Howard Ahmanson Opps David Anderson Strikes Again

Father Mark Harris writes a marvelous piece on the darling of the religious right, David Anderson and his latest missive about muscular christianity, it is a good read, and Father Mark is his usual polite and gentle soul.

Mr. Anderson ends his long and destructive letter with the following line:

Blessings and Peace in Christ Jesus,

The Rt. Rev. David C. Anderson, Sr.
President and CEO, American Anglican Council

He asks demands that the Primates lose their Christian hospitality in favor of all out war against the Presiding Bishop, Katherine Jefferts Schori, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams and the Episcopal Church in the United States of America and has the audacity to end his letter with blessings and peace in Christ Jesus?

Let's one more time keep in mind where this guy gets his muscular Christianity from. Oh, who is his "best friend"?

But this would take money. After the meeting, Anglican Council vice president Bruce Chapman sent a private memo to the group's board detailing a plan to involve Howard F. Ahmanson Jr., a Southern California millionaire, and his wife, Roberta Green Ahmanson, in the plan. "Fundraising is a critical topic," Chapman wrote. "But that topic itself is going to be affected directly by whether we have a clear, compelling forward strategy. I know that the Ahmansons are only going to be available to us if we have such a strategy and I think it would be wise to involve them directly in settling on it as the options clarify." It was a logical pitch: As a key financier of the Christian right with a penchant for anti-gay campaigns, Ahmanson clearly shared the Anglican Council's interest in subverting the left-leaning church. Moreover, Ahmanson and his wife were close friends and prayer partners of David Anderson, the Anglican Council's chief executive, while Chapman and his political team were already enjoying hefty annual grants from Ahmanson to Chapman's think tank, the Discovery Institute.

Avenging Angel of the Religious Right

That is correct, his best friend just happens to be Howard Ahmanson and perhaps more directly his best friend is Howard Ahmanson's MONEY!

What does Ahmanson want in return (Mrs. Ahmanson explains):

"His goal is -- this is going to sound crazy -- his goal is to do with his money what God wants him to do," she explained.

And why does God want him to give to so many right-wing causes?

"The Christian view of man is that we're not perfect. You don't give to things that base themselves on the optimistic view that human beings are going to be doing it right," Mrs. Ahmanson explained. When I asked if this meant she and her husband would still want to install the supremacy of biblical law, she replied: "I'm not suggesting we have an amendment to the Constitution that says we now follow all 613 of the case laws of the Old Testament ... But if by biblical law you mean the last seven of the 10 Commandments, you know, yeah."

Avenging Angel of the Religious Right

I would call Mr. Anderson's attention to this quote (It is from the Bible in Basic English:

No man is able to be a servant to two masters: for he will have hate for the one and love for the other, or he will keep to one and have no respect for the other. You may not be servants of God and of wealth.

Mr. Anderson and the AAC, CANA, ACNA, et al, find their version of muscluar Christianity rooted in money! It is not the typical build up them abs sort of thing it is by the best equipment money can buy and then SAY we are muscular.

There is an old adage that applies thatgoes something like this: "Money talks and B***S*** walks." Sounds to me like Mr. Anderson has that down tight.