Monday, June 15, 2015
David Lane: Christian Extremist
Who is David Lane? And why does he matter?
In pursuit of conservative evangelical voters, GOP candidates embrace far-right political operative who is raising an ‘army’ to fulfill his ‘Christian nation’ vision
On Saturday, June 13, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley will host a day-long, Christians-only prayer rally organized by political operative David Lane. Lane, who organized similar events for Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, is trying to recruit 1,000 conservative evangelical pastors to run for office, which he believes would mobilize hundreds of thousands of election volunteers and lead to conservative election victories in 2016.
David Lane promotes a vision of America as a nation founded by and for Christians; denounces court rulings upholding church-state separation; calls for Christianity to be established as America’s official religion with the Bible as a primary textbook in public schools; vehemently opposes legal equality for LGBT people; and demands the impeachment of judges who rule in favor of allowing same-sex couples to be legally married. Lane matters because these are not just the opinions of a far-right fringe figure. They are the explicit agenda of a political operative who is working closely with the highest leaders of the Republican Party.
The explicit goal of Lane’s political organizing is to advance his particularly narrow and divisive vision of America. Republican politicians who embrace Lane in the hope of winging votes are playing with fire, giving credibility to his divisive worldview and troubling political agenda.
David Lane’s Worldview
In Lane’s worldview, there are essentially no gray areas: America will either be a Christian nation or a pagan nation and there will be no peace until we decide which. Judges who uphold the right of same-sex couples to marry must be impeached. The Supreme Court’s rulings upholding the separation of church and state have imposed a destructive secularism on America and must be reversed. Secularism and homosexuality are twin evils from which America must be rescued.
This quote gives a pretty good summary of Lane’s worldview:
Who will wage war for the Soul of America and trust the living God to deliver the pagan gods into our hands and restore America to her Judeo-Christian heritage and re-establish a Christian culture?... As to the future of America – and the collapse of this once-Christian nation – Christians must not only be allowed to have opinions, but politically, Christians must be retrained to war for the Soul of America and quit believing the fabricated whopper of the ‘Separation of Church and State,” the lie repeated ad nauseum by the left and liberals to keep Christian America – the moral majority – from imposing moral government on pagan public schools, pagan higher learning, and pagan media…. Christian America is in ruins…
You ask, “What is our goal?” To wage war to restore America to our Judeo-Christian heritage with all of our might and strength that God will give us.
You ask, “what is our aim?” One word only: victory, in spite of all intimidation and terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory, America will ultimately collapse.
Republican Party Loves Lane
While Lane often expresses his contempt for “establishment” Republicans who don’t embrace his radical vision for a Christian America in which the Bible is a primary textbook in public schools, GOP officials like party head Reince Priebus attend and promote his events. Priebus was scheduled to participate in Lane’s trip to Israel in January before controversy flared; he ended up not making the trip, saying he needed to attend a funeral. Indeed, Republican Party officials seem unconcerned with Lane’s extremism and are eager to make use of his network of conservative pastors.
The invitation letter for the Israel junket came from Priebus himself; although he said it was not an RNC trip, committee members interested in participating were told to RSVP to the RNC’s Member Services department. Priebus praised David Lane by name in October during a television interview in which he reiterated the Party’s support for a federal constitutional ban on same-sex couples marrying, which would overturn marriage equality in every state that now recognizes it.
What sort of war does Lane want to wage? A war with bullets and bombs to establish a state-imposed Christian religion? This guy is embraced by the GOP and Republican politicians -- even those who are running for president.
What's the difference between Lane's rhetoric and that of a Islamic jihadist? IMO, their goals are the same: Impose their religion on everyone through war.
GOP politicians and other Christians appear to be MIA on this maniac's vision for America?
Their silence implies approval.
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10 comments:
Here's how it works, Shaw: When you threaten all out war to establish YOUR religion as the state religion, that's considered righteous and doing God's work to save humanity, but especially the USofA. When other religions threaten the exact same thing? TERRORISM!
You'll never get the extremists like Lane to understand how alike they are with other religious extremists around the globe. Their belief that theirs is the one true faith blinds them to that.
Sounding EXACTLY like Islamic extremists. Dude (and his supporters) hasn't the logic to see they are spewing the same.
David Lane is an American political activist who works to increase the political strength of religious groups on the Christian right, to promote social conservative values in the United States.
Funded largely by the American Family Association (AFA), Lane has organized political briefings with appearances by fundamentalist pastors such as David Barton and politicians such as Mike Huckabee, and Newt Gingrich. In his behind-the-scenes work for right-wing politics, Lane has been described by The New York Times as "something of a stealth weapon for the right".
Not so stealthy now. Lift the rock and let the sun shine on these people.
Anon, i understand. What puzzles me is Lane's claim that the U.S. Has to establish a state religion. We are a secular, and our laws are based on our secular document, the Constitution.
Free, yes that's true of all radical believers. Fortunately, Lane's ideas will never come to pass.
RN, sadly, yes.
A.R.o.T.B., he's quite popular within the GOP. And, yes, I know about the other issue you emailed me about. Ignore the half-wits. Don't interact with someone whose IQ is the same as a turnip.
Lane appears to be a major derp.
Establishing Christian Law is no different than establishing Shiria Law. U.S. Law is superior to either one.
Lane, who organized similar events for Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, is trying to recruit 1,000 conservative evangelical pastors to run for office, which he believes would mobilize hundreds of thousands of election volunteers and lead to conservative election victories in 2016.
My guess is that he is looking for 1,000 conservative evangelical pastors with dicks.
I would think that Nikki Haley would be strong enough to not need to align herself with this guy. Perhaps she wishes to court him as friend rather than risk persecution by this fundamentalist. The hardcore conservative evangelicals rarely approve of females in leadership positions in the church or elsewhere.
Yup Jerry and BOTH must NEVER become part of U.S. Law.
There is a David Lane in every community, click here.
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