[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 40 (Thursday, March 8, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H2333]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      SAN FRANCISCO VS. TEENMANIA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, I have come to the floor today to praise 
the more than 20,000 teens that will reunite in San Francisco this 
weekend to worship. Their movement called Battlecry has a home base in 
my district just outside Lindale, Texas.
  Their message is a hopeful one: they reject the negative messages 
often portrayed in pop culture and, instead, they embrace a godly path. 
They strive to live a life of Christian values and reject premarital 
sex, drugs, alcohol, and destructive behavior.
  One thing is very clear: there is nothing in Battlecry's message that 
is hateful. It is a message of love. However, last year, when these 
teens gathered in San Francisco, they were met by protests, and the 
board of supervisors passed a resolution condemning these young people 
of Battlecry and their message.
  As we know, there are some in the San Francisco government who are 
not happy with these voices carrying a Christian message. These teens 
are congregating at AT&T Park where the Giants play, and they are going 
to worship and promote a positive path for young people. The 
entertainment commission in San Francisco issued a restrictive loud 
speaker permit to them to prevent their use before 10 a.m., and yet 
these delightful youth are taking the lemon-sour treatment and are 
going to turn it into lemonade by using the time in a positive, 
peaceful manner to reach out in prayer and grace to those in San 
Francisco and the surrounding area. These Christian young people 
uniting in Teenmania and Battlecry are filled with love and the 
teachings of Jesus and are fueled by their faith in God, along with 
hope for their generation.
  They offer an alternative to the mysogynistic world. They offer 
alternatives to drugs, alcohol, sexually transmitted diseases.
  Mr. Speaker, San Francisco apparently has some who are such religious 
bigots that they loathe and want to thwart these loving young people 
because of the grace and kindness these people bring in the name of the 
Lord. Time magazine has called Battlecry's event the ``Lollapalooza for 
the Lord,'' and I humbly submit this kind of event is a good thing to 
have.
  Of course, we know the discrimination against wholesome, nurturing 
groups like the Boy Scouts of America in San Francisco by some 
intolerant fanatics. But this is an alternative to the kind of head-
banging music that sometimes promotes drugs, alcohol, careless sexual 
activity, and at times even anarchy.
  On the other hand, the young Christians believe that embracing God's 
love and grace can make the drugs, alcohol, and any hallucinogen 
completely unnecessary.
  So I salute these wonderful young people from Battlecry and Teenmania 
and encourage them to continue promoting positive Christian-type values 
and the love of the Lord to any and all, including the bigots against 
them. And for the religiously intolerant who get angry just thinking 
about Christian young people spreading the love and teachings of 
Christ, the message needs to go out, far and wide, very clear: Jesus 
loves you, too.

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