and grounded in mutual respect”:

So in this season of new beginnings I would like to speak clearly to Iran’s leaders. We have serious differences that have grown over time. My administration is now committed to diplomacy that addresses the full range of issues before us, and to pursuing constructive ties among the United States, Iran and the international community. This process will not be advanced by threats. We seek instead engagement that is honest and grounded in mutual respect.

You, too, have a choice. The United States wants the Islamic Republic of Iran to take its rightful place in the community of nations. You have that right — but it comes with real responsibilities, and that place cannot be reached through terror or arms, but rather through peaceful actions that demonstrate the true greatness of the Iranian people and civilization. And the measure of that greatness is not the capacity to destroy, it is your demonstrated ability to build and create.

Watch it:

Matt Yglesias calls the video “well done,” with “a Persian transcript and a web video with Persian subtitles” on the White House website.

Colorado state senator compares being gay to committing murder.

On the floor of the Colorado state senate on Monday, Republican Sen. Scott Renfroe equated “homosexuality as a sin with murder” during a debate on a bill that would allow same-sex partners of state employees to be covered by health care benefits. “I’m not saying this (homosexuality) is the only sin that’s out there,” said Renfroe. “We have murder. We have all sorts of sin. We have adultery. And we don’t make laws making those legal, and we would never think to make murder legal.” ProgressNow Colorado posted the audio:

Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), said in a statement that Renfroe’s comments were “outrageously offensive” and should “warrant condemnation by all fair-minded people and should be ignored by the Colorado legislature as they move forward in passing overdue protections to state workers.” You can tell Renfroe what you think of his comments here.

Santorum ignorantly refers to language of Qur’an as ‘Islamic.’

Yesterday, former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) delivered “a lecture on Islam” at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Santorum argued that the American public knows too little about the Islamic faith, and to prove his point, he asked the students whether they knew the difference between Sunnis and Shias. Only three audience members raised their hands. He continued:

Santorum said he believes Muslims’ religious views cannot be changed or altered, so Middle Easterners reject American, democratic ideals.

“A democracy could not exist because Mohammed already made the perfect law,” Santorum said. “The Quran is perfect just the way it is, that’s why it is only written in Islamic.”

As a self-anointed scholar of Islam, it’s surprising that Santorum would assert that the Qur’an is “written in Islamic.” It is, of course, originally written in Arabic. Islam is not a language, but rather a religion. Santorum concluded, “I think that if every citizen was fully informed about the war, it would create a commonality between faiths.” Indeed, much work remains to be done.