Salon.com > Jerry Boykin

Is Jerry Boykin the new McCarthy?

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 15:43:00 +0000

First came the hullaballoo over the “Mosque at Ground Zero.” Then there was Pastor Terry Jones of Gainesville, Florida, grabbing headlines as he promoted “International Burn-a-Koran Day.” Most recently, we have an American posting a slanderous anti-Muslim video on the Internet with all the ensuing turmoil.

Throughout, the official U.S. position has remained fixed: the United States government condemns Islamophobia. Americans respect Islam as a religion of peace. Incidents suggesting otherwise are the work of a tiny minority -- whackos, hatemongers, and publicity-seekers. Among Muslims from Benghazi to Islamabad, the argument has proven to be a tough sell.

Courting leaders of an anti-Muslim hate fest

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 14:46:00 +0000

If there’s anything we know about evangelical Christians, it’s that they comprise a remarkably effective voting block, and the religious right has been a core part of the Republican coalition for decades.

So it comes as no surprise, perhaps, that the two top members of the Republican ticket, presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his running-mate, Paul Ryan, would court the Family Research Council at its recent Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C., where, on Friday, Ryan delivered a speech, and Romney appeared via video message. But what is appalling is that the event this duo endorsed quickly devolved into a hate fest directed against an American religious minority.

Strange bedfellows at Christian confab

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 23:05:00 +0000

The annual Values Voter Summit is blessed with a diverse array of opinion from the far-right to the ultra-right. It's not always as cozy as it sounds.

This year's speakers will include both Jewish House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), and a retired Colonel who once said that Christians should be working to get Jews to accept Jesus. In 2009, Boykin said that it "really bothers" him when pastors say that “the Jews don’t have to come to know Jesus, they're under the old covenant. And that's destroying the efforts of the Messianic Rabbis, and other Messianic Jews that are trying to lead their brothers and sisters to Christ." Boykin is apparently referring to a little known tradition that observes elements of Judaism, but also believes in Jesus as a savior. Cantor didn't return a request for comment.