He’s making a list and checking it twice. He’s going to find out who’s naughty – and then pray for their conversion!
No, we aren’t talking about Santa Claus. We’re talking about Mat Staver, a less-than-jolly elf in Lynchburg, Va.
Staver, president of Liberty Counsel and dean of the Liberty University Law School, unveiled in October “Adopt a Liberal,” a project intended to move American leaders toward the Religious Right’s perspective on government through divine intervention.
Said Staver, “The admonition to pray for our leaders is one that we take seriously…. Our leaders affect life, liberty and family, and we aim to restore poor leaders to right thinking. We believe in miracles.”
Staver’s Web site said the endeavor is badly needed.
“Since the landmark 2008 general election,” the site said, “there can be no doubt that a very large percentage of our nation’s leaders have a liberal mindset. The undeniable fact is that the 111th Pelosi-Reid Congress and the Obama administration demonstrate a far left political philosophy. And since the President nominates federal judges and Justices of the United States Supreme Court, the judicial branch of government could take on a decidedly more liberal bent as the Obama administration wears on.
“Liberty Counsel has therefore named this special new prayer-in-action program Adopt a Liberal. And that’s exactly what we invite you to do – adopt a liberal who is in authority for regular, intense prayer….”
Perhaps concerned that his Religious Right flock might not know which liberals he had in mind, Staver listed 11 prayer targets by name.
Those chosen were President Barack Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, White House Director of Science and Technology John Holdren, U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
All of the “liberals” on the list were elected officials or others in public office – except two.
One was dubbed the “unknown liberal,” a “unique liberal” of the participant’s choice. The other was Barry W. Lynn.
According to Liberty Counsel’s thumbnail description, Lynn is the “radical executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. His group uses ‘whistle blowing’ techniques to harass Christian groups and churches, trying to embroil conservative and religious organizations in legal battles over their tax-exempt status. AU conveniently overlooks abuses by leftist groups. According to Lynn, religiously affiliated organizations should not be able to engage in what he calls ‘job bias’ by screening out workers who disagree with their religious viewpoints. He believes that refusing to recognize same-sex marriage reflects ‘tradition’s narrow view of marriage and sexuality.’”
The new project will also have additional elements that go beyond prayer.
“Liberty Counsel will be producing a deck of cards similar to baseball trading cards,” the group’s press release said. “On one side will be the picture of a liberal and, on the other side, some of their liberal positions or policies that negatively impact life, liberty and family. In this way people can pray for a specific person and then trade cards with their friends. There will be 51 cards, which is one card short of a full deck! Liberty Counsel will also be producing a bumper sticker that reads: ‘Have you prayed for a liberal today?’”
The Staver project produced predictable expressions of surprise and amusement from those targeted, as well as from reporters and bloggers.
Rep. Frank, for example, told National Public Radio’s Barbara Bradley Hagerty that he wasn’t aware of the honor.
“They didn’t bother to tell me,” Frank said. “Maybe they thought I would find out by revelation.”
According to NPR, Frank said he doubts that God is a conservative and believes that the Almighty should not be used as a partisan weapon. He also expressed amusement at Liberty Counsel’s plan to make cards for the designees.
“In other words, if people got one of me, they could trade for, like, 11 Hillary Clintons and three Arnold Schwarzeneggers?” he quipped. “I suppose the committee I chair [in Congress] does deal in currency, but we’ll have to branch out in trading baseball card ratios.”
AU’s Lynn also took his listing with good humor.
“As a Christian minister myself,” Lynn told NPR, “I’m always happy to accept the prayers of other people, particularly when they’re not calling for my death and dismemberment.”
Lynn said the Staver project is far better than the “imprecatory prayers” that some Religious Right preachers have aimed at him in recent years – requests for God to leave his wife a widow and his children fatherless.
In an Americans United press release, Lynn added, “This is quite an honor. I’m pleased that Liberty Counsel considers me such a threat that I rank alongside President Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.”
But Lynn added that Staver shouldn’t expect him to change his views. He also noted that any Liberty Counsel supporter who chooses to “adopt” him had better be prepared for difficulty.
“I like to stay up late,” he said, “and I’m not doing any chores around the house.”
Lynn was probably included in the list because of Americans United’s relentless opposition to the outrageous and legally dubious activities of the late Jerry Falwell and his religious and political entities.
In 1993, Falwell Sr.’s “Old Time Gospel Hour” lost its tax exemption retroactively for partisan politicking, and AU has repeatedly asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate other dubious electioneering schemes by various arms of the tax-exempt Falwell empire.
AU sought IRS investigations in 2007 when Jerry Falwell Jr. endorsed Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee on Liberty University letterhead and again in 2009 when he withdrew the school’s recognition of the College Democrats club while maintaining the official character of the College Republicans.
Staver claims the AU complaint about the Huckabee endorsement was “resolved without incident.” But that rather ambiguous comment suggests Liberty’s tax exemption was in jeopardy until the school came to some sort of understanding with the IRS about not engaging in further electioneering.
While many people thought the Falwell empire would collapse when its bombastic founder died, that has proved not to be the case. His sons are carrying on his work.
Falwell Jr., a University of Virginia-trained lawyer heads Liberty University, and the school’s on-campus activities and online studies program continue to prosper. Its 2008 IRS filing shows budget revenues of over $362 million.
Thomas Road Baptist, Jonathan Falwell’s Lynchburg mega-church, is not required to reveal its financial data, but his flock is large and his sermons are carried around the world on Trinity Broadcasting Network. (Jerry Falwell Ministries, another remnant of Falwell Sr.’s kingdom, took in $4.2 million, according to its most recent report.)
Staver’s Liberty Counsel reports a relatively modest annual revenue of $1.2 million, but his position at Liberty University gives him a much larger audience and base for Religious Right legal operations.
At any rate, the continued AU scrutiny has driven the Falwell crowd to distraction.
In August, Staver proclaimed Americans United to be “one of the most dangerous organizations in America.”
It’s a title AU staff members are glad to bear – especially when it means “dangerous to theocrats.”
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