No one could doubt that Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and Baylor University President Ken Starr are social conservatives. But do those two honestly think it’s a good thing to associate themselves with — and even aid — people who call the president of the United States “anti-Christian” and compare him and Democratic leaders to Nazis? Who call the mayor of Houston a “sodomite”? Who suggest Muslim Americans aren’t loyal citizens and praise someone with a history of making anti-Catholic and anti-Semitic smears? Who question — in truly vicious language — the religious faith of fellow pastors if they disagree on issues?
Yet Abbott and Starr are supporting people who say such things next month in Houston. The Houston Area Pastor Council/Texas Pastor Council plans to present Abbott with a “Faithful Citizenship Award” at a major fundraiser for the group on March 22. Starr will be the featured speaker at the same event.
Now, you might think a group that goes by the name “Pastor Council” offers a relatively benign venue for an ambitious politician and the head of a prominent Baptist university. But the group’s executive director, Dave Welch, is notorious for the deeply divisive and downright hateful rhetoric he employs in pursuit of his group’s political agenda. A few examples:
- Although President Obama is a Christian, Welch has suggested that he really is an “enemy” of Christianity and our country and charges that the president promotes “anti-Christian” and “anti-American” policies. He says pastors who acknowledge the president’s Christian faith are “much like the clergy of Hitlerian Germany and the ‘Positive Christianity’ that represented complete acquiescence to and control by the Nazi state.” In 2010 he called President Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid “the Fourth Reich.”
- He calls gay people a “morally depraved special interest group” and Houston’s twice-elected, openly gay mayor, Annise Parker, a “sodomite.” He was one of the leaders of a group of social conservatives who warned of a “gay takeover” of Houston’s City Hall if Parker were elected mayor. He later cited her election as evidence that Houston is a “sin-sick city.” (Two of March 22 event’s co-chairs, Steven Hotze and Steve Riggle, have also been among the most extreme anti-gay voices in Houston politics.)
- Last fall the Pastor Council praised conservative evangelist Tim LaHaye as “one of the greatest pastors of all time.” LaHaye, a prominent fundamentalist preacher and coauthor of the apocalyptic Left Behind books, in the past has called Roman Catholicism “a false religion” and even asserted that the Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus.
- In October 2010 Welch called a federal judge a “domestic enemy” and said she was guilty of treason for ruling that the Pentagon’s policy against gay people serving openly in the military was unconstitutional.
- Welch has said that clergy who accept the science of evolution are “no more a Christian than the chimpanzees from which he or she claims to have evolved.” He has also attacked “the pathetic preachers, pitiful pastors and compromised clergy” who opposed a State Board of Education resolution falsely claiming that history textbooks used in public schools are anti-Christian and promote Islam. “They disgust me,” Welch wrote about those clergy members, who had called the resolution misleading, divisive and inflammatory.
- Welch says he opposes Muslims who seek leadership positions in government because “we have deep concerns about the loyalty of Muslims to the Constitution.”
- When Texas Gov. Rick Perry called for Americans to unite in prayer at Houston’s Reliant Stadium in August 2011, Welch publicly insisted that the event be limited to Christians only. He characterized the alternative as a “polytheistic approach and … interfaith event that requires Christians to squelch the mention of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Abbott and Starr are free to associate with whomever they please, of course. But by participating in the the Pastor Council’s benefit, they appear to be endorsing the slime, viciousness and bigotry promoted by some of their hosts. Shame on them.
These men are no more Christian than Attilla the Hun. The “Christianity” they espouse would have put them squarely in the group that was stoning Jesus on His way to the cross. They hate all those who disagree with them. They manufacture crises of religion on an ongoing basis, trying to make themselves martyrs. (I would love to help them reach that goal, but it is against the law.)
Sponsored by Jack and Doty Thompkins – owner of Fit Athletics, Inc. in Houston which is full of gay customers handing over their money to a right wing homophobe that sponsors this event.
I am trying to figure out something here??? If I recall correctly, the mayor of Houston is a gay woman. Gay women do not “do it” by sticking their penises (which they do not have) into the butthole of their partner—at least last time I heard. So, if you are a gay woman who is not doing the penis-butthole thing, you are not meeting the official definition of sodomite? So, how does that make you a sodomite?
This is giving me a headache.
Charles – has there ever been such a thing as a “gemorraite?” Maybe that’s the word Welch was looking for……
I share your headache.
My head is pounding too. How they can misuse the word Christian the way they do is beyond my capability to understand.
I am not a Christian, but I’ve read the stories about Jesus and he said that you would know his followers by their love, not their unmitigated hatred.
I am so THRILLED that I do not have anything to do with “Christians” who talk the way they do, they call the president a non-Christian because they disagree with his politics?
And that Gomer, Gomert, whatever the heck his name is, WHY do people vote for the guy? I give away copies of the Constitution of the United States…that moron does not know that the CONSTITUTION is the supreme law of America? Is he a Muslim? No, even Muslims know that we’re covered by the Constitution, they’re not crazy.
BTW. Jesus said that you would tell his followers by their LOVE, not by their hate. Also, the Jews had zilch to do with his death, the ROMANS wanted Jesus dead because his buds kept calling him the King of the Jews; the Romans considered that to be sedition because Cesar was the King. Anyone else who claimed to be King was a criminal.
The Sanhedrin (the Jewish high court) consisted of religious Jews. What DAY was it? Passover. What do religious Jews do on Passover? They CELEBRATE the holiday that recalls their being set free from Egypt…they are HOME, they are not meeting to condemn anyone.
The religion of Christianity was started by Paul, not Jesus. Jesus was a JEW, not a Christian. People who call themselves Christians would do well to look into the history of their religion.
Methinks that with people like Gohmert and so-called Christian bigots (not all Christians, just the bigots) I’m seriously thinking of packing up and getting the dickens out of Texas. Maybe someplace safe like Afghanistan .
Reading these vile, devisive, stupid (not ignorant) arguments don’t hurt my head. It makes my blood boil. I believe in God. However, there is no way I will participate in any organized religion, and these people are why. I know many religiously devout Christians, Jews, etc. However, too many ppl adopt and agree with this crap. Using the logic that our President is not a Christian works against these heritics as well. How do we know any of them are Christians? They say they are, they claim to be in church on Sunday mornings. But that proves nothing to me.
Additionally, I am an alumni of Baylor Law School. And, I’m proud to be so. However, I find it abhorrent that Kent Starr has opted to align himself with any group with radical, racial, anti-women ideations. It is not merely a blemish on the college. It sets it’s reputation back decades and flies in the face of those who have diligently worked to bring this university and the law school into the 21st century. He may be the president of the university. However, he in no way is representative of the alumnus.
As abhorrent as Starr’s actions are, Greg Abbott’s involvement should frighten Texas citizens. With the power he wields, we should be very, very afraid.
Finally, regarding sodomy, The United Supreme Court struck down Texas’ sodomy law in 2003 as unconstitutional. But, with the current make up of the court, and a demanding public who gets their news, and are readily led by the nose by information on Fox News, we are not out of the weeds. My only hope is that individuals take back their responsibility to think for themselves and that many of the grassroot organizations can have a louder voice.
After reading some of theses stories on this website I have come to the conclusion that you have more than your fair share of wingnuts in Texas.
Well,I guess a new sodomy law would give ultra-conservative Texans legal control of every asshole in Texas. As the old saying goes, “it takes one to know one.”