New York City— Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson and New York pastors will hold a press conference and small rally at Rockefeller Center tomorrow, Tuesday, Feb. 14 at 11 a.m. EST to call on MSNBC to stop providing a platform to Religious Right leader Tony Perkins, head of Family Research Council (FRC).
FRC has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center for using dishonest, incendiary rhetoric about gay and lesbian Americans, but MSNBC has continued offering a friendly venue for Perkins, neither informing their viewers of FRC's status nor including any rebuttal from progressive religious leaders. Perkins has appeared on MSNBC more often this year than on any other cable news network.
The group of clergy, including Bishop Robinson, a prominent progressive Christian leader who delivered the invocation at President Obama's inaugural ceremonies and is the first openly gay bishop in the Anglican Communion, will deliver 20,000 petition signatures from members of the online action network Faithful America. The delegation will remind MSNBC that the hateful views of Perkins and the Family Research Council aren't reflective of the faith community and demand that the network stop inviting him on the air to represent the views of Christians and other people of faith.
WHAT: Press conference and petition delivery to MSNBC demanding they stop inviting hate group leader Tony Perkins to speak on behalf of Christians and other people of faith
WHO: Prominent national and New York clergy, including:
The Right Reverend V. Gene Robinson, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire
Rev. Jacqui Lewis, Senior Minister, Middle Collegiate Church, New York, NY
Rev. Michael Ellick, Minister, Judson Memorial Church, New York, NY
Rev. Chloe Breyer, Executive Director, Interfaith Center of New York
Rev. Earl Kooperkamp, Pastor, St. Mary's Episcopal Church, New York, NY
WHEN: Tuesday, Feb. 14 at 11 a.m. EST
WHERE: Rockefeller Plaza, New York, New York (northeast corner of the plaza, at W. 49th Street)
Faithful America's petition reads:
The Family Research Council is a hate group, and journalists ought to treat it as such. MSNBC must stop inviting Family Research Council spokespeople on the air to represent the views of Christians and other people of faith.
For more information about Faithful America, an online community of over 132,000 people of faith taking action on pressing moral issues of social justice and the common good, visitwww.faithfulamerica.org .
