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Rick Scarborough: I'm Ready To Burn To Death To Stop Same-Sex Marriage

Via the Independent:

Move over, couple who promised to get a divorce if gay marriage was legalised, because one Texas pastor has taken his opposition to marriage equality one step further. Rick Scarborough, a Baptist pastor and Christian political activist, has said he would be willing to be burned to death in his fight against gay rights. He made the bizarre pledge while speaking to EW Jackson, a right-wing minister and politician, on the National Emergency Coalition show, a podcast linked to Jackson's group, Staying True to America's National Destiny (STAND). Speaking about his commitment to traditional values in the face of public condemnation, Scarborough said: "We are not going to bow, we are not going to bend, and if necessary we will burn." Scarborough did not specify whether he was talking about self-immolation, or being burned for his views by other people.

PREVIOUSLY ON JMG:  Rick Scarborough leads Christian coalition which declares willingness to go to prison over same-sex marriage. Rick Scarborough says God would be "perfectly justified in nuking America because we have gay ambassadors. Rick Scarborough suggests filing a class action lawsuit against homosexuality itself.

World Net Daily: Members Of Congress Will Go To Jail To Defy Same-Sex Marriage

According to World Net Daily, members of Congress are "lining up" to sign a document declaring their willingness to go to jail in defiance of a Supreme Court ruling in favor of same-sex marriage.

A team of prominent Christian leaders is preparing a statement that will inform the public – including justices on the U.S. Supreme Court – that they will engage in civil disobedience rather than follow a ruling that establishes homosexual “marriage” in the United States. Among those leading the charge is James Dobson of Family Talk Radio, Rick Scarborough of Vision America Action, Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel and James Robison of Life Today, whose brand new publication called The Stream reported on a recent telephone conference call discussing the issue.

Stream Executive Editor Jay Richards told WND there were about 20 other Christian leaders on the call. He said members of Congress have expressed an interest in the plan, which will be disclosed in the next few days in a statement regarding marriage and the U.S. Supreme Court. However, Scarborough wasted no time in an interview with WND explaining what is, and is not, going to happen. “We’re taking a very adamant stand,” he said. “If the court declares same-sex ‘marriage’ to be on the same par as a civil right, that’s a bridge too far. We won’t obey. We’ll go to jail.”

Scarborough confirmed congressmen “are lining up to sign the document.” “The undeniable case is that when same-sex “marriage’ becomes, declared by the Supreme Court, as the law of the land, they will begin to enforce it, like all civil rights laws.” That is where the civil disobedience will loom large. “We’re saying, before that, we will never obey that tyrannical law. It’s counter to natural law, and God’s higher law. “We will simply refuse to comply with recognizing same-sex ‘marriage’ as legitimate,” he said.

Since none of the members of Congress and none of these hate group leaders will have the responsibility of issuing marriage licenses, threats of civil disobedience are, of course, entirely laughable unless they plan to throw their bodies in front of county clerks' offices.

TRAILER: Light Wins

Kyle Mantyla writes at Right Wing Watch:

Radical Religious Right activist Janet Porter has released yet another trailer for her upcoming documentary "Light Wins: How To Overcome The Criminalization Of Christianity," which features a who's who of anti-gay activists as well as several Republican members of Congress and presidential hopefuls Rand Paul and Mike Huckabee. "Like a tank in Tiananmen Square," Porter says, as she walks down the middle of a dark street as a pair of headlights bear down upon her, "the homosexual agenda has been running over people since Anita Bryant's courageous stand in the 1970s." After that, it is nothing but 10 minutes of anti-gay activists calling upon Christians to rise up and fight back against the "homosexual agenda."

So many of the most infamous anti-gay villains are in this clip, your computer might just explode from all the spittle-flecked crackpottery.

FRC's Star-Spangled Sunday

Yesterday the Family Research Council and a cavalcade of anti-gay crackpots held an event that was pitched as a marking of the 200th anniversary of the national anthem. But, of course, the event was really more of a Christian get-out-the-vote rally laden with ominous claims about the end of religious liberty and the "movement to expel God from the public space" in the United States. Speakers included Mike Huckabee, loony E.W. Jackson, Sen. Ted Cruz, the Benham brothers, Penny Nance of the Concernstipated Women, and Pastor Rick Scarborough, who recently called for a class action lawsuit against homosexuality itself. The full clip is below, click around if you can bear it. (The event was two hours long, the clip repeats halfway through.)

UPDATE: The Charlotte Observer reports on the rally.

Two possible GOP presidential candidates joined with prominent leaders of the religious right in Charlotte on Sunday night to mark the 200th anniversary of the poem that became America’s national anthem. The evening of speeches, Bible verses, and music from First Baptist Church in uptown Charlotte was simulcast to 351 conservative evangelical churches across the country. These listeners and the event’s headliners – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and former Gov. Mike Hucakbee, both exploring a 2016 run for the White House – also heard a longer, religion-tinged version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” than those who stand and sing it at baseball games and Fourth of July celebrations. Asked whether “Star Spangled Sunday” amounted to a political rally in a tax-exempt church, Perkins insisted the celebration of Key’s words, written in September 1814 during a battle with the British at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, amounted to an appropriate tribute to the religious heritage that shaped America. “If you look at the history of Francis Scott Key, he was a Christian motivated by his faith,” Perkins said. “If you read the final stanza (of what became ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’) it is, I would say, nothing short of a prayer.”

Star Spangled Sunday

Aided by Sen. Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, and the Benham brothers, the Family Research Council is glomming onto the bicentennial of the writing of the Star-Spangled Banner as one of those times that Jesus saved America.

Did you know that America has seen darker days in the past than those we are facing right now? 200 years ago we were in the midst of the War of 1812. The U.S. Capitol and the White House were burning. Average citizens like us hung their heads in shame. Then God intervened and a series of events occurred that saved America and led to the writing of the Star Spangled Banner. This year America is celebrating the 200th anniversary of our National Anthem. Few citizens have ever heard the story of how God used ordinary Christians to do extraordinary things during the desperate days of 1814. But on September 14th, during Star Spangled Sunday, a live nationwide webcast, we will tell that story as it's never been told before. You and your Christian friends will not want to miss this historic event.

FRC's co-sponsor of the webcast is Vision America, whose leader Pastor Rick Scarborough last year called for Christians to file a class action lawsuit against homosexuality itself.

Pastor Rick Scarborough: God Would Be Perfectly Justified In Nuking America Because We Have Gay Ambassadors

Today In Tea Party Hypocrisy

"Judges have lifetime tenure. Activist judges can read their views into the Constitution. We saw it when the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act this year and upheld ObamaCare last year. But frustrated by his inability to ram some of the most radical nominees in history through the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid -- with the president cheering from the sidelines -- just abolished the judicial filibuster. Now, all Reid needs is 51 votes, out of 55 Senate Democrats, to confirm literally anyone the president nominates. The president could even nominate his Marxist buddy Bill Ayers to the federal bench and probably get him confirmed. You would think the spectacular failure of ObamaCare would have tempered his hubris. Instead, it's fed his already enormous ego. Truly, this president is out of control." - Tea Party Unity president Rick Scarborough, in a press release published today by Christian Newswire.

And now...we go back in time.

"In just the past two weeks, Scarborough has recruited 2,000 more Christian ministers for his Patriot Pastor network, boosting total membership of the three-year-old alliance to about 5,000 members. The Senate returns tomorrow from a one-week recess, and the showdown over judges could come sometime in the next few weeks. Scarborough is part of a constellation of Christian right and socially conservative groups that are spending millions to mobilize their followers to pressure the Senate to try to break a Democratic logjam blocking some of Bush's most conservative and controversial judicial nominees. Focus on the Family has run ads in favor of the filibuster rule change and co-sponsored with the Family Research Council a televised Sunday evening simulcast." - From a May 2005 article in the Washington Post. (Tipped by JMG reader Kyle)

Rick Scarborough: ENDA Will Force Christians To Deny Their Christianity

"If the bill becomes law, Christians will be forced to violate their conscience or violate ENDA. While ENDA supposedly contains an exemption for churches and other religious institutions, there is none for individuals with sincerely held religious beliefs. This law is about forcing Bible-believing Christians to deny their faith rather than inconvenience cross-dressing, gender-confused adults.  How do you know if someone is engaged in homosexual behavior unless they tell you so? ENDA would force Christians, Orthodox Jews and other people of faith to employ those who flaunt their 'sexuality' in the work place." - Tea Party Unity head Rick Scarborough, who became a national laughingstock last month when he announced that Christians should file a class action lawsuit against homosexuality itself.

Teabaggers Turn On Rick Scarborough

Last week Tea Party Unity head Rick Scarborough and Porno Pete declared that it would be great if Christians would file a class action lawsuit against homosexuality. And how it was very sad that that they haven't found the ideal client, namely a gay high school boy with AIDS to be the face of that suit. The asinine notion of suing something as abstract as a sexual attraction evoked widespread mocking throughout the interwebs and now even Tea Party groups are furiously backpedaling away from Scarborough.

From a press release published by Breitbart:

As one of the true founding Tea Party groups, TeaParty365 would like to take this opportunity to once again, and once-and-for-all, distance ourselves –and the larger Tea Party Movement– from the self-serving antics of Rick Scarborough, and his ilk. TeaParty365 does not support this idiotic notion. We feel it is counter-productive to the national conversation, and ultimately harmful to the Tea Party brand, and the country. While he may very well also believe in Smaller Government, Fiscal Responsibility, Personal Responsibility, and The Constitution, his personal war against homosexuality has nothings –zero, nada, zilch– to do with the Tea Party. Although Tea Party Unity may claim to be a “leading national Tea Party group,” please understand that they do not –repeat: DO NOT represent the Tea Party Movement.

Read the full statement.

Rick Scarborough: Christians Need To File A Class Action Suit Against Homosexuality

Brian Tashman reports at Right Wing Watch:

Watch out Big Gay, prepare to be served! Rick Scarborough invited Peter LaBarbera to address his Tea Party Unity group today, and the two anti-gay activists discussed ways to somehow file a “class action lawsuit” against homosexuality just like when attorneys general of many states filed a lawsuit against tobacco companies. LaBarbera was also upset that Fox News and other outlets aren’t covering the “wonderful stories of happy men and women who have left the homosexual lifestyle,” explaining that he wished there was an ad “of the kid in high school who was counseled by the official school counselor to just be gay, then he comes down with HIV.”