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Tea Party Nation's Judson Phillips Wants To See Methodist Church Disbanded

The Huffington Post   First Posted: 12/20/10 05:17 PM ET Updated: 05/25/11 07:20 PM ET

Judson Phillips Tea Party Methodists

Judson Phillips, founder of Tea Party Nation, one of the country's most prominent tea party organizations, really seems to despise the Methodist Church, or as he would call it, "the first Church of Karl Marx."

In a recent blog post (subscription required) the founder of Tea Party Nation recounts his recent experience visiting the United Methodist Building in Washington D.C., where he saw a promotional banner for the DREAM Act, a failed piece of legislation that would have provided a path to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants who entered the country as children.

Such a stance could only mean one thing, Phillips concluded.

"The Methodist church is pro-illegal immigration," he said. "They have been in the bag for socialist health care, going as far as sending out emails to their membership 'debunking' the myths of Obamacare. Say, where are the liberal complaints on the separation of church and state?"

Phillips was once a member of the so-called "religious arm of socialism," but abandoned its ranks when he found his views diverged from the party line. Among the positions that he now detests:

They want amnesty, they want "economic justice", they opposed "global climate change" (earth to the Methodists, man isn't doing it), fighting global poverty (here is another hint, most poverty is caused by a lack of freedom and lack of a free enterprise system). Not shockingly, the Methodists side with the Islamists against Israel, and of course oppose America in Iraq.

A blogger at "Unsettled Christianity" has unsurprisingly taken issue with Phillips's attack:

I've noticed one thing about all of this - he is lacking in his Scriptural foundation. Where is his scriptural support for those things which he says that the UMC is wrong for? Instead, he uses words which he doesn't understand, like Socialism, Marxism and Communism.

It's not the first time Phillips has offended people with his ham-handed religious criticism. In October, Phillips drew fire first for claiming that Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison should be removed from office in part because he was a Muslim, and then for admitting that he had a "real problem with Islam." Phillips also recently galled the sensibilities of even the most amateur fans of social justice or common sense when he suggested that it would make "a lot of sense" to return to a system where only property owners have the right to vote.

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Judson Phillips, founder of Tea Party Nation, one of the country's most prominent tea party organizations, really seems to despise the Methodist Church, or as he would call it, "the first Church of Ka...
Judson Phillips, founder of Tea Party Nation, one of the country's most prominent tea party organizations, really seems to despise the Methodist Church, or as he would call it, "the first Church of Ka...
 
 
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Flower Power 68
Part Stewart, Aragon, & Plantagenet. ALL American.
09:04 PM on 01/03/2011
I, for one, am GLAD that the the Teabaggers are demanding that the Constitution be read on Congress's opening day. Lord knows they need all the help they can get. Furthermore, we should probably have an interpreter on hand to translate, then explain--in the simplest layman's terms possible-- what all those big, spooky words mean. That way, maybe YAHOOS like Mr. Phillips just MIGHT be able to understand that under the rights set down by the First Amendment, the government CANNOT dissolve a given church simply because certain people disagree with that church's beliefs. And this from a member of the same party that demanded close adherence to the Constitution?? Seriously. SNL doesn't even have writers THIS Good! *shaking my head in disbelief--again!!*
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HUFFPOST PUNDIT
NoahVail
...a curmudgeon from So. Arizona
03:52 PM on 12/31/2010
The first sign that something was amiss was the donation box on the Tea Party Nation Web site. Smith says he felt uncomfortable linking the box directly to Sherry Phillips' PayPal account, but that Judson assured him the arrangement was temporary. It wasn't. More than $4,000 in donations came in while Smith was helping Phillips. "We don't know what happened to it," Smith says. "We still don't know."

Indeed, the Phillipses have refused to fully account for the money that continues to flow into their personal coffers. When Phillips registered Tea Party Nation as a for-profit company, Smith walked out. Other volunteers were alienated as well. But Phillips bulled forward, persuading a new crop to help him take Tea Party Nation to a bigger audience. "I thought he was very kind, a real sweet guy," Kilmarx says. "Maybe that's the charm of a viper." 

As Phillips jockeyed for supremacy in the Tea Party movement in Tennessee, he undermined people he saw as rivals and lashed out at those who challenged his decisions, most notably through the forums of the Tea Party Nation Web site. Phillips deleted posts when people disagreed with him over candidate picks. He banned people when they questioned the direction he was taking the organization. The more outspoken dissenters received bilious e-mails threatening legal action.

"...remember what I do for a living," Phillips warned Anthony Shreeve, another volunteer, in a parting e-mail after the two men clashed.

http://www.aolnews.com/2010/02/05/judson-phillips-threw-a-tea-party-and-trouble-showed-up/
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
greymom
02:04 PM on 12/24/2010
Most shockingly, they sprinkle, not dunk. Lord knows they are all going to that really hot place.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Erica Anderson
10:01 PM on 12/23/2010
I may be an atheist but Judson Phillips is tempting me to go pay a visit to my neighborhood Methodist church and donate some money. Way to go Judson. That is a sure way to get more people to go to church. lol
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HUFFPOST PUNDIT
NoahVail
...a curmudgeon from So. Arizona
04:01 PM on 12/31/2010
Yeah, but his assessment of the Methodists is way off base.  Some of the congregations are pretty far left and some are pretty far right, but they are not Presbyterians.
12:33 PM on 12/23/2010
What David Niewert properly calls the "eliminationist rhetoric" of the far right is a sign of only one thing" incipient home grown fascism. Dehumaniing your enemies and calling for their elimination from society is the first step down an exceedingly dangerous road.

For a now somewhat outdated but prescient look at the potential for a native-grown American fascism, it is worth reading his essay here: http://www.cursor.org/stories/fascismintroduction.php
10:13 AM on 12/23/2010
If Phillips thinks the Methodists are socialists, he probably categorizes the Unitarian Univeralists as bomb-throwing anarchists.

His complaint about church-state separation is baseless. Methodists are among the Christians who translate their religious arguments for laws into secular, non-sectarian terms that people of any religious stance can appreciate. The same cannot be said for Mike "God's Standards" Huckabee. The fact that Philllips opposes having Muslim officeholders shows that his own political agenda is a sectarian one.

The larger problem with Phillips is that he talks in absolutes, lumping everyone who disagrees with him on any issue into a single category. Whatever the merits or faults of the DREAM Act, only in Phillips' world would an endorsement of the act be tantamount to government owning the means of production (the true meaning of the word socialism).
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
spicegal
06:02 AM on 12/23/2010
One of the pillars of Christianity IS social justice. And one of the major pillars of this country is religious freedom. So, to call for the disbanding of any religious denomination is unAmerican, and to be opposed to social justice is un-Christian .
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
morgansher
just disgusted in general
02:20 AM on 12/23/2010
OMG! Phillips is so far off plumb on this! Disband a major protestant denomination which has over a century of doing "good works" (aka social justice) both in the US and overseas for why? Because being of service, sometimes really does mean standing up to draconian, oppresive authority? Phillips is an embarrassment!
11:02 PM on 12/22/2010
no
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JaxReader
Hear reason, or she'll make you feel her.
06:01 PM on 12/22/2010
I hope that REAL Christians are paying attention to what's going on with the conservative Right in this country. Read Jesus's words, then read the conservative Right's stances, on everything. That's all.

"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least among you, you did not do for me."
~Matthew 25:41 - 45
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06:45 AM on 12/23/2010
Very good post, you nailed the Right! They are not REAL Christians at all, from looking at their actions it should be obvious that they are living the opposite of the teachings of Jesus
04:04 AM on 12/25/2010
You really hit the nail on the head there!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
RKBA 2A
DON'T TREAD ON ME
04:56 PM on 12/22/2010
What does it matter the name of an organization that threatens the U.S. Constitution and sovereignty?
If the banners at this church condemned certain matters, imagine the outcry for seperation of church
and state.IMO
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04:51 PM on 12/22/2010
I would like to ban the "TEA BAGGERS" ! Merry Christmas y'all...
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twain307
Ancora-Imparo
04:35 PM on 12/22/2010
Mr. Phillips....Take a deep breath.....Read the First Amendment to the Constitution........Shut the F**k up.
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06:46 AM on 12/23/2010
Phillips needs to actually read what Karl Marx was about instead of just running his mouth
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
atexasdem
Pointing out the foolishness of republican voters.
02:31 AM on 01/03/2011
Phillips needs to go back and read his bible, all of it. Not just the parts he likes.
04:14 PM on 12/22/2010
Another lame comment from the George Wallace Political Party (ooops, sorry about that, everyone now likes to call them the Tea Party). Obviously their political platform goes way beyond budgets and corrupt politics. They do enjoy involving themselves in social issues of hate - just like Faux News!
04:09 PM on 12/22/2010
I honestly believe that if Judson Phillips were to come across Jesus himself on a mountain preaching the Beatitudes, he'd be the first to label him a foreign hippie socialist peace freak and he'd call for his arrest and deportation to "one a them A-rab countries." Shame on him.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
atexasdem
Pointing out the foolishness of republican voters.
02:32 AM on 01/03/2011
He'd be the one yelling "crucify him" the loudest.