Protest vs. anti-woman conference

Sterling Heights, Mich. — The so-called Church Militant held a men-only “Strength and Honor” conference Aug. 5 at the Wyndham Garden Hotel in Sterling Heights, Mich. The group could not hide its right-wing agenda from the community.

Detroit Workers World Party and the Michigan People’s Defense Network held a press conference July 28 in Ferndale, Mich., outside CM’s headquarters, to make the hate group’s presence known in the metro Detroit area and to announce a protest against the reactionary, sexist conference.

Church Militant is a radical, theocratic online radio station. Originally called “Real-­­ Catholic.TV,” they were forced to remove “Catholic” from their name by the Archdiocese of Detroit in 2011. (goo.gl/vyupca)

Church Militant broadcasts daily on web shows primarily promoting Donald Trump, anti-abortion rhetoric, Catholic theocracy, strict traditionalist social ideas, hatred of women and LGBTQ people, anti-Semitism and other dangerous ideas.

Although Church Militant had been planning and promoting their men-only conference for several months, it only managed to attract about 50 attendees. Dozens of protesters, however, gathered on a week’s notice to counter CM’s hate and lies.

Church Militant attempted to pretend that this was a matter of free speech and religious love. But their atrocious ideas have nothing to do with love. Their supporters sent hate mail and threats of violence to the MPDN when it announced the press conference. The “Three Percenters,” a known neo-Nazi group, threatened that they would show up to protect the conference, which they never did.

It is important to continue to actively resist these types of hate groups in our local communities. They should not be ignored.