Religious Right Watch

In 2000, evangelist Chuck Ripka says he had a vision from God: He was to start a faith-based bank in Otsego, and with the backing of the Lord his Riverview Community Bank could not fail. In fact, God told Ripka that he would create such an “acceleration” in the bank’s success that Ripka would be [...]

While Rep. Michele Bachmann eventually backed off her infamous statement about “un-American views” she feared Barack Obama held, she’s standing by someone with sharper views. Next month, she’s headlining a fundraiser for Bradlee Dean’s Christian punk rock band and ministry, You Can Run But You Cannot Hide. Here’s a rundown of his recent statements, including his belief that Obama is “not American” and “unpatriotic to the max.”

Rep. Michele Bachmann is one of about 50 Republican members of Congress calling for the firing of Kevin Jennings, Assistant Deputy Secretary for the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools. The letter objects to Jennings’ “promotion of homosexuality” and accuses Jennings of violating “mandatory reporter” requirements. But the letter, penned by Iowa Rep. [...]

The New York Times noted on Monday that rightwing opposition to the Democrats’ health care reform plans contains plenty of references to Nazis. On Wednesday, a Minnesota-based, rightwing health care group offered a local example, announcing a former Hitler Youth who has compared Obama’s policies to the rise of Nazi Germany as its headliner at [...]

Civil liberties groups say that You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International — a ministry/punk band that brings its Christian message to public school kids — is causing schools to run afoul of the constitutional principle of separation of state and church. Rep. Michele Bachmann, who says such a separation is a “myth,” will be headlining a fundraiser for the group in November.

While usually attendees at the annual Values Voter Summit focus on hot button social issues, this year the hotel buzzed with the 10th amendment and the national debt.

At the Values Voter Summit in Washington, the Family Research Council’s FRC Action is asking attendees their preferred candidate for president, as well as which of four GOP incumbents they think it should “save” from the Left. U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann makes the cut, along with Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Penn.), and [...]

Leading off with material familiar to Minnesotans — Packers jokes and a retelling of his hardscrabble youth in South Saint Paul — Gov. Tim Pawlenty addressed the Value Voters Summit in Washington, D.C., Friday in hopes of buttressing his conservative bona fides. Here, via the Washington Independent, is text of speech:

Salon’s Mike Madden notes that the Values Voters Summit, which features Minnesota’s conservative heavyweights Rep. Michele Bachmann and Gov. Tim Pawlenty, is being held on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year and a religiously prescribed day of rest.
“Does the [Family Research Council] think Jews don’t have values? Or was this just the only fall weekend [...]

Rep. Michele Bachmann took to the House floor to defend school prayer on Tuesday, after two Florida school employees allegedly violated a court order against prayer during a teacher’s luncheon.
“Mr. Speaker, the problem is that this displays a trend and a tendency that we are seeing where groups like the ACLU strike at one school [...]