Saturday, October 15, 2005
The program is headed by the Rev. Rod Parsley of the World Harvest Church.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- About 1,000 people streamed onto the Statehouse grounds Friday for a rally supporting a conservative Christian movement's new foray into the public arena built on its success in helping gain passage of a gay marriage ban and re-elect President Bush.
Reformation Ohio, created by a suburban Columbus minister, the Rev. Rod Parsley, is a four-year plan to bring 100,000 people to Christianity, help low-income families and recruit 400,000 new voters.
"This is a spiritual reformation. This is not a political agenda," Parsley said at a pre-rally news conference. "We are not here for any political partisan reasons."
Participants were mostly members of Parsley's World Harvest Church, with many entire families in attendance. A production staff choreographed the event, much like Parsley's broadcasts from his church, with directors huddled inside a tent and cameras throughout the grounds, including one mounted on a small crane that hovered over the crowd.
Has Blackwell's support
Speakers included Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, a Republican running for governor next year and Parsley is supporting. Blackwell endorsed Parsley's goals.
"We refuse to give up, back up or shut up until we've made the world better for all," Blackwell said in a speech.
Nanny Omadjambe, a member of Parsley's church, said she came to support his message of preaching the gospel, helping the poor and registering voters. She didn't see a conflict in the latter goal.
"The church is not trying to harm or change anything," said Omadjambe, 27, a bank loan administrator. "We're just trying to get people to be involved in what's going on, and I don't think that's bad at all."
Tying evangelical gospel to voter registration is a new phenomenon, said Mark Rozell, a public policy professor at George Mason University who studies political mobilization by religious groups.
"Most of these types of groups don't tend to mix these activities in the same venue, at least not so overtly," Rozell said.
But religious conservative groups such as the Christian Coalition and Moral Majority are shrinking now that Republicans are in control, he said, so it makes sense for the groups to add the tool of conversion to increase their base of evangelical voters.
Other groups
A handful of liberal religious leaders held a news conference at a downtown Episcopal church before the event saying Parsley's message on gay marriage and other issues is divisive. However, Parsley said he would welcome anyone to register to vote.
Another church-based group, the Ohio Restoration Project, began its own campaign to recruit new voters in August. Although the two groups are not affiliated, they share many of the same goals, said the Rev. Russell Johnson, pastor of Fairfield Christian Church in Lancaster and the Restoration Project's chairman.
"We're all on the same team, going into the same direction. He [Parsley] is on first base. I'm on second base. He'll cover areas I cannot reach," Johnson said.