At Georgetown University—a Jesuit, Catholic university in Washington, DC—President John DeGioia sent a message to the University community condemning Rush Limbaugh’s “misogynistic [and] vitriolic” attacks. In his letter, he lamented how a “respectful [and] sincere” student who provided a “model of civil discourse” during her testimony before Congress could be treated with such “coarseness, anger [and] even hatred” by Limbaugh and others.
He was joined in his criticism of Limbaugh by Faithful America, which has launched a petition asking eHarmony (a Christian dating site) to stop advertising on The Rush Limbaugh Show. The petition states:
Rush Limbaugh is using “religious freedom” as a fig leaf for vile rhetoric about women who use birth control. eHarmony has built its business on Christian customers, and they must stop advertising on Limbaugh’s show immediately.
As of 6:00 PM EST, less than two hours after it went public, the petition has already garnered 5100 signatories.
Responding to Franklin Graham’s continued refusal to acknowledge that the President is indeed a Christian, Faithful America has launched a petition calling on Graham’s employer, the international Christian relief organization Samaritan’s Purse, to fire the pastor.
The petition reads:
Franklin Graham’s lies and fear-mongering about President Obama and our Muslim neighbors makes him unfit to lead a Christian organization. The Board of Directors of Samaritan’s Purse should immediately replace him.
Yesterday in New York, Faithful America members and faith leaders including Bishop Gene Robinson, Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire, gathered at MSNBC studios to deliver 20,000 signatures calling on the network to stop inviting hate group leader Tony Perkins onto their news programming.
MSNBC sent down representatives to accept the petitions but remained non-committal about their willingness to change their policy.
Here’s video of their delivery combined with footage of Perkins on MSNBC:
Last month, Faithful America launched a petition calling on MSNBC to stop inviting Family Research Council President Tony Perkins and other FRC spokespeople on its network to represent Christians.
Since the start of the campaign, over 20,000 people of faith have signed on. Unfortunately, MSNBC has not only failed to stop booking Perkins, they’ve gotten worse — inviting him to appear a staggering 11 times already this year.1
Today at 11am, Faithful America members are upping the ante. Joined by Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson and local New York clergy, they’ll deliver their petition signatures to MSNBC representatives and hold a press conference outside network headquarters in Rockefeller Plaza.
The faith leaders will confront MSNBC about its decision to continue booking spokespeople from an organization that has been officially designated as a hate group for its history of spreading false, hateful claims about the LGBT community and challenge the network to find other guests more representative of the broader Christian community.
Joining Bishop Robinson at today’s event are:
Rev. Jacqui Lewis, Senior Minister, Middle Collegiate Church, New York, NY Rev. Michael Ellick, Minister, Judson Memorial Church, New York, NY Rev. Chloe Breyer, Executive Director, Interfaith Center of New York Rev. Earl Kooperkamp, Pastor, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, New York, NY
The Family Research Council is a hate group, and journalists ought to treat it as such. MSNBC must stop inviting Family Research Council spokespeople on the air to represent the views of Christians and other people of faith.
After Kansas House Speaker Mike O’Neal (R – Hutchinson) forwarded around an email using the Bible to pray for President Obama’s death, Faithful America members quickly responded with a petition calling for his resignation. In just over a week, the petition has amassed over 30,000 signatures nationwide.
Today, two Kansas pastors, Rev. Tobias Schlingensiepen and Rev. Jim McCullough, gathered at the State Capitol to deliver the petitions and reiterate the signers’ demand. Rev. Schlingensiepen explained his motivation for signing:
Speaker O’Neal’s behavior is an affront to the Christian faith and unworthy of his office. It’s unpatriotic and offensive for an elected representative to wish harm upon the President of the United States. His refusal to show remorse shows that it’s time for him to resign, and to reflect upon the true foundations of his faith.
Friday was a busy day for faith leaders across the country as they stepped up to fight the misinformation put forth by Fox News and the revolting hate rhetoric by Rush Limbaugh against Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke—who testified in favor of the HHS mandate last week.
