October 26, 2007

Obama Gospel Tour: Homophobes: 5, Undecided: 2, Draw: 1

The (presumably) final line-up for Barack Obama’s “gospel concert your” fundraiser is up at barackobama.com:

EMBRACE THE CHANGE!

Charleston

Friday, October 26, 2007

North Charleston Performing Arts Center
5001 Coliseum Drive
North Charleston, SC 29418

Gospel Performances by:
Mary Mary, Hezekiah Walker, Beverly Crawford

Mary Mary, in an interview with Clay Cane: “I feel how God feels about it … I don’t agree with the lifestyle, but I love them. … They have issues and need someone to encourage them like everybody else — just like the murderer, just like the one full of pride, just like the prostitute … hopefully our music impacts them in a way that makes them want to change it.”

Mary Mary. Anti-gay. Check. √

Hezekiah Walker says: Homosexuality is a “sin,” a “shame,” and “the worst”; the rumor of homosexuality is “character assassination”.

Hezekiah Walker. Anti-gay. Check. √

Beverly Crawford: One one hand, Crawford has “recorded some albums with Bishop Carlton Pearson” — the Oral Roberts alum whose radical “Gospel of Inclusion” got him kicked out of the Church of God in Christ (the nation’s largest African-American Pentecostal denomination); he’s now a bishop in the undeniably pro-gay United Church of Christ.

On the other hand, she’s also appeared with radically anti-gay Trinity Broadcasting Network televangelist T.D. Jakes — who “has called homosexuality a ‘brokenness’ and said he would not hire a sexually active gay person” and “endorsed the so-called Truth for Youth campaign, which is distributing specially-made anti-gay Bibles to high school students all across the country” — and is signed with Jakes’ record label.

Beverly Crawford. Anti-gay? Well, certainly not an ally. A draw. √

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Greenwood Civic Center
1620 Hwy 72 221 E.
Greenwood, SC 29649

Gospel Performances by:
Byron Cage, Mighty Clouds of Joy, Vanessa Bell Armstrong

Byron Cage, in a 2006 radio interview on “La Gospel Talk” (listen to MP3 audio here), agreed with NARTH “ex-gay” founder Joseph Nicolosi that homosexuality is in essence a defect. Cage said that “there’s an interesting passage” in the New Testament in which the disciples (we think he means the Apostles) asked Jesus why a child would be “born lame”; Cage’s answer was that God doesn’t make mistakes — but that God creates such a defect so that “Jesus could heal it.” (Kind of like the argument that Jesus needed Judas Iscariot to betray him, or else he couldn’t have been crucified, and then risen from the dead.)

Cage also said: “I agree with Dr. Nicolosi that there are choices people make to be one way or the other” — and then compared homosexuality to being overweight, as the sort of choice “that could kill us.” Cage then went on to say that one of his mentors had died of AIDS, and another had died of a heart attack, and asked, “Which is worse?”

Byron Cage. Anti-gay. Check. √

We honestly don’t know if Mighty Clouds of Joy, or any of its members are devout homophobes, but we did discover something very unsettling: The group’s choice in the company it keeps.

In 2004, Mighty Clouds of Joy appeared at an event that, by its name alone, sounds like something all nice and peaceful and Kumbaya-like: the Fourth World Summit on Leadership and Good Governance, sponsored by the Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace and the Interreligious and International Peace Council, of which the International Peace Federation is part.

Problem is, the International Peace Federation is one of the organizations of the scary, extreme-right-wing, extremely anti-gay Washington Times publisher Rev. Sun Myung Moon (he of “Moonie” fame). In fact, Moon himself…

…took to the podium to deliver a profound ecumenical message, entitled “Our Mission in the Last Days of Providential History.” Having worked for decades to confront the threat of atheistic communism, Dr. Moon noted that with the conclusion of the Cold War, the fear and insecurity of this global conflict is thankfully past. “And yet,” he asked, how secure and happy are we? Young people now liberated from the yoke of communism are enjoying their freedom to such an extent that they are in danger of running off the cliff of debauchery.”

Selfish individualism and slavery to free sex has led to unthinkable calls for homosexual “marriage.” “Imagine for a moment,” he asked, “the world that would result from what they advocate. Humanity would become extinct within two generations.”

But that’s hardly all. Earlier in the summit:

…IIFWP conference participants were treated to breakfast courtesy of the Washington Times Foundation. They joined a total of roughly 3000 participants coming not only from the surrounding Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, but also from two conferences sponsored by IIFWP affiliated organizations—the American Family Coalition, and the American Clergy Leadership Conference.

. . .

The prelude to breakfast was concluded by an intimate video presentation from former president George Herbert Walker Bush. He remembered fondly the Washington Times, before speaking at some length about the importance of faith and family for the country, and for himself, his wife, and his children, including the current U.S. president.

As breakfast wound down, a performance by the noted gospel music group Mighty Clouds of Joy drew attention back to the central stage, where they were followed by the Honorable Robert J. Dole, former U.S. Senator from Kansas. The man who had once lost a bitter competition with George H.W. Bush for the Republican nomination for president was magnanimous and humorous as he, too, spoke in support of the breakfast’s themes.

In lead up to the keynote address, Dr. Chung Hwan Kwak introduced IIFWP founder, the Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon, by mentioning three key points. First, that Dr. Moon knows God’s heart… Second, that Dr. Moon intimately knows God as the invisible creator who is the True Parent of humankind. Third, that Dr. Moon is the king of peace…

. . .

The Mighty Clouds of Joy brought the house to its feet in thanks and praise as they led the assembly in singing “Amazing Grace,” and the concluding prayer was delivered.

Mighty Clouds of Joy. Anti-gay? We think so — among other things. √

Vanessa Bell Armstrong. We don’t know.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

The Township Auditorium
1703 Taylor Street
Columbia, SC 29202

Gospel performances by:
Mary Mary, Donnie McClurkin, Deitrick Haddon, Mighty Clouds of Joy

Deitrick Haddon. We don’t know.

Donnie McClurkin. You have to ask?

Posted by: Sapphocrat

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