{"id":1588,"date":"2021-08-12T17:08:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-12T22:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thelight.com\/?p=1588"},"modified":"2021-09-12T17:32:44","modified_gmt":"2021-09-12T22:32:44","slug":"murphys-law-bradley-foundation-spreads-the-big-lie-urban-milwaukee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thelight.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/12\/murphys-law-bradley-foundation-spreads-the-big-lie-urban-milwaukee\/","title":{"rendered":"Murphy\u2019s Law: Bradley Foundation Spreads The Big Lie \u00bb Urban Milwaukee"},"content":{"rendered":"
This is not good that Bradley Foundation, right in the LIGHT’s backyard, is playing a large part in spreading the Big Lie.<\/div>\n
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As Christians we are supposed to stand for truth.\u00a0<\/strong> The big Truth is, of course, Jesus.\u00a0 But, we should also take care to represent truth, in general, as a good witness.<\/div>\n
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In order to be responsible we are speaking out against the “Big Lie.”\u00a0 President Trump lost the election to Joe Biden because he received less electoral votes.\u00a0 Former President Trump lost fair and square.\u00a0 If you believe in “rule of law” then over 60 lawsuits have demonstrated the legal truth that President Trump’s claims of massive voter fraud are unsubstantiated.<\/div>\n
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Your leadership at the LIGHT! stands for this because Jesus would want us to speak the truth in love.\u00a0 If you believe the “Big Lie” it may be because you are filling your mind with sources that are not considered generally reliable nor adhere to high standards of journalistic integrity.\u00a0 (These unreliable sources are usually the more extreme sources on both the left and the right and tend to spread much faster on social media than reliable news does).\u00a0 Do not get your news from social media nor your friends emails nor from YouTube (unless it’s an actual, first-hand recording of the event in question)Note that this does not mean that the generally reliable sources are perfect and always right.\u00a0 Far from it.\u00a0 They are initially wrong many times – particularly as a story is developing.\u00a0 However, they go back, correct and update stories to reflect the facts as they learn of their errors.<\/p>\n

The extreme left and extreme right sources rarely do that unless they are under duress (e.g. being sued because they blatantly lied on an objectively examinable event like “Dominion voting machines switched votes for Donald Trump to Joe Biden.”) without every showing credible evidence for their claim.<\/p>\n

Evangelicals like us must stand up for truth.\u00a0 Truth, rule of law and democracy are foundational to any and every policy issue.\u00a0 If you don’t have them you can’t fight for the issues that Christians care about like saving babies from being aborted, ensuring that churches have religious exemptions from being forced to hire people who will not advocate for their organizations value as their pastor, etc.<\/p>\n

One other point – of the two candidates who ran in the 2020 Presidential election which one made a mockery of truth, rule of law and democracy more?\u00a0 To give you a hint, just count up the number of lies told by each and see who told more lies by an order of magnitude of more.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"\"Cleta Mitchell speaking at CPACin 2012. Photo by Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, (CC BY-SA 2.0<\/a>), via Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n

New Yorker writer Jane Mayer<\/b>, the author of the book Dark Money<\/i><\/a>, has once again done great reporting<\/a> to show how Milwaukee\u2019s Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation is perhaps the biggest funder of groups trying to undermine America\u2019s elections by spreading the Big Lie that President Joe Biden<\/a><\/strong> <\/b>wasn\u2019t legally elected. And its board member Cleta Mitchell<\/a><\/strong><\/strong> is the key figure pushing for this funding, while working as a lawyer and activist with most of major groups working to invalidate a legal election.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been reporting on the foundation since 1988 and what strikes me is how it has become progressively radicalized over the last decade or so. For much of its history, under its president Michael Joyce<\/a><\/strong><\/b>, it was a transparent organization that believed in the power of ideas and even funded attempts to find compromise between conservative and liberal views. Now it operates very secretively, rarely responding to requests for comment, and engaging in partisan, pro-Republican advocacy that some charge is expressly forbidden by federal law regulating charitable organizations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n