News Archive
Latest News | Last updated Saturday July 31, 2004, 12:30 am |
Thursday July 29: Saint Michael Catholic Church,
Worthington, Added To Supporting Church List; Associate Pastor Praises
OSA, Lies About Opposition, Ignores Hate
A letter from the Associate Pastor of Saint Michael Catholic Church,
Joseph Klee, appears in the July 29 Columbus
Dispatch. It's a demand that secular media substitute mindless
repetition of his
favorite propaganda for accurate reporting. Unfortunately,
this is one of the responses that can be expected from the supporters
of an event like OSA's activities in Columbus last week.
Klee predictably fails to mention OSA's burning of a
Koran, rainbow flag and Supreme Court decision on Thursday night, the
taunting of police Tuesday night, the
overwhelming, broad condemnation of the city of Columbus repeated
constantly by OSA leaders throughout the week, and numerous other
examples of OSA's extremism and hatred for all who fail to join or
endorse them. The fact that opposition to OSA came from across
Columbus is also conveniently ignored by Klee.
From Joseph Klee's letter to the Dispatch published July 29:
During the week of July 19, Columbus received a visit from Operation
Save America. This initiative was an attempt to prayerfully awaken the
collective conscience of our city and nation, especially to the
ongoing holocaust of innocent children through abortion and the
devastation of the sacred institution of marriage and family through
the accommodation of sodomy.
The media's coverage was typical of their prejudicial nature: Defame
that which is of God and exalt that which is of darkness and evil. Why
is there so little journalistic integrity in the media? Why do they go
out of their way to search for the flaws of those trying to coax
mankind away from lives of misery and eternal damnation?
Why do the media not show the reality of such events, with rabidly
radical homosexual activists screaming unspeakably offensive,
blasphemous and demonic epithets? With women and children present,
their crimes are almost as heinous as the causes they violently and
hatefully promote.
When will the media ever honestly portray the virulent actions of such
people, and depict those pursuing a moral lifestyle fairly?
Thursday July 29: Minutemen United Issue Bizarre Write-Up
of Their Week With OSA In Columbus; Omit Koran Burning, Make Up
Stories Of Escort Conversions And Allege Eight Redirections Of
So-Called "Abortion Minded Mothers"
Minutemen United has sent out their
recap of last week's events in Columbus. Along with the
let's-count-the-notches-in-the-bedpost
crowing about abortions allegedly prevented, escorts allegedly
"professing decisions for Christ," and repeating again that Columbus
is "a sick and lawless city," they seem to have completely forgotten
that they and their leader, Dave Daubenmire, created and participated
in a ritual tearing up and burning of the Koran, thus forever marking
Minutemen United and OSA as hate groups.
Also missing is any mention of the
reason for OSA's early exit from the City Hall grounds - the
successful "Festival Against Bigotry" scheduled for the same location
on Friday night.
Wednesday July 28: More Lies from Operation Save
America: OSA Leaders Post Hit Piece Calling CAIR-Ohio Director Jad
Humeidan "Suspected Terrorist"
OSA spent much of their week-long event in Columbus broadly
and impersonally demonizing large groups of people, by attacking abortion,
homosexuality and Islam and ritually burning symbols of each. Now
they've moved from attacking symbols to a direct, personal attack on an
individual.
Using a new and novel redefinition of "suspected terrorist" that
includes everyone ever interviewed by the FBI, OSA has posted a
hit piece on their website targeting Jad Humeidan, executive
director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Ohio Chapter, falsely
calling him a "suspected terrorist" on the basis of having once been
questioned by the FBI, and having called "for fair treatment and due
process" for those accused of aiding terrorists.
Sunday, July 25, 2004
The Toledo Blade Reports
Disruption Of Church Service Attended By John Kerry
According to the report, this morning's church service at First
Church of God was visited by a number of people who are likely OSA
participants who stuck around for an extra day to protest John Kerry's
visit to Columbus. OSA leaders earlier confirmed that a few people
would remain through Sunday for this purpose. From the article:
Abortion opponents, with graphic photos of aborted fetuses, shouted at
Mr. Kerry as his motorcade arrived at the 4,000-member church, which
is predominantly African-American.
Bishop Timothy Clarke, the senior pastor, introduced Mr. Kerry. "We
have our senator here today, but most of all Jesus is here today," he
said.
As Mr. Kerry stepped to the podium to speak, a man near the front
stood up and shouted "Quit killing babies, you phony."
Church security personnel escorted the man out of the church.
Thursday, July 22, 2004
OSA Formally, Publicly Transitions
to Hate Group; Burns Koran, Rainbow Flag and Copy Of Supreme Court
"Roe v. Wade" Decision At City Hall
Not much else to say, other than that along with OSA head Flip
Benham, Central Ohio former high school football coach, and talk show host on
Columbus radio station WRFD, Dave Daubenmire, was an active
participant in this event.
Vatican Approval of OSA's Event Arrives: Frank Pavone Speaks At "Fetal Funeral"
Frank
Pavone, a priest who is an official of the Vatican's Pontifical
Council for the Family, spoke this afternoon at OSA's City Hall
event.
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
OSA Rally Devolves Into Expensive, Police-Taunting Farce
As of 12:15 AM Wednesday morning (Tuesday night) OSA's
rally at City Hall, which had started around 6:30 pm, was still in
progress, with a twist: a group of OSA participants was carrying what
looked like a steel kettle around the streets of Columbus and stopping
at various
landmarks to pray, while being tailed by at least two police officers on
bicycles.
This is part of an apparent strategy to provoke Columbus Police, which stems
from an apparent dispute over a burn permit for Tuesday evening that OSA alleges
they applied for but was rejected.
Police were out in force this evening. OSA is costing the city a lot of resources and playing silly games, and they apparently think that this "martyr me harder" strategy of provocation will bring more churches on board with them.
OSA Head Benham Calls United Way a "Dark Filthy Cesspool" and "Terrible Horrible Organization"
Operation Save America showed up in front of United Way of Central
Ohio headquarters on South Third Street this morning at about 11
am. They targeted United Way because it has dropped its relationship
with the Boy Scouts of America.
View video and partial transcript of Flip Benham's comments about United Way
Benham also commented about the
yellow signs that have appeared along High Street and elsewhere in the
city, proclaiming his expectation that they would lead to persecution, jail
and eventual death for Christians.
Sunday, July 18, 2004
Two Un-Welcoming Events A Success
Both the Un-Welcoming Rally Saturday afternoon that greeted OSA
after they came walking down Broad Street to City Hall, and Sunday
night's "opportunity to say NO to OSA," were a great success, with as
many as 100 people on Saturday and 30 on Sunday. Pictures from
Saturday are on our event photos page.
OSA Says They Visited Xenos Christian
Fellowship and Rod Parsley's World Harvest Church
Following OSA's assembly Sunday night, it was announced that OSA
participants had visited Xenos Christian Fellowship and World Harvest
Church earlier today. Allegedly, police were called to remove OSA
participants from private property at Xenos.
Thursday, July 15, 2004
OSA Issues Press Release, Openly Calls for
"Second American Revolution"
Today's
OSA press release can be found on the US
Newswire site. The following is quoted from that release and was
attributed to OSA director Flip Benham:
"It is time for a second American Revolution! We are fed up! We are
absolutely fed up with the United States Senate and the elected
officials who vote their own prejudice and narrow-minded causes rather
than the will of God and the people who elected them! Mainstream
America is not in favor of and will not accept homosexual, unnatural
unions. Marriage is the bond between one woman and one man before
Almighty God. No action or inaction of politicians, who are basically
evil, or too weak to stand up for what is right, will change this. WE
ARE FED UP! We are through with waiting for our government to do what
is right. Now, we will act!
"Our nation has been turned upside down by the enemies of Christ
(abortion, homosexuality, Islam, etc.) With the help of Jesus Christ,
Ruler of the universe, we will turn it right side up. No more waiting
for politicians who stand for nothing and fall for everything! It
begins in Columbus, the heart of the nation, and will spread to every
point across America."
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
July 9, 2004
Fred Marshall, Pastor of OSA's Columbus Host
Church, Smyrna
Baptist, Has Supported the so-called "Moonies Cult" of Sun Myung Moon
and the Unification Church
A search of the Columbus Dispatch and the web for background
information on Fred Marshall, the
pastor of OSA's host church, reveals that Marshall was a speaker and
attendee at a Unification Church event in Columbus in March,
2001. The leader of this church, Sun Myung Moon, regularly calls
himself "Messiah." Moon's disciples are attempting to convince pastors
across the U.S. to remove the cross from their churches and replace it
with a crown.
According to this Unification Church webpage, which includes
photos, Marshall specifically spoke in praise of Unification
Church leader Moon, saying as part of an invocation that
Moon is "a man still
standing for what is right and who has never given up."
As has been reported in both the secular and Christian press
lately, Moon has recently once again named
himself "Messiah," among other outrageous titles. Perhaps Flip
Benham and Dave Daubenmire can ask Fred if he thinks that Moon's
calling himself "Messiah," and leading pastors to "take down the
cross," is part of that "standing for what is
right" he was referring to a few years ago.
Fred Marshall's Smyrna Baptist Church was described by OSA mere
days
ago with the following language that has since been removed from the
OSA website:
For the first time in our organization's history, Operation Rescue has
been invited to hold our rallies in an African-American church in the
heart of the city! We will stand shoulder to shoulder with our Black
brothers and sisters, making His-story, as we stand in the gap for
Truth and Righteousness, repenting for the sins of our nation and the
Church of Jesus Christ.
The evangelical Christian Agape Press has quoted a Washington Post
newspaper report on a Capitol Hill event a few months ago that featured Moon:
According to the newspaper report, Moon delivered a long speech in
which he claimed to have been "sent to Earth ... to save the world's
six billion people .... Emperors, kings, and presidents ... have
declared to all Heaven and Earth that Reverend Sun Myung Moon is none
other than humanity's Savior, Messiah, Returning Lord, and True
Parent." He also stated that his teachings have helped Hitler and
Stalin be "reborn as new persons."
For more information on the Unification Church and Sun Myung
Moon:
U.S. Lawmakers Fete Rev. Moon, Associated Press, June 23, 2004 The talk of Washington: Reverend Moon's Senate
'coronation', New York Times via International Herald Tribune,
June 24, 2004
Capitol Hill Reception Honors Sun Myung Moon;
Lawmakers Claim They Were Misled, Agape Press, June 23, 2004
Rev.
Moon cultivates black allies; The founder of the Unification
Church has developed ties with African-American religious leaders.
The Baltimore Sun, July 3, 2004
Apologetics
Index: About the Unification Church
Rev.
Moon's program to "Take Down the Cross" by Eric Pement, a seminary student and guest on
Prime Time America, a broadcast program on the Moody Broadcasting Network
Eagle Rock Church Added to List of Churches
Supporting OSA
Eagle Rock Church / Eagle Rock Ministries has been
added to our list of churches supporting OSA's visit because of the
apparent presence of Eagle Rock pastor Les Bowling at the July 6 breakfast
event with Flip Benham held at High Street Baptist Church. Eagle Rock
has also hosted Benham for a talk this past January, and Minutemen founder Dave
Daubenmire has appeared at past Eagle Rock events. Also, see our Columbus
Free Press article for discussion of a sermon found on the Eagle
Rock Church website
that is an example of how at least one person in that church views the
city of Columbus, and their rationale for targeting institutions and
communities here, including public schools and libraries.
July 4, 2004
Smyrna Baptist Announced As Host Church:
Operation Save America has announced that
Smyrna Baptist Church, 1650 Wilson Avenue, Columbus, will be the
host church during their week-long event.
Last Minute "Free" Coffee and Donuts: Minutemen
United have announced that Flip Benham, OSA director, will be
appearing at a breakfast at High Street Baptist Church, Tuesday July 6 at 8 am.
June 23, 2004
Operation Save America leaders' statements move from "maliciously clueless" to "dangerously delusional"
Mike Doughney writes: OSA leadership has issued false
claims over the past six days, alleging that the two of us who operate this
website somehow "disrupted" the OSA national event three years ago in Wichita,
Kansas. They are mischaracterizing our work today as an attempt to "silence
their voice" here in Columbus.
OSA leadership is now insisting that we somehow organized a
"concerted effort" against them in Wichita by getting "Refuse and
Resist" to somehow disrupt their events while we watch with cameras.
The idea that Refuse and Resist listens to us for direction is
hilarious. Nevertheless, OSA leaders, as shown from
their online statements, truly believe that they face this kind of
well-organized conspiracy from the imaginary foes they see in the
mirror. This is the kind of nonsense that you get from people who can't
ever believe that individuals, disorganized and unaffiliated with
visible organizations, might on their own just disagree with them, and
be willing to stand up and say so in public.
For the record, BARF is two people, and Lauren Sabina and I are not part of any coalition
or formally
organized opposition. We are just telling what we've learned about
OR/OSA over the past seven years and sharing it with whoever cares to
hear about it here in Columbus. It is likely that most of our views
and advice will be disregarded here.
The charge that anyone with "Refuse
and Resist" is going to "submit to the leadership" of an SUV-driving,
meat-eating, white male heterosexual hardcore capitalist is so
ridiculous it isn't even worth answering, nor would we want that
role, if that role even exists anywhere.
June 18, 2004
The Operation Save
America homepage now displays two wildly false accusations against
the two of us who operate this website, incorrectly claiming that we somehow
"disrupted" their national event three years ago in Wichita, Kansas,
and mischaracterizing our work today as attempting to "silence their
voice" here in Columbus.
Both accusations are false; they are so false, we have no idea what
they stem from. Our activities in Wichita were primarily confined to
videography, documenting events at the clinic there and in outdoor
public spaces downtown.
Certainly, today, encouraging the citizens of Columbus to answer
them by saying
"No" - from a position of understanding what it is they are
actually demanding - will not be "silencing" them in any way.
June 8, 2004
June 5, 2004
Leaders of Minutemen United, a
Central Ohio group that is sympathetic to Operation Save America and
is actively working to prepare for this summer's event, have said in
an e-mail message to their supporters on May 20 that they are contacting 400
Ohio churches and appealing to them for help and logistical assistance,
including housing, transporation and food. J. Patrick
Johnston, an associate of Minutemen United who says he's "serving"
Operation Save America leader Flip Benham, told us during a brief
interview in early May that OSA will obtain a permit to parade through
German Village. They've targeted German Village, according to Johnston,
because it has a "the reputation of being a place where a certain
class of sinners reside," that it is "the neighborhood that is known
throughout the town for having a lot of homosexual couples residing
there." See the video and transcript of this interview.
Recent parades organized by Operation Save America / Operation Rescue in Wichita,
Kansas, have been extremely disruptive to neighborhood residents and
businesses. OSA has claimed that a parade permit gives them "control
of the street" and they have deliberately used these parades as an attempt
to block access to entire streets in front of particular businesses
that they seek to eliminate.
Mike Doughney and Lauren Sabina Kneisly, the "oppositional researchers" who created this website and have studied Operation Save America / Operation Rescue for a number of years, have moved to Columbus for the summer and are available to speak to your organization or group. Contact us for details.
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