Bradlee Dean Responds to Critics

And it's pretty bizarre... listen:



UPDATE: Excellent blog post by Ray Garton about Bradlee Dean at God is for Suckers! Here is an excerpt about Michele Bachmann and Bradlee Dean:

YCRBYCH has an annual fund-raiser which is aided by some powerful friends in some high places.

One of the group’s biggest, most passionate and valuable supporters is Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota. Bachmann, a Republican, was elected in 2006 and sits on the Financial Services Committee. She and her husband Marcus own a mental healthcare practice in Stillwater called Bachmann and Associates, Inc., and, according to her bio on her website, in addition to their five children, “the Bachmanns have opened their home to 23 foster children.”

In that entire bio, not one word is mentioned about Bachmann’s religious beliefs — which, frankly, is as it should be. But personal religious beliefs are such a significant part of Bachmann’s politics that leaving them out of her bio is as deceptive a tactic as those used by Bradlee Dean, because in the last four years, Bachmann has proven herself a religious zealot who uses her office to advance a theocratic Christian agenda. And that agenda includes getting Bradlee Dean and You Can Run But You Cannot Hide, Inc. into public schools where it will have access to your children’s minds and can use its thought reform techniques to influence them. According to Bachmann, this is a good thing — a very good thing.

Bachmann attends the group’s fundraisers and helps them raise money to do what they do. At a YCRBYCH fundraiser at a Minneapolis hotel in October of 2006, she gave an impassioned prayer to her god on behalf of Bradlee Dean and his group. It was a long prayer, but if you want to hear the whole thing, you can listen to it here. Here are a few highlights:

Lord, I thank you for what you have done at this ministry … how you are going to advance them from 260 schools a year, Lord, to 2,600 schools a year. … Lord, we ask thy faith that you would expand this ministry beyond anything the originators of this ministry could begin to think or imagine. Lord, the day is at hand! We are in the last days! The day is at hand, Lord, when your return will0 become nigh. Pour a double blessing, Lord, a triple blessing on this ministry.

Remember, this is a United States Representative openly praising, through a prayer, a group that calls the execution of gay people “moral,” that deceptively weasels its way into public schools to engage in activities that violate the Constitution and feed outright lies to students. Is there a chance that Bachmann is not aware of the group’s activities? Surely she cannot support the idea of violating the Constitution by teaching Christianity in the public school system.

At that same YCRBYCH fundraiser in 2006, Bachmann complained that public schools “are teaching children that there is separation of church and state, and I am here to tell you that is a myth. That’s not true. And they (YCRBYCH) explain to children in the public school system what a myth that is. And that’s what I love about this ministry. … We want kids to come to the truth and that’s why this ministry is so absolutely vital. We need them in every public school classroom across the state to tell young people, ‘You Can Run But You Cannot Hide.’” (The emphasis is mine.)

Bachmann was unable to attend the group’s 2009 fundraiser, called “Appeal to Heaven,” because she was busy saving the country from healthcare reform, but she did send a videotaped message. “

It a tough job that you do, but someone has to do it,” she said in the prerecorded message. “I thank god that he has given you the strength and the resolve to fight for our timeless values. … We can’t overlook the outright rejection of god in the public school classroom, and the outright scorn of Christianity in our public square. Moral relativism is exalted and faith in Christ is derided.”

The program included a sermon by Dean in which he called his followers to war:

We are a Christian nation regardless if you like that or not. The Bible says we are called as ministers of the flame, the fire. We are called to war. We are called to fight the good fight of faith. In other words, what I’m trying to say is, I’m a trouble maker, okay? It’s time to say, “We are done complaining, and it’s time to start fighting.” But you say, “I don’t know what what I’m going to look like with a sword in my hand.” You are going to look great! … We are not a land of liberals. We hear this all the time. Why don’t you just call them for what they are? Criminals. Why don’t you just call them for what they are? Socialists. They are contrary to our Constitution. … We are not a land of homosexuals. God said “Adam and Eve” not “Adam and Steve.”

This is not too surprising when you consider the fact that Bachmann and Associates, Inc., the “counseling center” owned by Michele and her husband Dr. Marcus Bachmann, has received nearly $30,000 in state funds since 2007. That’s troubling in light of how Dr. Bachmann himself describes the center and the work it does during a 2008 broadcast on KKMS radio (MP3): “We are distinctly a Christian counseling agency here in the Twin Cities. We have 27 Christian counselors, Christ-centered, very strong in our understanding of who the almighty counselor is, and as we rely on god’s word and the almighty counselor, we have the opportunity to change people’s lives.”

Ray Garton goes on to describe MN GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer & YCRBTCH:

Apparently, Michele Bachmann has no problem with the unconstitutional appropriation of tax dollars, so it’s not surprising that she supports it in the case of YCRBYCH. But Bachmann is not alone in supporting the group.

That same 2009 “Appeal to Heaven” fundraiser for YCRBYCH was attended by Minnesota State Representative and 2010 Minnesota Republica-endorsed gubenatorial candidate Tom Emmer. However, Emmer did not mention his attendance at the fundraiser in a list of appearances that week that was emailed to supporters. To its article about Emmer’s appearance at the YCRBYCH fundraiser, the Minnesota Independent added this update:

Emmer’s campaign told the Minnesota Independent, “Rep. Tom Emmer stopped by the event for a social hour before the dinner and program. The program is headquartered out of Wright County which is Rep. Emmer’s county and has many supporters in Tom’s legislative district. It was not mentioned in the campaign update because it was not a campaign event.”

While it’s true that the YCRBYCH fundraiser was not a “campaign event,” that only underscores the fact that Emmer was there because he supports the work of Bradlee Dean and the group! Emmer was there to throw his support behind a group that calls the president and everyone who supports him, along with all Americans who happen to hold liberal views, and all homosexuals criminals. And that wasn’t the end of Emmer’s support of YCRBYCH.

It's a very long and detailed post, but I urge everyone to read it.

Here is the long version of Bachmann speaking at a YCRBYCH fundraising event: