Vision America is a conservative American Christian organization founded in 1994 by Baptist pastor Rick Scarborough, which describes itself as formed to "inform, encourage and mobilize pastors and their congregations to be proactive in restoring Judeo-Christian values to the moral and civic framework in their communities, states, and our nation." [1]
The conference was held on March 26 and 27 2006 in Washington, DC. Speakers included former United States House of Representatives majority leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) and Senators John Cornyn (R-Tex.) and Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) as well as conservative Christian leaders Phyllis Schlafly, Rod Parsley, Gary Bauer, Janet Parshall and Alan Keyes. [2]
Topics discussed include:
Within Christianity, there are a variety of views on sexual orientation and homosexuality. Even within a denomination, individuals and groups may hold different views, and not all members of a denomination necessarily support their church's views on homosexuality.
The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelicalism. The present denomination was founded in 1968 in Dallas, Texas, by union of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church. The UMC traces its roots back to the revival movement of John and Charles Wesley in England, as well as the Great Awakening in the United States. As such, the church's theological orientation is decidedly Wesleyan. It embraces liturgical worship, holiness, and evangelical elements.
The Christian right, or the religious right, are Christian political factions that are characterized by their strong support of socially conservative policies. Christian conservatives seek to influence politics and public policy with their interpretation of the teachings of Christianity.
The Christian Coalition of America (CCA), a 501(c)(4) organization, is the successor to the original Christian Coalition created in 1987 by religious broadcaster and former presidential candidate Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson. This US Christian advocacy group includes members of various Christian denominations, including Baptists (50%), mainline Protestants (25%), Roman Catholics (16%), Pentecostals, among communicants of other Churches.
Grover Glenn Norquist is an American political activist and tax reduction advocate who is founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, an organization that opposes all tax increases. A Republican, he is the primary promoter of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, a pledge signed by lawmakers who agree to oppose increases in marginal income tax rates for individuals and businesses, as well as net reductions or eliminations of deductions and credits without a matching reduced tax rate. Prior to the November 2012 election, the pledge was signed by 95% of all Republican members of Congress and all but one of the candidates running for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.
John Andrew Boehner is an American politician who served as the 53rd speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2011 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he was the U.S. Representative for Ohio's 8th congressional district from 1991 to 2015. The district included several rural and suburban areas near Cincinnati and Dayton.
John Charles Hagee is an American pastor and televangelist. The founder of John Hagee Ministries, his ministry is telecast to the United States and Canada. Hagee is also the founder and chairman of the Christian-Zionist organization Christians United for Israel. Hagee is active politically and is known for his activism regarding the State of Israel. He has also attracted controversy over his comments on Catholicism, Jews and Islam, and promotion of the blood moon prophecy.
The Council for National Policy (CNP) is an umbrella organization and networking group for conservative and Republican activists in the United States. It was launched in 1981 during the Reagan administration by Tim LaHaye and other right-wing conservative Christians, to "bring more focus and force to conservative advocacy" It has been described by The New York Times as "a little-known club of a few hundred of the most powerful conservatives in the country," who meet three times yearly behind closed doors at undisclosed locations for a confidential conference. The Nation has called it a secretive organization that "networks wealthy right-wing donors together with top conservative operatives to plan long-term movement strategy". The organization has been described as a "pluto-theocracy".
Anthony Richard Perkins is an American politician and activist. He is president of the Family Research Council, a self-described Christian conservative policy and lobbying organization based in Washington, D.C. Perkins, an ordained Southern Baptist pastor, was previously a police officer and television reporter, served two terms as a Republican member of the Louisiana House of Representatives and unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 2002. On May 14, 2018, he was appointed to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.
The 112th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, from January 3, 2011, until January 3, 2013. It convened in Washington, D.C. on January 3, 2011, and ended on January 3, 2013, 17 days before the end of the presidential term to which Barack Obama was elected in 2008. Senators elected to regular terms in 2006 completed those terms in this Congress. This Congress included the last House of Representatives elected from congressional districts that were apportioned based on the 2000 census.
Mark A. Driscoll is an American evangelical pastor and author best known as the founder of Mars Hill Church. He is currently Senior and Founding Pastor of The Trinity Church in Scottsdale, Arizona, which was founded in 2016.
The Arlington Group was a coalition uniting the leaders of prominent Christian conservative organizations in the United States. Founded in 2002 principally through the efforts of American Family Association President Donald Wildmon and Free Congress Foundation Chairman Paul Weyrich, the group sought to establish consensus goals and strategy among its members and translate its combined constituency into an overwhelming force within the Republican Party, particularly at its highest levels. Its membership and purpose overlapped to a high degree with the Council for National Policy; but the group is much more narrowly focused, choosing to emphasize such issues as same-sex marriage, abortion, and confirmation of like-minded federal judges.
Rick Scarborough is a Christian right political advocate and former Southern Baptist pastor from Pearland, Texas, who heads Vision America, Vision America Action and the Judeo-Christian Council for Constitutional Restoration.
Mark E. Dever is the senior pastor of the Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., and the president of 9Marks, a Christian ministry he co-founded "in an effort to build biblically faithful churches in America." He is known as a Calvinist preacher.
Charles Joseph Mahaney, commonly known as C.J., is an American Christian minister. He is the senior pastor at Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville, and was formerly president of Sovereign Grace Ministries, now known as Sovereign Grace Churches, a network formed to establish and support local churches. He was one of the founding pastors and leaders of Covenant Life Church, in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Under Mahaney's leadership, Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville is a member of Sovereign Grace Churches and works with the Southern Baptist Convention for training and Christian mission work.
John Calvin Maxwell is an American author, speaker, and pastor who has written many books, primarily focusing on leadership. Titles include The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership and The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader. His books have sold millions of copies, with some on the New York Times Best Seller List.
Christians United for Israel (CUFI) is an American Christian organization that supports Israel. Its statement of purpose is "to provide a national association through which every pro-Israel church, parachurch organization, ministry or individual in America can speak and act with one voice in support of Israel in matters related to Biblical issues." It is the largest pro-Israel organization in the United States, with 7.1 million members. It operates under the leadership of John Hagee as founder and Chairman along with Diana Hagee and Shari Dollinger as Co-Executive Directors.
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) is a Southern Baptist seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. It is the oldest of the six seminaries affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). The seminary was founded in 1859 in Greenville, South Carolina, where it was at first housed on the campus of Furman University. After being closed during the Civil War, it moved in 1877 to a newly built campus in downtown Louisville and moved to its current location in 1926 in the Crescent Hill neighborhood. For more than fifty years Southern has been one of the world's largest theological seminaries, with an FTE enrollment of over 3,300 students in 2015.
The Faith and Freedom Coalition is a conservative political advocacy 501(c)(4) non-profit organization in the United States.
