Court To Liberty University: Your Liability Insurance Doesn't Cover Kidnapping Children From Their Gay Parents

On the same day in 2012 that a preacher was found guilty of abetting the kidnapping of her daughter to Nicaragua, lesbian mom Janet Jenkins filed a RICO lawsuit against many of the parties suspected of conspiring in the crime, including Liberty University, the parent of the vile anti-gay hate group Liberty Counsel, whose president Mat Staver is specifically named in the suit. Today the ACLU reports that the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned a lower court's ruling that Liberty University's liability insurance policy covers such lawsuits. Read the ruling. (Tipped by JMG reader BK)

NORTH CAROLINA: Five Church Members Charged With Kidnapping Gay Man

Via a local North Carolina CBS affiliate:

Five members of a local church are facing serious charges. The Word of Faith Fellowship has been apart of the Spindale community in Rutherford County, North Carolina for more than three decades. One former member says something that happened behind closed doors had him fearing for his life.

"I honestly thought I was going to die," said Matthew Fenner. He says several church members beat and strangled him because he's gay. "My head was like being flung back, my vision was going brown and black," said Fenner. "I couldn't breathe and I'm sitting here thinking if I don't get out of this, i'm probably going to die."

That 2013 incident has now led to the indictments of five church members: Sarah Covington Anderson, Adam Christopher Bartley, Brooke McFadden Covington, Justin Brock Covington and Robert Louis Walker Jr. Each face simple assault and kidnapping charges. Anderson also faces an additional charge of assault by strangulation. The Rutherford County Sheriff's Office released the information Tuesday afternoon.

Fenner's mother and brother testified against him during a grand jury convened on Monday. Kenner has recounted other incidents of abuse by church members. Via Matt Comer reports at Q Notes:

Fenner continues, “I had at least 15-20 college age men around me, screaming, shaking me, punching me, hitting my chest, grabbing my head, telling me to repeat different phrases, all of which caused (and have resulted in much) mental distress to high levels.” Later in the incident, Fenner says he was surrounded again by a larger group of young men. “The pushing, screaming, hitting, and shaking ensued again, and this time with more force,” he writes. “If I so much as adjusted myself in the chair, I was knocked bak down and was told to stop resisting.”

The church has been investigated for other hate crimes in the past.

(Tipped by JMG readers Rob and Matthew)

Kidnapping Advocate Backs Duggars

Mat Staver Has The SCOTUS Sadz

"This is a total dereliction of duty. The Supreme Court abandoned its duty to take up or at least hold these marriage cases. The responsibility for the undermining of marriage rests solely at the U.S. Supreme Court. Last year ’s decision in the Defense of Marriage Act case that started this fire, and today’ s decision to watch marriage burn to ashes is the responsibility of the Supreme Court. The actions of the Supreme Court in particular, and of the judiciary in general, undermine the rule of law and erode the confidence of the people in the judicial branch of government. When the people lose confidence in the rule of law, the judiciary will lose is legitimacy. Everyone will be affected by same-sex marriage because it is an intolerant agenda that will directly collide with religious freedom." - Liberty Counsel president Mat Staver, via press release.

Pastor Busted For Impersonating Cop During Hook-Up Robbery Of Gay Man

Raw Story has the crazy crazy details:

A Colorado Springs pastor is accused of soliciting gay men for sex online, then attacking them and robbing them under the guise of a U.S. marshal making an arrest. According to Denver’s CBS Channel 4, friends and relatives of Set Free Christian Ministry’s Rev. Michael Abromovich are completely baffled to discover his secret other life. Abromovich allegedly used the online classified ad site Craigslist to solicit other men for sex. Using the name “Mike,” Abromovich allegedly lured a man to a Motel 6, then leapt from the car, shouting, “U.S. marshal!” He then threw the man against the door, handcuffed him and pointed a gun — which police now believe was a paint gun — at him. Abromovich reportedly confiscated the man’s laptop, iPad, cell phone, money and debit card. According to court documents, “Mike then told him they were taking his computers and phone to be sent to the lab to look for evidence.” He then told the victim that he would come to his house in the morning “to discuss the case with him and impound his vehicle at that time.”

The pastor was apprehended in Arizona when police became suspicious after he showed them a badge during a traffic stop. He has been extradited back to Colorado where he faces charges of kidnapping, robbery, and impersonating an officer. Local police believe that there may be other victims who are afraid to come forward.

(Tipped by JMG reader Matthew)

Uncommon Douchery: Erik Estrada Stars In Liberty Counsel Movie With Mat Staver

Kyle Mantyla writes at Right Wing Watch:

On the heels of Rick Santorum's flop as a movie mogul, it looks like the professional anti-gay activists over at Liberty Counsel have been bitten by the acting bug and decided to try their hands at filmmaking as well, with the release of a feature film called "Uncommon" starring none other than Erik Estrada. Based on the trailer, the film looks to be exactly as awful as one would expect a movie made by Liberty Counsel to be ... especially one that actually features Mat Staver in an acting role.

More from Raw Story:

The Christian conservative legal foundation released the trailer to “Uncommon,” which stars Erik Estrada as a principled janitor who helps the students put together the Bible-based production. The theme is in line with Liberty Counsel’s goal to allow students and school employees to promote religious beliefs in public schools.“Religious liberty in public school is certainly a fitting topic for our first feature film,” said Mat Staver, Liberty Counsel founder and chairman. “Many of the calls Liberty Counsel receives are from parents and students whose speech and religious viewpoints are being censored in the public schools.” According to its IMDB.com page, “Uncommon” will depict students at fictional Rosewood High School as they work to create their own theater, music and dance departments after they are eliminated due to budget cuts. “Struggling to find the right script, music and choreography the students get advice from an uncommon source: the Bible,” writes Daniel Bowden on IMDB. The trailer indicates the film’s climactic scenes will include courtroom scenes featuring Staver arguing on behalf of the students.

The film opens January 14th.

RELATED: Last August, Staver was named in a RICO Act suit which alleges that he conspired to kidnap the daughter of Janet Jenkins, a lesbian whose estranged partner went "ex-gay" and vanished to Central America with the child. The child is still missing and a Christian minister was last year found guilty of abetting her abduction.

Free Big Macs For Life?

Ramsey was eating McDonald's take-out at home when he heard the screaming from a nearby house.

Headline Of The Day

Whoa.

Predictable

But Is He Pro-Kidnapping?

Tony Perkins Endorses The Kidnapping Of Children From Their Gay Parents

"Faced with losing her seven-year-old daughter to her former lesbian partner, Lisa Miller made the only choice a new Christian could: she sought her minister's help. After two courts ordered Lisa to transfer custody of her biological daughter to a woman with no adoptive rights, she felt she had no choice but to flee the country. Kenneth Miller, a Mennonite pastor from Vermont, helped her escape--and will now be paying for it with a 27-month prison sentence.

"Last summer, a jury found him guilty of helping Lisa and her daughter, Isabella, travel from Virginia to the Canadian border and then to Central America via the Toronto airport. During the two-hour sentencing, Miller told the judge he 'couldn't promise' that he would never again help a parent smuggle a son or daughter out of the country. He saw, as so many of us do, a vulnerable child--and a government bent on redefining family law to the exclusion of the actual parents. 'I give myself unto you to do with me as you see fit,' an emotional Miller told the court. To many of us, the pastor's predicament seems extreme--but a day may come when we all have to make a similar choice.

"Obviously, there are things we can do between now and then to protect ourselves, like electing strong conservative leaders and resisting the ever-growing reach of the federal government. But under an administration as hostile to faith as this one is, Christians may soon find themselves in the same position of breaking an unjust law. Will you have the courage to do what Kenneth Miller did? Don't wait until the moment is upon you before contemplating this. Are you willing to accept the penalty instead of compromising your principles?" - Hate group leader Tony Perkins, endorsing the kidnapping of children from their gay parents.

VA Pastor Sentenced To Prison For Aiding Kidnapping Of Child Of Lesbian Mom

Pastor Kenneth Miller has been sentenced to 27 months in prison for his role in the kidnapping of the child of a lesbian mom whose former partner "renounced homosexuality" and fled with their child to Nicaragua in violation of a court-ordered custody sharing arrangement. Miller spent 30 days in jail for contempt earlier this year after refusing to name his accomplices, telling the court, "If I were to bring testimony against a fellow member of Christ’s kingdom, for honoring Christ’s kingdom’s laws, I would be disloyal to his kingdom and to Christ."

Mr. Miller was convicted last fall for helping to arrange the covert flight to Nicaragua of Lisa A. Miller with her daughter, Isabella Miller-Jenkins, in 2009.  Ms. Miller, who is not related to the pastor, had won support in conservative Christian circles for refusing to permit court-mandated visits with Isabella by her other legal mother, Janet Jenkins, Ms. Miller’s former partner in a civil union in Vermont. After the couple split up, Ms. Miller moved to Virginia, said she was a born-again Christian and denounced her former lesbianism as a sin. In 2009, as an exasperated family court judge threatened to transfer primary custody to Ms. Jenkins, Ms. Miller and her daughter, then 7, disappeared and a warrant was issued for Ms. Miller’s arrest.

The pastor remains free as his attorneys plan an appeal.  You may recall that the case also involves Liberty University and law professor Mat Staver, the head of the virulently anti-gay Liberty Counsel, whose secretary is alleged to have assisted in the kidnapping. In August 2012 Liberty Counsel and numerous other parties were named in a civil suit filed by Janet Jenkins.  The suit notes that the named parties have signed the infamous Manhattan Declaration, whose supporters vow to disobey laws that protect LGBT people.  At the time the suit was filed, Staver threatened to retaliate and sue Jenkins for defamation, but it's not known if he ever did. The whereabouts of Lisa Miller and the child remain unknown. (Tipped by JMG reader Blair)

The Matt Barber "Story"

Truth In Action Ministries (formerly Coral Ridge Ministries) profiles hate group spokesman Matt Barber with this notation: "Conspicuous by her absence is Sarah Barber, Matt's wife. Note what one of our VOs says in the feature: Our TV crew asked Matt if we could videotape his family, but he declined — because of the constant death threats he receives from the forces of 'tolerance'."

RELATED: Regarding Barber's claim to have been fired for writing an anti-gay article, Urban Legends provides a statement from Allstate: "Allstate would not terminate an employee for expressing personal religious views on his or her own time. Any allegation suggesting otherwise is false."

Liberty Counsel: The SPLC Has Made Us The Target Of Violent Homosexuals

"The Southern Poverty Law Center has a long history of maliciously slandering pro-family groups with language and labels that incite hatred and undermine civil discourse. In the issues of family and marriage, Christians are literally in the crosshairs of radical homosexual activists, and the SPLC is fueling the hatred and providing the targets. The SPLC should be held accountable for its reckless acts. Even more disturbing than the SPLC’s irresponsible behavior is the fact that the Obama Administration is in bed with this group. What the SPLC and other homosexual activists are doing is intentional and dangerous. It is time to end the dangerous rhetoric and resume a civil discourse on the subject of natural marriage and morality." - Liberty Counsel president Mat Staver, responding to yesterday's guilty plea by the FRC shooter.

Liberty Counsel Attacks HRC

"For them [HRC] to say that that is 'not good enough' just shows the level of the hubris inherent within the radical homosexual activist lobby. It shows that they are relentless and they will not be satisfied until each and every one of their extremist demands are met. They want access to our children, to be able to corrupt their minds and instill in them this worldview that says there is no right and wrong, that there is no such thing as sexual sin or sexual morality." - Liberty Counsel spokesdouche Matt Barber, speaking about the HRC's Boy Scouts ad to OneNewsNow.

Mat Staver: Obama Is Immoral

"What we have is the President who is not the President of the United States, he is president of the divided states and he relishes in dividing the states among each other. He has this famous speech that he gave during a Democratic convention several years ago when he was a state senator and he talks about ‘there’s not red states and blue states but the United States of America,’ that’s not this President. This President runs to divide people, to divide and conquer and ultimately dismantle and deconstruct. He’s doing that with morality, he’s doing it with marriage, he’s trying to divide and conquer. Really, he is the most immoral president that we’ve ever had in history, pushing an immorality that is stunning." - Liberty Counsel president Mat Staver, speaking on national Christian radio.

Matt Barber: I'm Laughing At You

"I laugh at them; liberals, that is. I make fun of their dull-witted, self-defeating, abjectly wicked worldview. I follow God’s example. Of those who align themselves against His laws and His nature, Psalm 2:4 says, 'He who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord scoffs at them.' How can you not scoff at the silly twaddle they’re hocking? Ultimately, I’ve read the end of the book. I know what happens. The good guys win. That keeps me smiling no matter what goes down on the culture-war front. It keeps me snickering." - Hate group leader Matt Barber, writing for Townhall about his "patchouli-wearing, pervert-pride-prancing" enemies.

Here's a laugh for you, Barber.

Liberty Counsel: Banning Machine Guns Will Just Mean More Fertilizer Bombs

Matt Barber: I'm Keeping My Guns

"No one’s taking my guns either. Period. And if Dianne Feinstein orders me from her lofty perch on the left-coast to retroactively register them with some federal autocracy, I think I might just forget I even have them. Tens of millions of law-abiding, God fearing Americans just like me and Dad, I suspect, feel the same way. I love guns. Grew up with ‘em. As a former police officer with 12 years in the U.S. military, I know how to use them, too – use them well. I plan to buy more – a bunch more. In fact, who’s to say I don’t already have a veritable arsenal? Point is, tain’t Big Brother Barack’s nor any other candy-keistered-liberal-cream-puff’s bloody business whether I do or not." - Hate group leader Matt Barber, warning of civil war if machine guns are outlawed.

Liberty Counsel's Mat Staver: Same-Sex Marriage Will Spark A Civil War

"This is the thing that revolutions literally are made of. This would be more devastating to our freedom, to our religious freedom, to the rights of pastors and their duty to be able to speak and to Christians around the country, then anything that the revolutionaries during the American Revolution even dreamed of facing. This would be the thing that revolutions are made of. This could split the country right in two. This could cause another civil war. I’m not talking about just people protesting in the streets, this could be that level because what would ultimately happen is a direct collision would immediately happen with pastors, with churches, with Christians, with Christian ministries, with other businesses, it would be an avalanche that would go across the country." - Liberty Counsel president Mat Staver, speaking on Christian radio. (Via Right Wing Watch)