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Evangelical extremists enlist Christian teens in battle against popular culture

Jason A. Michael

DETROIT – More than 300 teenagers and other religious fundamentalists gathered downtown in Grand Circus Park to kick off Battle Cry's Detroit rally. An evangelical youth movement created by presidential advisor and religious extremist Ron Luce, the Detroit rally attracted an estimated attendance of 30,000 at Ford Field over the weekend. Called "high tech revivals" in some circles, Rolling Stone magazine called the campaign "Evangelical Jihad" in a feature in their April 7 edition.

"Are you ready to stand up to a popular culture that's destroying our minds, our bodies and our generation?"

Battle Cry organizers take offense to the mass media and popular culture of this country, which their website (www.battlecry.com) calls a "stealthy enemy [that] has infiltrated our country and is preying upon the hearts and minds of 33 million American teens." The site goes on to say that "corporations, media conglomerates and purveyors of pop culture have spent billions to seduce and enslave our youth."
On Friday, members of two separate counter demonstrations accused Battle Cry of doing the enslaving through the use of guilt and fear. Former State Rep. Pan Godchaux carried a sign that read "Republican For Peace."
She said she attended the counter demonstration "because I think we need to speak out when things happen like this, when groups take advantage of kids. They're at the age in their lives when they'll grab onto anything, and they're grabbing onto something that I believe is unhealthy."
Godchaux was one of about 25 activists who responded to the call of the American Friends Service Committee Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues Program and Faith Action Network and demonstrated across the street from the rally and next door to historic Central Methodist Church, a reconciling congregation with a long history of support for civil rights and social justice causes.
The counter demonstrators wore neon Bible quotes, such as Ephesians 4:2, "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing one another in love" and "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God" from Matthew 5:9, pinned to their backs.

"We're recreating culture on our own terms."

A second set of counter demonstrators, representing the group www.worldcantwait.org, numbered about 10 and held high signs that read such slogans as "Battle Cry leadership = American Taliban" and "How is pro-war pro-life?"
"We're not protesting the youth," said Emily, one of these counter demonstrators. "We want them to have a voice, but what they're saying is 'I have a voice but no one else can.'" This is real fascism. This is the closest thing we have to a Nazi Youth Movement right now."
Kate Runyon of AFSC, who organized the largest counter demonstration, shared similar views.
"I think it was extremely valuable that we were here and present," Runyon said. "We had a slightly different message [than Battle Cry] that was focused on peace."

"We won't be silent. Our voices will be heard."

It's no surprise that Battle Cry, by origin of its name, fixates on aggression and war. Reminiscent of this country's opening salvo in the attack on Iraq, Battle Cry's leader uses a "shock and awe" approach, scaring vulnerable youth into submission with threats of hell and damnation and accusations of immorality.
Lude told the crowd that "virgin teenage America is being raped on the sidewalk" by popular culture.
Battle Cry urges its members to sign a teen bill of rights, which requires youth to pledge to remain pure and chaste by saving their "bodies and hearts" for their future spouses. The movement has also taken heavy pro-life and anti-gay stances.
Battle Cry is "creating such a sense of deep fear in young people and opens them up to believing a message that is safe and secure, which is similar to the rise of fascism and very similar to Hitler's movement with the German youth," said Runyon. "Some of the youth who showed up today are very gentle. I would hope they would be mindful of history so they get the common connections."
As the rally came to an end, participants and protestors engaged in a war of chants, with the counter demonstrators declaring, "God does not hate. God does not discriminate," and the Battle Cry boys and girls shouting, "We love Jesus, yes we do. We love Jesus, how 'bout you?"
Battle Cry elders prohibited their teens from taking any literature that espoused a different view of Christian teachings, and no one in the cantankerous crowd bothered to read the colorful sign on a PFLAG granddad, which quoted Romans 15:33 and simply read, "The God of peace be with you all. Amen."

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