Religious conservatives rally in Arlington

By Jim Jones

Special to the Star-Telegram

ARLINGTON -- More than 6,000 religious conservatives gave standing ovations Friday as a diverse group of Protestant and Catholic ministers, evangelists, priests and rabbis called for America to return to God.

James Robison, Kenneth Copeland, John Hagee and Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, were among the speakers at the "Under God, Indivisible" rally, organized in conjunction with Glenn Beck's three-day Restoring Love event.

Robison, a co-host of the rally at Arlington's High Point Church, also made it clear that he believes it is time to make a change in the presidency, saying America is headed down the wrong path into crippling debt and disregard for the feelings of people of faith.

"I don't like to call names. But I'm unhappy with the leadership," he said in an interview. "I don't like the prevailing worldview where they stand up there in Washington and create a kind of class warfare."

He contends, along with other conservatives, that the wealthy are being penalized, calling it a "socialist redistribution mindset."

Also, President Barack Obama's support of gay marriage is a problem for most evangelicals, Robison said.

"People who have a lifestyle that's not in line with biblical principles, we love them, we care about them but that's not what marriage is," Robison said.

Robison was not alone in speaking out against the Obama administration.

"This is the most important election since 1860," Land declared. "The future of American depends on what God's people do. If America dies, it will be from self-inflicted wounds."

Land told the crowd that "a titanic struggle" is going on between those who have different visions about the transforming America.

"Mr. Obama was very clear about that," Land said in an earlier interview. "He didn't say he wanted to rebuild America. He said he wants to remake America."

If the president's vision is followed, Land said, it would mean diminished opportunity "where we would be dependent on the government and the government would be even more concerned about spreading the wealth around, taking from some and giving to others.

"We are at a fork in the road and once we go down that fork, it's going to be difficult to come back."

Beck, one of Obama's most vehement critics, was one of the final speakers. He said that 30,000 people had spread out across the Dallas-Fort Worth area Friday to do good deeds as part of the Restoring Love weekend organized by his Mercury One nonprofit.

"I'm a Mormon alcoholic," Beck said, urging those present to join in the effort to turn America back to God. "With the atonement, I have conquered my problem," he said of his alcoholism.

Robison called it a "supernatural act of God" that such diverse but like-minded religious leaders were at the event.

Among the speakers was Rabbi Aryeh Spero, president of Caucus for America, a conservative New York area group that advocates restoration of Judeo-Christian principles. Also speaking was the Rev. Robert Serico, a Catholic priest from Grand Rapids, Mich., founder of the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, which supports free enterprise.

Outside the church, people identifying themselves as members of the Kingdom Baptist Church quietly protested. A news release from the group said it was "indeed a great error to associate with Mormons and permit Catholic priests ... and Jewish rabbis to speak from the pulpit of a professing Christian evangelical church."

Copeland, a Newark-based television evangelist, declared, "In God we trust does not begin in politics. It begins in the human heart. If we trust God with all our hearts, we can rise up and win over those who would destroy this nation."

Other speakers included pastor Tony Evans; Robert Morris, senior pastor of Gateway Church in Southlake; TV ministers Ravi Zacharias and David Jeremiah; and Kevin Theriot, an attorney who is senior counsel to the Alliance Defense Fund.

Robison joined the late Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and others in the 1980s as evangelicals engaged in politics and helped propel Ronald Reagan into the presidency. In recent years he has avoided politics and his Euless-based ministry, Life Outreach International, has focused on aid to Third World countries. Also, he and his wife, Betty, host a talk show seen on 600 TV stations.

Robison jumped back into the political fray two years ago; he and Jay W Richards, a Princeton-educated Catholic, published Indivisible: Restoring Faith, Family and Freedom Before It's Too Late.

Although it is crucial, America's problems are much bigger than one election, Robison said. The greatest need, he said, is for America to find its spiritual roots.

"There is no group or influence in America that can impact the community like the local churches," he said. "I think our failure to do so has been costly."

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