Proselytizing in city parks

[Danielle Masters]

I had an experience this evening while at the skate park with my family that I would like some community input on. There was a large (30-40 people) christian group inside the skate park this evening. They were preaching to the kids about God and Jesus. They told some of the kids, including my nine year old, that skateboarding was an evil sport and that they were sinners. They told one girl whose father had died that he was going to hell. They were saying homosexuals were going to hell. They were handing out pamphlets. Many of this was done on the actual skate ramps and platforms, not just on the bleachers. Now I am all for freedom of speech. And I should also mention that we are religious family. But I also think that it is the parents place to teach their children and that there is a time and a place for it. I was there so I could tell my kids not to listen to them, but most of the kids there are alone. I spoke to a few other parents who were quite upset. The kids and adults are there to skate, its not a church. They did tell us they will be there for the next five nights. I did look into it and it appears they aren't breaking any city ordinances. They had most of the kids there very upset, many decided to leave. I feel they were interfering with use of a public facility, but that is just my opinion. What is yours?

[Kenneth Warren]

Very interesting report.

It sounds like the evangelists were engaged in a form of speech protected by the United States Constitution and civil rights laws.

Perhaps the only gray area might be if the evangelists were barricading the ramps, effectively stopping the skaters from moving in the facility. And that would seem to be a stretch. Courts don't like to see such restrictions on free speech by government. I am not an attorney.

Is this congregation coming from a Lakewood Church?

Is Lakewood's Skate Park a destination for out of town evangelists?

One need not read Dante to imagine on a hot summer's night robust rings in the Skate Boarder's Inferno convincing traveling evangelists that they have landed in the perfect heathen mission.

If not too noisy, indigenous pagan drum circles and a few boom boxes blasting counter hymnals from Boize in the Wood might equally constitute protected speech.

It's a battle for the minds of our youth. Parents be attentive.


Kenneth Warren

[Stan Austin]

Danielle---Buck up. You [/u]are going to hell. Just enjoy the ride!
Stan

[Stephen Calhoun]

Is this a story? Does the LO document in 'draw your own conclusions' mode with photo documentation?

-

Too bad summer is too hot to put the pink bunny suit on. I like the potential tribal tableaux, Ken. Toss in the fire dancers, eh?

...could get rough and tumble.

[Ellen Malonis]

Oh, Brother! (Where art thou...) This story could be part of the making of the Observer's first article in the "Religion" section.

I am an evangelical Christian. However, when I read this, it made me cringe. I would be interested in knowing what church or group these folks are affiliated with. Hmm, we might have to make a trip down there this evening to check this out. I'd like them to quote me chapter and verse on the skateboard issue, seeing as I just bought my 10 year old one for his birthday.

Anyone remember the old spiritual/camp song, "I Ain't a Gonna Grieve My Lord No More" or "You Can't Get to Heaven." It's listed as a silly camp song. The verses are many, varied and constantly being added to:

"You can't get to heaven on a pair of skates, 'cause you'll roll right by those pearly gates..."

"You can't get to heaven in a limosine, 'cause the Lord don't sell no gasoline..."

"You can't get to heaven in a strapless gown, 'cause the Lord's afraid if might fall down..."

"If you get to heaven, before I do, just make a hole and pull me through..."

During the 60's we added:

"You can't get to heaven in a B Five Two, 'cause the Lord's afraid you'll bomb him too."

"I ain't a gonna grieve my Lord no more
I ain't a gonna grieve my Lord no more
I ain't a gonna grieve my Lord no more!"

We should add:

"You can't get to heaven with your Hellfire talk
"Cause the Lord wants you to walk the walk."

Sounds like these folks forgot that it is supposed to be "good news of great JOY"!! I'll bring my guitar, and we could all meet there and have a sing along...

Ellen Malonis

[Danielle Masters]

FYI- The group was called Generation Next Outreach. The two phone numbers listed were for Lakewood Foursquare Chapel and a private party number in West Virginia.

And Stan- Thanks I am enjoying the ride.

[Kenneth Warren]

Ellen:

I very much like your joyful and faithful sense of the story here. I hope you will write it.

There are many deep stories about Lakewood's faith communities that need to be written.

If you bring your guitar, I'll bring my drum, and we can make a joyful noise, while figuring out potential stories on the religion beat.

Kenneth Warren

[Stephen Calhoun]

Four squarers. Okay. McPherson.*

Lakewood's web site

Officially the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, the Foursquare Church was founded in Los Angeles, California, by Aimee Semple McPherson in 1923. Amidst the revival days of the early 1900's, this fellowship of believers was born, determined to proclaim the solid scriptural core of Pentecostal renewal, avoiding the extremes of fanaticism on one hand and materialism on the other. God in His grace has allowed us to grow from that one local fellowship to some 2,000 churches in the United States and Canada, with a missionary outreach in 65 countries. These numbers are fast increasing. We have no desire to compete or compare. We rejoice for every body of believers who lifts the blood-stained banner of Jesus. The Foursquare Church is a member of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) and as a Pentecostal Church, affiliated with the Pentecostal Fellowship of North America (PFNA). Our purpose is to worship God with our lips and our lives, to minister to one another in the sharing strength, and to reach out by declaring and demonstrating the reality of Jesus. The term "Foursquare" stands for the four-fold ministry of Jesus Christ as the Savior (Rom.10:9), Baptizer with the Holy Ghost (Luke 3:16), Healer (I Peter 2:24), and coming King (Acts 1:11).

Pastor Mike Bartolone

---

Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internatio ... are_Gospel
[excerpt]

As of 2000, the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel had grown to 1844 churches with 218,981 members¹ in the United States. Worldwide membership is over 3.5 million in almost 30,000 churches in 123 countries. Corporate headquarters are maintained in Los Angeles, California. In the United States, the church is divided into districts and local congregations affiliate with the district in their area.

* http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia. ... ursqu.html

[excerpt]
Preaching in Oakland, California in 1922, McPherson had a vision based upon the prophet Ezekiel's vision of Man, Lion, Ox and Eagle. She saw four symbols: the cross, the crown, the dove and the cup. These, she believed, represented Regeneration of the Church, the Second Coming, Baptism in the Spirit and Divine Healing, respectively. The four symbols created a name for to call her religion, the Foursquare Gospel (Epstein 264). At the same time, McPherson affirmed the beliefs of an evangelistic association called the Elim Foursquare Gospel Alliance, founded by George Jeffrys in Ireland in 1915. She had worked with Jeffrys previously. The Elim Foursquare Gospel was headed by Jeffreys and his brother, two of England's greatest evangelists. The Gospel Alliance embraced the same central beliefs that Aimee upheld in her own Foursquare Church.

In 1923, McPherson founded her own Angelus Temple in the Echo Park section of Los Angeles, California. It was a magnificent structure which she saw as a learning center for evangelism. Her chief objective was the conversion experience. Beyond conversion, McPherson wanted visitors to become evangelists themselves and return to their parishes with the renewed power of the Holy Spirit. The only problem was that people became attached to Angelus Temple and did not want to leave.

(and)

When radio came, McPherson was the first female evangelist to use the medium, and the first woman to obtain a broadcast license from the FCC. When radio was still not a regular household possession, McPherson set up tents in cities around the Los Angeles metropolian area where people could listen to her programs. She communicated with converts by telephone, receiving them into membership of Angelus Temple (Hadden and Swann, 75-76).

When her radio station was closed by Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover in 1925, she sent him an angry telegram as follows:

"Please order your minions of Satan to leave my station alone. You cannot expect the Almighty to abide by your wavelength nonsense. When I offer my prayers to Him I must fit into His wave reception. Open this station at once" (Hadden and Swann, 188-89).

(and)

So effective was she in enthralling her audiences, critics accused her of "kidnapping" individuals and filling their minds with a bogus religion. But it was her own kidnapping, at the peek of her popularity, that would shroud the memory of Aimee Semple McPherson forever.

In May, 1926 McPherson suddenly disappeared. It was rumored that she had drowned while swimming off Venice Beach, but there was no evidence. When she was found a month later in Mexico, she claimed that she had been kidnapped. Rumors of all sorts abounded, including the tale that she was with Kenneth Ormiston, a former employee and alleged lover.

What followed was a controversy that was not to be repeated in American religious history until the late 1980s when the sexual indiscretions of Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart plunged religious broadcasting into a crisis of public confidence. In a word, many found McPherson's tale of kidnapping to lack credibility. The press which had once treated her like a movie star, had a feeding frenzy. She would eventually be indicted for "criminal conspiracy to commit acts injurous to public morals..." The charges were eventually dropped for lack of evidence, but the incident would change her life.

---

http://www.lakewoodchapel.com/about.htm?

http://www.eaglerockchurch.com/

http://www.foursquare.org/
http://www.foursquare.org/index.cfm?cat ... issues_old
http://www.foursquare.org/files/denomin ... tement.pdf

[Kenneth Warren]

Evidently, there is a West Virginia Evangelical Youth posse in training with the Lakewood homies at the Lakewood Foursquare Chapel. Perhaps the new the kids on the block have helped advance this new instigation that is bringing fire and brimstone to the skate park, along with other sites, in a manner not generally expected to occur here.

Maybe it's faith-based skate-boading that will evolve in Lakewood.

Have any churches contributed to the skate park as part of their support for youth?

Or maybe this regional multi-state evangelical push is part of the Dominionist thrust to re-make the Lakewood Skateboarder conform to the American spirit of empire.

What shape will a skate boarder's resistance take in the face of such a push?

Will the skate boarders end up going back to Lakewood's church steps for their work out?

Various reports have indicated that Christian evangelicals have targeted Ohio for further missionary work. It is not surprising, therefore, that Lakewood, with a young population and a brand new amenity that drawing people from all over, would appear on the radar screen.

Back in April Rolling Stone carried a piece on "The Crusaders" that gives a secular reading on the politics of Dominion.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/st ... 6.0.12.857

The Crusaders

Christian evangelicals are plotting to remake America in their own image

By BOB MOSER

It's February, and 900 of America's staunchest Christian fundamentalists have gathered in Fort Lauderdale to look back on what they accomplished in last year's election -- and to plan what's next. As they assemble in the vast sanctuary of Coral Ridge Presbyterian, with all fifty state flags dangling from the rafters, three stadium-size video screens flash the name of the conference: reclaiming america for christ. These are the evangelical activists behind the nation's most effective political machine -- one that brought more than 4 million new Christian voters to the polls last November, sending George W. Bush back to the White House and thirty-two new pro-lifers to Congress. But despite their unprecedented power, fundamentalists still see themselves as a persecuted minority, waging a holy war against the godless forces of secularism. To rouse themselves, they kick off the festivities with "Soldiers of the Cross, Arise," the bloodthirstiest tune in all of Christendom: "Seize your armor, gird it on/Now the battle will be won/Soon, your enemies all slain/Crowns of glory you shall gain."

Meet the Dominionists -- biblical literalists who believe God has called them to take over the U.S. government. As the far-right wing of the evangelical movement, Dominionists are pressing an agenda that makes Newt Gingrich's Contract With America look like the Communist Manifesto. They want to rewrite schoolbooks to reflect a Christian version of American history, pack the nation's courts with judges who follow Old Testament law, post the Ten Commandments in every courthouse and make it a felony for gay men to have sex and women to have abortions. In Florida, when the courts ordered Terri Schiavo's feeding tube removed, it was the Dominionists who organized round-the-clock protests and issued a fiery call for Gov. Jeb Bush to defy the law and take Schiavo into state custody. Their ultimate goal is to plant the seeds of a "faith-based" government that will endure far longer than Bush's presidency -- all the way until Jesus comes back.

"Most people hear them talk about a 'Christian nation' and think, 'Well, that sounds like a good, moral thing,' says the Rev. Mel White, who ghostwrote Jerry Falwell's autobiography before breaking with the evangelical movement. "What they don't know -- what even most conservative Christians who voted for Bush don't know -- is that 'Christian nation' means something else entirely to these Dominionist leaders. This movement is no more about following the example of Christ than Bush's Clean Water Act is about clean water."

The godfather of the Dominionists is D. James Kennedy, the most influential evangelical you've never heard of. A former Arthur Murray dance instructor, he launched his Florida ministry in 1959, when most evangelicals still followed Billy Graham's gospel of nonpartisan soul-saving. Kennedy built Coral Ridge Ministries into a $37-million-a-year empire, with a TV-and-radio audience of 3 million, by preaching that it was time to save America -- not soul by soul but election by election. After helping found the Moral Majority in 1979, Kennedy became a five-star general in the Christian army. Bush sought his blessing before running for president -- and continues to consult top Dominionists on matters of federal policy.

"Our job is to reclaim America for Christ, whatever the cost," Kennedy says. "As the vice regents of God, we are to exercise godly dominion and influence over our neighborhoods, our schools, our government, our literature and arts, our sports arenas, our entertainment media, our news media, our scientific endeavors -- in short, over every aspect and institution of human society."

At Reclaiming America, most of the conference is taken up by grassroots training sessions that supply ministers, retirees and devout churchgoers with "The Facts of Stem-Cell Research" or "Practical Steps to Impact Your Community with America's Historical Judeo-Christian Heritage." "We're going to turn you into an army of one," Gary Cass, executive director of Reclaiming America, promises activists at one workshop held in Evangalism Explosion Hall. The Dominionists also attend speeches by supporters like Rep. Katherine Harris of Florida, who urges them to "win back America for God." In their spare time, conference-goers buy books about a God-devised health program called the /Maker's Diet/ or meet with a financial adviser who offers a "biblically sound investment plan."

To implement their sweeping agenda, the Dominionists are working to remake the federal courts in God's image. In their view, the Founding Fathers never intended to erect a barrier between politics and religion. "The First Amendment does not say there should be a separation of church and state," declares Alan Sears, president and CEO of the Alliance Defense Fund, a team of 750 attorneys trained by the Dominionists to fight abortion and gay marriage. Sears argues that the constitutional guarantee against state-sponsored religion is actually designed to "shield" the church from federal interference -- allowing Christians to take their rightful place at the head of the government. "We have a right, indeed an /obligation/, to govern," says David Limbaugh, brother of Rush and author of /Persecution: How Liberals Are Waging War Against Christianity/. Nothing gets the Dominionists to their feet faster than ringing condemnations of judicial tyranny. "Activist judges have systematically deconstructed the Constitution," roars Rick Scarborough, author of /Mixing Church and State/. "A God-free society is their goal!"

Activist judges, of course, are precisely what the Dominionists want. Their model is Roy Moore, the former Alabama chief justice who installed a 5,300-pound granite memorial to the Ten Commandments, complete with an open Bible carved in its top, in the state judicial building. At Reclaiming America, Roy's Rock sits out front, fresh off a tour of twenty-one states, perched on the flag-festooned flatbed of a diesel truck, a potent symbol of the "faith-based" justice the Dominionists are bent on imposing. Activists at the conference pose for photographs beside the rock and have circulated a petition urging President Bush to appoint Moore -- who once penned an opinion calling for the state to execute "practicing homosexuals" -- to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"The other side knows we've got strongholds in the executive and legislative branches," Cass tells the troops. "If we start winning the judiciary, their power base is going to be eroded."

To pack the courts with fundamentalists like Moore, Dominionist leaders are planning a massive media blitz. They're also pressuring Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist -- an ally who's courting support for his presidential bid -- to halt the long-standing use of filibusters to hold up judicial nominations. An anti-filibuster petition circulating at the conference blasts Democrats for their "outrageous stonewalling of appointments" -- even though Congress has approved more nominees of Bush than of any president since Jimmy Carter.

It helps that Dominionists have a direct line to the White House: The Rev. Richard Land, top lobbyist for the 16-million-member Southern Baptist Convention, enjoys a weekly conference call with top Bush advisers including Karl Rove. "We've got the Holy Spirit's wind at our backs!" Land declares in an arm-waving, red-faced speech. He takes particular aim at the threat posed by John Lennon, denouncing "Imagine" as a "secular anthem" that envisions a future of "clone plantations, child sacrifice, legalized polygamy and hard-core porn."

The Dominionists are also stepping up efforts to turn public schools into forums for evangelism. In a landmark case, the Alliance Defense Fund is suing a California school district that threatened to dismiss a born-again teacher who was evangelizing fifth-graders. In the conference's opening ceremony, the Dominionists recite an oath they dream of hearing in every classroom: "I pledge allegiance to the Christian flag, and to the Savior for whose kingdom it stands. One Savior, crucified, risen and coming again, with life and liberty for all who believe."

Cass urges conference-goers to stack school boards with Dominionists. "The most humble Christian is more qualified for office than the best-educated pagan," says Cass, an anti-abortion activist who led a takeover of his school district's board in San Diego. "We built quite a little grass-roots machine out there. Now it's my burden to multiply that success all across America."

Cass points to the Rev. Gary Beeler, a Baptist minister from Tennessee who got permission for thousands of students to skip class and attend weeklong events that he calls "old-time revivals, with preaching and singing and soul-saving and the whole nine yards." Now, with support from Kennedy, Beeler is selling his house and buying a mobile home to spread his crusade nationwide. "It's not exactly what I planned to do with my retirement," he says. "But it's what God told me to do."

Cass also presents another small-town activist, Kevin McCoy, with a Salt and Light Award for leading a successful campaign to shut down an anti-bullying program in West Virginia schools. McCoy, a soft-spoken, prematurely gray postal worker, fought to end the program because it taught tolerance for gay people -- and thus, in his view, constituted a "thinly disguised effort to promote the homosexual agenda." "What America needs," Cass tells the faithful, "is more Kevin McCoys."

While the dominionists rely on grass-roots activists to fight their battles, they are backed by some of America's richest entrepreneurs. Amway founder Rich DeVos, a Kennedy ally who's the leading Republican contender for governor of Michigan, has tossed more than $5 million into the collection plate. Jean Case, wife of former AOL chief Steve Case -- whose fortune was made largely on sex-chat rooms -- has donated $8 million. And Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza, is a major source of cash for Focus on the Family, a megaministry working with Kennedy to eliminate all public schools.

The one-two punch of militant activists and big money has helped make the Dominionists a force in Washington, where a growing number of congressmen owe their elections to the machine. Kennedy has also created the Center for Christian Statesmanship, which trains elected officials to "more effectively share their faith in the public arena." Speaking to the group, House Majority Whip Tom DeLay -- a winner of Kennedy's Distinguished Christian Statesman Award -- called Bush's faith-based initiatives "a great opportunity to bring God back into the public institutions of our country."

The most vivid proof of the Christianizing of Capitol Hill comes at the final session of Reclaiming America. Rep. Walter Jones, a lanky congressman from North Carolina, gives a fire-and-brimstone speech that would have gotten him laughed out of Washington thirty years ago. In today's climate, however, he's got a chance of passing his pet project, the Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act, which would permit ministers to endorse political candidates from their pulpits, effectively converting their tax-exempt churches into Republican campaign headquarters.

"America is under assault!" Jones thunders as his aides dash around the sanctuary snapping PR photos. "Everyone in America has the right to speak freely, except for those standing in the pulpits of our churches!" The amen chorus reaches a fever pitch. Hands fly heavenward. It's one thing to hear such words from Dominionist leaders -- but to this crowd, there's nothing more thrilling than getting the gospel from a U.S. congressman. "You cannot have a strong nation that does not follow God," Jones preaches, working up to a climactic, passionate plea for a biblical republic. "God, please -- God, please -- God, please -- save America!"
===================

That's the broad context, which may or may not inform the action in the skate park.

Kenneth Warren

[Stan Austin]

Ken---et al----This example of simple rudeness is distressing. Add to that all the implications of freedom of speech, religion, etc.
At first a response or counteraction seems appropriate. But on second consideration I think the common sense of our kids will prevail and the universal and quite effective mehtod of ignoring those who aren't there for some good skateboarding fun would suffice.
If some of the regulars (adults and skaters) get the word out to just skate and have fun then maybe these proseletyzers can seek appropriate venues to spread their thoughts.
I just wouldn't want to see the skateboard park all of a sudden become the focal point for something totally unexpected.
Stan Austin

[Stephen Calhoun]

Rumor is: Jesus carried a sword.

Define 'appropriate venue'.

Seems the skateboard park is a venue and it is appropriate from some other appropriation of appropriate.

Actually, the question begged for me is about the forms of resistance offered in the face of a hypostatic evangelism.

What do kids believe in today? What's the magnitude of their cosmos and their curiosity?

***

I must say skateboarding seems to my fogey sense a rather apt embodying post-yogic street 'gion. Sometimes it works better to join 'em rather than try to pull 'em through a key hole.

(Incidentally, if I had a motorcycle club, or worldbeat band, I'd call it, THE SURFIN' AMISH.)

[Vince Frantz]

WOW.

That's all I can say. I agree with Stan that no response is the best response. But I also can't resist the themes that keep popping in to my head. My brother fell off the wagon once and became an insanely evangelical Christian that abused the word of God just as much as he used to abuse drugs. I think that probably a good portion of these people were ex-drug addicts/alcoholics/criminals that found Jesus when they hit rock bottom and are now serving time paying for the guilt of hurting their loved ones, families, and community by pushing a new drug of choice. This is religious abuse that needs a response by true, good-hearted evangelicals. They are irrelevant to us skaters as long as they don't block the way or try knocking people off the board.

But for people that have tried to raise their kids with Christian values, these preachers are pushing a twisted and abused form of God's Word through actions that contend with the very basis of the New testament:
"Do unto others as you would have them do to you". Luke 6:31

Therefore the best response should be no response outside of that.

[Stephen Calhoun]

Vince wrote, (Hiya Vince,)

I think that probably a good portion of these people were ex-drug addicts/alcoholics/criminals that found Jesus when they hit rock bottom and are now serving time paying for the guilt of hurting their loved ones, families, and community by pushing a new drug of choice.

Who's to say? I bet there are some good stories behind the fusion with a particular belief system. It's of interest, if it were found to be the case. The relationship between addictive personality and spiritual materialism implicit in a divining (between in group and out group) religious participation describes something of our right/left politics too.

BUT, my friend, I would suggest that these issue would yield to real research unhooked from any biases we might hold about the hope and hazards of religion.

***

My own prejudice favors the cheetah picking off the weakened antelope metaphor.

[Vince Frantz]

Yes, i may have spoken too soon. Research was not yet complete before I made my statement. But like all memes the carriers hold some common element. It seems to be a pattern where an addictive personality (while not overtly evil) tends to swing between "xtremes".

My own addiction lies in the wooden toy. I actually do get sweaty just thinking about riding. After a few days without a ride, I get agitated. It is the first thought when I get out of bed and the last thought before I hit the sack. Driving around, I am always on the lookout to find a new place to get "high". My friends all tend to be addicted as well. We recount past exploits and plan future ones. It has even been the root of many broken relationships (mostly boy-girlfriends).

Maybe these folks are trying to save us from some bitter end we cannot forsee. All research on the long term effects of skateboarding are not yet complete. Side effects like "fun" and "success" and "self-esteem" may in fact be bad in the long run. Only time will tell.

Skateboarding saves lives. It just doesn't claim to.

[Jim O'Bryan]

Maybe these folks are trying to save us from some bitter end we cannot forsee. All research on the long term effects of skateboarding are not yet complete. Side effects like "fun" and "success" and "self-esteem" may in fact be bad in the long run. Only time will tell.

Skateboarding saves lives. It just doesn't claim to.

Vince

Judging by today skateboarding also seems to make people happy.

As far as Evangelicals, you only have to do a search for Red Heifer and or Levitical Purification to understand the punchline for their brand of Koolaid.

While many religions work for peace, the evangelical movement works towards Armageddon, for strictly personal reasons.

Jim O'Bryan