By Dan Merica, CNN
Black pastors group launches anti-Obama campaign around gay marriage
By Dan Merica, CNN
Washington (CNN) – A group of conservative black pastors are responding to President Barack Obama’s support of same-sex marriage with what they say will be a national campaign aimed at rallying black Americans to rethink their overwhelming support of the President, though the group’s leader is offering few specifics about the effort.
The Rev. Williams Owens, who is president and founder of the Coalition of African-Americans Pastors and the leader of the campaign, has highlighted opposition to same-sex marriage among African-Americans. He calls this campaign “an effort to save the family.”
“The time has come for a broad-based assault against the powers that be that want to change our culture to one of men marrying men and women marrying women,” said Owens, in an interview Tuesday after the launch event at the National Press Club. “I am ashamed that the first black president chose this road, a disgraceful road.”
At the press conference, Owens was joined by five other black regional pastors and said there were 3,742 African-American pastors on board for the anti-Obama campaign.
When asked at the press conference for specifics about the campaign – funding, planned events and goals – Owens said only that the group’s first fundraiser will be on August 16 in Memphis, Tennessee. But Owens insisted that “we are going to go nationwide with our agenda just like the president has gone to Hollywood.”
In May, Obama announced on ABC News that he thought “same sex couples should be able to get married." The president had previously said that he opposed gay marriage, but said in May that his views were personal and did not represent a policy change.
In a fiery Tuesday press conference at the press club, Owens said Obama was taking the black vote for granted and decried the idea of similarities between the gay rights movement and the civil rights movement, an assertion made by the NAACP following Obama’s same-sex marriage support.
Owens has long been an opponent of gay marriage and consults with the National Organization for Marriage as a liaison to the black churches.
At the press conference, Owens said that Obama’s support of same-sex marriage tantamount to supporting child molestation.
“If you watch the men who have been caught having sex with little boys, you will note that all of them will say that they were molested as a child…” Owens said. “For the president to condone this type of thing is irresponsible.”
Owens later walked about those comments back, saying he didn’t think the president was condoning molestation.
Earlier this year, memos obtained by The Human Rights Campaign in a Maine civil actions suit revealed that NOM aims at making gay marriage a wedge issued “between gays and blacks,” according to the released confidential plans.
“The strategic goal of this project is to drive a wedge between gays and blacks - two key Democratic constituencies," one NOM memo states. In light of the release, Brian Brown, president of NOM, said that he is proud of the group’s “strong record” on minority partnerships.
A Pew Research Center poll conducted in April found that 49% of African-Americans oppose legalized same-sex marriage, compared with 39% who support it. But that shows a softening on the position in recent years; In 2008, only 26% of blacks were in favor of same sex marriage, according to the same Pew poll.
At the same time, black voters overwhelmingly supported Obama in 2008, while more recent polling shows a nearly equal level of support for the president’s 2012 reelection.
In a Public Religion Research Institute poll released last week, 18% of black Americans surveyed said they see same-sex marriage a “critical issue,” putting it behind the economy, education, deficit, a growing wealth gap and immigration.
According to Robert P. Jones, the CEO of the polling company, there is no evidence that same-sex marriage is something African-Americans will bring to the ballot box in November.
“Among African-Americans, I think same-sex marriage will be a nonissue in the election,” Jones told CNN. “We just have no evidence what so ever in slippage of support for Obama, even after his announcement in support of same sex marriage.”
The reaction of black pastors to the president’s support for gay marriage has been as varied as their congregations, ranging from condemnation to congratulations.
"We may disagree with our president on this one issue," Rev. Wallace Charles Smith said from the pulpit of the Shiloh Baptist Church in Washington on the Sunday after Obama announced his support for legalized gay unions. "But we will keep him lifted up in prayer. ... pray for President Barack Obama."
At the Tuesday press conference, Owens questioned Obama’s commitment to black Americans, stating that the president is just “half-black, half-white” and has long “ignored the black press.”
He is “ignoring the people that put him in the White House,” Owens said.
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Today is
Ignorance doesn't have a skin color or a religious affiliation.
The same man/woman that call themselves "religious", will often times use the words written in their "bibles" to provide convenient justification of their attacks against any person, any entity or any group.
These attacks are such that these religious individuals, believe in the words of their bibles so adamantly that they feel compelled to bastardize anyone who do not follow, or fall in line with the writings in their books of worship, irregardless of the individual, entity or groups religious affiliations, because their religion is the "right" religion and all others are mere acceptable possible worshiping institutions.
However, when one look into the lives of the so called, religious worshipers, one would find all types of flawed behavior, contrary to the writings in the same book that these individuals use to accuse others of being "Abominated" for.
Religion: a set of strongly-held beliefs, values, and attitudes that somebody lives by
Hypocrite: somebody who pretends to have admirable principles, beliefs, or feelings but behaves otherwise
Who's to say that ones religion can not be based on his/her individual life's lessons, and his/her individual life's gained knowledge..., with gained knowledge being that of one that have studied all existing religions and concluded that he/she would believe in "portions of all".
Nonetheless, I believe that the appropriate word in this specific instance is "hypocrite", in that, Rev. Williams Owens, takes a stern stance against "Same Sex Marriage", and he is directly attacking President Obama's position of respecting the rights of any two people to marry, seems to appear that President Obama is the one that respects others and the Rev. appears to be the one that judges others with anger in his heart.
Hypocrisy: Judge Not...., Treat Others....., God's Doors are open.....
In the history of man, religious leaders have taken a position for some of the worse atrocities known to man, to include "Slavery, Decapitation, Assassinations, Bigotry, Racism, Sexism, and even Ignorance".
It chives my hide when a religious individual or a religious institution, attacks anyone for any reason what so ever, when their own mirror is tainted with equal iniquities, equal instances of hypocrisies, equal lies, equal ignorance and all the mals of flawed character of a human being.
The Fact that Rev. Williams Owens, is in front of a microphone, berating same sex marriage, is in fact, a act contrary to the same bible that he claims to be representing.
Rev. Williams Owens has to cleanse his individual life, his families lives, and his followers lives before judging outside his flock, Rev. Williams Owens can not throw any stones when he lives in a glass house.
Hay Rev. Williams Owens, I have a few recommendations...,
how about you spend this much effort in educating your black woman on how to be "mothers" to their children,
teach young black men on the value of their presence in the lives of the child that they do not visit,
provide a location for struggling youngsters with issues with math and science, to go to, that will help them address their specific educational concerns.
These 3 issues in the Black Community, if addressed, will weigh ten folds more significantly than any effort that any minister would ever accomplish with the fight against same sex marriage issue.
Rev. Williams Owens, simply choose not to marry a gay couple, but choose to hold, in home parenting sessions, in home value sessions, in home tutoring sessions, because the number of single parents out number the number of gay marriages exponentially.
There are some fights not worth fighting, when there are so many lost souls who could better use ones talents and skills. Choose your fights well, choose fights that yields the most effective results and not the most notoriety, and remind yourself, be sure that your house is "perfect" when you throw stones.
In My Opinion
ASKFMB
8/1/2012
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