GOP Candidates to Speak at Right-Wing "Religious Liberty" Conference

Freedom2015 Trailer from Kevin Swanson on Vimeo.



To read about Kevin Swanson at Freedom 2015, click here. To read about Cruz, Jindal, and Huckabee at Freedom 2015, click here. To read about Geoffrey Botkin's talk, click here and here.

Freedom 2015: The National Religious Liberties Conference will take place in Des Moines, Iowa on November 6-7. The conference, sponsored by Kevin Swanson's Generations with Vision show and other Religious Right groups, will be a two-day summit on alleged threats to Christians' religious freedom in the U.S.

The conference website overflows with bombastic rhetoric about the supposed threats of religious persecution. Predictably, it conflates victories for LGBTQ rights with subjugation of Christians, as if LGBTQ equality and religious liberty were diametrically opposed. It argues that the 2016 presidential election will be vital for the struggle for "religious freedom". 

The 2016 elections will be definitive. For Christians, religious liberties will be the issue.

• The Supreme Court of the United States recently legalized homosexual marriage in all 50 states in the Obergefell V. Hodges decision. Are you ready to face persecution for opposing the homosexual agenda?

• The Supreme Court let stand the New York City ban on religious meetings in public buildings in March, 2015. Are churches ready for eviction?

• The Supreme Court let stand the lower court ruling against the New Mexico photographer who refused a “gay” wedding in April, 2014.

• Religious freedom bills in Indiana and Kentucky went down in flames in April, 2015.

American Christians are concerned. According to Pew Research, the minority group fearing persecution more than any others: evangelical protestants, a group representing some 35 million Americans. They are concerned about their jobs in a politically-correct work environment, their businesses, their churches, their marriage licenses, their parental freedoms.

International persecution against Christians has reached epidemic levels. They are the most persecuted religious group in the world, and Christians need to know how to respond.

The website strives to instill fear in attendees, warning them that a wicked state will persecute believers and snatch their children away. The fact that none of this is actually happening doesn't seem to faze them.

Americans, get ready for the gathering storm!

These are serious questions ... are you read for this?

Are you ready ... to lose your children to the state?

Is your pastor ready to go to jail for refusing to officiate a same sex marriage?

Will your church be shut down?

Will Christians be forced to break the law?

Right Wing Watch reports that Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, and Bobby Jindal will speak at the summit. The three candidates seem to have no problem with speaking at an event organized by Kevin Swanson, a Christian Patriarchy adherent with a long, outrageous history of misogynist and homophobic statements.

Other conference speakers include Religious Right voices such as Kevin Swanson, Geoff Botkin, Bill Jack, Rafael Cruz, Jan Mickelson, Bob Vander Plaats, Aaron and Melissa Klein, and Richard and Betty Odgaard. Many of the event's speakers have histories of homophobic comments and, in the case of the Kleins and Odgaards, anti-LGBTQ discrimination.

If the conference's schedule is any indication, Freedom 2015 will depict fundamentalist Christians as a persecuted community. Attendees can enjoy lunch with the Benham Brothers, praised by the website for "standing for the sake of faith in Christ ... no matter what the cost!" The workshop offerings are exactly what you'd expect.

• Freedom: Why Christians Should Engage the Battle for Liberty


• Child Protective Services: One of the Greatest Threats to Your Religious Freedom


• Why Christians Must Defend Marriage in Family, Church, and State


• Targeted: Men & Women Persecuted for the Christian Faith


• Crushing Leviathan: Biblical Principles to Break Free of the Modern Inquisition


• Securing Religious Liberty Starts at the State Capitols


• The Decline of Freedom: From the Bill of Rights to the Ten Planks of Communism, America's Domestic Enemies and Where They Came From

I eagerly wait to hear how Cruz, Huckabee, and Jindal will appeal to Religious Right voters at Freedom 2015. If their speeches enchant Christian fundamentalists, they will no doubt alienate moderate voters and make the three candidates even less viable.


To read additional commentary, visit the following links.

The New Civil Rights Movement: Guess Which GOP Presidential Candidates Will Join Pastor Who Thinks Gays Deserve Death?

Gawker: Three GOP Candidates Join Pastor Who Thinks Frozen Turns Kids Gay

The Frisky: GOP Presidential Contenders To Party With “Kill The Gays” Pastor