Philip "Flip" Benham (born April 16, 1948) is an

Evangelical Christian Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

minister and the national leader of

Concord, North Carolina Concord ( ) is the most populous city in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 105,240 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Concord is the second-most populous city in the Cha ...

–based

Operation Save America Operation Save America (formerly Operation Rescue National) is a Christian Fundamentalism, fundamentalist Christian Right, Christian conservative organization based in Concord, North Carolina, a suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte, t ...

, an

anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its Abortion by country, legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in r ...

group that evolved from Operation Rescue.

Recent activities

Benham has spoken out against

hate crime Hate crime (also known as bias crime) in criminal law involves a standard offence (such as an assault, murder) with an added element of bias against a victim (individual or group of individuals) because of their physical appearance or perceived ...

legislation that would include legal protections for victims of anti-gay bias crimes, asserting the legislation "expressly forbids any language that might be perceived as 'hate' by the homosexual community. This makes illegal every word in the Bible." In February 1998, Benham was sentenced to six months in jail for trespassing in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

after leading a demonstration outside E. C. Glass High School. He and a group of at least 150 Liberty University students carried gruesome posters picturing aborted fetuses and told arriving students, including a busload of physically and mentally handicapped teenagers, that they were going to Hell if they didn't save unborn children and convert to Christianity. On August 6, 2010, Benham organized an anti-Islam protest at a

Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut and the List of cities in New England by population, fifth-most populous city in New England, with a population of 148,654 in 2020. Loc ...

mosque. About a dozen protesters confronted worshippers outside the mosque. Benham was speaking to the worshipers with a bullhorn. "This is a war in America and we are taking it to the mosques around the country," he said. He has had various run-ins with the police. On July 1, 2011, a

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...

jury found Benham guilty of

stalking Stalking is unwanted and/or repeated surveillance or contact by an individual or group toward another person. Stalking behaviors are interrelated to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person or monitorin ...

a Charlotte-area physician.Ordoñez, Franco; Ridenhour, Courtney
"Anti-abortion activist guilty of stalking Charlotte doctor"
(2011-07-02) ''

The Charlotte Observer ''The Charlotte Observer'' is an American newspaper serving Charlotte, North Carolina, and its metro area. The Observer was founded in 1886. it has the second-largest circulation of any newspaper in the Carolinas. It is owned by Chatham Asset ...

'' Benham and his supporters took pictures of the doctor, his house, and the interior of his clinic, and later distributed photographs of the doctor captioned with "Wanted ... By Christ, to Stop Killing Babies". Benham was sentenced to 18 months probation and ordered to stay at least 500 feet from the victim.Ordoñez, Franco; Ridenhour, Courtney
"Anti-abortion activist guilty of stalking Charlotte doctor"
(2011-07-02) ''

'' On October 13, 2014, Benham staged a protest in

, outside the office of the Mecklenburg County Register of Deeds, where some of the first marriage licenses for same-sex couples were being issued, and while some of those couples were in the midst of wedding ceremonies nearby. On January 23, 2018, police escorted Benham out of a meeting of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board after he violated protocol by approaching the board members at the dais, while shouting and pointing at board members, after his allotted time to address the board had expired. On February 24, 2018, Benham was arrested in Charlotte and charged with communicating threats. The arrest happened during an anti-abortion protest. Nonprofit group Progress NC reported that Benham was arrested outside A Preferred Women’s Health Center, “despite a protective order warning him to stay away from a clinic volunteer.”

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benham, Flip 1948 births North Carolina Constitutionalists American anti-abortion activists Religious leaders from Syracuse, New York American Christian clergy American prisoners and detainees Living people Free Methodist Church ministers Baptists from New York (state) People convicted of stalking Prisoners and detainees of Virginia