Vision America, an organization formed by Baptist minister Rick Scarborough, has issued a press release concerning their involvement with the newly announced “Freedom Federation.” In it we find a little more about this organization which is “not an organization.”
Scarborough commented: “These organizations represent some of the nation’s largest constituencies of youth, Hispanics, African-Americans, women, pastors and churches, who are uniting to defend a tradition increasingly under attack.”
The Freedom Federation is committed to defending and extending core values expressed in the Declaration of American Values, the organization’s founding document. These include the right to life, the institution of marriage, parental rights, religious liberty, an environment free of pornography and indecency, the right to property, freedom from excessive taxation, and national sovereignty. The statement is posted on the Vision America website at www.visionamerica.us.
The Declaration of American Values was apparently written by Liberty Counsel‘s Mat Staver ( playing the part of Thomas Jefferson). Staver also wrote the Florida amendment denying marriage (or anything like it) to same-sex couples (which passed). This new declaration contains a list of ultra-conservative activist top hits, including:
To secure our national interest in the institution of marriage and family by embracing the union of one man and one woman as the sole form of legitimate marriage and the proper basis of family.
Reading through it was a bit eerie for reasons I can’t yet describe fully. Partly, at least, must be the melodrama of using the Declaration of Independence as a template for something like this. It has more than just a bit of Constitution Party to it.
Scarborough apparently made his bones in the early 90s by “exposing” a local AIDS awareness curriculum that dared to claim that sex was “safe with condoms.” While this was not an uncommon statement to make in 1992, it seems the frank discussion of sex in general, transcribed for his congregation, was enough to create a new conservative activist out of Scarborough.
In 1992, Dr. Scarborough gained national recognition when he exposed the contents of a disturbing assembly program at the local high school. Under the auspices of an “AIDS Presentation,” a young lady, sponsored by the AIDS Foundation of Houston, candidly discussed every sex act imaginable expressing the opinion (presented as fact) that “safe sex” was attainable by using condoms. Dr. Scarborough recorded the assembly and then made transcripts available to his congregation the following Sunday morning. The resulting furor that erupted caught the eye of the national media.
Scarborough has also written a few books including In Defense of Mixing Church and State, and Liberalism Kills Kids. As we said, definitely something to watch.
Now that they’re serious about it, I’m sure they’ll start Pouring money into research that prevents those millions of eternal souls from ending up in the trash bin due to miscarriages or spontaneous abortion.
A few choice Rick Scarborough quotes from the Janet Folger radio show on 6-6-08 (under Homosexuality / same-sex “marriage”).
GM, HIV+, will hitch for health insurance benefits.
Well, we’re six months into the year now, is everyone up to quota?
@ Patrick Fitzgerald: Your last sentence made me crack up laughing. And I dearly needed it after reading everything that preceded it.
I remember when Mat Staver was just plaguing Central Florida with his warped and narrow definition of “liberty.” Sorry he’s all of America’s problem now.