author: Rose City Antifascists

e-mail:
fight_them_back@riseup.net
Call to Action:
Oppose First Public Meeting of Anti-Gay Mars Hill Church
10 AM this Sunday, October 16th, 2011 at 3210 SE Taylor
Last month Mars Hill--an evangelical megachurch with nine branches in Washington and one in New Mexico--postponed its first public meeting after a dance-in and kiss-in was organized by LGBTQ folks in Portland to protest the church's hateful message equating homosexuality with cancer. Mars Hill claimed the postponement was a result of parking concerns due to the Belmont Street Fair scheduled to take place the same day.
In an effort to save face, Mars Hill Pastor Tim Smith and a colleague met with the Q Center's Executive Director Barbara McCullough-Jones and Operations Manager Paul Fukui, and waited for the controversy to blow over.
We are not satisfied with this empty gesture that fails to address Mars Hill's active promotion of bigotry and dehumanization of LGBTQ people, women, yoga practitioners, and others.
The church has announced plans to open its doors to the public for the first time at 10 AM this Sunday, October 16th, 2011 at 3210 SE Taylor.
We urge active opposition to the scheduled opening. Let's show Mars Hill that organizing against LGBTQ people will not fly in the Rose City!
Please contact us at fight_them_back@riseup.net or call our voicemail tip line at 971-533-7832.
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1. Powerful and continuing nationalism
2. Disdain for human rights
3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as unifying cause
4. Supremacy of the military
5. Rampant sexism
6. Controlled mass media
7. Obsession with national security
8. Religion and government are intertwined
9. Corporate power is protected
10. Labor power is suppressed
11. Disdain for intellectuals and the arts
12. Obsession with crime and punishment
13. Rampant cronyism/corruption
14. Fraudulent elections
Sound familiar? We are on the verge of fascism, if not already in its midst.
See
A big concern is that Mars Hill, while purporting to be a church based on Jesus (and Jesus' love), uses militaristic language to describe its mission.
See
See also the general website for Mars Hill megachurches and what they stand for:
Freedom of religion and freedom of speech are cherished rights under the U.S. Constitution. However, the Mars Hill Church's credibility is severely undermined by its targeting a specific group of people as sinners who need to be convinced of the error of their ways in order to be "saved."
Whence comes the name "Mars Hill"? What an odd name for a Christian, Bible-based church! Mars was the Roman god of war.