Lundberg Bullys the Pulpit

On July 12, members of the Christian Home Educators of Colorado (CHEC) received a rather militantly-worded email from Republican Representative of House District 49 Kevin Lundberg pleading for help gathering signatures for a ballot measure to make domestic partnerships illegal in the state. 

Lundberg, a Board Member and co-founder of the CHEC, sent the email representing the group Protecting Colorado’s Children (PCC).  He declares it is “past time for Coloradans to realize we are at war”, and the homosexual activists “enemy” is “already on the front lines with powerful weapons” attacking what Lundberg defines as a “traditional family”.

One of these so-called “powerful weapons”: Timid Pastors.

TIMID PASTORS: Far too many who are unwilling to stand firm on the Biblical Truth won’t allow our petitions into their churches, and some Christians have forgotten the command to be “salt and light”*

Or put another way: if a Pastor doesn’t believe what Kevin Lundberg believes, that Pastor isn’t a Biblical Truth Christian.

Though Lundberg failed to gather the signatures necessary, this email is just the latest example of the Religious Right pushing the envelope of legality.  As reported earlier, PCC has an entire section of its site dedicated to helping the “Biblical True” muster the strength of their flocks.

Confidant Cara DeGette illustrates the successful exploitation of the “personal recommendation from a Pastor” loop-hole, a tactic identified by PCC to skirt the letter of the law:

Earlier this month, [Ted] Haggard, the pastor of the largest church in Colorado, sent out a letter asking for campaign money, support and prayers for his employee, Fisk, who is challenging the only Democrat in El Paso County’s 13-member legislative delegation. Haggard, along with his spokeswoman Carolyn Haggard (niece), and Fisk’s political director Nathan Fisk (brother), all noted he was sending the letter as a private person and a friend – and not as the pastor of New Life Church.

Though Lundberg and Haggard are ratcheting up the pressure, so far it has by and large failed to produce legislation.

* – “Salt and Light” refers to passages in the Bible, where Jesus makes distinctions between the physical and spiritual world.  In this case, Lundberg is saying true Christians have a higher duty to God’s laws.