At a hearing on the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, Sen. Al Franken took issue with the testimony of Tom Minnery, the head of Focus on the Family’s political arm, CitizenLink. After Minnery cited a government study he said showed that the children of married gay and lesbian couples fared worse than married opposite-sex couples, Franken flatly stated that Minnery was wrong and called into question any further testimony from Minnery.

Franken said, “The Defense of Marriage Act is an injustice. It is an immoral and discriminatory law. Our nation is founded on the premise that all people are created equal, and that’s why I am an original cosponsor of this bill.”

He said, “Repealing DOMA will be a great day in this country, akin to the enacting of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution,” which guaranteed women the right to vote.

Franken addressed Minnery, who had testified that children raised in families with parents of the opposite sex are better off, citing a 2010 Department of Health and Human Services study.

“I checked the study out,” Franken said. “It doesn’t actually say what you said it says. It says ‘nuclear families’ not ‘opposite-sex couples.’”

He continued, “Isn’t it true, Mr. Minnery, that a same-sex couples would fall under the definition of nuclear family?”

Minnery responded, “I would assume it would mean a family with husband and wife.”

“It doesn’t,” Franken said, pausing to allow laughter in the room to subside. “I frankly don’t know how we can trust the rest of your testimony if you are reading studies this way.”

Franken is correct in his reading of the study (PDF). HHS defines a nuclear family as one that consists of “one or more children living with two parents who are married to one another and are each biological or adoptive parents to all children in the family.”

The study doesn’t make a distinction regarding the gender of both partners in a marriage and never mentioned same-sex marriage.

Watch it:

Anti-gay rights groups around the country will see a cash infusion over the next two years through a plan called “Ignite an Enduring Cultural Transformation.” And the groups are remaining mum about who is responsible.

The campaign, which largely targets states where Republicans won control of legislatures or governorships, has garnered the support of Republican political superstars such as former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (Va.), Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Jon Kyl (Ariz.), and Rep. Trent Franks (Ariz.). The groups intend to pass anti-gay marriage amendments, curtail abortion rights and, in at least one case, ban “transgender bathrooms.”

Family policy councils — a creation of Focus on the Family in the 1980s — have launched the Ignite plan in 15 states. Each family policy council has a three-prong plan to achieve their legislative goals over the next two years: lobbying for legislation, mobilizing pastors and social conservatives and supporting candidates that have backed their initiatives. Each group has used a stock brochure containing nearly identical wording to explain their plan and to solicit funds. In many cases, an Ignite plan was launched with an anonymous matching-grant donor.

Requests for information from many of the policy councils were denied, and Focus on the Family told the Minnesota Independent that they have no involvement, declining to offer information on any organization that might back the plan.

Focus on the Family says that while the groups are “fully associated” with FoF, they “are independent entities with no corporate or financial relationship to each other or to Focus on the Family.”

While Form 990s — revenue and expense documents that nonprofits file with the IRS — don’t provide detailed information on political organizing expenditures, The American Independent has provided each group’s average yearly revenues for comparison to their two-year spending under the Ignite plan.

Already, the groups are seeing success in their respective states.

The South Dakota Family Policy Council is spending $72,600 in the next two years as part of the Ignite campaign (PDF), specifically to pass legislation that would force women seeking an abortion to speak to counselors at religious-based crisis pregnancy centers.

SDFPC lobbied heavily for the bill in the media, testified before the South Dakota legislature and organized a pastor’s day at the state Capitol in Pierre in February to advocate for the bill. It passed the legislature and was signed into law in late-March.

The SDFPC is also pushing legislation that would ban surrogate mothers, but thus far the bill has yet to get out of committee. The group lists “Defeat Equality-SD’s radical gay-rights legislation,” as a goal of the Ignite campaign.

All told, SDFPC plans to spend $72,600 under the campaign, a small chunk of the average $304,000 the group took in as normal operating revenue each year over the last 5 years.

SDFPC did not return a request for information about the campaign.

Anti-gay marriage amendments on the ballot in 2012

In several states — such as Indiana, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and West Virginia — Ignite plans seems to be targeted at getting anti-gay marriage amendments passed.

The Family Policy Council of West Virginia (FPCWV) plans to spend $168,000 through 2012  (it’s average yearly budget is $132,000) during its two-year Ignite campaign to pass a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage and civil unions, and also to defeat laws that would prevent discrimination against gays and lesbians.

In West Virginia, both houses of the legislature are overwhelmingly held by Democrats, and Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin is a Democrat. The planned anti-gay marriage amendment there was voted down in the House of Delegates in February, even though many of the Democrats in the state oppose gay marriage.

FPCWV did not return a request for information about the Ignite campaign.

The Pennsylvania Family Institute plans to spend $1.5 million through 2012 on anti-abortion rights measures as well as a constitutional amendment barring gay marriage in the state. The average yearly revenue for the group over the last three years was $1.4 million.

The group also received a matching donation of $7,500 at the end of 2010.

On Tuesday, Pennsylvania Republicans introduced the anti-gay marriage amendment that PFI says they’ll push over the next two years.

“Ignite may well be the most important plan we’ve ever undertaken,” wrote PFI president Michael Geer in a message to supporters about the plan. “We want to ensure that Pennsylvania’s pro-family citizens don’t ‘go home’ thinking election results alone will stop those who undermine the timeless values you and I share. Our plan is designed to take back lost ground in the areas of life, liberty, marriage, and the family.”

Indiana Family Institute plans (PDF) to spend $498,000 to defund Planned Parenthood and to pass an anti-gay marriage amendment. IFI’s revenues have averaged $313,896 over the past three years.

The IFI did not respond to a request for comment on the Ignite plan.

In Minnesota, the Ignite plan calls for adding an amendment to the Minnesota Constitution banning gay marriage; the Minnesota Family Council is planning to spend $4.71 million in the next two years. The group averaged $832,000 in revenue over the last three years between the Council and it’s affiliate, the Minnesota Family Institute. If the Ignite campaign goes according to plan, the group will spend more than twice its historical average in working to abolish gay marriage in the state.

Big endorsements

Family Foundation of Virginia plans to spend $1,170,277 over the next two years to push legislation on “wrongful death for the unborn,” school choice and religious liberty protections.

The group’s revenues over the last four years have averaged $510,000. They did not return a request for information on the campaign and increased spending.

Like many of the family policy councils, the Family Foundation got a year-end bump from a matching grant:

“In order to get us off to a strong start in implementing this plan, a small group of The Family Foundation’s donors have offered to match every contribution The Family Foundation receives before December 31 — up to $25,000!” the group said in a recent fundraising pitch.

And the group has been busy this year. It’s former executive director, Martin Brown, was tapped by Gov. Bob McDonnell to head Virginia’s Social Services Department. Under Brown’s leadership, the state social services board has tightened adoption rules so that agencies may discriminate against gay and lesbian couples.

The Family Foundation lobbied heavily for the pro-discrimination policies.

Its plan (PDF), which was sent to donors, includes this endorsement from House Majority Leader Eric Cantor: “It is difficult to imagine how Virginia would look today without The Family Foundation’s vigilant grassroots programs and the dedicated men and women who are the heart and soul of this proud institution.”

The Massachusetts Family Institute also had a message to its supporters last fall: “We must ensure Massachusetts’s pro-family movement doesn’t ‘go home’ after a tough election. We must work to ensure the “moment” that was the 2010 elections, both the January Special Election and the general in November, becomes a “movement” that takes back lost ground in the areas of life, liberty, marriage, and the family.”

MFI plans to spend $148,000 to defeat a “transgender bathroom bill,” to pass a student religious freedom bill and to pass anti-abortion rights initiatives, all uphill battles in a heavily progressive state.

The group’s website includes an endorsement of their Ignite plan from presidential candidate Mitt Romney. “MFI has a track record of getting things done on behalf of Massachusetts families and is uniquely positioned to accomplish even more in the years to come.”

The Louisiana Family Forum got a big endorsement from Gov. Bobby Jindal, a rumored candidate for president in 2012. “LFF had another great year, scoring an impressive 31 legislative victories,” Jindal wrote in support of LFF’s Ignite plan (PDF). “[LFF president Gene Mills] and his entire group do a great a job day after day, month after month, year after year showing up on behalf of Louisiana’s families. We look forward to many more pro-life, pro-family victories in the years ahead.”

LFF plans to spend $225,000 under its Ignite plan to defeat “homosexual adoption and marriage” and to “shrink the size and scope of government.” The group’s average revenue over the last two years was $600,000. The group received a $50,000 matching grant from an anonymous donor to launch the plan.

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida loaned his name to the Florida Family Policy Council’s Ignite plan, which calls for spending $300,000 to mandate that women view an ultrasound before having an abortion and to “defeat the radical homosexual agenda.”

The group averaged revenues of $384,000 over the last three years.

FFPC president John Stemberger told his supporters that their plan was meant to stave off victories by “non-religious right friendly legislators.”

“The people who work to undermine the values you and I share may have suffered a historic defeat in this year’s election, but both you and I know they won’t just go home,” he wrote. “As a matter of fact, they’re already planning how to turn things around in the next election. The “Ignite Plan” that I’m working on right now… is focused on making sure that doesn’t happen.”

Sen. Rubio wrote in support of the the group’s Ignite plan (PDF), saying, “FFPC’s successes in education, legislation and accountability have made them an indispensable asset in promoting and defending traditional values.”

The Center for Arizona Policy’s Ignite plan (PDF) has the endorsements of Rep. Trent Franks and Sen. Jon Kyl.

“With all the external challenges that we face in this country, the internal one is the greatest,” Franks wrote in support of the plan. “And I believe that a few people can make the vital difference. Center for Arizona Policy is the flagship of that effort here in Arizona.”

Sen. Kyl added, “It is very clear that Center for Arizona Policy has become an important force to influence public policy here in the state of Arizona.”

CAP doesn’t list its legislative goals on its website. CAP did get an anonymous donor to provide a matching grant for $115,000 for the plan. The group did not return a request for information about the plan.

Activity in other states

Other state groups include the New Jersey Family Policy Council, which is spending $1.326 million to defeat any same-sex marriage laws and to pass a parental notification law for minors seeking an abortion. The group’s average yearly revenue has been $864,000 over the last three years.

Cornerstone Family Council of Idaho is also using the Ignite plan, and got a matching grant from an anonymous donor for $6,300. Cornerstone did not return a request for comment. Neither did Wisconsin Family Action, which got a $13,000 matching grant.

Family Action Council of Tennessee and the Kansas Family Policy Council both have adopted the Ignite strategy.

The Minnesota Family Council (MFC) is pushing back against efforts to improve the climate for LGBT students in the Anoka-Hennepin School District, where community members are mourning suicides by four LGBT students in the last year. The real issue is “homosexual indoctrination,” not anti-gay bullying, says MFC’s Tom Prichard, who says the students are dead because they adopted an “unhealthy lifestyle.” MFC’s campaign against anti-bullying education comes as national religious right groups mount a similar campaign in the aftermath of nearly half a dozen suicides by LGBT students around the country in the last month.

Prichard asserts that the suicide death of 15-year-old Justin Aaberg was not due to anti-LGBT bullying. Aaberg took his life in July, and his mother and friends say anti-LGBT bullying played a factor Prichard claims that “homosexual activists” are “manipulating” his death to get homosexual indoctrination programs into the school district.

“Whatever the exact reason for Justin’s suicide it’s an enormous tragedy that shouldn’t be manipulated for ideological purposes which is what’s being done now,” he wrote on Thursday. “I’ll of course be accused of being unloving, hateful, etc. But is the loving thing to encourage and promote unhealthy and harmful behaviors and practices?”

He continued:

I would agree that youth who embrace homosexuality are at greater risk, because they’ve embraced an unhealthy sexual identity and lifestyle. These alternative sexual identifications or lifestyles deny the reality that we are created male and female. To live or try to live in conflict with how we are made will invariably cause problems, e.g. emotional, psychological and social. Notwithstanding gay activist assertions to the contrary, people aren’t gay, lesbian, transgender, etc. by God’s design or nature. We are male and female with sexual expression designed for a lifelong union between a man and a woman. Denying or fighting against this reality is the reason alternative forms of sexual expression, whether homosexual or heterosexual, will put people at greater risk. To assert otherwise is to deny reality and involves “kicking against the goad” to use a biblical analogy.

Prichard echoed a similar sentiment in the Star Tribune.

“I don’t think parents want their kids indoctrinated in homosexuality,” he said, adding that Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs), often the only safe space for LGBT students on campus, should be removed from schools. “It’s sad and harmful for kids to celebrate homosexuality when in fact it’s not a healthy lifestyle,” he said.

The Minnesota Family Council is also connected to the Parents Action League, a group that has been lobbying the school board not to adopt any LGBT-specific anti-bullying programming. MFC’s Prichard told the Minnesota Independent that he hasn’t been involved in PAL personally, but Barb Anderson, the organization’s staffer focusing on education issues, represents PAL.

PAL wants GSAs removed from district campuses, advocates for “ex-gay” therapy and opposes any efforts to include a positive portrayal of LGBT issues in the school district.

While MFC and PAL are working against changes to the school district, the issue has taken on a national significance. Over the last month, there has been a rash of suicides by teenagers who were gay or were perceived to be gay by their tormentors thought they were gay.

Openly gay 19-year-old Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi jumped to his death last week after two fellow students secretly videotaped him and his boyfriend in an intimate moment and broadcast it online.

Thirteen-year-old Houston student Asher Brown shot himself in the head after being “bullied to death” (in his family’s words) over his religion and because his fellow students thought he was gay.

In California, 13-year old Seth Walsh hung himself in his parents back yard after enduring anti-gay taunts from his peers. Following Walsh’s death, those children tearfully confessed their taunting to the police.

On Sept. 9, 15-year-old Indiana student Billy Lucas took his own life after what friends say was anti-gay bullying.

These instances, plus the four suicides by LGBT students that advocates say have occurred in the Anoka-Hennepin area, have prompted calls for school reform around bullying.

Like the Parents Action League’s efforts in Minnesota, the national Focus on the Family has launched TrueTolerance.org, a website that teaches that LGBT bullying prevention efforts “become a gateway for homosexuality promotion in school.”

“Once schools are forced to include special categories for things like sexual orientation or gender identity in their policies, that has been used as leverage to get in homosexual-themed curriculum for kids as young as kindergarten [and to introduce] so-called ‘diversity training’ for high school students and teachers,” said Candi Cushman, education analyst with Focus on the Family. “So this just becomes a gateway for homosexuality promotion in the school.”

MnIndy file photo

Rep. Michele Bachmann will head to North Dakota on Feb. 12 to “Take Back America” at a rally and town hall meeting sponsored by the the North Dakota GOP. The rally will take place in Bismarck.

“Americans everywhere are fed up with the Democrats’ reckless liberal agenda of higher taxes, more spending, more government bailouts and takeovers, and rising deficits and debt,” Bachmann said in a statement on the rally’s website. “Now more than ever, Washington needs to be reminded that the government answers to the people, not the other way around, and I’m proud to stand alongside North Dakotans who understand this fundamental principle.”

Among the organizational sponsors are the North Dakota Farm Bureau, the National Rifle Association and the North Dakota Family Alliance, which is affiliated with Focus on the Family.

Organizers also gave a nod to Tea Party activists.

“The Tea Party movement is an example of people coming together in order to be heard about the direction of our government, particularly the national debt we are leaving our kids, and the over-reaching we see from Washington,” said Robert W. Harms, an influential grassroots activist from Bismarck in the statement. “People want us to get back to principles that built this nation into the greatest country in the world.”

Tom Freier, executive director of the North Dakota Family Alliance, added “The cultural legacy we leave our children and grandchildren are in jeopardy and its time the voices of the people are heard as we work to preserve the family.”

The summit announced Pawlenty as a speaker in June. Bachmann’s name was missing from the roster until this week, and on Thursday Focus on the Family urged supporters to attend, using the 6th District Republican as a top selling point.

“Each year, the Values Voter Summit rallies together those citizens who are deeply concerned with the policies that impact our families and our religious liberties,” Sonja Swiatkiewicz of Focus on the Family Action wrote in an email to supporters. “But this event is more than just a discussion of what’s wrong in our country – it’s a chance to be equipped to make a difference in our communities, to make our voices heard and to realize that we’re not alone in our desire to preserve the values upon which our nation was founded.”

“Attendees will have the chance to hear from some of the nation’s top social conservatives, including Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., on issues such as health-care reform,” the email read.

Last year, Bachmann stumped for the GOP’s presidential candidate at the summit, coining a phrase that failed to take off: “McCain is McBrilliant!”

Here are her full remarks from last year.

Last November, the group cut 200 workers when donations failed to come in and after spending $500,000 in efforts to repeal gay marriage in California. In August, Focus on the Family sold its “ex-gay” program to shore up funds.

The latest round of layoffs shutters the organization’s in-house advertising department, which will now be farmed to an outside agency.

Photo: Collegewolf

Minneapolis pastor John Piper seems to have sprouted the idea that God sent a tornado to the Minneapolis Convention Center last Wednesday to express his displeasure that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America was considering relaxing its teachings on LGBT issues. But his statement has blossomed among theologians and members of the religious right chiming in with their own answers to the question: Did God send the Minneapolis tornado because Lutherans were voting on gay issues?

WordAlone, a group opposed to a welcoming church for LGBT Lutherans, wrote:

A supporter of the social statement typified the storm as a mighty wind of the Holy Spirit and as a positive message. Some WordAlone Network members heard a different message, a warning of God’s anger at the ELCA in the wind. The storm near the Minneapolis Convention Center probably led local news reports Wednesday evening, not the votes of the day at the convention center.

Jan Markell of Maple Grove-based Olive Tree Ministries, an “end-times ministry” asked, “Was God in the whirlwind?”

At this year’s convention, a blatant pro-homosexual position validating “chaste” same-sex relationships was to be voted on. It was to be voted on at 2 PM on Wednesday, August 19. Then for the first time in decades, a tornado touched down in downtown Minneapolis at, you guessed it, 2 pm.

While we have no final word from God as to whether He sent the tornado, we can observe how God treated rebellious people and nations throughout the Old Testament who would not turn away from sin. If God didn’t send the whirlwind, He did allow it. A holy God never approves of sanctioning sin and lifestyles that are destructive.

Monica Stutsman, a former ELCA member from Vergas, Minn., wrote in the Fergus Falls Journal:

The article on the website dismissed the wind saying it “did only minor damage” and “injured no one.” But don’t you wonder at the timing? It happened exactly when the discussions were going on. Surely God wouldn’t show His displeasure at the Assembly by using wind. Or would He?

Julia Duin, an ELCA delegate blogging for Christianity Today, pondered:

If God was speaking in downtown Minneapolis through the twister, no one was listening. In fact, proponents of ordaining openly gay clergy could have seen the exact two-thirds total as a vindication of their point of view. And, if God had wanted to get through to the assembly, why didn’t he send the tornado a day earlier so word would have gotten through to everyone?

Is it possible that God already knew the Lutherans were going to vote, so he ripped off the cross from the nearest ELCA to show what he thought? Or does he simply not leave his calling card in such dramatic ways? If last week’s events do not constitute God’s warning — or judgment — what does?

Matt Kaufman, a blogger for Focus on the Family, says he can’t be sure that Piper was right when he said God sent the tornado — but he probably wasn’t wrong.

I wouldn’t use the word “conclusion” — not because I think Piper’s wrong about this tornado, but because I don’t know that he’s right. That said, there’s no doubt we need the turn-from-sin warning Piper lays out. So let’s put it this way: God may have chosen an unusually dramatic means to convey it this time. But He certainly conveys it all the time in His Word.

But at least one pastor disagrees with the idea that God sent the tornado. Marty Duren, a Southern Baptist pastor in Georgia, took issue with Piper’s conclusion.

I have no trouble at all ascribing responsibility for the storm to God (even insurance companies did so for decades, though some now opt to term them “natural disasters”). I’m simply demonstrating the danger and seriousness with which those who claim in some capacity to speak for God, better be sure when assigning motives to Him. These types of attributions (including the wild claims of Pat Robertson over the years) open the doors for skeptics to point out the rightful contradictions in the way that we interpret events (“If a tornado bloweth upon the Lutherans, it is God; but, if a tree falleth on our house, it is an attack of Satan”). This inconsistency is a greater tool of the Evil One than any believer would care to admit.

Despite the weather, the social statement relaxing church teaching on homosexuality passed by exactly one vote. Two days later, under a sunny sky, the ELCA approved a measure to allow gay and lesbian clergy in committed relationships to serve the church.

Image: Ben McLeod

The Internal Revenue Service’s investigations into alleged tax violations by two Minnesota-based churches, Living Word Christian Center (LWCC) and Warroad Community Church, have been thwarted by internal procedural problems.

These cases highlight the special tax-exempt status churches receive by law, but they also underscore problems at the IRS. In effect, the IRS has been unsuccessful in investigating allegations of tax violations by churches because years of conflicting congressional action have made it impossible for the IRS to follow its own rules.

And while the IRS has undertaken the potentially months-long process to reform its broken system, the religious right is seeking to exploit it by encouraging churches to flout the law and endorse candidates from the pulpit next month.

During the 2008 election, Warroad Community Church pastor Gus Booth, a Republican activist, apparently broke tax laws that prohibit electioneering by tax-exempt churches when he endorsed John McCain for president and trashed Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton from the pulpit. Last month the IRS suspended its investigation into the church, citing “a pending issue regarding the procedure used to initiate the case.”

In a similar case, the Minnesota Independent (then the Minnesota Monitor) identified questionable accounting practices by the Brooklyn Park–based Living Word Christian Center in 2007, which eventually led to an IRS investigation. But in January of this year, a U.S. District Court judge in Minneapolis also rejected an IRS summons to Living Word Christian Center because of procedural errors.

In both cases conflicting congressional actions prevented the agency from following its own rules.

In 1984, Congress passed the Church Audit Procedures Act to make it harder for the IRS to investigate church abuse of tax law. Among its provisions: An IRS official making a case against a church must hold a rank “no lower than that of a principal Internal Revenue officer for an internal revenue region.”

But thanks to a 1998 act of Congress, the Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act, internal revenue regions (and their principal officers) were abolished, and the IRS was divided into sections servicing different categories of taxpayers, including individuals, businesses, and tax-exempt organizations like churches.

This change directly benefited Living Word Christian Center: It won its case in January because the IRS official charged with investigating the allegations wasn’t legally authorized to do so. Similarly, with no one on staff to legally investigate Warroad Community Church, the IRS suspended its investigation.

Reforms proposed by the IRS, entered into the Federal Register in early August, would clear up the contradiction, making the agency’s Director of Exempt Organizations the primary authority for investigating possible violations of tax law by churches. But the process of adopting those changes will be lengthy, involving a public comment period and hearings.

In the meantime, a group of churches plans to violate the law while there’s no one at the IRS to investigate.

On Sunday Sept. 27, the Alliance Defense Fund, a Focus on the Family–affiliated legal group, is encouraging pastors to endorse candidates from the pulpit. This year will be the second year of ADF’s “Pulpit Initiative.” Last year 33 churches participated, including Warroad Community Church.

The ADF’s Eric Stanley said that the campaign “is really part of a long, sustained campaign” to get a court challenge to IRS laws governing electioneering.

“We feel very confident that when we do, it will not take long for a federal judge to strike down this unconstitutional restriction on churches’ rights.”

Rob Boston, communications director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, writes that the new IRS rules should give churches participating in Pulpit Freedom Sunday a reason to pause.

“The fact that the IRS has issued these new rules is a sign that it wants to have a mechanism in place that will enable it to investigate churches that openly flout the law by endorsing or opposing candidates,” he wrote on the group’s blog. “Far from rolling over, it looks to me like the IRS is girding for battle. Churches that choose to follow the ADF down this misguided path can’t say they weren’t warned.”

“Right now we’re facing a serious budget shortfall that threatens our ability to reach out to parents, families and married couples who count on our help,” said Jim Daly, Focus’ CEO in a letter to 800,000 members. “Income is down nearly $6 million from what we expected and planned for this year. I want to assure you that we’re committed to good stewardship AND living within our means, just as so many families are today.”

In November, Focus laid off nearly 20 percent of its workforce, or 200 employees, due to declining donations from individuals and foundations.

Focus is selling “Love Won Out” to Exodus International, an ex-gay ministry.

Image: Glen, Flickr

The religious right is ramping up its campaign against health care reform, even joining with the “tea party” movement to encourage conservative Christians to swamp town hall meetings. Minnesota’s religious right leaders say that the health care reform package is against God’s plan for health care and that Christians should go to community forums and “read them the riot act.”

Jan Markell of Maple Grove–based Olive Tree Ministries called on her radio listeners to attend congressional town hall meetings in August. “Here’s what you can do, your congressmen and senators are coming home for much of August,” she said on last week’s program. “They are going to have town hall meetings all over the place. You need to go there and give them an earful. The ideal thing to do is to go to their town hall and read them the riot act — in Christian love — but read them the riot act on this issue of health care.”

But she implied Rep. Michele Bachmann should be spared, heaping praises upon her: “[Michele Bachmann] is one of my favorite people. She is doing just an outstanding job in Congress standing up for what is right. She’s got a target on her back. You need to pray for her and her family.”

The Minnesota Family Council says that Obama’s plan for health care reform is against God’s design.

“Some may ask what does God have to do with our health care system,” wrote Minnesota Family Council president Tom Prichard. “For one, He’s created the government as an institution in society to do certain things. When we reject His design for government, in a sense, we’re rejecting Him.”

Prichard continues, “In Obama’s worldview, our trust is in government not in God. A denial of how God designed and created our economic and social systems to actually work in the real world. The result? The abysmal failure of government control of health care in socialist models. From the USSR which takeover [sic] everything, including health care, to our neighbors to the north, Canada and European countries such as the UK where rationing and massive waiting periods are the order of the day.”

In the national context, the largest and most well-known religious right groups are employing some bizarre tactics. The Christian Coalition of America is pitting seniors against immigrants. Health care reform would “provide healthcare to illegal aliens, while rationing care to elderly and disabled American citizens.”

Americans for Truth say that the public option would go to pay for sexual reassignment surgery for transgendered people. “Will ObamaCare Turn into Taxpayer-funded ‘Tranny-Care’?” asks their latest email alert. The Family Research Council is pushing Republican talking points — verbatim.

And the majority of these groups are tagging along with the tea party movement to swarm congressional town hall meetings. Focus on the Family is urging its members to attend such meetings and “demand that abortion funding be explicitly excluded from any reform bill.”

The Family Research Council want its members armed with video cameras. “Please make a point of going to the forums near you and share–in a respectable manner–your thoughts with your congressman,” an email from the group instructs. “While you’re at it, why not bring your video camera?”

And the American Family Association tells its members to keep the pressure on: “Don’t let the liberal left silence you! The future of our country and our children and grandchildren is at stake. The ugly name calling shows that your voices are being heard. Please keep it up!”