Charlotte, NC – African American pastors continue their march against President Barack Obama’s gay marriage endorsement. Since May, when the president first announced his change of heart (read about his history on flip-flipping on same-sex marriage here), a plethora black faith leaders have struggled to understand why Obama has taken what they see as an anti-religious stance on the matter. Now, just months before the 2012 election, a group of black pastors is coming together to advance an anti-Obama campaign.
These conservative black pastors believe that a national campaign may be the answer to convincing African Americans that it is time to rethink their support for Obama. The Rev. Williams Owens, president and founder of the Coalition of African-American Pastors (CAAP), is heading the campaign.
“The time has come for a broad-based assault against the powers that be who want to change our culture to one of men marrying men and women marrying women,” Owens proclaimed at a press conference announcing the campaign at the National Press Club. “They have chosen to cater to the homosexual community, they have chosen to cater to Hollywood, to cater to big money and ignore the people who put the president where he is.”
While he’s said that it is an effort to save the family unit, Owens has given few details about what, exactly, the group will be doing. Earlier this month, he spoke out about the president’s views on gay marriage. And considering Owens’ past history, advocacy against same-sex unions is nothing new.
Obama and his people have tried to frame the issue, they have not been able to talk this problem away. When they tried to claim gay marriage is a matter of civil rights, Owens responded, “I didn’t march one inch, one foot, one yard for a man to marry a man and a woman to marry a woman. We will not take it back, we will not back down, and we are going to take action across this country. He [Obama] has not done a smart thing and it might cost him the election. There are more people that want marriage to be right than there are homosexuals.”
