Coalition of black U.S. pastors to file 80 legal briefs against marriage equality

[shenmue]

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2014/09/24/us-black-pastors-coalition-to-file-80-legal-briefs-opposing-same-sex-marriage/

An organization called the National Coalition of Black Pastors and Christian Leaders plans to file 80 legal briefs in lawsuits against LGBT marriage across the country.



Given that most recent court and legislative decisions have supported marriage equality, they also plan to waste a lot of time and money.

[Faux pas]

1. That is sad...

considering where they've been and where they come from. Makes no sense to me.

[KurtNYC]

9. "The oppressed oppress." - Socrates

[msongs]

2. follow the money they will make nt

[brooklynite]

3. Perhaps they'd also support rescinding the ban on miscegenation...

Some of those conservatives had deeply held religious beliefs back in the 60s.

[KamaAina]

4. If SCOTUS decides to revisit Loving v. Virginia,

(not completely out of the question with these lunatics ), do you suppose they'd file an amicus brief against that, too?

[msanthrope]

5. I bet that "coalition" is a couple of crackpots with storefront churches. nt

[yardwork]

11. If it is the group I'm thinking of, you are correct.

There is a tiny group, paid by NOM no doubt.

[Zorra]

6. A coalition of LGBT US pastors would never do anything as hatefully bigoted

as this, to anyone or any group of people, no matter what color, ethnicity, religion, sex, or gender orientation, etc they were.

Shame on these hateful phony hypocrites.

[ProfessorGAC]

7. Just Dumb

Just plain dumb. Yeah, you can throw it regressive, reactionary, bitter, narrow minded, etc.

But, just plain dumb sums is up nicely.

[BronxBoy]

8. Gee....

Black men are being shot down in the streets like dogs and THIS is what they choose to focus on.

[NCTraveler]

10. Last polls I checked....

had Catholic Americans supporting marriage equality at a higher percentage than African Americans.

[pnwmom]

19. A solid majority of Catholics support marriage equality.

The vast majority of evangelicals oppose it.

[jwirr]

12. It would be interesting to know what churches they are affiliated with.

[JHB]

13. It'd be interesting to see how much of the money to do that...

...came from the regular contributions of people who fill their pews week after week.

The front group smell test rates this "highly stinky"

[theHandpuppet]

14. Some background info on this group

This article is a bit dated but revealing. I also visited the website for this group and it would appear their total agenda consists of anti-choice, anti-gay crusading... well, and soliciting for donations.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/politics/story/2012-08-06/black-pastors-gay-marriage/56922742/1
Black pastors group has deep conservative ties, records show
By Aamer Madhani, USA TODAY

Since the Rev. William Owens launched his national campaign in May calling on African-Americans to withdraw their support of President Obama because of his stance on gay marriage, he has claimed the backing of 3,700 black clergy and touted his organization as predominantly Democratic.

But Owens and his group, the Coalition of African-American Pastors, are drawing criticism from black leaders and the political left who note Owens' long-standing ties with GOP politicians. They charge CAAP misrepresents itself as a non-partisan grass-roots organization when it is actually backed financially by right-leaning conservative groups.

"He is the poster person of conservative evangelicals … who are trying to use this as an emotional wedge issue to divide the black community," said the Rev. Amos Brown, pastor of the Third Baptist Church in San Francisco and a protégée of the civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King.

Owens has become an outspoken critic of Obama since the president announced in May that he was switching his position on gay marriage. The pastor has railed against Obama in cable news network interviews and has held a series of news conferences warning that Obama is in danger of losing black voters' support.... MORE

[shenmue]

15. Good find

[muriel_volestrangler]

18. Actually, I think this is a brand new 'group', possibly just created this month by Swimp

Google the name "National Coalition of Black Pastors and Christian Leaders", and all you get is publicity about this, and one or two amici curiae briefs filed in court cases this month - under 20 results: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=+%22National+Coalition+of+Black+Pastors+and+Christian+Leaders%22

Swimp is highly political (he appears on Fox - what a surprise!): http://www.nationalcenter.org/bios/P21Speakers_Swimp.html (" the spokesperson for the Black Christian Leadership Council, which represents over 33,000 churches and 3.2 million laity" - which appears to be complete bollocks. "Black Christian Leadership Council" gets just 5 hits from Google - that claim, a press release about this filing of law suits, and 3 posts denouncing it as a hate group)

He is also a complete raving loon: http://stacyswimp.net/ (warning: offensive anti-gay idiocy)

I think he makes up organisations on a regular basis. Interestingly, he gives, on his own web page, an email address at nationalclc.org, but, according to 'whois', that domain name is not registered by anyone, and is available to buy for $11.59/yr. Anyone feel like splashing out to receive his email?

[kwassa]

16. The head of this organization has a long record on rightwingwatch.org ...

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/organizations/coalition-african-american-pastors

also this:

http://equalitymatters.org/blog/201208080002

Although Owens claims his organization represents 3,742 African-American pastors, CAAP’s influence appears to be pretty limited. The organization doesn’t speak on behalf of any religious denomination, and its sole mission appears to be to attack Obama and other black leaders who support marriage equality.

As Right Wing Watch recently pointed out, CAAP’s effort to collect 100,000 signatures for its anti-marriage equality pledge had barely mustered more than a thousand signatures by May (over three times less than the number of CAAP’s members).

CAAP’s tepid support might have to do with the fact that a majority of African-American voters who are aware of Obama’s support for marriage equality actually approve of his position. Even among voters who oppose same-sex marriage, the issue isn’t a major priority, with the overwhelming majority of them continuing to support Obama despite his announcement. As The Washington Post’s Robert P. Jones wrote earlier this week, “there is simply no evidence” that Obama’s support for marriage equality “is driving a wedge between Obama and black voters.”

....................

NOM came under heavy criticism earlier this year after internal memos revealed that the organization had planned to “drive a wedge” between the African-American and gay communities. According to NOM’s memo:

The strategic goal of this project is to drive a wedge between gays and blacks—two key Democratic constituencies. Find, equip, energize and connect African American spokespeople for marriage, develop a media campaign around their objections to gay marriage as a civil right; provoke the gay marriage base into responding by denouncing these spokesmen and women as bigots…

NOM’s “wedge” strategy has been in full swing over the past several months, with Rev. Owens serving as one of the key players in the effort to pit African-Americans against the LGBT equality movement.

[madinmaryland]

17. Just more religious leaders putting their personal "beliefs" over human rights.