Meet the Texas Taliban

Christian hate group 'Repent Amarillo' terrorizes Texas town, harassing gays, liberals, and other 'sinners'.

(AMARILLO, Tx.) - The group thinkprogress.org reports that a Texas town has assumed a position similar to the group Hezbollah, whose name equates to "Army of God". Their motto is "spritual warfare" against all who don't believe in their Christianity.

The evangelical Christian hate group "Repent Amarillo" is reportedly terrorizing the town of Amarillo, Texas.

Repent fashions itself as a sort of militia and targets a wide range of community members they deem offensive to their theology: gays, liberal Christians, Muslims, environmentalists, breast cancer events that do not highlight abortion, Halloween, "spring break events," and pornography shops. On its website, Repent has posted a "Warfare Map" of its enemies in town.

Calling Repent an "American Taliban," blogger Charles Johnson notes that the group's moniker "Army of God" is a rough translation of "Hezbollah."

Led by a man named David Grisham, a security guard at a nuclear-bomb facility called Pantex, Repent first gained media attention in Texas following a campaign to boycott Houston for electing a gay mayor.

The group, which is associated with Raven Ministries, collaborates with other Christian groups as well as forced pregnancy advocacy associations like "Bound 4 Life." According to a new exposé by the Texas Observer, Repent set out earlier this year to destroy a discreet club of swingers they discovered in town.

On New Years eve, the harassment began, with Repent members, almost exclusively young men, showing up in military fatigues and bullhorns, blaring Christian music at the swingers' club building.

The swingers, made up of "regulars" of middle aged, working class couples, were then stalked at every following visit to the club. Repent not only took video of each member, but obtained the swingers' license plates and dug through their trash, informing neighbors and coworkers of what was once private.

Repent has struck with some success at many of its enemies within the town. A community theater attempted to open "Bent," a play about the persecution of homosexuals during Nazi Germany.

But the day before opening night, Repent members helped shut down the play by calling in fire marshals to complain about the theater's permit.

Staffers at a nature preserve were featured on local news defending themselves against Repent accusations that their site represents something related to witchcraft.

But grassroots opposition to Repent is also building. A group called "Angel Action" has mobilized against Repent, and blogs and Amarillo-based Facebook groups are springing up to protest Repent's hate.

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Clay April 28, 2010 11:31 pm (Pacific time)

Exactly Paul. There has to be some kind of connection between this millitant group and whoever runs the nuclear facility...namely the government. Otherwise they would have canned his butt. Where are the cops? That's what I want to know. Could it be that they are in on it too? Hmmmm. Kind of makes you wonder what's next for America. 20 years ago a group like this would have been arrested and ran out of town. But now that the goverment and the cops won't do it looks like the citezens better do something. Either that or move to a different town. Imagine Amarillo going from a town of 200,000 to a town of 100,000 and the economic aftermath of the town. What would be funny is if Amarillo became a ghost town. Then the Christian Taliban could go out there and force the local grasshopper population to repent of their errors.

Clay April 28, 2010 11:24 pm (Pacific time)

Pull your redneck head out Bryan. Or basically get your head out of the sand. Get undumbed down. I'll bet you watch the Simpson's every night and drink a cold one every Sunday afternoon and know nothing about what really goes on in the world besides your little insignificant Bryan world. What happens ten years from now when this sort of thing goes on in your town? Then what? What are ya going to do when they tell you that you can't drink beer or watch the Simpson's because there is swearing in it....oooooo....really bad swearing. Or how about someday if your teenage daughter or son (if you have one)is executed out in the street for premarital sex. Are you starting to get it?!!!!! moron. This is the same kind of thing that has been going on for centuries all over the world. "Oh...but that would never happen here in America. My name is Bryan and I say so." WAKE UP STUPID!!!!! WAKE UP!!!! IS THERE ANYONE IN THERE?

Clay April 28, 2010 11:15 pm (Pacific time)

They kind of remind of a pack of dogs snooping around where their nose doesn't belong. Only one way to stop that....dump crushed red pepper on their noses.haha

noone March 12, 2010 6:54 pm (Pacific time)

ooo, are they nazis, or hard line commies . . Repent Amarillo - the other white meat . . . idiots

notlob March 11, 2010 11:33 pm (Pacific time)

You just gotta love these "Talibangelicals" excercising their right to free speech while denying that same privilege to others. Go back to your fantasy world of Creation Museums and supernatural beings, these people exemplify that dogma makes you crazy.

The Quaked One March 10, 2010 10:38 pm (Pacific time)

Start following these bone-head fools with your own video cameras, catch them doing things they ain't gonna want their parents/husbands/wives/kids to know about -- and they'll start to back off. If you're lucky, they'll start swinging fists at you while the cameras are rolling... Can ya say "lawsuit" and "summary monetary judgment in favor of the plaintiff"? At the very least you'll show that they ain't the Christians they claim to be.

Vic March 9, 2010 10:03 pm (Pacific time)

Really, wouldn't it be better if we just gave Texas back to Mexico...along with a handwritten note of apology? (if they would take it) What has Texas given us? LBJ, Dynasty, the Bushes, national embarrassment and shame, and armadillos, which seem to have a compulsive need to cross freeways at night and are like hitting a suitcase full of rocks. Like the smell of rancid ditch water and festering cow dung? Texas is for you. Like being able to gaze at wasteland as far as you can see in every direction, uninterrupted by things like trees and green plants...Texas is your dream home. Yet the cretins that inhabit that barren desert are all too proud of their digs, as the bumper stickers on their 93 Trans-Ams will tell you.."If You Ain't a Texan, You Ain't Shit"..which would lead one to believe that if you ARE a Texan...well, you get the point.

Sherlock Radon March 9, 2010 9:27 pm (Pacific time)

This was a story which basically ended back in Feb of 2009; check the Amarillo Globe News website. So why are you folks dredging it back up again. These clowns had their 15 minutes of fame, and the people of Amarillo had their say in the editorial pages and elsewhere. I have a fondness for Texans, because they value freedom, including freedom of speech. And those in Houston obviously elected a gay mayor, so what's the beef? At least those "repenters" were honest and told you where they stood. So there's not a chance that their leader will be able to fool enough people to be elected to the Whitehouse; you've got little to worry about.

April May March 9, 2010 6:24 pm (Pacific time)

"Repent not only took video of each member, but obtained the swingers' license plates and dug through their trash, informing neighbors and coworkers of what was once private." Does no one ELSE realize these actions are ILLEGAL?!?!?

Bryan March 9, 2010 6:10 pm (Pacific time)

Well, we may not agree with what is real newsworthy and what is "lefty fantasy" .......but I have to hand it to you for allowing me to express my opinion and not filtering my post!

Tim King: That's cool Bryan, we don't have to agree on everything, and I try to post a lot of these. Salem-News.com is the first and only news Website with Editor response in the comment section. It is also one of the only sites where they are all approved by real special to begin with. Thanks for hanging out.

Paul March 9, 2010 8:03 am (Pacific time)

Their leader is A SECURITY GUARD AT NUCLEAR BOMB FACILITY??? How is it that he's still employed?

Bryan March 9, 2010 8:49 am (Pacific time)

Amazing to me that anyone would hold any creed to an article linked from some PROGRSSIVE BLOG. And you guys actually linked to it as if it were a real news article? Unreal!

Tim King: Oh yeah, we went out on a real limb with this one, Not really. There aren't two sides to some stories Bry.

Ron March 9, 2010 7:19 am (Pacific time)

Yep, I've known it would come to this, the 'self-righteous','holier-than-thou', conservative christians would 'feel' threatened that the world doesn't go their way or fear them, their religion or their understanding of god and become what i've always called the American Taliban. These various groups have killed people who don't follow their beliefs. Well, I think THEY should be treated as terrorists and dealt with as such. I'm Wiccan so I'm sure they be gunning after Pagans soon enough which I say fine. I'm glad their public this way all of America can see for itself that certain sects of Christianity are violent and destructive and nothing more than terrorists. They're the first to persecute and then the first to cry persecution.

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