E.W. Jackson has been nominated by the Republicans for the lieutenant governorship of Virginia. That should make us all go "EEEW!"

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Yeah, the jokes on "Bishop" E.W. Jackson's name keep coming, but not without reason:


Right Wing Watch:

According to Tea Party Nation, "the future of conservative movement" is found in a candidate who believes gay people are "sick" and "degenerate" and that Planned Parenthood is worse than the Ku Klux Klan. In an   email   today, the group's president Judson Phillips said that E.W. Jackson is under criticism because his anti-gay comments "are popular in the black community" and "that shocks and offends liberals."

Here are some of the ideas that E.W. Jackson has floated around in speeches and to the media:

• The idea that Barack Obama is a Christian is laughable
• Planned Parenthood has been far more lethal to black lives than the KKK ever was.
• Christians, Blacks and the Godly must exodus from the Democratic Party
• African-Americans won't vote for President Obama (said before the 2012 election)
• The repeal of DADT was "...a disaster of epic proportions."

Being an evangelical Southern Baptist "bishop", of course, has led him to believe that gays are mostly pedophiles, are posed to "sexualize" American children at an early age and "homosexuality is killing black men by the thousands with HIV. 

Needless to say, NOM (National Organization for Marriage - "drive a wedge between the black and gay communities") loves him.

The Last Gasp?

"Ronald Reagan used to say that the 11th commandment was to not speak ill of a fellow Republican.
That commandment has now been modified to permit it if that fellow Republican is a Christian conservative.   -   Star Parker

Perhaps Virginia's own Pat Robertson had something to do with it: E.W. Jackson won the Republican vote as nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia and will be on the November ballot. He sounds a little like Robertson in his statements about gays and Obama - not as winsome and sage, of course - so he appeals to the Christian Right's good-ole-boy crowd and to crowned heads of Southern Baptist blacks. His "ministry" and its background is also convoluted enough to confuse people into credibility: he "studied" at Harvard Divinity School, obtained his "Bishop" title from vague sources (not the usual, traditional denominations), but his background as a lawyer (online professor, Stayer University) did not overshadow his ministry (Exodus Faith Ministries). 

His last foray into politics - for the U.S. Senate in 2011 - garnered a whopping 5% in the primary.  

After the "autopsy" of the Republican Party, it seems that some party members have not taken the hint that an uber-Christian Right candidate - although black - does not constitute "diversity", nor does it mean "reaching out to blacks". It just means that it is kow-towing to the Christian Right as usual.  

Melissa Harris-Perry of MSNBC   got it right when she rhetorically penned a letter to Jackson:

You see, you've got it all wrong. Your choice to join the Republican Party doesn't make you more free or independent than black people who choose to be Democrats. It just makes you really good at figuring out how to stand out in a radical right base that's devoid of diversity.
But more than that--the gig you're going for is but a step away from the most powerful position in a crucial swing state that can turn the tide of national elections. Which is why my feelings about you emerging victorious in November's election are best summed up by   your 2009 tweet   in response to LGBT Pride Month:   "Well that just makes me feel ikky all over. Yuk!"

With the success of marriage equality in twelve states, and the decision of the Boys Scouts to allow gay scouts, the Christian Right is feeling the heat of a progressive society and, with people like E.W. Jackson it is trying to claw its way back to the top of the Republican roster of influence. Will it win in Virginia? 

Eeew!

Authors Website: http://sacredcowsmakethebesthamburgers.blogspot.com

Authors Bio:
Rev. Dan Vojir is has been writing/blogging on religion and politics for the better part of ten years. A former radio talk show host (Strictly Books €" Talk America Radio Network) and book publisher, Dan has connected with some of the most interesting people of our time: Steve Allen, William F. Buckley, Alan Ginsburg, Armisted Maupin, Anne Rice, Grace Slick, Bishop John Shelby Spong, Patricia Nell Warren, and Betty White.

He is also an ordained minister in the ULC and has studied extensively on the subject of the Bible and homosexuality. Additional articles can be read on his blog, The Devil and Dan Vojir.

Future goals and activities: a new ministry focusing on reaching personal spiritual levels without the outside influence of proselytism or evangelism called The Church of the Inner Preacher. This ministry will be included in a new website The Devil and Dan Vojir.

Vojir's main goal: to root out hypocrisy in religion and politics. "If only one person is saved from being killed or bashed by inane bigotry, then I'll have accomplished what I was put on earth to do: To Live and Help Live."
http://sacredcowsmakethebesthamburgers.blogspot.com