Key Leaders
Vision America is headed by the often-quoted Rick Scarborough, a Baptist minister who got involved in anti-choice politics in 1992. Then a pastor at First Baptist Church in Pearland, TX, Scarborough attended a high school presentation on AIDs prevention where he was appalled by the matter-of-fact talk about condoms and sex acts. Scarborough was outraged by the availability of this information and began a campaign to elect members of his church into school board and city council positions[1]. This concept later evolved into Scarborough’s network of “Patriot Pastors”, which in 2005 had about 5,000 members. Scarborough also recently spoke out on Texas governer Rick Perry's mandate of HPV vaccinations for all Texas girls entering the sixth grade. He stated, “The governor's action seems to signify that God's moral law regarding sex outside of marriage can be transgressed without consequence.” Scarborough is very well connected with religious leaders in the American South and Midwest and has recently endorsed Mike Huckabee's presidential campaign.
Scarborough has written four books, the most recent of which is titled Liberalism Kills Kids.
[1]"Texan works to energize GOP's 'values voters'." Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, TX) (Sept 9, 2007): NA. General OneFile. Gale. Oakland Public Library. 18 Dec. 2007
Organizational Background and Activities
Founded in 2002, Vision America (VA) states that one of its core values is the sanctity of marriage as a permanant union between a man and woman; sexuality is only to be shared in this bond, according to VA. VA efforts focus not just on restricting reproductive freedoms, but on imposing an entire conservative Christian agenda on all areas of US government. VA uses its network of Patriot Pastors to mobilize conservative Christian parishioners vote the "values voter" line. Using the Bible as the foundation of citizenship, VA encourages its member pastors to register as many church-going voters as possible and preach to them how to vote. VA frames any efforts to keep religious messages out of the public sphere as a "War on Christianity," and held a conference with this title, attended by Tom DeLay, Senator John Cornyn, Rev. Rod Parsely, Alan Keyes and Phyllis Schlafly, in 2006.
The VA network and Scarborough became very active in 2005 in an effort to get president Bush's judicial nominees confirmed by the Senate. VA has pushed a message that activist judges have taken the law into their own hands, creating a secular oligarchy that oppresses Christians. This defensive stance is also apparent in the VA network's advocacy against hate crime legislation and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), as these acts are seen as threats to a Christian way of life and the fourth amendment.
Address
902 SE Stallings Dr. # A
Nacogdoches, TX 75964
Funding and Budget
Vision America is a private, for-profit company. Funding sources are unavailable at this time, but the organization does accept donations (non-tax-deductible).
For the Fiscal Year of ending 2004:
Income: $823,000
Rick Scarborough's Salary: $115, 800
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