Repent America

Repent America (RA) is a Christian evangelistic organization based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. According to their website, RA "desires to be in the full Will of God and to adhere entirely to the teachings of the Bible. We have a passion to serve the Lord and are devoted to reaching the lost, so that they might come unto the knowledge of the truth and be saved."

RA's founder and director, Michael Marcavage, is a born-again Christian and outspoken opponent of evolution, abortion, and homosexuality.

Lawsuit

On October 10, 2004, eleven members of Repent America were arrested and charged under Pennsylvania's hate crimes law while protesting at Outfest, a gay pride event in Philadelphia. The charges assessed to the members of the group could have resulted in up to 47 years in prison each. All the charges were later dismissed by Common Pleas Court Judge Pamela Dembe as being without merit. [http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/2/232005b.asp] [http://www.phillypride.org/news.html] Repent America has since filed a federal lawsuit against the city and its officials over the incident.

On November 15, 2007, following a legal action brought by Repent America, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court in a 4-to-1 decision struck down amendments to the state's "hate crimes" law, formally known as the Ethnic Intimidation Act, in which the members had been charged in 2004. The published opinion, Marcavage, et al. v. Rendell, et al. [http://www.courts.state.pa.us/OpPosting/CWealth/out/195MD05_11-15-07.pdf] , declared that the amendments enacted in 2002, protecting people based upon "actual or perceived . . . ancestry, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, gender or gender identity," were "unconstitutional and therefore null and void" due to the process in which the law was passed. Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell and the state Legislature then appealed the decision to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, which ruled in favor of Marcavage, affirming the lower court's ruling that the Legislature acted unlawfully in passing the former Ethinic Intimidation Act. [http://www.thebulletin.us/site/index.cfm?newsid=19874500&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=576361&rfi=8] [http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=70565] [http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/224986] Repent America also conducted a press conference [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2481333456096867929&hl=en] against a similarly proposed federal "hate crimes" bill known as S.B. 1585 (Amendment 2067) [http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-1585] , formally S.B. 1105, stating that such laws are proliferating the "criminalization of Christianity." [http://www.repentamerica.com/pr_challengetohatelaw.html]

Politics

For some time Repent America hosted [http://bushrevealed.com BushRevealed.com] , which now remains as an archive. The website documented what it saw as un-Christian policies of George W. Bush. [http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=36604]

Evolution and intelligent design campaigns

Following the judgement against intelligent design supports in the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District trial where a judge decided that it was unconstitutional for Dover Area High School's school board to require teachers to inform students that Darwin's theory evolution is "not a fact," members of Repent America went door-to-door. ["Door- to-door religion in Dover," "York Dispatch", Feb 28, 2006] The group visited thousands of homes to proselytize and invited residents to a Repent America sponsered creation seminar by Kent Hovind, now in federal prison, in the Dover Area High School auditorium. ["Creationist to bring story to Dover," "York Daily Record", Mar 17, 2006] ["Group spreads info before debate Evangelical group plans to distribute," "York Daily Record" Mar 1, 2006] Hovind, who has received criticism from scientists and creationists, was reported to have played "loose with facts." ["Creationist speaker 'loose about the facts'," "York Dispatch" Mar 13, 2006] ["Creationist draws a crowd," "York Dispatch", Mar 20, 2006] ["It's pointless to debate creationists," "York Daily Record" Feb 25, 2006]

References

External links

* [http://www.repentamerica.com Official site]
*http://www.youtube.com/repentamerica Official Repent America (RA) YouTube Channel