Atlah Church Is Classified As A Hate Group. It’s Able To Run A School Anyway

In a monthslong investigation, HuffPost spoke with 27 people connected to the church and school, including former students, employees, congregants and community members to uncover stories of a religious leader who spent years psychologically abusing and systematically estranging students from their families. He forced some students to go by new names and fast weekly. He convinced their parents to abandon them. And one incident, caught on tape, divided the church community and led to a police investigation. 

And over the years, those who say Manning abused them have watched as the pastor’s celebrity has grown. 

Atlah Church Is Classified As A Hate Group. It’s Able To Run A School Anyway.

Teen charged after social media threats made against Byrnes High School, LGBT students | News | foxcarolina.com

Spartanburg County School District Five confirmed Thursday an arrest was made after bomb threats naming Byrnes High School were posted on social media.

The school district said police began investigating on October 18 after a school employee reported seeing the threats on Twitter. The threats reportedly mentioned bombing the school and specifically targeting LGBT students.

Reports for the Duncan Police Department say that the Twitter account allegedly tied to Radford sent a public message stating:

"The ultimate cleansing of all anti straight and non Christians will happen to day at 8:10 at James F Byrnes High School."

Teen charged after social media threats made against Byrnes High School, LGBT students | News | foxcarolina.com

Bradlee Dean Warns America That The 'Gay Agenda' Will 'Pervert All Comprehension' | Right Wing Watch

Bradlee never did know to keep his mouth shut, sorry to inform you but my mind is perfectly well.  At least that's what people tell me.  And Bradlee, "You’re gonna be destroyed by those you tolerate,,," it works both ways buddy; might want to remember that.

Anti-gay activist Bradlee Dean claimed that LGBT people “are not ruled by law” on Monday’s episode of his “Sons of Liberty” radio program. Dean criticized the media for spreading the “gay agenda,” and attempting to “pervert all comprehension” and “confuse the younger generations.”

Dean briefly touched on the recent Supreme Court marriage decision, advising listeners that “nothing is good enough” for the LGBT community. “You’re gonna be destroyed by those you tolerate,” Dean warned, before urging his followers to “hold these people responsible because they are sick in the mind.”

His rant also included his theory that society is “using the Bruce Jenners of the world” to distract Americans from God’s teaching. “We’re telling you to wake up!” Dean shouted, before continuing into a tirade against the LGBT community.

Bradlee Dean Warns America That The 'Gay Agenda' Will 'Pervert All Comprehension' | Right Wing Watch

ADDENDUM::Anti-Gay Pastor Caught On Grindr Told Gay Teen He Was Going To Hell, Should Commit Suicide, Says Mom - The New Civil Rights Movement

Lying about who you are is one thing.  Actively preaching against who you are is another. Telling anyone to go kill themselves, from a position of supposed moral authority, that is evil.

Now, a parishioner of Pastor Makela's is accusing him of telling her gay teen son that he was going to hell because he is gay, so he should kill himself.

"If he's going to hell for being gay then he might as well commit suicide," Jennifer Kish says Makela told her depressed son when he was 17.

Stunningly, Reverend Makela not only advocated for the suicide of Kish's son, but then took his battle against him to the public, attacking Kish as well, she charges.

"Kish said the pastor also became vocal on social media about how he felt her son being gay was wrong and that as a parent she shouldn't support him," WNEM reports. "She said she confronted pastor Makela about the message he was sending her son and every other young gay person."

Anti-Gay Pastor Caught On Grindr Told Gay Teen He Was Going To Hell, Should Commit Suicide, Says Mom - The New Civil Rights Movement

An anti-LGBT pastor’s Grindr outing: The church’s hypocrisy and denial are the real sins - Salon.com

I'm sorry but I have no sympathy for the Church as it breeds the type of deception prevalent in this incident.  It is the same mind set I grew up with as a member of a Missouri Synod based church.  They do not allow women to preach, much less ordain them.  Being LGBT, well, your on your own.

BUT,,,

If  Makela is now "out" I hope he will be happy and go on with the life he really wants and not pull a Ted Haggard.

After the scandal was publicized, Haggard entered three weeks of intensive counseling, overseen by four ministers. In February 2007, one of those ministers, Tim Ralph, said that Haggard "is completely heterosexual."^[3] Ralph later said he meant that therapy "gave Ted the tools to help to embrace his heterosexual side." On June 1, 2010 Haggard announced that he intended to start a new church in Colorado Springs.^[4] In a July 2010 interview with CNN, he confirmed that he has "completely shunned away any homosexual feelings he has had in the past."^[5] In the February 2011 issue of GQ, however, Haggard said that, "probably, if I were 21 in this society, I would identify myself as a bisexual."^[6]

__

Well, well, well, what a surprise. Here’s the setup: Meet Reverend Matthew Makela of St. John’s Lutheran Church and School. Until very recently, he was an associate pastor whose church bio described him as a man “blessed” with a wife and five children, one whose interests include “family, music, home improvement, gardening and landscaping, and sports.” And, as Queerty reveals this week, he’s also enjoyed taking a clear anti-gay stance, writing in a now-deleted November letter to the Midland Daily News that “We don’t tell a person born with tendencies to abuse alcohol to keep on giving in to his innate desires because he can’t help it. We try to help him in his struggle.” He’s also spoken out on Facebook about how “The transgender movement is going to assist opportunistic sickos in preying upon children and others.” So anyway, guess who’s turned up on Grindr?

In screenshots obtained by Queerty and confirmed by Makela, the reverend is seen shirtless in a Grindr exchange, saying that “I love making out naked, oral and massage. And I top. Also love to cuddle.” He now tells Queerty he has recently “resigned” from his position but declines to comment further. As Queerty points out, what people do in private is their own business. But if you’re publicly promoting the idea that gay people are like alcoholics and that trans people are in line with “sickos” while you’re trawling for dates on Grindr, this is not quite in line with what you’re preaching about “taking the marriage union with the utmost seriousness.” And it’s genuinely sad and painful to imagine what this man and his family must be going through now because of the conflict between what he desired in private and what he promoted in public. This is what shame and secrecy — so often brought about by some spectacularly warped ideas about God’s will — do to people. Imagine how much turmoil could have been avoided by just being honest. Imagine, beyond the profoundly harmful hypocrisy here, the torment of a man who among other things wanted someone to cuddle. That’s goddamn heartbreaking.

[,,,]
The viciousness of Internet mob justice is real and very scary, and unfortunately the trolls will take any opportunity that presents itself to be threatening and abusive. I wouldn’t blame the St. John’s community in the least for not wanting to expose itself to drive-by attacks by Facebook cretins. And there’s a measure of compassion to be found in the church’s choice to not embarrass Makela in a public condemnation. But for St. John’s to so actively discourage its congregants from knowing what went down sure seems to indicate a certain “Please just slink off and let’s everybody just forget this ever happened” attitude. That’s unhelpful and profoundly unrealistic.

An anti-LGBT pastor’s Grindr outing: The church’s hypocrisy and denial are the real sins - Salon.com

See also:

Midland pastor resigns after gay news site posts screenshots from his smartphone

EXCLUSIVE: Grindr Screenshots Reveal Antigay Pastor Is A Top Who Likes To Cuddle

• UPDATE: Church Warns Congregants Not To Read Rev. Makela Grindr Story, Deactivates FB Page

“To make matters worse,” he continues, “the details of sin that have been kept confidential are being posted online by those who seek to do harm to the Makela family and to St. John’s. This is taking an already difficult situation and making it even more painful… The facebook pages associated with St. John’s have been taken down in an attempt to remove the opportunity for malicious posters to have access to St. John’s members…”

Here’s the typical closed-door religious attitude that we find appalling. If Kempin had it his way, Rev. Makela would have broken ties with St. John’s congregation without ever having the “details of sin” made known to them.

His community would never have known that the man telling them being gay is a condition comparable to alcoholism and that gay marriage is just another blemish on the holy institution was in fact seeking the intimacy of men himself.

Pastor Who Says Starbucks Puts Sodomite Semen In Lattes Added To SPLC Anti-Gay Hate Group List - The New Civil Rights Movement

Manning's newest claim to fame!!  My guess, he's as proud as a peacock to be included,,,

Though the overall number of Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) designated hate groups (like neo-nazi groups or the KKK) fell dramatically nationwide, the number of anti-gay hate groups increased in 2014, from 40 to 44. In 2010, SPLC named only 10 such groups.

Heidi Beirich, director of intelligence for SPLC, isn't sure whether the growing number of designations reflects improved tracking or an actual increase in anti-gay organizations. Either way, the tone of anti-gay rhetoric appears to be worsening.

“The rhetoric is becoming much harsher for sure,” Beirich recently told the Texas Observer. “I think some of the groups are becoming harder-line, whether we’ve listed them or not, because they’re losing on a lot of fronts.”

Pastor Who Says Starbucks Puts Sodomite Semen In Lattes Added To SPLC Anti-Gay Hate Group List - The New Civil Rights Movement

Schlafly: Goal Of Gay Marriage Is 'To Wipe Out the Christian Religion' | Right Wing Watch

Maybe, just maybe - ya ole windbag - these "other faiths" could give a rat-ass about what their customers do in the privacy of their own home.  Although that might be too simple of an idea for your feeble mind to grasp.

“Have you noticed that only Christian small-businesspeople have been harassed and sued for refusing to participate in same-sex marriages even though our fast-growing immigrant populations, you know of Muslims, Hindus and other faiths are also opposed to that concept?” Wilder asked. “The use of same-sex marriage to attack Christian businesses but not businesses run by members of other religions demonstrates what is really driving the demand for the new constitutional right to same-sex marriage.”

“Well, that is right,” Schlafly responded. “They want to wipe out the Christian religion. And most of these other religions do not recognize same-sex marriage. I assume there are some Muslim bakers and photographers and other people who have been harassed, but they’re not being attacked and they’re not being criticized.”

Schlafly: Goal Of Gay Marriage Is 'To Wipe Out the Christian Religion' | Right Wing Watch

Breaking–Exclusive: Activist Admits Her Testimony To Senators On Texas Anti-Gay Bill Was False - The New Civil Rights Movement

The New Civil Rights Movement reached out to Roberts via email on Monday, asking her to point us to "the story or stories you testified about," as – to our knowledge – there are no actual instances in reputable news reports of same-sex couples demanding that ministers perform their marriage ceremonies.

In an email response received Monday night, Roberts effectively admitted that her testimony was false.

"My testimony did not relate to a specific instance," Roberts told NCRM in her email, adding it was "to put a law into place ahead of a possible Supreme Court Ruling requiring all states to perform same-sex 'marriages.'"

"We know that, given the tactics of the LGBT community, it would not be long before they started suing churches and ministers who decline to do their ceremonies," Roberts wrote. "They just move incrementally as they force their agenda on the rest of us and we have begun to fight back."

And yet, Roberts clearly asked Texas Senators, "why are homosexual couples in states where same-sex marriage is legal, demanding that ministers perform their marriage ceremonies?," while being unaware of any same-sex couples who, to her knowledge, have demanded that ministers perform their marriage ceremonies. All she could offer NCRM was, "We know that, given the tactics of the LGBT community, it would not be long before they started suing churches and ministers who decline to do their ceremonies." That is not an instance of it having happened.

[,,,]
After Roberts' testimony, and the testimony of others, including pastors who compared same-sex marriage to bestiality and pedophilia, as John Wright at Towleroad reported, the committee passed the bill 5-1. Yesterday, the Texas Senate passed the bill, 21-10. It is awaiting a vote by the Texas House.

Breaking–Exclusive: Activist Admits Her Testimony To Senators On Texas Anti-Gay Bill Was False - The New Civil Rights Movement

Fired Lawyer Blames 'Gay Conversion' Therapy

A Sacramento psychiatrist who practices gay conversion therapy defamed a gay attorney-prison guard to his employer after confining him with "a large dog under compelled coercion," the lawyer claims in court.
Calvin Chang says he was referred to Dr. Benjamin Kaufman after filing a discrimination complaint against his employer, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Chang, who'd complained that he was denied promotion because of his sexual orientation, claims there were "no facts or lawful basis whatsoever" to justify his referral to Kaufman. Chang says he is a licensed attorney with more than 20 years of law enforcement experience.
,,,

Chang says in the lawsuit that Kaufman is "a nationally recognized and outspoken critic of gay men, whom he views as having a mental disorder[;] he describes as 'the homosexual condition' as a 'self-destructive behavior,' a 'sexual deviation,' deeply disturbing and a threat."

Kaufman co-founded the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) in 1992, a group identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an extremist organization, and believes that "behind every homosexual person or gay person is a heterosexual person that has not emerged,'" according to the complaint.
Chang claims Kaufman disclosed private information to the prisons department, including false allegations that Chang was a threat to specific law enforcement officials, and that these lies cost him his job.
,,,
Chang says Kaufman subjected him to "reparative therapy" without his consent and threatened to have him fired if he didn't accept the prisons department's offer of demotion.

He says Kaufman subjected him to discriminatory and threatening behavior because of his sexual orientation. Among other things, he says, he "was subjected to confinement in a room with a large dog under compelled coercion and behind numerous locked doors."


Fired Lawyer Blames 'Gay Conversion' Therapy

Conservatives Seize On Hugely Flawed Study About Same-Sex Parents | ThinkProgress

Although dating to Febraury, Sullins research is important to note as he has in the past defended the Regnerus study, which is in the news again.  What it boils down to, "Conservatives praise these studies for their large samples, eagerly highlighting their negative results while ignore the distortions required to arrive at them."

Think of this as a precursor of what is to come.

Conservatives are excitedly promoting a new study that supposedly reveals negative outcomes for the children of same-sex parents. Like the infamously flawed Mark Regnerus study rushed out two years ago, the new study seems timed to impact the Supreme Court’s upcoming consideration of marriage equality for same-sex couples. It suffers, however, from some of the same flaws and biases as Regnerus’ study, and doesn’t actually support the argument against marriage equality that it tries to make.

The new study comes from Donald Paul Sullins, a Catholic priest and sociology professor at Catholic University of America. Sullins is a fellow of the Marriage and Religion Research Institute, a project of the anti-LGBT Family Research Council, and a Fourth Degree member of the Knights of Columbus, which has funneled millions of dollars into fighting marriage equality over the past decade. In 2010, he co-wrote a study suggesting that female homosexuality was somehow connected to growing up in a broken home, and when he has written about same-sex marriage, he uses scare quotes around the word “marriage.”

Sullins conducted an analysis of data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) that had been collected from 1997-2013. He concluded that information about the 512 same-sex parents identified in the study demonstrates that their children have more emotional problems compared to couples raised by their biological different-sex couples. That these children fare worse, he concludes, “justifies social and policy concerns about differences between family structures, including between opposite-sex and same-sex families.” In other words, same-sex couples should not be allowed to marry because they make inferior parents.

One of the first major flaws, however, is the fact that Sullins has no information about whether the same-sex couples were actually married.  As he notes, “Almost all opposite-sex parents who are raising joint biological offspring are in intact marriages, but very few, if any, same-sex parents were married during the period under observation.” The same-sex couples were instead defined as “those persons whose reported spouse or cohabiting partner was of the same sex as themselves.” No conclusions can actually be drawn about the impacts of legalizing same-sex marriage because the study, by its own admission, collected no data about same-sex marriage or its effect on children.

Regnerus himself provides an overview of the research.  In his attempt to defend it, however, he in turn reveals that it also has the very same flaws as his own study. In particular, the NHIS similarly contains no information about family formation. Sullins notes that many of the children had a biological connection to one of the same-sex parents, but it’s unknown if these are from prior relationships, which would suggest their negative outcomes are related to a broken home instead of having two parents of the same sex. Regnerus used the same conflation; only two of the children in his study were actually raised from birth by same-sex couples and they did not exhibit the same negative outcomes as those children who had parents that separated before one entered a same-sex relationship. Incidentally, Sullins has likewise defended Regenerus’ conclusions about the supposed  inferiority “gay and lesbian families,” ignoring the significance of this flawed conflation.

Conservatives Seize On Hugely Flawed Study About Same-Sex Parents | ThinkProgress

Gay and transgender murder video game pulled from gaming website Steam after complaints | Gay Star News

So hate didn't quite sell as one had hoped for.  When that didn't reap the "prosperity" expected, Hermen pulled a social experiment card stating that his game isn't reflective of his views and was trying to offend people to prove a point.

Online gaming website Steam have removed a controversial video game from availability after complaints were made about it’s violent homophobic and transphobic content by users.

‘Kill The Faggot’ was created and uploaded by Skaldic Games to Steam’s Steam Greenlight section which allows game developers to showcase their games and let the Steam user community decide which ones they want to be made commercially available through Steam.

Steam does not actively vet games for offensive content but developers must pay $100 to get their game onto Steam Greenlight as a quality control barrier.
,,,

Skaldic Games are claiming that the game was not intended to encourage hatred or violence towards LGBTI people but to protest political correctness in the gaming industry by making the ‘most overly offensive game possible to these idiots to prove a point.’

‘As for an apology - ain’t gonna happen,’ Skaldic Games wrote in a statement in response to their game being pulled from Steam.

Gay and transgender murder video game pulled from gaming website Steam after complaints | Gay Star News

See also: Failed Christian shoe promoter makes anti-gay first-person shooter

Christian group ‘investigating’ family and staff of 2016 candidates to expose gay sympathizers

Think about what is being implied here,

Lane pointed out that evangelicals had been disappointed when Ken Mehlman revealed he was gay after stepping down as the chairman of the Republican National Committee. And he suggested that George W. Bush would have been disqualified if Christian voters had known that his wife, Laura Bush, would hint at support for same-sex marriage and abortion rights after the president left office.

“A former White House political director, who also served as a Presidential campaign manager and Republican Party Chairman, announced (after he left Washington) that he is a homosexual and an advocate for homosexual marriage. Why didn’t he say that when he depicted himself as a ‘family values’ conservative to win an election?” Lane wanted to know.

Not only are they "following" the alleged teachings of a Bronze age book.  But they do not want individuals to think for themselves.  You are to believe as we do.  You are to think as we do.  You are to act as we do.  Individuality and growth of intellect will not be accepted.

This line from the Washington Examiner, sums up exactly what the Reich Lane is all about, "Evangelical pastors aren't as much interested in budget issues as they are social issues."  

It is theocracy at its best!!

Christian group ‘investigating’ family and staff of 2016 candidates to expose gay sympathizers

James Dobson Does Not Understand Bisexuality: 'That's Orgies!' | Right Wing Watch

I have been sitting on this for a few days.  Pondering.  Can an individual, a prominent one at that, be so,,,so, stupid?

Back in the day, I listened to Dobson on a daily basis.  I won't go so far as to say I idolized the man but he ranked quite high. (Please don't ask,,,roflmao,,,it musta been a delusional state I was in.)  The politics weren't as obvious in those days as the Reich we know today was just in its infancy;  I was able to brush his anti-gay stance off as our walks in faith were different.  But now, I am at a loss,,,can Dobson really be that stupid?

Here is a man, a psychologist who has made a portion of his living "educating" people about homosexuality and bisexuality.  One would think he would actually know what the term bisexual means.


"I would like them to think, just for a moment, about 'LGBT,'" Dobson said. "The 'B' stand for bisexual! That's orgies!  Are you really going to support this?"

Michael Stone over at Progressive Secular Humanist makes an interesting point along the same vane of thought I had:

It is difficult to believe that a man who claims to have a Ph.D. in psychology does not know the meaning of words like “bisexual” and “orgy.”

Indeed, it may be the case that rather than being ignorant, Dobson was simply being dishonest when equating bisexuality with orgies in a despicable attempt to smear ad denigrate individuals who identify as bisexual, and by extension, the LGBT community as a whole.

It should also go without saying that there is nothing morally objectionable to consenting adults engaging in “orgies” or sex parties or group sex or polyamory. What is morally objectionable is the dissemination of false and misleading information in the attempt to defame and shame individuals.

 To which Libby Anne of at Love, Joy, Feminism adds:

Evangelicals’ understanding of LGBTQ individuals is less about reality and more about crafting an image that fits within their worldview. In evangelical parlance, homosexuality, orgies, and pedophilia—these things all naturally go together. This is why evangelicals believe that gay people are naturally promiscuous and that transgender individuals are likely to abuse children in public restrooms. This image they have crafted of LGBTQ individuals may not resemble the reality, but it does allow them to fit the issue snugly into their belief system.

As more people have openly gay individuals in their lives, evangelicals are increasingly faced with a choice. They must either deny the lived experience of the (often few) LGBTQ individuals in their lives, or they must reject the image they have been given of LGBTQ individuals by their pastors or other evangelical leaders as false. If they do the latter, they have to find a way to adjust their belief system to account for this new understanding of LGBTQ individuals. And there are evangelicals today who are doing this, though I don’t have percentages. The past of least resistance, however, is to simply deny, deny, deny, and hold tight to the unquestioned belief system, and that is what most seem to be doing, at least for the moment. It’s certainly what Dobson is doing, though I’m unsure whether he knows any LGBTQ individuals.

The problem here isn’t just religion, though it certainly is that when it comes to LGBTQ issues specifically. When we look more broadly, it’s ideology in general that is the problem. Any time people set out to fit the world around them into a specific preconceived ideology, without a willingness to also look critically at that ideology, they will end up twisting pieces to fit them into their preexisting puzzle. Religion may be the most obvious example of this, but there are others, too. Think of communists or libertarians, for instance. Any time an individuals proclaims an ideology supreme, they run the risk of finding themselves twisting pieces to fit them into it rather than being willing to adjust the ideology when things don’t fit.

So is Dobson really that stupid?  I don't think so!!

James Dobson Does Not Understand Bisexuality: 'That's Orgies!' | Right Wing Watch

Here's What Happened In Indiana As Soon As The Media Stopped Paying Attention | ThinkProgress

Despite the “fix” passed to ensure the RFRA cannot be used to discriminate, Hoosiers still do not enjoy statewide LGBT protections. In other words, outside of the few municipalities with local protections, anti-LGBT discrimination is still legal throughout most of the state. This week, lawmakers made several attempts to begin the process of creating those protections, but Republican leadership quashed them, claiming there wasn’t enough time to tackle such a policy change.

One amendment to an unrelated House bill was defeated 66-24 because it wasn’t closely related enough to the original bill. Another proposal in the Senate simply would have created of a special committee to study the issue, but Republicans shot it down on a 40-10 party line vote, claiming it could have been better worded. With the legislative session winding down, there likely will not be another opportunity for nondiscrimination protections to come up. In other words, despite weeks of claiming that they don’t support discrimination, Indiana’s Republican leadership just rejected all attempts to protect against it.

Here's What Happened In Indiana As Soon As The Media Stopped Paying Attention | ThinkProgress

Joe. My. God.: Harlem Hate Pastor: Christians Must Be Willing To Kill To Stop Sodomites

Major H/T to Joe Jervis for finding this gem and then listening to it,,,

"If we're going to win this battle for the lord God almighty, two things are going to have to happen in terms of our battle strategies. We've got to be willing to die for what we believe. If you believe the word of God, then there is no way you will not die willingly for the cause of Christ. But the other thing - if we're gonna win this battle against Obama, the long-leggy mack daddy, the quasi-Muslim freak, the vice president of both death and hell, against the sodomites, against racism - we're gonna have to be willing to kill as well. You can try to arrest me, saying that I'm inciting murderous behavior. Go ahead and try. See if that will stand up in court. Let me tell you something, if you're not willing to kill for what you believe, if you're not will to kill those that are diametrically opposed in great evil against you believe, then you're not worthy of his service. You gotta be willing to kill. You gotta be willing to die." - Harlem Pastor James David Manning, in a YouTube clip published today.

Joe. My. God.: Harlem Hate Pastor: Christians Must Be Willing To Kill To Stop Sodomites

Clean & Clear Launches MASSIVE Assault on Christianity - BuzzPo

In case you’re unfamiliar with the retail giant we are dealing with here, Clean & Clear is one of the world’s leading beauty product companies. As such, they typically sign gorgeous female celebrities to represent their brand. This is smart – they go with the woman whom every other woman envies, whom every other woman would give her right arm to look just like. Women don’t want to look like a man disguised as a woman. It’s as simple as that.

This is a decision which is sure to stain Clean & Clear’s squeaky-clean, all-America image. Christian-minded parents (you know, the ones who buy billions of dollars worth of these beauty products for their young girls) don’t want their adolescent daughters looking up to a girl like Jazz Jennings; a girl who has gotten rich and famous by living a life contrary to what God intended for her.

If Jazz Jennings truly believes that she is “a girl trapped in a boy’s body,” she does not deserve ridicule, but rather the psychological help and spiritual guidance that has apparently been absent in her life for a very long time. She does not belong on television screens nationwide to put progressive ideas into the minds of impressionable youth who are already struggling to find their own identities, albeit in a much more normal fashion.

Clean & Clear Launches MASSIVE Assault on Christianity - BuzzPo

10 Things You Should Know About the Rabidly Anti-LGBT Liberty Counsel | Human Rights Campaign

In 1989, attorney Matthew Staver and his wife, Anita, founded Liberty Counsel, a legal organization aimed at “advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family.” But a primary focus of the organization over the years has been preventing and attacking the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people around the world. In fact, Liberty Counsel and its leaders have compared LGBT equality advocates to terrorists, said the country’s evolution toward embracing LGBT people will cause God to destroy America, and even advocates for draconian laws around the world that make it a crime to be LGBT.

Staver now serves as dean of the law school at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University, and Liberty Counsel has opened an office on the university’s campus. The organization continues to raise millions of dollars each year, even though it has taken part or carried out a laundry list of shocking and deplorable acts against the rights of LGBT people. Here are 10 things you should know about Liberty Counsel,,,

10 Things You Should Know About the Rabidly Anti-LGBT Liberty Counsel | Human Rights Campaign