No, despite repeated claims by Kim Davis’ attorneys, 100,000 Christians in Peru did not attend a prayer rally for Kim Davis, and they don’t seem like they’re going to apologize or admit they were wrong.
Editor’s note: See update at bottom.
Liberty Counsel chairman Mat Staver Saturday night told hundreds of conservatives attending Family Research Council Action’s Values Voter Summit Saturday night that 100,000 Christians in Lima, Peru held a prayer rally for Kim Davis.
Here’s the photo Staver claimed was proof of the prayer rally:
When Zack Ford at ThinkProgress, working with Twitter user @DCHomos, thoroughly debunked Staver’s claim, he doubled down, issuing two press releases insisting the event took place.
“While meetings of 70,000 to 100,000 Christians in a soccer stadium may shock people in the United States, they are much more common in Peru. Oftentimes such gatherings do not appear on traditional media any more than the weekly church services in the United States appear on television,’ Staver’s press release claimed.
Late Monday night, Ford and @DCHomos located and published the original source of the photo Staver insisted was proof of “the worldwide support expressed by Christians for Kim Davis.”
Yes, a May, 2014 post to Facebook by the World Missionary Movement in Peru. May, 2014, and obviously nothing to do with Kim Davis, a year before she even came into the spotlight.
Matt Barber, who runs the viciously anti-gay website BarbWire and works with or has worked with Liberty Counsel had published an attack against Ford and Think Progress, but was forced to admit and apologize for his error:Â
But Liberty Counsel as of this writing is digging in its heels.
Its press release still remains on its website, and the only acknowledgment of ThinkProgress’ thorough and now repeated debunking of its false claim is this tweet, passing off all responsibility:
Is it Liberty Counsel’s policy to merely repeat any claims told to them, without question or investigation, and then, refuse to apologize or correct the record when proven wrong?
If and when Liberty Counsel publicly acknowledges their claim was false and apologizes, we’ll update this post.
UPDATE: 12:15 PM Eastern –
As promised, we are updating this post with Liberty Counsel’s response, which as of this writing is not linked to their front page, where their original press release insisting the photo was real still exists.
“It now appears that while prayer meetings did occur throughout Peru, the photograph presented to Mat Staver was an honest mistake and was of a different Christian assembly in a soccer field,” the statement, rather lengthy, reads, not mentioning the photo is more than a year old. “While people in Peru did pray on September 13, we have now learned that the photograph was not of the prayer meeting.”
Staver still insists “the photograph was an honest mistake.”
You’ll note that if you read the entire statement at Liberty Counsel’s website, it does not state that 100,000 people in Peru gathered together to pray for Kim Davis. Note, too, that there was no apology, nor likely, will there be any attempt to notify the hundreds of people Staver misrepresented the image to. Liberty Counsel is welcome to contact us with proof should they make that attempt.
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EARLIER:
Liberty Counsel Totally Stands By Discredited Claim 100,000 Peruvians Rallied For Kim Davis
Did Kim Davis’ Attorney Lie That 100,000 Christians In Peru Gathered To Pray For Her?
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Image: Screenshot via FRC Action/YouTube