In Jesus Name, Amen!

Fidel "Butch" Montoya

The Democrats made their strongest pitch ever toward Evangelicals this past week in Denver, Colorado at their national convention. The first ever “Interfaith Gathering” was the first official function of the convention.

It was to be a time when different representatives from various faith beliefs could gather, in the name of unity, proclaim, and exalt their faith in an atmosphere of tolerance. There was a Jewish Rabbi, Muslim Iman, Buddhists Priest, Methodist Minister, Catholic leader, Pentecostal Preacher, and three more Jewish Rabbis.

The gathering, not to be confused with a “service,” as that title was too Evangelical for the planners of the event, was clearly an attempt to water down the Gospel.

The Jewish Daily reported that this was the first time that “the overt use of sectarian language” which had been used in the past, and alienated Jews and other minority religions was not overly emphasized.

Eric Sapp, a faith consultant working with the Democrats in planning the gathering said, “It just wasn’t Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.”

Clearly, the Democrats who have laid claim in their efforts to reach out to Evangelicals are talking out of both sides of their mouth. In one breath, they claim to want Evangelicals, especially Latino Pentecostals, to join the new tolerant and open Democrat Party. In the other breath, they were planning all along to discredit the name of Jesus.

Someone needs to tell the Democrats that they cannot play politics with our values and Christian beliefs.

In an interesting admission, the Jewish Daily reported, “Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, executive vice president of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, led the interfaith audience in a “Hebrew amen,” he prompted one of the event’s lighter moments when he added, “Now I feel more at home.”

“Now I feel more at home?”

It was okay for the other religious leaders of the Interfaith Gathering to feel at home by proclaiming or in some cases, leading the entire interfaith audience to join in some of their religious liturgy.

There were readings from the Torah, the Quran, but no reports of anybody reading from the Holy Bible. No wonder so many who do not proclaim Jesus as Lord felt at home.

President Bush was elected by over 80% of the Evangelical vote in the last election. Democrats fearing the growing influence and importance of religious faith in Evangelical voters, and who are faithful to vote on Election Day, are attempting to mislead these voters by creating a false sense of openness and tolerance for Evangelicals.

The Obama campaign is working overtime to attract the Jewish vote, which ironically in the past has always voted for the Democrats in large numbers. This time, with Barrak Obama running for President, the campaign is afraid that Obama’s alleged support for Israel is not recognizd by Jewish voters as strong enough. For that reason alone, it gave Jewish Rabbis prominent roles throughout the convention program.

The Democrats even had a “Faith Caucus” that explored the role of religion in politics. Several of the presenters at the caucus focused on “common good faith based initiatives” in politics. In a “Unity Breakfast,” Democrats attempted to paint a Party with a keen interest in ensuring that religion would play a role in an Obama Administration.

What is interesting is a proposition propagated by Jim Wallis of Sojourners, that Evangelicals are no longer interested in holding abortion and gay marriage as issues of importance. In other words, Wallis is trying to create a new Evangelical movement that is trying to water down the opposition of Evangelicals for two corner stone issues.

Instead, Wallis and the Democrats who finally have found religion, want the Church to concentrate on new issues, the emphasis on "new issues".

The Jewish Daily, reports, “Democrats say they are hoping to focus on areas of common values in all faiths — fighting poverty, loving one’s neighbor, justice, equality and caring for the earth — rather than their theological differences.”

Wait a minute, as a life long Democrat, I thought the Democrats were always against poverty, and for justice, equality, caring for the earth, and loving one’s neighbor? Have I been mislead all these years?

No wonder we are still fighting poverty, for justice for all people, for equality in human rights, caring about our environment, and respecting one another. It seems the Democrats have finally found the issues that Evangelicals have preached from the pulpit for years.

In all fairness, the Jewish Daily reports that “Jesus name” was used FOUR TIMES” during the Interfaith Gathering. “Oh my God, FOUR TIMES!” I sure hope the other religious leaders were not offended or felt uncomfortable with the use of Jesus name.

I had been invited to pray at this Interfaith Gathering by the CEO of Democratic National Convention Committee, Rev. Leah Daughtry. As you may have read in the newspaper, I was disinvited because I was deemed “too controversial” for the event and the campaign.

I have been wondering about a side conversation Rev. Daughtry, Rev. Apostle Ralph Beecham, President of the Greater Metropolitan Denver Ministerial Alliance and I had regarding invitations to pray in public. Daughtry said that if she was invited, people should know that as a Pentecostal she would pray in Jesus Name.

I told Rev. Daughtry I agreed and if I was asked to pray at an interfaith event, the people who invited me should understand that I would pray in Jesus Name as well. Rev. Apostle Ralph Beecham agreed with both of us. We decided this was a non-negotiable value.

Today, knowing that the Democrats do not want “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,” at their conventions, I am wondering if maybe Rev. Daughtry remembered I would end up praying in Jesus Name.

Who knows if I had not been disinvited, maybe the Jewish Daily would be reporting that a Pentecostal preacher from Denver stood up to pray at the Interfaith Gathering and made a whole lot of people uncomfortable because not only did he pray in Jesus Name, he ended up speaking in tongues.

In Jesus Name, Amen!

Fidel “Butch” Montoya
H. S. Power & Light – Latino Faith Initiative

So Can Obama Score a TD at INVESCO Field?

Fidel "Butch" Montoya

The big party has finally arrived in Denver, Colorado. After months of anticipation, the delegates are in the city and ready to take care of party business…and the business of parties and receptions.

Beyond all the speeches, the marches and protests, Obama and his advisors while making the rounds from party to party, will be working on getting the Hillary Clinton supporters on their side. The social events provide a nice background to pressure Hillary supporters to come on board and work for the Obama candidacy.

Some pundits have said that the party convention is outdated, unnecessary, and just a way to reward the party faithful for all of their work leading up to the convention. That may be true, but this time, it gives the Obama people an opportunity to lobby the delegates who have not sworn their loyalty to Obama.

Meanwhile, we have thousands of protesters that have shown up to march and rally around their issues of concern. We have “end the war protesters”, “anti-abortion proponents”, “gay lobbyists”, “immigration reform marchers”, and the Denver Police as the barrier between chaos and lawlessness.

Already on the first day, posturing back and forth by protesters and the riot trained police, protesters seemed to be testing how far they could push the police. The rest of the week may prove to be very interesting as protesters continue to push their agendas.

At least for now, the message of the protesters is not completely clear, as protest signs and protesters sometimes seemed contradictory and a bit confused on how to react to the large police presence. The City and DNCC officials have worked out a “protest cage” where protesters will be allowed to gather and rally near the Pepsi Center.

The protesters are not pleased with this location and have already gone to the courts asking for relief and wanting a better 1st Amendment location for their rallies. The protesters want to be within sight and sound of the delegates as they go about their business at the Pepsi center. Chances are they will have to accept the current arrangement or who knows, we may see a more aggressive stance by the protesters.

Meanwhile, many other organizations have planned forums, panel discussions, religious events, and rallies for delegates and other convention visitors looking for things to do. It is definitely a good time to network with other national leaders and colleagues, and push agendas and ideas on issues and concerns facing our nation.

After three days of prime time speeches and the nomination of Senator Joe Biden as Vice President at the Pepsi Center, the last night of the convention moves to INVESCO Field @ Mile High Stadium, the home of the Denver Broncos. The football stadium gives Obama a larger audience for his acceptance speech on national networks and cable channels.

From the fifty-yard line, Obama will give his acceptance speech as the party’s nominee for President. Truly an historical event as the first African American is nominated for the office of the U.S. Presidency. Before a potential audience of 75,000 partisans, images of Berlin come to mind. In Berlin, over 200,000 Berliners gathered to see and witness the Obama spectacle. Shouting “Obama, Obama” their voices rang through the air in Berlin, leaving the impression at least that Berliners would vote for him.

While it was an impressive sight and sound, it does not change the fact that Obama cannot separate himself from McCain in the “American polls.” Polls show either McCain or Obama ahead by two or three points. A dead heat at this point.

After what many considered a slam-dunk for the Democrats in November, the issue of party unity seems to have created a divide that is proving not so easy to overcome. After eight years of Bush and Republican policies, surprisingly McCain is running stronger than most pundits expected.

A Wall Street Journal poll shows that 21% of the Democrats that supported Hillary Clinton for president will vote for McCain. 27% of them are still undecided, which is not a good sign. Only 52% of Hillary Democrats will support Obama.

So while the national news media reports on protesters and marches, behind the scenes, Obama advisors are trying desperately to unite the party. Without the Hillary supporters, Obama knows he simply cannot win.

Obama seems to be making rookie mistakes as he moves to consolidate the support of the partys behind him. There are numerous reports that Obama did not even interview Hillary for the position of vice president, or even give her a heads up that he had decided on Senator Joe Biden as his choice. By snubbing Hillary, some Hillary supporters are more determined not to support Obama.

One should not forget that Hillary Clinton received the support of 18 million supporters during the primaries. I do not see how Obama can overlook the fact that 18 million voters essentially voted against him. Not a good start to the movement of uniting the party.

So back to Thursday night at INVESCO Field with 75,000 partisans shouting “Obama, Obama,” they will be hard pressed to deliver the right message of party unity. It will only bring back to memory the celebrity candidacy of Obama, and not someone who needs to show that he has the ability to unite the Democrats.


Fidel "Butch" Montoya
H. S. Power & Light - Latino Faith Initiative

Henry Cejudo - an American Olympic Champion

Fidel “Butch” Montoya

Hooray for the United States. It is the land where Olympic dreams can happen if only you believe in yourself. We love to hear stories of young men and women who worked hard to achieve their dream of being an Olympic Champion.

Just look at the worldwide attention given to Olympic Gold Medal record holder Michael Phelps…and yes, every American was proud of his Olympic accomplishments.

As a nation, we should all salute the Olympic Gold Medal winner in men’s freestyle 55-kilogram wrestling. 21-year-old Henry Cejudo, who was 31st in last year’s world championships, kept faithful to his dream and at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in China, he won his Gold Medal and put on one of the best displays of American patriotism.

In fact, the son of undocumented Mexican immigrants, Cejudo was so proud of his wrestling feat, he wrapped himself in the American flag, burst out crying the moment he realized he had won the match and defeated Japan’s Tomohiro Matsunaga.

Some photographers who saw the picture of Henry Cejudo, crying and wrapped in the American flag, called it as one of the most memorable moments of the Olympics. A classic picture of an American athlete displaying his pride in victory, but much more cognizant of his victory because he knew he was representing his country.

We all have heard the story by now, of how he grew up in poverty, moving from town to town, as his mother looked for better jobs to take care of her family. Cejudo’s parents separated when he was only four years old and the burden of caring for the family fell to his mother, Nelly Rico. Cejudo says he will give the Gold Medal to his mother, for all the sacrifices she made to raise her six children.

Cejudo says they never had much in terms of material wealth, but his mother worked whatever job she could to provide all of them riches in love for one another. Moreover, when love was not enough, she made tamales so Cejudo could sell on the street and continue with his wrestling in school.

Cejudo was born in Los Angeles to undocumented parents who came to the United States seeking that elusive dream of a better life. There is no question that Henry Cejudo faced all the difficulties of children raised in undocumented families. Our antiqued immigration laws have made life unbearable difficult for so many families who only want a better life.

Cejudo worked hard to compete as a wrestler in high school, and took advantage of the opportunity to move to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado with his older brother Angel. His brother Angel was also a high school sports star.

Cejudo’s success story is one that we can all be proud of and remember as one of the most inspiring moments of the Beijing Olympics. It made me proud to see him wrapped in the American flag, proudly displaying his pride as an American hero.

Cejudo held on tightly to the American flag he wore as a cape and swore he would give to his mother. His mother could not go to China to watch her son compete in the Olympics. She could not obtain a visa to travel to China, so she will wait to celebrate her son’s new Gold Medal, a prize he said belonged to his mother as well.

Henry Cejudo’s story is one all Americans can celebrate and recognize the accomplishments of a young man who overcame obstacles in his life to finally reach his dream of being an Olympic champion.

However, wait one minute. Is it really a story all Americans could rally around? Not if you read some of the comments placed in the Americans for Legal Immigration PAC website.

The headline on their website should give you some idea of the comments, “Anchor Baby wins Gold for the US”.

As we all may know by now, an anchor baby is a child born in the USA of undocumented immigrants. The 14th Amendment to the USA Constitution grants citizenship to children born in the United States even if their parents are not citizens.

Here is a sampling of the nasty and hateful comments:

“An anchor baby is NOT a REAL American because his PARENTS are ILLEGALS!”

“Anyone else notice every time an anchor baby Olympian does good the media is all over it? The team is full of them. I doubt the anchor babies are more athletic than Americans, Mexicans aren't known for being athelic. The sheet number of them of them in our country is probably why we have so many on our olympic team.”

“He's winning in the Olympics while tens of thousands more illegals are robbing, killing and raping as members of gangs across the country. I will gladly take an Olympic loss and save an American's life any day. F the liberal media and what they are doing to destroy our country.”


“When anchor baby law is passed will his medal be taken away?”

“He should not be in America.”

“If anyone spots him in LaOpinion or another Hispanic rag holding a Mexico flag they need to strip his citizenship and gold medal.”

And one last comment from our good friends in the Democratic Party…the Party that says they want the Latino vote because they care for Latinos:

“Immigration reform should reflect a commitment to enforcement, not reward those who blatantly break the rules.” - Rep Dan Boren D-Ok

At least Cejudo had the right words to celebrate his American dream: “I’m living the American dream. The United States is the land of opportunity, and I’m so glad I can represent it.”

Henry Cejudo…you are truly an American Hero and we are proud of you!

Fidel “Butch” Montoya
H. S. Power & Light – Latino Faith Initiative

New Law Approves Racial Profiling in Denver

Fidel "Butch" Montoya

The residents of Denver, Colorado have always taken great pride in being a community of tolerance and ability to respect the rights of all people. Compared to the rest of the state, Denver has always been perceived as more liberal and because of it demographics, mindful of the issues of justice and civil rights.

In a city where Latinos represent about 34% of the population, and African Americans about 18%, we should be able to work together to ensure that unjust laws are not passed in our city. Certainly, the minority represent the majority in our city.

On primary Tuesday, Denver voters were asked to approve a new city ordinance requiring police to impound any vehicle where the driver does not have a valid driver's license or where the driver "is suspected of being an illegal alien". There is also a large "impoundment fee" which may prohibit many unlicensed drivers from even getting their vehicle our of the car pound.

The vague language in the initiative will encourage discrimination and harassment based on skin color, spoken language, and appearance. This measure will only divide our community by creating fear and confusion in communities of color, but it will also thrust the undocumented immigrant community further into the shadows of our society.

The ordinance passed with 54% voting yes to implement the ordinance, and 46% voting no.

Currently under Colorado statute, law enforcement officers already have the discretion to impound any vehicle when the driver does not have a valid driver's license or proper insurance on the vehicle. The new ordinance is merely a duplication of state laws and yet another way to legislate a mean spirited effort that ultimately will only increase racial profiling of Latinos in our city.

You may have heard the expression, "driving while Black" used by African Americans when describing racial profiling. Here in Denver, the new expression will be "driving while brown."

As far as I am concerned, this measure will further erode the standard of justice and morality in our community. Denver has a long history and tradition of different ethnic groups contributing to our city, unfortunately on Primary Tuesday; we started to change that perception.

A unique coalition came together to fight the initiative and to educate Denver voters on reasons why this divisive measure would only create more harm than good.

The coalition was comprised of interfaith religious leaders, city officials, Mayor John Hickenlooper, immigrant rights organizations, and labor. Even with this broad based coalition, the measure still passed.

The Colorado Minutemen and CAIR, an affiliate of FAIR supported this immoral initiative. The Southern Poverty Law Center recently added FAIR to its list of hate groups operating in the United States.

Our efforts to ensure that justice would be the primary consideration is what separates us from these mean-spirited hate groups, whose goal is to bring their hate philosophy to our city and create a climate of fear, suspicion, and hate.

The next step in preventing this measure from being fully implemented will mean a turn to the courts. There are serious questions as to its legality, which will only ensure that the new law will be challenged.

Our hopes are now that the court will find reason to prevent this measure from being enforced and look at the passage as a temporary setback. Having lost the election, there simply is no way that people of justice and righteousness can stand idle while an unjust law is on the books.

The passage of this initiative is further proof that we cannot pass immigration reform laws in a piece meal fashion. More and more cities and states around the country are passing immigration laws creating more confusion. The passage of this initiative only points to the necessity that the Federal Government must pass new and comprehensive immigration laws that will fix an outdated and broken immigration system.

The alliances that were forged during this campaign must continue to be vigilant and continue to fight injustice and values that only degrade the standard of immorality in our city.

I wonder how many people meant to go to the polls and vote no, but did not make the time to vote against hate and injustice. No question Dr. Martin Luther King was correct when he stated, "we will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people."

Fidel "Butch" Montoya
H. S. Power & Light - Latino Faith Initiative

Finally, MALDEF says "Whoa to Sheriff Arpaio"

Fidel "Butch" Montoya

Several weeks ago, I lamented the fact that Arizona Maricopa County Sheriff Arpaio had a free hand in his personal and racist campaign against undocumented immigrants.

Some critics of the sheriff have even complained that his deputies have sat outside of grocery stories, shopping malls, and even churches frequented by undocumented immigrants to harass or stop and arrest them for simple traffic infractions like broken tail lights, or because the good sheriff and his deputies “thought they looked suspicious.”

In other words, if your skin color was brown, even if you were a U. S. citizen, you were fair game of the ruthless law enforcement thugs of Maricopa County.

Mayor Phil Gordon of Phoenix, an out spoken critic of Arpaio, called upon the U. S. Department of Justice to investigate the tactics and unlawful campaign of Sheriff Arpaio, his deputies, and his personal army of Minutemen he deputized as his personal “posse” to assist his department. Arpaio even allows many of the Minutemen to carry guns and rifles as members of his “Minuteman posse.”

It seemed like no one wanted to take on Arpaio or his racist policies against undocumented immigrants.

That was the case until MALDEF; the Mexican American Legal Defense Educational Fund filed a class action lawsuit against Sheriff Arpaio for racial profiling and civil rights violations.

According to the lawsuit, “It seeks to stop Arpaio, who styles himself “America’s toughest sheriff,” and his deputies from engaging in unconstitutional searches and seizures of U.S. citizens based on their Latino heritage or appearance.”

Under an agreement with ICE,( Immigration Customs Enforcement) an agency of the Department of Homeland Security, Sheriff Arpaio was obligated to follow the “287(g) agreement for enforcing federal immigration laws.

The “287(g) agreement" with ICE, provides local law enforcement agencies special training and grants them the authority to enforce complex immigration laws.

The lawsuit states, "Sheriff Arpaio agreed to follow 'ICE guidelines (that) state officers can only use 287(g) authority when people are taken into custody as a result of violating state or local criminal law. Police cannot randomly ask for a person’s immigration status or conduct immigration raids,' and that officers may only use their authority when dealing with someone who is suspected of a state crime that is more than a traffic offense.”

The problem was that the Arpaio, his deputies and Minuteman posse were breaking “federal laws” by stopping suspected undocumented immigrants for violating simple traffic violations or raiding homes, or shopping malls.

Generally, the people arrested by the sheriff’s personal campaign against immigrants meant that even people, who had the proper documents, were forced to remain in jail until they could provide the necessary paperwork.

It was literally a flash back to Nazi Germany when the elite SS troopers would stop Jews and ask, “your papers, please.”

Kristina Campbell, MALDEF Staff Attorney said that in addition to basically “flouting the U. S. Constitution, He has drained resources from other crime fighting and investigation units, and his discriminatory practices have undermined trust – a critical component of effective law enforcement – in the Latino community.”

The ACLU of Arizona and the ACLU Immigrants Rights Project have joined MALDEF in filing the lawsuit, Melendres v. Arpaio, before the U.S. District Court for Arizona.

Finally, Sheriff Arpaio from Maricopa County is under scrutiny for violating the civil rights of undocumented immigrants and for breaking federal immigration laws as well.

Imagine that, Sheriff Arpaio, the lawbreaker. MALDEF is out to put a stop to the ruthless campaign of injustice by Sheriff Arpaio and preventing the Sheriff from violating federal laws while pretending to be enforcing federal immigration laws against "criminals".

MALDEF deserves our appreciation for their efforts to finally put a stop to “America’s toughest sheriff.”

Fidel "Butch" Montoya
H. S. Power & Light - Latino Faith Initiative