Posted on 12/12/2004 5:35:11 AM PST by madprof98
This article was reported by Add Seymour Jr., Don Plummer and Kelly Simmons.
Thousands of Christian soldiers marched through one of Atlanta's most storied neighborhoods Saturday, opposing gay marriage and promoting what they see as a moral agenda for the country — especially African-Americans.
Bishop Eddie Long, pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, led the march arm-in-arm with the Rev. Bernice King, daughter of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Long organized the demonstration and carried an Olympic-style torch lighted from the eternal flame at the King Center, where the march began.
Among the throng were a troupe of step-dancing young women clad in camouflage and many New Birth members, who wore black shirts with the words "Stop the Silence" written across the front. Some 40 members of the Nation of Islam, in their trademark dark suits and bowties, jogged down the sidewalk to add their support.
As the group marched through Sweet Auburn, the Atlanta neighborhood that nurtured the civil rights movement, about 50 counterdemonstrators lined Auburn Avenue.
The gay rights group sang, "In the name of Jesus, hate has to go," and chanted, "Not the dream of Dr. King." One person held a sign that read "Bigots Go Back to Lithonia."
But the march ended peacefully.
Long, whose church claims 25,000 members, told his supporters it was time for the black community to be heard.
"We can't be silenced," he said. "We are not marching against folks. We are marching for folks."
According to New Birth's Web site, the march advocated "a constitutional amendment to fully protect marriage between one man and one woman." But some who participated said gay marriage was only one of the issues motivating them.
"As a result of today's march," said New Birth member Janice Russell, "I feel like people will realize that the church — the kingdom of God — is alive and that we have risen up as one voice to let the world know we will stand for what is right, morally and ethically."
New Birth members said Long had been talking up the march for the past month.
At a Wednesday service, he told his flock, "This is not a walk in the park. This is a movement. And it's a sign of unity and power of the people who have come to possess the kingdom of God."
Bernadette Trish, a New Birth member who works at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said she came out on a chilly weekend morning because "I believe in the vision Bishop Eddie Long has received from God, that we are to step outside the four walls of the church."
But some critical clergy suggested that he might be trying to garner favor with Republicans to position New Birth as a recipient of funds from President Bush's faith-based initiative. Long would not comment Saturday.
Bush supports a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. Political polls during this election year have shown that many African-American Christians — like their white evangelical brethren — agree with the president on social issues such as gay marriage and abortion, even though black voters remain heavily Democratic.
The anti-gay marriage sentiment is part of a larger fear on the part of many conservatives, black and white, that the culture is shifting away from the values they hold.
Polls show that almost three-quarters of African-Americans — a larger percentage than Americans as a whole — believe the nation is losing its "moral compass" by removing prayer from public schools and banning display of the Ten Commandments on government property.
Many African-Americans have also expressed support for comedian Bill Cosby, who has crisscrossed the country with a call for black parents to take greater responsibility for their families and their communities — although Cosby has his share of critics.
Claudine Cheatem, who moved to Atlanta two months ago to be a part of Long's church, said she joined the march because she wants to promote a world where African-Americans take responsibility for their actions and stop the violence and poverty that entrap them.
"It's a spiritual awakening that needs to happen," said Cheatem. "My grandchildren will walk in the realization of my dreams."
Some of Saturday's counterdemonstrators charged that Long and his followers are moving away from the high moral ground of the civil rights movement. The King Center had issued a statement Friday saying that it did not endorse the march.
Maressa Penderman, a lesbian who serves as deacon at Unity Fellowship Church in Atlanta, said she believes the Republican Party is using black churches as a "Trojan horse" because of the black community's homophobia.
"God is love, God is for everyone," Penderman said.
Keenun Thomas, 31, felt torn between the two groups. He said he is committed to Long's effort to empower the African-American community, but as a gay man, he can't accept Long's opposition to gay marriage.
"The church is well within its rights to deny marriage to anyone it chooses," said Thomas, who runs the nonprofit Minority Empowerment Foundation in Decatur. But he said Atlanta's black community should be working together.
Eventually he joined Long's march.
As the crowd gathered at Turner Field, Long's recorded voice blared from speakers in time with the thumping beat of music: "Enough is enough. It's time to get tough. Now. Right now. Right now. Right now."
When it was time for Long to speak in person, the Rev. Bernice King introduced him, calling him the new prophet appointed by God to speak the mind, heart and gospel of God.
"We can no longer be silent about hunger, about drug abuse, about poverty, about corruption," Long preached. "We must stand for the generations coming behind us."
Vernell Thomas stood near the back of the crowd and punctuated the bishop's speech with shouts of praise.
"There are people that have no direction," said Thomas, 22. "We have to reach out. It's just about the kingdom of God. It's not directed toward any specific group."
Bingo! What I've seen reported emphasizes the counter protest, estimated at 100 as opposed to the actual anti-gay marriage marchers, estimated at 15,000.
This is driving the MSM nuts. They're not sure how to report African American Christians protesting one of their issues.
That's the way it always is with the press. You could have a million people on one side of a protest and ten on the other side. The media would talk to one person from both sides and make it appear there were an even number of people on each side.
Discrimination is a word whose political redefinition originated in the civil rights movement. In normal usage, discrimination is synonymous with discernment, but as used in a civil rights context it means irrational bias against a person.
"Irrational" is the hidden qualifier in the term that distinguishes appropriate discernment from prejudice. In an enlightened society there can be no rational basis for discrimination on criteria such as race, skin color or ethnicity.
However, as with multi-culturalism, the introduction of morally significant criteria changes the analysis of discrimination. Discrimination against harmful conduct is entirely rational, and in many cases necessary.
Discrimination is now synonymous with racial prejudice in the public mind. The "gay" movement has exploited this association to legitimize its own claims by adding itself to the list of minorities in anti-discrimination statutes. Moral discrimination is "rational" discrimination.
Homophobia:
This term is probably the most outrageous invention of the "gay" sophists. the illogic of homophobia is insultingly blatant.
Originally, homophobia was psychiatric jargon invented to describe a person's fear of homosexual inclinations in him or herself. "Gay" activists simply stole the term and redefined it as "hate and/or fear of homosexuals."
As a rhetorical weapon, homophobia is unequaled. It serves first to define anyone who opposes the legitimization of homosexuality as a hate-filled bigot. The universal inclusion of all opponents as homophobic is of course not emphasized.
Homosexual activists publicly associate this label with violent "gay bashers" and hateful fanatics. When they use the term they want people to think about the killers of Matthew Shepard, but in conventional practice they include every man, woman and child who believes homosexuality is abnormal or wrong.
Secondly, the term defines opposition to homosexuality as a mental illness. "Gay" activists take special delight in this since it was scant decades ago that homosexuality was listed as a mental disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychiatry (removed by the political maneuvering of homosexual activists in a 1973 vote of the members of the American Psychiatric Association).
Thirdly, the term serves as the semantic equivalent of "racist," helping the "gay" movement to further indoctrinate the public with the notion that opposition to homosexuality is equivalent to prejudice against racial minorities.
The use of the term is in itself religious discrimination because it implicitly disparages and declares illegitimate the religious teachings of several major world religions. Adoption of the term by government constitutes a prima facie violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which prohibits the endorsement or inhibition of religion.
They're not sure how to report that it was African American Christian "Values Voters" that got President Bush re-elected!
One important reason why the "Mainstream Newsmedia" has become more and more irrelevant--aside from the fact that there's very good reason not to trust it--is that it is so predictable and therefore so mind-numbingly boring.
If even a small number of African American voters switched to the GOP the Dems would be in huge trouble politically.
It's just a word game. Sad most folks buy into the word redefinition by the leftists.
First heard Bishop Eddie Long via Promise Keepers.If that
march was "anti-Gay" I guess the Bible --and Reason must be
equally --"anti-Gay".For any who profess to be Christian to
make the anti-Christian claims I have heard from the false
prophets --and the reprobates invites me to "look up--for
salvation draws nigh."
bump
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