As we wrote about last week, The Call is a kind of youth-oriented spin-off of the Promise Keepers 1997’s rally on the National Mall that claims to be less about politics and more about “fasting and prayer for the benefit of the nation.” Of course, that claim is somewhat undermined by the fact that The Call first came to DC just before the presidential election in 2000 because, according to their own video, “the crisis was so real [and] we knew that the nation was a stake and the only hope was massive fasting and prayer.” And wouldn’t you know it, eight years later, just before another presidential election, The Call is coming back to DC:
Obviously, The Call is predominantly focused on fighting abortion and, as we noted last time, founder Lou Engle seems pretty intent on making the issue of judicial appointments a key messaging point. In this video posted on his blog, he stands with activists outside the Supreme Court and says they must all work to make sure that “the issue of abortion will not be a secondary issue in these elections and that God will drive it like a wedge [into the campaign]”:
In the video posted on his blog awhile back, Engel notes that they has just met with Concerned Women for America and now comes word that Tony Perkins and Mike Huckabee will be joining Engel and others for a “pre-Call Conference” in Maryland just days before the event.
The Call may not bill itself as a political event, but coming just three months before the election, focusing on issues like abortion and judges, and being supported by the likes of CWA, FRC, and Mike Huckabee, it certainly has many of the characteristics of a political rally.
