March 18, 2005 by s.z.

The Face of the Religious Right 

Okay, my post at the new, improved American Street is up, but I'm going to cross-post it here, because it took me quite a while to research it, and beside, if anybody gets sued for it, I want to make sure that Donald Wildmon's group has to draw up legal papers naming "World O'Crap" in an action.

 

So, with no further ado, here's

  Not Crazy, But Not Exactly Sane

I was websurfing at AgapePress, when my curiosity was piqued by this story about an anti-abortion, anti-homosexual crusader named Michael Marcavage who lost a suit against Temple University. It seems that the jury thought that the school did the right thing in having him sent to a mental hospital for a psych eval.

An attorney for Michael Marcavage says he expects an appeals court to overturn a jury verdict that Temple University did nothing wrong when it tried to have the Christian student committed to a mental hospital several years ago.

So, basically the jury thought that Michael looked crazy enough that the university was within its rights to try and commit him. Not usually the kind of thing that Agape Press tells us about.

But here's some more info:

Marcavage was a student at Temple in 1999 when the school hosted the controversial play Corpus Christi, a production that portrays Jesus Christ and His disciples as homosexuals. University officials tried to have Marcavage, a junior at the time, involuntarily committed over his opposition to the play. Marcavage sued the school, claiming his constitutional rights were violated.

On Wednesday (March 16), a jury in Philadelphia ruled against Marcavage. One of his attorneys, Steve Crampton with the American Family Association's Center for Law & Policy, claims evidence favorable toward his client was "systematically excluded" by the judge overseeing the trial.

So, there was evidence that was unfavorable to Crampton's client, and it was enough to convince a jury. It seems that the case wasn't just about the university committing him to a looney bin because he stood up for Jesus and opposed a blasphemous play, despite what AgapePress has been reporting for the past several years (and like his lawyer still claims).

The case, Compton says, highlights a spiritual battle.

"Michael Marcavage set out to tell the truth to Temple University students and friends about Jesus Christ because [the school] was trying to portray Jesus Christ as a homosexual, as the "King of Queers," the attorney explains. "And so underlying this entire action is this spiritual battle between the truth -- who is Christ -- and those whose father is the father of lies."

Yes, as usual, this court case was a spiritual battle between Jesus and the Devil.

Anyway, Michael intrigued me enough that I did some research. And it turns out that he is a very interesting guy. He has appeared on TV shows to include °Hannity and Colmes," "The O'Reilly Factor," "Good Morning America," as well as many talk radio programs. He has also gotten quite a bit of ink from the papers (and not just WorldNetDaily and Agape Press) as a result of his antics, most famously for being the ringleader of the "Philadelphia Four" (or "Philadelphia 11." or "Philadelphia 5," depending on how many were being charged that day) who disrupted Phillie's Outfest last October. And he's only 25-year's old!

So, let's learn some more about Michael Marcavage.

He grew up in a blue-collar town near Scranton. His mother died when he was 3, an event that either "propelled" him "to search for meaning" in his life, or really screwed him up. His father raised Michael and his brother Catholic, but Michael says that he never knew God in that religion. He now believes that Catholics are damned unless they are born again, and isn't sure if his Catholic mother is in heaven or hell, telling the Philly Inquirer, "I never met her." (Which is kind of an odd thing to say, since she was his mother for three years, so you'd think that they would have at least been introduced.)

Michael says he became a Christian after reading the Bible at age 16. This contributed to some estrangement from his father and brother, because now they are separated from him by a "spiritual division."

While in high school, Michael was also involved in "theater, Boy Scouts and community service."

As a senior he created such a stir when a teacher wanted to show the groundbreaking episode of the sitcom Ellen, in which the main character says she is a lesbian, that the principal was quoted in the local paper calling him a "religious zealot."

[Okay, we're not going to say that Michael just shouts "repressed homosexual," but we will certainly think it.]

After high school, Michael headed off to Temple University, where, per him, he made the Dean's List, and was even an intern to the Clinton White House in 1998, when he was 18 or so. (But he, apparently, was one of the GOOD interns who didn't wear thong underwear.)

And then in 1999, we come to his famous commitment to the mental institution.

It all started when he heard that the school's theatre department was going to produce a play which portrayed Jesus as gay. Michael was majoring in theater at the time, and so was especially concerned.

Per the Delco DailyTimes, Michael felt he had to stop this vile production, to protect Jesus' good name.

"I wanted to stop this twisted tale from reaching the stage," Marcavage said.

The play is obscene and profane, according to Marcavage.

"Those types of speech are not protected (under the First Amendment)."

So, Michael put up flyers denouncing the play all over campus. And when he couldn't get it banned, he decided to launch his own counter-production, full of gospel songs and preaching against homosexuality from a bullhorn and stuff.

But when he was told that the college wouldn't build an outdoor stage for him to use for his show, he got really upset, cried, and locked himself in the bathroom (he claims he went there to pray). The university had a locksmith open the door, and when Michael finally emerged, he was distraught, shakey, and "staggering." The university Vice President thought Michael might have been suicidal (and could have taken something while in the rest room); so, after consulting with the campus psychologist, he called the ambulance and requested that Michael be taken to the mental hospital for an evaluation. The hospital personnel found that Michael wasn't a danger to himself or others, and he was released within a couple of hours.

And then, in 2000, Michael's career really took off, because that's when he hooked up with Don Wildmon's American Family Association Center for Law and Policy, and sued Temple University for violating his First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendment Rights in connection with his ordeal at the mental institution.

However, as we learned previously, the jury found in favor of the university. Michael's lawyer, Steve Crampton, claims it was because the judge (a Temple alumnus) wouldn't let Crampton present evidence favorable to Michael's case, didn't give the jury the right instructions, and generally took the side of Satan.

Crampton previously told Agape Press that Temple University was "basically fabricating testimony."  So, it really WAS a battle between Jesus and Satan.

Crampton says that he is certain that he will be granted an appeal, and expects the appeals court to overturn the jury's verdict. We'll see, I guess, but I wouldn't bet any money on it.

But Michael didn't just sit around twiddling his thumbs during the four years it took the case to be heard.

No, after graduating from Temple in 2001 with a degree in broadcast journalism, he started his own ministry, which basically involves traveling around the country, being obnoxious, getting arrested, and suing.

Mike Tidmus blog has a good summary of Michael's career, which includes such feats as: getting arrested for failing to obey a sheriff's orders while protesting San Francisco's granting of same-sex marriage licenses; getting arrested for trying to interfere with workers as they covered a Ten Commandments in Pennsylvania; picketing a private residence visited by Sen. John Kerry and asking a child there how many abortions she'd had; and traveling to D.C. to protest President Bush's inauguration.

[Prior to the election Michael urged voters not to support Bush, whom Michael thinks is too liberal because he appointed a gay ambassador ("There are people representing the U.S. in Romania sodomizing each other"), and hasn't overturned Roe V. Wade yet.]

Plus, there was that arrest at Outfest, which Michael says was a case of the government suppressing his First Amendment rights (he's a big believer in the First Amendment, except in cases that involve plays which portray Jesus as a homosexual).

However, the police said that Michael was yelling "Sodomists repent. You're going to hell," through a bullhorn, and generally disrupting the day's events -- and when he wouldn't obey their orders, he and his associates were hauled in.

The Christian Right made a big deal about how  "The Philly Four" could have gone to jail for 42 years for merely sharing the Bible with unbelievers -- and although there was no chance of that actually happening, it's what got Michael on "Hannity & Colmes," et. al. But the charges were dismissed, leaving Michael free to share his message with other eager listeners.

And what does Michael believe?

Well, in a literal interpretation of the Bible (just not the parts about Jesus and "love thy neighbor"and "judge no lest ye be judged" and stuff). His web site, Repent America, says:

As Christians, we know that there is a literal hell and a lake of fire where the unsaved will burn for all eternity, therefore, we act upon this Truth without reservation and GO OUT into the streets and communities of America declaring the WORD OF GOD and proclaiming the GOOD NEWS.

The GOOD NEWS is "You're going to hell, sinners" -- and if you're gay, the government should send you there.

Here's what he told the Philly City Paper:

"According to the Scriptures, it's the government's job to enforce God's law and to uphold his law, and the Bible talks about how, I don't want to really get into this  -- it'll make me sound like I'm crazy -- but it does talk about how [homosexuals] are to be put to death. The wages of sin is death. But I want to make [it] clear that I'm not advocating the [independent] killing of homosexuals ... I'm saying that the government's duty is to uphold God's law. ... I know that's harsh, but we have all broken the law, God's law, and we need to be held accountable."

See, he's not advocating the independent killing of homosexuals, he's just saying that the government should do it.

Here's more of his creed from his web site:

We must go out to where the sinners are. We must go to those who would never come into our churches--to the atheists, to the religious, to the self-righteous, to the God-hating and win their souls to Christ.

Does anybody actually come to Christ after getting shouted at through a bull horn? Well, Michael says that he got a letter from a woman who found comfort from the words he delivered in the parking lot of a strip club. She said that her boyfriend had had an affair with a stripper there, and apparently knowing he was going to hell made her feel better.

But more than bringing souls to Christ or comforting angry girlfriends, Michael seems to be about attracting attention -- and since denouncing homosexuality and abortion (and getting arrested for creating disturbances and failing to obey police orders), gets him press coverage and admiration from the right wing Christian fringe, he continues to do it.

And it may help him make a comfortable living too.

Here's what Kevin Lee, an "openly gay city councilman" who has had many run-ins with Michael, told the City Paper.

To Lee, Marcavage is a huckster whose "whole goal in life is to get in front of the media and get arrested." Lee suggests that Marcavage is a paid agent of the American Family Association, a conservative Christian organization, which pays him to get in legal trouble so that the AFA can raise money to defend him. Marcavage and Brian Fahling of the AFA both say this is false, though the organization does provide the street preacher with free legal counsel. (When you visit the AFA's Web site, the "Philadelphia Four" are plastered all over the place, and if you click on a link to donate for the cause, you are led directly to a nonspecific AFA donation page. Fahling says the AFA does use cases like Marcavage's for fund raising).

Michael runs his ministry from his "spacious" house, which is furnished with "a big screen TV, a DVD player, two computers and an original Nintendo."  He has said that he supports himself from "real estate investments." in that he receives income from three rental properties that he owns. Not bad for a 25-year-old!

He's also said that his group of about a dozen core members gets funding "largely from private donors."  So, who knows where the money comes from?

But here's more from the City Paper:

He lives alone in this dimly lit house. It serves as his shelter, place of worship and workplace. Marcavage's full-time job is running Repent America (his income, he says, comes from "donations from individuals and churches"). He does not belong to a Church, but he attends "fellowships" with other Christians approximately three times a week. He does not date.

"I am a virgin," he says after some deliberation. "I'm not ashamed of that. .... Paul said it was better to be alone."

Yes, it's better to be alone than to be with an icky, old girl.

And although Michael is really, really against homosexuality, he did put up his house as collateral to secure the bail of Rev. Craig Stephen White, who was arrested for luring a 14-year-old boy into a van and trying to coerece the boy into giving him oral sex.

White was convicted of the charges last year, and was sentenced to four to 10 years in state prison.

Here's some interesting info from last March:

When [D.A. Kim] Callahan said that an Internet Web site was offering a monetary reward for information on people involved in the case, a man in the gallery interrupted the proceedings.

The man, later identified as Michael Marcavage, said, "That's not true. That's my Web site. She's lying."

Marcavage, of Lansdowne, put up his home as collateral for White's $20,000 bail and served as a character witness during the trial.

Sheriff's deputies removed him from the courtroom.

"There's no proof whatsoever that the defendant had anything to do with this (the Web site)," [defense attorney] Donatoni said. "This lunatic ... bursting out, should have nothing to do with the sentencing."

Hey, watch who you're calling a lunatic, counselor, or Michael and the American Family Law Center will sue you!

Anyway, the judge indicated that there wasn't any real proof that the defendant was personally involved with the web site (which offered a $5,000 reward for information about the victim and members of the Chester County District Attorney's Child Sex Abuse Unit), so it wasn't made a part of the trial . And apparently Michael was never arrested for his connection with it either.

Here's more :

White preached against homosexuality and atheists, using a bullhorn to rile at students and faculty about "fornicators," "whores" and "sodomites."

Assistant District Attorney Kimberly A. Callahan called White a threat to society. "I'm relieved the jury believed the victim and understood the seriousness of the case," she said.

White supporter Michael A. Marcavage called the verdict "an outrageous travesty" and said the community should be alarmed. "Citizens should be concerned about how a man can be tried and convicted on the testimony of a 14-year-old," he said.

So, in Michael's world, the government should put homosexuals to death, but it shouldn't believe 14-year-olds who accuse men of soliciting gay sex from them.

Anyway, expect to hear more about Michael Marcavage over the days and years to come -- because if he isn't involuntarily committed, he has a bright future ahead of him as the new Roy Moore, the latest Fred Phelps, and a baby-faced Christian martyr.

9:01:43 AM