Posts by Andy Birkey

Religious right leaders announced Friday that they won’t abide by laws that support gay marriage or abortion. One hundred and twenty-five members of the religious right and leaders from the Catholic church signed the Manhattan Declaration. Only one signer was from Minnesota: Archbishop John Nienstedt (pictured) of the Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.

A new report by the National Conference on Citizenship (NCOC) finds that, despite the nation’s economic turmoil, Minnesota’s civic health is good — so much so that we’re among the country’s leaders in indicators like voter turnout, volunteerism and charitable giving. NCOC is chartered by Congress “with the responsibility of promoting effective citizenship and civic [...]

The religious right’s annual “War on Christmas” is ramping up early this year, and at least one Minnesota-based company is on its hit list. Targeting retail stores that use the word “holiday” instead of “Christmas,” a trend it says the Nazis began, the American Family Association includes SUPERVALU, Eden Prairie–based owner of Cub Foods, among its targets for using the h-word in its ads.

While Rep. Michele Bachmann was the highest-profile catch for the “Appeal to Heaven” gala for the controversial You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International ministry (even though she ultimately was a no-show and sent a video message instead), another rising star in the local Republican party reportedly managed to make it to help raise [...]

The national chapter of the Sierra Club has launched an ad attacking Rep. Michele Bachmann for what the group says are close ties to the oil industry. The ads are in their second week of a two-week run on television stations in Bachmann’s district, according to Sierra Club Action, the political wing of the environmental [...]

In a matchup between President Barack Obama and Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Obama would win by ten points, according to a new St. Cloud State University poll (pdf) released Tuesday. When asked who they would vote for in 2012, 49 percent of Minnesotans surveyed said they’d support Obama, while 39.7 percent said they’d back Pawlenty.

Bradlee Dean, the founder of You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International told the attendees of the group’s “Appeal to Heaven” fundraiser that the media “demonizes” him for bringing his fiery brand of Christianity into public schools. Then he pointed out one of the reporters he feels is behind such attacks, the Minnesota Independent’s Andy Birkey.

A controversial ministry that says it preaches in public schools held a fundraiser in Bloomington Thursday night, drawing a crowd of about 400 attendees. You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International offered attendees a preview of their new documentary, an appearance by Rep. Michele Bachmann and a fiery sermon by front man Bradlee Dean that called liberals “criminals” and urged attendees to fight a “war” for the faith against liberals.

On Thursday, Rep. Michele Bachmann condemned the Goldstone report, a United Nations-commissioned report on possible war crimes during the Israel-Palestine conflict in the Gaza strip in 2008 and 2009. But it is clear from her press release that she either didn’t read the report or is willfully misleading the public.

Though the Maine Legislature passed legislation to allow same-sex marriage, residents voted against the bill in a ballot measure on election day by a margin of 53 to 47 percent. The Catholic church was a major funder of the forces opposed to same-sex marriage, and as MPR’s Tom Scheck notes, Minnesota Catholic were among those [...]