Violent imagery from Bash Back |
A violent squad of anarchists and homosexuals who, under the name of Bash Back! Lansing, disrupted a church worship service by flinging condoms and propaganda around the sanctuary and draping a profane banner from a balcony are being warned they, too, will be "bashed" if they disrupt another church service in the U.S.
"It is … ordered that, by consent of the parties, Defendants Anton Bollen; Wendie Renae Debnar; Spencer Dilday; Amy 'Andy' Michelle Field; Melissa Kim; Samuel D. Kreuger; Ryan Levitt; Cailin Elizabeth Major; Devin Scott Merget; Kelsey Myking; Allison 'Ryan' Margaret Pennings; and Michele 'Tyler' Nicole Troutman shall pay Mount Hope total damages of $2,500 within 90 days of the court's entry of this consent order," wrote U.S. District Judge Robert Holmes Bell in his decision yesterday.
"If any defendant named in this order is found to have violated this consent order, he or she shall be subject to a fine of $10,000 and reasonable attorneys fees and costs associated with enforcement of this order."
The court order – and another one citing " Bash Back!" and "Bash Back! Lansing," which failed to respond to court orders requiring contact information – came in a lawsuit brought by the Alliance Defense Fund against the radicals over an attack on Mount Hope Church in Michigan's Delta Township in 2009.
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In that attack the anarchists and homosexuals infiltrated the worship service then had members stage a noisy protest outside the church doors to draw away security.
Members of the Bash Back! team them sprang into action inside the worship center, flinging condoms and propaganda, staging two lesbians in a make-out scene in front of the pulpit and unfurling a banner from the balcony.
Photo by Bash Back of its own members, who disrupted a Michigan church service by flinging condoms around the sanctuar |
The anarchists later boasted, "This church is nothing short of a disease in the community, and in the minds of those who attend."
When the ADF filed the legal complaint, it explained how, "Defendant Amy 'Andy' Field, in a radio interview, when asked whether she and the other defendants' conduct violated the church's civil rights, stated, 'I'm not concerned with their civil rights.'"
A blog posting by Nick De Leeuw on Right Michigan described the attack on Mount Hope Church:
Prayer had just finished when men and women stood up in pockets across the congregation, on the main floor and in the balcony.
"Jesus was gay," they shouted among other profanities and blasphemies as they rushed the stage. Some forced their way through rows of women and kids to try to hang a profane banner from the balcony while others began tossing fliers into the air. Two women made their way to the pulpit and began to kiss.
"The use of violence, threats, and other criminal behavior to advance a political agenda should never be acceptable in America," said ADF Legal Counsel Dale Schowengerdt. "ADF filed suit on behalf of Mount Hope to stop Bash Back! from invading churches, disrupting worship, and terrifying adults and children who attend religious services. The court's orders accomplished that and send a message to any other groups contemplating such tactics that they will not succeed."
The Lansing organization that attacked the church chose it as a target "because of the church's well-known Christian views on marriage and homosexual behavior," ADF explained. The anarchists and others covertly recruited activists for their violence through a page on the Bash Back! website.
One injunction addressed the defendants who were identified and responded to the court's orders, and who agreed to the permanent ban on their violence. The second addressed the organizations in which officials refused to respond.
"This court has inherent authority to enter a default judgment when a party disobeys its orders or otherwise interferes with the administration of the case," the judge wrote. "Therefore, the court orders entry of default judgment against defendants Bash Back! and Bash Back! Lansing. Is is further ordered that Bash Back! and Bash Back! Lansing and any of its officers, directors, agents and all other persons whomsoever, known or unknown, acting on behalf of Bash Back! or Bash Back! Lansing or in concert with them, and receiving actual or constructive notice of this order, are:
- permanently enjoined from entering any of Mount Hope Church and International Outreach Ministry's property without written consent from a member of plaintiff's pastoral staff, and from harassing or intimidating any of Mount Hope's church members or staff;
- permanently enjoined from disrupting a religious service anywhere in the United States by shouting, yelling, throwing objects, unfurling a banner or displaying any other sign not approved by the church, or by otherwise causing a disturbance;
- permanently enjoined from conducting a protest on the private property of any place of worship in the United States;
- permanently enjoined from blocking impeding, or making unreasonably difficult ingress or egress to entrances and/or exist of any place of worship in the United States;
- permanently enjoined from blocking, impeding, or making unreasonably difficult ingress or egress onto property by vehicular or pedestrian traffic at any place of worship in the United States; and
- permanently enjoined from destroying property at any place of worship in the United States.
After the event, the Bash Back! organizations boasted on their Web page of attacking the "deplorable, anti-queer mega-church" that "works to institutionalize transphobia and homophobia through several repulsive projects including organized 'ex-gay' conferences and so-called 'hell houses,' which depict queers, trannies and womyn who seek abortions as the horrors."
"Let it be known: so long as bigots kill us in the streets, this pack of wolves will continue to BASH BACK!"
David Williams, a spokesman for the church, told WND earlier that the organization "does take the Bible at face value and believes what the Bible says to be the truth."
"According to the Bible, Mount Hope Church believes homosexuality to be a sin, just as fornication, stealing, drunkenness, and lying are sins. No sin greater than the next. Mount Hope Church strives to follow Jesus' example of loving the sinner but not the sin while helping people change their lives for God's glory and their improved quality of life. Mount Hope Church also recognizes that to each person God grants freewill."
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