Rick Scarborough

Rick Scarborough is a former Southern Baptist pastor from Pearland, Texas, who heads Vision America, Vision America Action and the Judeo-Christian Council for Constitutional Restoration.

Rick Scarborough received a B.A. from Houston Baptist University,[1] a M.Div. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary,[2] and a D.Min. from Louisiana Baptist Theological Seminary.[1][2] From 1990 to June 2002, he served as the Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of Pearland in Houston, Texas.[1] In 1998, he founded Vision America.[1] He has been involved with Focus on the Family.[1]

He has traveled extensively and is viewed by some conservative leaders as the values voter leader in 2006 and in 2008.[3][4] He has been interviewed and has appeared in the media on several occasions, including Larry King Live.[1][5]

He is married with two children.[1]

Views

Scarborough believes that the tenets of fundamentalist Christian morality apply to civic affairs.[6] He was quoted on Christiane Amanpour's documentary series "God's Warriors" on CNN as saying, "I'm not a Republican, I'm not a Democrat. I'm a Christocrat. My allegiance is to Jesus Christ".[7][8] He has said, "America is at war with the devil", and he supports "voting Biblically."[9] In 2006, he criticized John Danforth for supporting stem cell research.[10] He has publicly supported Justice Antonin Scalia.[11]

He supports filing lawsuits wherever he perceives homosexuality as contradicting Christian religious freedom.[12] Thus, he has been described as anti-gay.[13]

He also endorsed Mike Huckabee for president.[14] Concerning the decision of Texas Governor Rick Perry to vacinate all 6th grade women against those HPV strains that are most likely to produce cancer after infection, Scarborough said, "Nor we can not overlook the moral dimension. The governor's action seems to signify that God's moral law regarding sex outside of marriage can be transgressed without consequence."[15][16]

He has been accused of not being a real Baptist.[17][18]

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Vision America biography
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Murray, Shailagh. "Filibuster Fray Lifts Profile of Minister: Scarborough Has Network and Allies", The Washington Post, May 8, 2005. Accessed December 19, 2007
  3. ↑ "Pastors Guiding Voters to GOP" Stephanie Simon The LA Times from the October 2, 2006 print edition. URL accessed 10/16/2006
  4. ↑ "Christian conservatives mobilize to rev up values voters" Matt Stearns Lexington Herald-Leader, September 25, 2006
  5. ↑ "Larry King Live transcript" Transcript of Larry King Live, May 18, 2006
  6. ↑ "Religion and Politics in America" Morning Edition, NPR October 22, 1996 John Burnett URL accessed 05/09/2006
  7. ↑ "New Report Says Iraq's Leaders Are Unable to Govern; Interview With Barack Obama". CNN.
  8. ↑ Michael Wolraich, Blowing Smoke: Why the Right Keeps Serving Up Whack-Job Fantasies about the Plot to Euthanize Grandma, Outlaw Christmas, and Turn Junior Into a Raging Homosexual, Da Capo Press, 2010, p. 251
  9. ↑ Barbara G. Walker, Man Made God: A Collection of Essays, Stellar House Publishing, 2010, p. 244
  10. ↑ Brian Kaylor, For God's Sake, Shut Up!: Lessons for Christians on How to Speak Effectively and When to Remain Silent, Smyth & Helwys Publishing, Inc., 2007, p. 30
  11. ↑ Glenn H. Utter, James L. True, Conservative Christians and political participation: a reference handbook, ABC-CLIO, 2004, p. 79
  12. ↑ Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2006, pp. 45-46
  13. ↑ 'Far Right: Saving America from Gays', in The Advocate, May 9, 2006, p. 16
  14. ↑ WorldNetDaily: Why I'm supporting Mike Huckabee for president, by Rick Scarborough
  15. ↑ "God, sex, drugs, and politics" The Economist
  16. ↑ PRNewsWire
  17. ↑ Randall Herbert Balmer, Thy kingdom come: how the religious right distorts the faith and threatens America, Basic Books, 2007, p. 46
  18. ↑ Stephen J. Nichols, Jesus Made in America: A Cultural History from the Puritans to the Passion of the Christ, ReadHowYouWant.com, 2010, p. 284