• PFAW: GOP Exceeds Expectations…on Executive Branch Obstruction.
• Jeremy Hooper: Video: Sen. Rubio keynotes for rabidly anti-LGBT org; org. advocates 'leaving the gay lifestyle.'
• Towleroad: Sally Kern's Husband Arranges Prayer Protest Of Gay-Themed Play in Oklahoma.
• Zack Ford @ Think Progress: Liz Cheney Fuels Family Feud By Continuing To Oppose Marriage Equality.
• Sarah Posner @ Religion Dispatches: Kenneth Copeland's Protectors.
• Cristan Williams @ The Transadvocate: Colleen Francis and the infamous Evergreen State College incident.
• HRC: National Organization for Marriage Withholding Key Financial Documents in Violation of Federal Law.

Speaking of David Barton and his anti-gay views, it looks like a few months ago he appeared on Kenneth Copeland's "Believers Voice of Victory" television program where the two had this exchange:

Barton: … those things that are in the moral Law I don’t have to pray about …. I don’t have to pray about homosexuality, He’s condemned that …

Copeland: … [Oral Roberts] he said God has never ever created anybody to be something He has already condemned … He didn’t create anybody a homosexual, because He condemned homosexuals …

Barton: … I gotta jump on this, because I want everybody to know this cause it doesn’t get publizised. This thing about that he didn’t create someone to be a homosexual, what about that homosexual gene … we now have a study out just in the last few months called Ex-Gays … it documents authoritatively 50,000 cases of people who were homosexuals who no longer were. Now on the secular side they’ve been saying there is nothing you can do about it you were born that way that’s your nature … well if that’s true you can’t have 50,000 ex-gays. I mean that’s like being an ex-black or an ex-white or an ex-whatever. So what’s it has done is science has figured out that God was right. This is not who you are, it’s what you do and you can control what you do. You may not control who you are, you can control what you do … science just got changed this year to match what the Bible’s been telling us all along. And that’s why you always stick with the Bible. Science will catch up with the Bible …

Copeland: … the reason God condemned homosexuality is because of the severe attack it has on the fabric of the blessing, life, all that God created. He created things, certain things to work certain ways to our advantage, and you break that fabric now it opens you up to all kinds of problems … so He’s not condemning people …

Barton: … in Romans 1:27-32 … not only does God not approve homosexuality, it says He does not approve those who approve homosexuality …

This exchange apparently violated standards in Australia and now Copeland's program has been dropped by the network that had been broadcasting it there:

Pentecostal powerhouse Kenneth Copeland has been a regular God-bothering feature of Network Ten’s overnight infomercial line-up for several years – but the network says it has had to pull the plug on his show Believer’s Voice of Victory after a viewer complained about the host’s homophobia.

...

An Australian viewer pointed out that the discussion, which was broadcast around three o’clock in the morning, was offensive and went against the TV Industry Code of Practice.

Ten agreed, as the Code of Practice points out that a broadcast show “should not provoke or perpetuate intense dislike, serious contempt or severe ridicule against a person or group of persons on the grounds of age, colour, gender, national or ethnic origin, disability, race, religion or sexual preference.”

Ten pulled the show, which apparently is still on-air in some Australian regional channels and on PayTV’s Australian Christian Channel.

Kenneth Copeland’s Ministries have labeled Ten’s decision “religious discrimination” and is urging faithful followers to lobby the TV network.

For the last several months we've been noting the gradual re-emergence of James Robison, who was an influential leader back at the founding of the Religious Right but who eventually sort of fell off the radar. 

But in the last year or so, he has suddenly become more and more involved in Religious Right activism and I guess nothing better demonstrates that fact like this article, via AU, reporting that a few months back Robison convened a large gathering of leaders to plot how to defeat President Obama in 2012:

Conservative Christian leaders from across the nation met two months ago near the Dallas airport to strategize about replacing President Barack Obama with someone who matches their agenda – a move that paralleled an effort by Christian leaders in 1979 to defeat then President Jimmy Carter.

About 40 conservative Christian leaders gathered in Dallas on Sept. 8-9 to begin laying the groundwork for a religious-political movement similar to the one that helped Ronald Reagan oust the Baptist Sunday school teacher from the Oval Office. Convened by evangelist James Robison – a key figure in the religious effort 30 years ago to promote Reagan's candidacy – the list of attendees included many of the most prominent Christian evangelists and ministers, including several Southern Baptist leaders.

Southern Baptist leaders attending the meeting included: Richard Land (president of the SBC's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission); Richard Lee (pastor and the editor of The American Patriot's Bible); John Meador (pastor of First Baptist Church of Euless, Texas); and Paige Patterson (president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary).

Others at the meeting included: Tony Evans (a megachurch pastor in Texas); Father Joseph Fessio (founder and editor of Ignatius Press); Craig Groeschel (pastor of LifeChurch.tv); Miles McPherson (a megachurch pastor in California who spoke at the 2008 Republican National Convention); Johnnie Moore (a vice president at Liberty University who defended the school's decisions to have Glenn Beck and Newt Gingrich as recent speakers); Tom Mullins (a megachurch pastor in Florida); Doug Napier (legal counsel at the Alliance Defense Fund); Dino Rizzo (a megachurch pastor in Louisiana); Dave Roever (an evangelist who prayed at Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally); Mark Rutland (president of Oral Roberts University); David Stone (a megachurch pastor in Kentucky); and Stu Weber (a megachurch pastor in Oregon).

Several conservative Christian leaders highly active in politics attended the meeting, including: Stephen Broden (a pastor and Republican politician in Texas); Keith Butler (a pastor and Republican politician in Michigan); Maggie Gallagher (a conservative columnist who received tens of thousands of dollars for her work from the George W. Bush administration); Jim Garlow (chairman of Newt Gingrich's organization, Renewing American Leadership); Harry Jackson (pastor of Hope Christian Church in Washington, D.C.); Gene Mills (executive director of the Louisiana Family Forum); and Tony Perkins (president of the Family Research Council).

Some attendees have been guests on Glenn Beck's program on Fox News (including Broden, Garlow, Lee, McPherson, Mullins, Robison, Roever and Stone), and several were involved with his "Restoring Honor" rally (including Jackson, Land, Lee, Gallagher, Garlow and Roever).

Three of the attendees at the meeting have been under investigation since 2007 by Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Baptist from Iowa, for perhaps violating IRS tax-exempt rules. Those at the meeting included televangelists Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar and Joyce Meyer.

Other individuals helped plan the September meeting but were unable to attend. They included: Jerry Falwell Jr. (president of Liberty University); Jack Graham (a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention); O.S. Hawkins (head of the SBC's Guidestone Financial Resources); Jack Hayford (president of Foursquare International); and author Ravi Zacharias.

I should point out, also, that Robison's return can only be good news for Mike Huckabee, as Robison was his mentor back in the 1970s, leading Huckabee to drop out of seminary so he could go to work for Robison as his director of communications.

If Robison and crew are looking to replace Obama "with someone who matches their agenda," Huckabee seems like a perfect fit.

In a story first reported by Brian Kaylor of EthicsDaily.com, James Robison has been bringing social conservative activists and televangelists from across the country together to strategize on how to prevent President Barack Obama from winning reelection. A who’s who of Religious Right leaders, including Don Wildmon, Tony Perkins, Richard Land, Rod Parsley, Jerry Boykin, Jim Garlow, Daniel Lapin, Kenneth Copeland, Harry Jackson and Sam Rodriguez attended the gathering hosted by Robison.

According to Kaylor’s report, Robison called the meetings an “absolute necessity and one of the ways the people of God’s Kingdom can leave His footprints on planet Earth, impacting our own great nation.” Robison, who was Mike Huckabee’s mentor and host of Life Today, recently spoke with Texas Gov. Rick Perry about how the economic crisis was needed to turn America back to God. Wildmon and Garlow are both closely involved in organizing Perry’s The Response prayer rally and Kaylor reports that the “group is connected to Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry's plan for a large prayer rally in August.” He writes:

According to a list obtained by EthicsDaily.com, among the attendees at the meeting were several Southern Baptist leaders: Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas who recently suggested on Fox News that Obama was a Muslim; Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission; Richard Lee, pastor and the editor of the controversial The American Patriot's Bible; and former North American Mission Board head Bob Reccord, who now heads the semi-secretive group the Council for National Policy, founded by Tim LaHaye. Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University and son of the late founder of the Moral Majority, was scheduled to attend but couldn't make it.

Also attending the meeting were: Jacob Aranza, a minister who in the 1980s helped popularize the theory that rock ’n’ roll music included backmasked messages promoting drug use and sex; Vonette Bright, widow of Campus Crusade for Christ founder Bill Bright, who played a key role in conservative religious-political efforts that birthed the so-called "Religious Right"; Jerry Boykin, a former Pentagon official rebuked for violating policies by speaking in churches in uniform; Jim Garlow, chairman of Newt Gingrich's organization, Renewing American Leadership; Ruth Graham, daughter of evangelist Billy Graham; Harry Jackson, a politically active conservative pastor; David Lane, who has led several efforts to politically mobilize pastors; Ron Luce of Teen Mania Ministries; former Republican U.S. Rep. Bob McEwen; Rod Parsley, a controversial megachurch pastor who endorsed John McCain in 2008 before being rejected by McCain; Samuel Rodriguez of the National Hispanic Christian Leaders Conference; and Don Wildmon of the American Family Association.

…

Tony Perkins, president of the James Dobson-founded Family Research Council, similarly praised Robison during the June 2 broadcast. Perkins attended both the September and June meetings.

"I sensed a new leadership that the Lord has called you to, in that there is a clear recognition that America needs to turn to God," Perkins said. "But I think what you're able to do as kind of a senior statesman of the church is to call together those leaders today that are emerging, and those that are present, to bring them together because unity is the key. I know one of the conversations we had is that you prayed for that unity among us. I think if we could ever be unified and we could walk together as a body of believers in this country that we could profoundly impact this nation."

…

Robison and his group seem united in their opposition to Obama and their desire to see Obama defeated in 2012, but it remains to be seen if they can find a candidate who unites and activates them like Ronald Reagan did in 1980.

Watch Robison and Perkins explain America’s dire need for Godly leaders:

Last week, Time's Amy Sullivan reported that dozens of Religious Right leaders gathered for "a conference call to discuss their dissatisfaction with the current GOP presidential field, and agreed that Rick Perry would be their preferred candidate if he entered the race."

Brian Kaylor of EthicsDaily.com had reported on the same thing a few weeks back, noting that the effort was being organized by James Robison.

Last Friday, Robison wrote a post on his blog in which explained that he had called these gatherings in September of 2010 and June of 2011 because "there is an insidious attack on God, faith, family and freedom" and that God was planning on using this group of "national leaders to help inspire a spiritual awakening, a return to sanity and a restoration of freedom’s foundation."

And he also conveniently posted a list of every person who had participated:

Jacob Aranza, Our Savior’s Church, Broussard, LA

Rick Atchley,The Hills Church of Christ, North Richland Hills, TX

Matthew Barnett, The Dream Center, Los Angeles, CA

David Barton*, Founder & President of Wallbuilders, Aledo, TX

Pastor Duane Bland, Thibodaux Family Church, LA

Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin, former U.S. Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, Farmville, VA

Vonette Bright, Campus Crusade for Christ, Orlando, FL

Stephen Broden, Fair Park Bible Fellowship, Dallas, TX

Keith Butler, Word of Faith International Christian Center, Southfield, MI

Joe Champion, Celebration Church, Georgetown, TX

J.C. Church, Victory in Truth Ministries, Bucyrus, OH

Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Copeland Ministries, Ft. Worth, TX

Matt Croak, Personal Assistant to Rod Parsley, Columbus, OH

Creflo Dollar, World Changers Church International, College Park, GA

Steve Dulin, Elder, Gateway Church, Southlake, TX

Greg Dumas, The Crossing Church, Tampa, FL

Maurizio Elizondo, TX Chapter Director, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference

Jimmy Evans, MarriageToday, Dallas, TX

Dr. Tony Evans, Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, Dallas, TX

Melody Farahani (Asst. to Vonette Bright), Campus Crusade, Orlando, FL

Tony Ferraro, Transparent Church Ministries

Father Joseph Fessio, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA

Maggie Gallagher, National Organization for Marriage, Princeton, NJ

Dr. Jim Garlow, Skyline Wesleyan Church / Renewing American Leadership, San Diego, CA

Jack Graham*, Prestonwood Baptist Church, Plano, TX

Ruth Graham, Transparent Ministries, Waynesboro, VA

Craig Groeschel, LifeChurch.TV, Tulsa, OK

Wayne Grudem, author and professor, Phoenix Seminary, Phoenix, AZ

Dudley Hall, Successful Christian Living Ministries, Euless, TX

O.S. Hawkins*, Guidestone Financial Resources, Dallas, TX

Mike Hayes, Covenant Church, Carrollton, TX

Dr. Jack Hayford*, The King’s University, Los Angeles, CA

Chris Hodges, Church of the Highlands, Birmingham, AL

Jim Hylton, Jim Hylton Ministries, Fort Worth, TX

Jane Hylton, Fort Worth, TX

Bishop Harry Jackson, Hope Christian Church, Beltsville, MD

Dr. Robert Jeffress, First Baptist Church, Dallas, TX

Dr. Richard Land, SBC’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, Nashville, TN

David Lane, Restoration & Renewal Projects, Westlake Village, CA

Rabbi Daniel Lapin, American Alliance of Jews and Christians, Mercer Island, WA

Dr. Richard Lee, First Redeemer Church, Cummings, GA

Jeff Little, Milestone Church, Keller, TX

Ron Luce, Teen Mania, Garden Valley, TX

Gabe Lyons, Q, New York, NY

Steve Mays, Calvary Chapel South Bay, Gardena, CA

Bob McEwen, Member of Congress (RET, Ohio), Fairfax Station, VA

Liz McEwen, Fairfax Station, VA

Miles McPherson, The Rock Church, San Diego, CA

Dr. Andy McQuitty,Irving Bible Church, Irving, TX

John Meador, First Baptist Church, Euless,TX

Eric Metaxas, author (Bonhoeffer andAmazing Grace, among others), New York, NY

Dave Meyer, Joyce Meyer Ministries, MO

David Meyer, Joyce Meyer Ministries, MO

Joyce Meyer, Joyce Meyer Ministries, MO

Gene Mills, Louisiana Family Forum, Baton Rouge, LA

Johnnie Moore, Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA

Robert Morris, Gateway Church, Southlake, TX

Dr. Tom Mullins, Christ Fellowship, Palm Beach Gardens, FL

Dr. Jeff Myers, Summit Ministries, Manitou Springs, CO

Doug Napier, Alliance Defense Fund, Scottsdale, AZ

Christi Napier,Scottsdale, AZ

Rod Parsley, World Harvest Church/Breakthrough Ministries, Columbus, OH

Paige Patterson, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, TX

Tony Perkins, Family Research Council, Washington, DC

Gary Phillips, Executive Pastor, First Baptist Church, Euless, TX

Buddy Pilgrim, Integrity Leadership, DeSoto, TX

Bob Reccord, Council for National Policy, Washington, DC

Terry Redmon,Inprov, Southlake, TX

Jay Richards, Discovery Institute, Seattle, WA

Dino Rizzo, Healing Place Church, Baton Rouge, LA

Bob Roberts, Northwood Church, Keller, TX

Steve Robinson, Church of the King, Mandeville, LA

Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, National Hispanic Christian Leaders Conf., Sacramento, CA

Dave Roever, Wounded Warriors Alliance, Fort Worth, TX

Mark Rutland, Oral Roberts University, Tulsa, OK

Scott Sheppard, Executive Director, 6Stones Mission Network, Euless, TX

Gary Simons, High Point Church, Arlington, TX

Toby Slough, Cross Timbers Community Church, Argyle, TX

Debbie Stacy, Exec. Director/ World Harvest & Breakthrough Ministries, Columbus, OH

Larry Stockstill, Bethany World Prayer Center, Baton Rouge, LA

Dave Stone, Southeast Christian Church, Louisville, KY

Greg Surratt, Seacoast Church, Mt. Pleasant, SC

Sara Swenson (Asst. to Vonette Bright), Campus Crusade, Orlando, FL

Dr. Frank Turek, CrossExamined.org, Charlotte, NC

Stu Weber, Good Shepherd Community Church, Boring, OR

Don Wildmon, American Family Association, Tupelo, MS

Lynda Wildmon, Tupelo, MS

Dallas Willard,University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA

Jane Willard, Los Angeles, CA

Billy Wilson, Exec. Dir. International Center for Spiritual Renewal, Cleveland, TN

Randy Wilson, National Director for Church Ministries, Family Research Council, Washington, DC

Ravi Zacharias*, Ravi Zacharias International Ministry, Atlanta, GA

*Their schedules did not permit their attendance, but they helped initiate and emphasize the importance of these gatherings.

• Apparently Rick Perry doesn’t take a hard enough line against abortion rights for the anti-choice Susan B. Anthony List.

• Perry is trying to make amends with the Religious Right over concerns about his opposition to marriage equality.

• Just 6,000 people have RSVP’d so far for Perry’s The Response.

• A Houston judge dismissed the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s lawsuit against Perry.

• Lastly, Kenneth Copeland will be sending a bus to The Response, no word yet if he will be chartering his $20 million private jet.

Yesterday, we discovered that David Barton has made multiple week-long appearances on Kenneth Copeland's "Believer's Voice of Victory" television program over the last several years and we started working our way through them, beginning with a series from last year entitled "Choose Life and The Blessing."

During the week-long series, Barton and Copeland focused on how people can curse and/or bless themselves based on how they vote for political candidates.  For instance, Barton explained that by voting for a candidate who supports equality, you are actually bringing a curse upon yourself:

I will tell you where this becomes very significant politically, it Romans 1:27-32, the scripture says not only does God not approve homosexuality, it says He does not approve those who do approve of homosexuality. So I’ve got a ballot, I’ve got a vote, I vote for somebody that approves homosexuality, God doesn’t approve me if I approve those who approve homosexuality. The Bible is so good about helping us know how to vote, because what you said is exactly right. The reason homosexuality will kill the blessing and I’ll tell you why, if I support someone who supports homosexuality, it will kill the blessing on me whether I’m a homosexual or not.

On a different episode Barton, while wearing an really classy patriotic shirt, explained that the same principle applies to the issue of abortion but that God will take care of Christians who vote properly even while the land is being cursed:

Think of it in terms of abortion. [Deuteronomy 27:25] says "cursed be he who takes money to slay an innocent person." Now I wonder if that might mean abortion doctors and abortionists, taking money to slay an innocent person? And by the way, if a curse is going to be on that person, do you know that in the platforms of parties we have platforms that support abortion facilities and say federal funding out to go to it and a healthcare bill where we're going to fund abortion. So we're going to support a healthcare bill who funds people who kill innocent life and God says a curse if on those people who do that and now you're putting your money, you're putting your government, you're putting your vote in to that? I think that gives me a curse too.

If you have cast your ballot, your seed, for righteousness, saying "I'm not going that way," you might live in Israel with King Ahab and Jezebel, wicked, and you might be getting three and a half years of no rain but you may be like Elijah; God's going to send you a raven to take care of you. The whole nation may have it goofed up because of the leaders, but you're going to get taken care of because you made a covenant. 

David Barton joined televangelist Kenneth Copeland last year for a video series called “Choose Life and The Blessing” where the two discussed how voters earn either God’s blessing or wrath depending on who they support. Barton and Copeland agreed that voting for candidates who support LGBT equality are asking for punishment from God, and also insisted that gay people simply do not exist because homosexuality is not innate.

Copeland grouped gays and lesbians with murderers and thieves, saying that God would never create people to be gay in the same way God would never create people to kill others. Barton concurred and claimed that “science just got changed this year” with the issue of so-called “ex-gays,” which he says “has changed the entire psychological, psychiatric world.” According to Barton, “science has now figured out, ‘you know God was right,’” and that people can ‘leave’ homosexuality and become heterosexual.

Barton has been known to promote ‘ex-gay’ reparative therapy and has argued that gay rights are “impossible.” Despite Barton’s contention, the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Association of Social Workers and the American Psychiatric Association all deny the efficacy, safety and science of reparative therapy.

Watch:

Copeland: God has never, ever created anybody to be something He has already condemned.

Barton: That’s right, that’s exactly right.

Copeland: He didn’t create anybody to be a murderer, He condemned murder. He didn’t create anybody a homosexual, ’cause He condemned homosexuality. He never create anybody to be a thief because he condemned stealing.

Barton: I gotta jump on this because I want everybody to know this because it doesn’t get publicized. This thing about He didn’t create someone to be a homosexual, what about that homosexual gene? I will tell you that the science will always catch up with the Bible, it may not appear to be right it will always catch up, it always has, always will. We now have a study out in the last few months called “ex-gays,” and it is significant, it has changed the entire psychological, psychiatric world, because it documents authoritatively people who were homosexuals who no longer were. Now on the secular side they’ve been saying ‘oh there’s nothing you can do about it, you were born that way, that’s you’re nature,’ well if that’s true you can’t have ex-gays. That’s like being an ex-black or an ex-white or an ex-whatever.

So what it has done, science has now figured out, ‘you know God was right.’ So when you said that about you know God didn’t create you to be a homosexual, they’ll say, ‘well wait a minute science says,’ well science doesn’t say that anymore. Science just got changed this year to match what the Bible’s been telling us all along, and that’s why you always stick with the Bible, science will catch up with the Bible.

Prior to Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s The Response prayer rally, we posted video of one of the rally’s official endorsers, John Benefiel, claiming that demonic spirits ruling Washington, D.C. were literally warping the minds of politicians and elected officials. Benefiel, who leads the Heartland Apostolic Prayer Network, is not alone in this view.

David Barton, the right-wing pseudo-historian who has counseled leading Republicans like Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann and Mike Huckabee, similarly believes that demonic principalities are literally controlling parts of government and that Christians must engaged in spiritual warfare to combat them. Barton is an advocate of Seven Mountains Dominionism, which as Lance Wallnau explains, requires spiritual warfare against the demons that control the seven mountains of society.

In last year’s “In God We Trust” series, televangelist Kenneth Copeland asked Barton why politicians “change when they moved to Washington.” Citing Ephesians 6:12, Barton claimed that politics is a “spiritual battle” because demonic principalities literally “sit over” and control areas in the Capitol. These principalities, Barton says, prevent prayers from working because they are “fighting in the Heavenlies” and make politicians “think really goofy.”

Watch:

I’ll tell you one of the things too we’ll never get right until we understand this, it is a spiritual battle. We’re told in Ephesians, it’s not flesh in blood, we’re dealing with spirits. And I’ll tell you out of Daniel, praying, why did that answer get delayed for twenty-one days? Because the Prince of Persia fought against it. There are principalities that sit over certain areas.

And I can tell this in the U.S. Capitol. When I walk from the House side to the Senate side, I cross the middle line of the Capitol, I can feel a different principality because they have jurisdictions over different things. And there are principalities that sit over different government entities that cause them to think really goofy and you can’t get prayers through, they get delayed twenty-one days because the principalities are up there fighting in the Heavenlies.

Because we’re not fighting flesh and blood. And if you don’t understand this is a spiritual battle, and if you don’t understand there are really big principalities and powers sitting over places of power, whether it be banking, or education. There’s principalities that sit over schools to keep those kids from getting knowledge, there’s principalities that sit over financial institutions. They sit over households. That’s why you have principalities in powers, that gradation, you have the corporals, and you have the sergeants, and you have the lieutenants, the captains and the generals, and the generals have a bigger principality and those little corporals may have control over the house but it’s a spiritual battle.

It’s a spiritual battle and we’ll never win until we understand that.

Today on Believers Voice of Victory, David Barton told televangelist Kenneth Copeland that the only way to rejuvenate America’s education system is to instill in kids the “fear of the Lord.” Barton launched his career as a Religious Right activist with the 1989 booklet What Happened in Education?, in which he concluded that a decline in SAT scores was a result of the end of school prayer, and that only Christian teachings in schools could bring SAT scores back up. Barton explained to Copeland, a Prosperity Gospel preacher, what that instilling the “fear of the Lord” in children would require establishing the Bible as the basis of all school curricula:

Barton: This shows you what public education is supposed to look like, the educational system was supposed to come—and it did, these guys started the first public schools in 1642 and cited Bible verses on why they were doing it, they also cited Bible verses on the courses they taught and the way they taught the courses. Now most Christians today, ‘Well we got government schools that’s the way it was supposed to be.’ Really? Show me in the Bible where government’s supposed to do the education, show me how that works, show me what courses government’s supposed to be teaching. See we can’t do that anymore, we don’t use the—we’ve been conformed to the culture, we’ve had public schools for so long that we think that’s the way it is.

Copeland: So now we’ve done then, we’ve gone, into our own—

Barton: Dark ages.

…

Barton: This book right here, every Bible says, in Proverbs 1:7, ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.’ Now I don’t know why today we think, ‘oh I’m going to know more about the Lord if I fear God,’ we’ve made the fear of the Lord the beginning of spiritual knowledge. He didn’t say that, He said the fear of the Lord’s the beginning of knowledge. If you want education you better include the fear of God, if you want to be a good scientist you better include the fear of God, if you want to be a good musician—1962, ’63, the U.S. Supreme Court in three decisions said no more fear of God in education, we want education to be secular. All right, that’s a theological issue. How’s that working out? In 1962, ’63, America was number one in the world in literacy, we are now number sixty-five in the world in literacy. We don’t have the fear of the Lord, because guess what, we don’t have knowledge, it goes down.

As Brian noted, David Barton has been the guest on Kenneth Copeland's television show all week where he has been peddling his patented brand of Christian-based pseudo-history.

During the episodes, ads were being run promoting Barton's latest DVD project called "Building on the American Heritage Series" and we noticed something odd; namely that Barton is being billed as an "expert historian" and an "American historian" in the ad campaign even though Barton claims that he doesn't consider himself to be a historian and doesn't call himself one:

On a Believers Voice of Victory episode that aired today, David Barton told televangelist Kenneth Copeland that women are most elevated in a society that has “conformed to the Scriptures.” Citing Religious Right activist Rabbie Daniel Lapin, Barton said that the Bible is actually the basis of women’s rights, while in “Islam” and secular societies like France and “the Norwegian countries,” women have fewer rights and less respect. Perhaps Barton should read The Handmaid’s Tale before arguing that women will prosper in a society run strictly according to biblical law:

Watch:

David Barton has become a regular guest on Kenneth Copeland's "Believer's Voice Of Victory" program, having made yetanother week-long appearance last month for a series of shows entitled "Renew Your Mind With the Word of God."

On the November 1 episode, Barton explained that he did not need to use the Bible to prove that things like abortion and homosexuality are wrong because all one has to do is look at the natural world to see that such practices are not normal and only occur as aberrations:

One of the most telling features of Glenn Beck’s 2010 Restoring Honor rally were the overtlyreligiousthemesoftherally, along with the launching of a Black Robe Regiment filled with right-wing leaders. The day before Beck’s latest really, Restoring Love, Beck and David Barton are hosting a who’s who of Religious Right activists for a “Christian Leadership Conference” called Under God: Indivisible, including some of the most prominent anti-gay preachers, activists and televangelists in the country:

David Barton

• Writes consistentlydebunkedanddiscredited books about American history with a Christian Nationalist spin, arguing that the Founding Fathers would oppose everything from the separation of church and state to evolution and net neutrality.

• Claims that God is blocking scientists from finding a cure for AIDS in order to punish gay people, urges government regulation of homosexuality and believes public schools are trying to indoctrinate students into homosexuality.

• Asserts that Jesus spoke out against the minimum wage, fair employment practices, anti-discrimination laws and government regulations.

Tony Perkins

• Believes that gay rights advocates are “vile” tools of Satan.

• Accused gay right supporters of being responsible for incidents of suicide among gay youth for creating “a sense of despair that can lead to suicide,” and said that “abnormal” sexuality—not anti-gay bias—leads gay people to commit suicide.

• Likened homosexuality to pedophilia, alcoholism and adultery.

Ralph Reed

• Led the Christian Coalition alongside Pat Robertson but left following reports of financialmisconduct, now heads the Faith and Freedom Coalition.

• Became embroiled in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal involving crooked deals with Indian casinos, and Abramoff later said Reed was a “tap dancer and constantly asking for money.”

• Alleges that America “lost its way” by helping the poor, putting liberty in “danger.”

John Hagee

• Claims God sent Hitler to be a “hunter” of Jews and led Hurricane Katrina to New Orleans in order to stop a “homosexual rally.”

• Refers to the Catholic Church as the “Anti-Christ” and the “whore of Babylon” and says the Antichrist will be gay and partially Jewish.

• Warns that God is punishing America due to homosexuality, abortion rights, and Harry Potter.

James Robison

• Believes same-sex marriage will ultimately lead to a “totalitarian” government like in The Hunger Games.

• Says that wealthy capitalists are victims of a form of “racism” similar to what African Americans experienced during the Jim Crow era and victims of an attack from the demonic realm.

• Thinks that Satan is using Glee to “bring us down.”

Rick Scarborough

• Maintains that AIDS is God’s punishment for homosexuality and warns of a looming “sexual anarchy led by sodomites.”

• Bemoans the supposed decline of non-white families because of its purportedly negative impact on “American values” and the Republican Party.

• While he is collaborating with Glenn Beck, a Mormon, he criticized Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith and said Christians should be wary about supporting Mormon candidates.

Harry Jackson

• Alleges that gay rights supporters are recreating the “times of Hitler” and are leading a “Satanic plot” against the black family.

• Asserts that gay rights will “bring us under” just like the iceberg that hit the Titanic.

• Believes a demonic power called the Queen of Heaven is behind the push for same-sex marriage.

Jim Garlow

• Claims the push for same-sex marriage is part of an“Antichrist spirit” that is led by Satan.

• Compares homosexuality to bestiality and same-sex marriage to slavery.

• Says that adoption by gay parents is akin to children losing their parents in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Richard Land

• Lost his radio show due to a plagiarism and racism scandal, despite working as the top ethicist of the Southern Baptist Convention.

• Argues that “the Devil” is behind“the homosexual lifestyle.”

• Defends the criminalization of homosexuality and claimed that gay rights advocates seek the “full-blown sexual paganization” of society.

Ken Hutcherson

• Insists that the gay community stole the rainbow symbol and the word “gay” from Christians.

• Hoped to lead an anti-gay marriage rally that would be a “spiritual bomb” comparable to the 2004 terrorist attack in Madrid, Spain.

• Wants the “promotion” of homosexuality banned just like “sugar and fatty foods in schools” since it is “dangerous and unnatural.”

Kenneth Copeland

• Contends God didn’t create gay people just like “He didn’t create anybody to be a murderer, He condemned murder; he didn’t create anybody a homosexual, ’cause He condemned homosexuality.”

• Became the subject of a Senate probe into his financial practices.

Aryeh Spero

• Maintains that homosexuality will lead to the end of the world because it is “so contrary to the order of God's nature” that God will decide “to annihilate the world and start from the beginning.”

• Accused Obama of engaging in “ethnic cleansing” against Jews.

Back in February, we reported that pastor Anne Gimenez was in the process of recreating the 1980 Washington for Jesus rally, which she led with her late husband, Bishop John Gimenez. The new election-oriented prayer rally, called America for Jesus, is scheduled to be held in Philadelphia’s Independence Mall in September and has already received the endorsements of far-right dominionists including Cindy Jacobs, Lou Engle, Jim Garlow and Harry Jackson.

But as with Rick Perry’s The Response and Lou Engle’s The Call prayer rallies, it was only a matter of time before more mainstream Religious Right leaders linked arms with their more openly dominionists brethren.

The latest America for Jesus solicitation mentions support from not only New Apostolic Reformation leaders like Che Ahn, Rick Joyner, Chuck Pierce, Doug Stringer and Barbara Yoder, but also from David Barton of WallBuilders, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council and Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel. Even televangelists Kenneth Copeland, Gordon Robertson and John Hagee have endorsed the event.

In promotional materials [pdf], the event’s organizers use language closely centered around Seven Mountains dominionism, which calls for conservative Christians to take dominion over the seven spheres of society: family; arts and entertainment; business; education; religion and the church; media; and government. They also dabble in some Christian Nation revisionist history, using two fake quotes attributed to founding fathers George Washington (“It is impossible to govern the world without God and the Bible”) and James Madison (“We have staked the future upon our capacity to sustain ourselves according the Ten Commandments of God”).

The Bible provides guiding principles for all spheres of society: government, family, church, science and technology, economics and business, education, media and communications, and arts and entertainment. Every book of the Bible gives us instruction and principles on how to establish God’s kingdom purposes on earth.

If we live by His commands in our own lives, we will impact people around us and their spheres of society. And if Christian leaders in these spheres will uphold God’s principles in their positions of influence, God’s blessings will be multiplied in a healthy and wealthy society….God’s kingdom purposes will come forth on earth as in heaven!

While addressing the "Under God: Indivisible" rally ahead of Glenn Beck's "Restoring Love" event, televangelist Kenneth Copeland declared that he doesn't need to form opinions about things like the Supreme Court's health care ruling or the state of the economy because he trusts in God. 

As such, Copeland declared, if Christians would just put their trust in God, they would know that it was "our time to rise up and overcome all that the Devil has been trying to do to destroy this nation with progressive socialism for over a hundred and fifteen years - it is finished, it is done!": 

David Barton has returned for another extended appearance on Kenneth Copeland's "Believers Voice of Victory" television program where he made the case that our economic system must be set up to correspond to "the way God says the government should do economics," which means that government needs to "reward those who make a profit."  

But rather than doing that, Barton warned, our government is punishing those who have been successful and using their money to reward those who aren't productive or bail-out those who have run their business into the ground ... "and there's no way God is going to bless that ... because we're not following his laws."   

But not only is God not going to bless our government, He is "actually going to come down and oppose" it, coming straight out of Heaven to say "what's going on down here? This isn't what I ordained":

While appearing on Kenneth Copeland's "Believer's Voice of Victory" television program, David Barton said that any effort to change the definition of marriage to include "a man and a man or a dog and a horse" will harm a nation's ability to prosper economically "because you're violating commands of God":

While appearing on televangelist Kenneth Copeland’s Believer’s Voice of Victory, disgraced pseudo-historian onceagainusedhisplatform on Copeland’s show to deliver an attack on gay rights and women’s rights, this time saying that marriage equality and reproductive rights lead to a nation’s destruction. “If a nation says, ‘hey, we want abortion, we want homosexual marriage,’ it is going down,” Barton said, “anytime you move away from what God says, you are going down as a nation.”

Watch:

Copeland: I don’t care who you are, if you turn loose of God and the truth of God, you’re going down, brother! You can’t—it’s created that way; you can’t violate the way it was put together.

Barton: That is why public policies in a nation are so important. If a nation says, ‘hey, we want abortion, we want homosexual marriage,’ it is going down.

Copeland: It’s going down.

Barton: You have taken what God had up top and said ‘we’re not going to do that, we want to go in a different’—anytime you move away from what God says, you are going down as a nation.

Televangelist Kenneth Copeland is taking at least part of the credit for the collapse of the Berlin Wall, telling guest David Barton that German pastors used his books to topple the wall with the power of positive confession. A Word-Faith preacher, Copeland believes that Christians can use “positive confession” to speak things into existence, typically physical health and material wealth. During Believer’s Voice of Victory, he claimed that his books and those of fellow Word-Faith preacher Kenneth Hagin were used to bring down the Berlin Wall, to which the self-declared “historian” Barton eagerly agreed.

Watch: