Repent Amarillo, also known as "God and Country" or "Last Front Evangelist", is a small

Amarillo, Texas Amarillo ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Potter County, Texas, Potter County, though most of the southern half of the city extends into Randall County, Texas, Randall County ...

-based group which advocated for the

spiritual mapping Spiritual mapping refers to the belief among some Christians that specific Demons in Christianity, demons, known as Territorial spirit, territorial spirits, are associated with specific locations and can be conquered through strategic spiritual war ...

and targeting of specific local areas and venues in order to exorcise demons from those areas. Because of the group's alleged tactics and targeting of perceivably-vulnerable minorities, the group has gained infamy from many critics who label the organization as a "

hate group A hate group is a social group that advocates and practices hatred, hostility, or violence towards members of a race, ethnicity, nation, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any other designated sector of society. Acc ...

" or a "Christian" analogy for the Lebanese militant group

Hezbollah Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...

(). The group was led by former Department of Energy security guard David Grisham.

Activities

Among the number of notable actions and campaigns taken by the group include protests against supposed swingers, LGBT people, abortion clinics, Muslims, Buddhists, Wiccans, Episcopalians, Methodists, Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholics, and a myriad of other groups.

Boycott against Houston, Texas

In January 2010, the group launched a boycott campaign against the city of

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, due to the election of openly gay mayor

Annise Parker Annise Danette Parker (born May 17, 1956) is an American politician from the state of Texas. A Democrat, Parker served as the 61st Mayor of Houston, Texas, from 2010 until 2016. She also served as an at-large member of the Houston City Council ...

and the construction of an abortion clinic in the city.

Theological controversy

The group is a source of debate within Christian circles whom disagree with or reject the doctrine of

and

territorial spirit Territorial spirits are national angels, or demons who rule over certain geographical areas in the world, a concept accepted within the Charismatic movement, Pentecostalism, and Dominionist Kingdom Now theology. This belief has been popularized ...

s, among other doctrinal issues.

Amarillo Citizens against Repent Amarillo

Amarillo Citizens against Repent Amarillo, also known by the

acronym An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial Letter (alphabet), letter of each wor ...

ACARA, is the counter-movement to Repent Amarillo. They are protesters made up of Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists and atheists who gathered at Sam Houston Park in order to challenge Grisham's plan to burn the

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

on a grill (the book had been doused with kerosene). While Grisham was arguing with a group of women that placed their hands on the grill asking if he would burn them too, it was when Grisham lit his lighter anyway that a 23-year-old named Jacob Isom snuck up from behind him, grabbed the Quran from Grisham's hands, and ran off after saying, "Dude, you have no Quran"; afterwards, Isom handed the book to a religious leader from the Islamic Center of Amarillo. Isom was presented with a "Medal of Reasonableness" at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear for his action. He immediately threw the medal into the crowd. Of notable mention is the wide range of classes ACARA has within its ranks. Two well-known members ran for Mayor of Amarillo, contesting Grisham every step of the way. Cory "Grady" Traves is the head of ACARA's Peace Keepers detail, responsible for keeping the peace at the David Grisham for Mayor Rally.

Westgate Mall incident

In December 2016, Grisham accosted a group of children and their parents who were waiting to see

Santa Claus Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or Santa) is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Chris ...

at Westgate Mall.

References