Batavia, N.Y. (WBEN) - The ReAwaken America tour, a conservative rally with speakers including General Michael Flynn, Eric Trump and Clay Clark is underway in Batavia at the Cornerstone Church on Friday and Saturday and is being met with heavy protest from local faith leaders of all Christian branches and other religions.
People gathered outside of the First Baptist Church on East Main early Friday morning to condemn the controversial tour, especially the list of speakers attending the event, calling their work "anti-democracy Christian nationalism."
"Our hearts are broken because of the damage this tour, this ReAwaken America tour has already caused around our country, using the cover of religion to sow division and hate," said Rev. Dr. Roula Alkhouri, pastor at Batavia First Presbyterian Church.
Rev. Nathan Empsall, Executive Director of Faithful America criticized what the former National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn has been saying over the previous legs of this tour.
"Since the January 6th insurrection, which was inspired by Christian nationalism, Mike Flynn last November stood at another Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, at an earlier stop of the ReAwaken America tour and said that America is one nation under God which, by the way, was not inserted into the pledge until the 1950s. That phrase has nothing to do with the founders. Flynn said that because we're one nation under God, we should only have one religion."
"To say America should have one religion is a chilling thing to say anywhere, we should all have religious liberty, but to say it in a church known for an anti-semitic pastor (Pastor John Hagee) was particularly chilling, disturbing and even potentially violent. It's nothing new for Michael Flynn, we hear this kind of rhetoric from him and those on the tour all the time. We see it in the legislation, they try to pass," Reverend Empsall says.
Nationally, more than 21,000 Christians have signed petitions from Faithful America, rejecting the ReAwaken America tour and asking churches not to associate with the event. Another 25,000 Christians, including the presiding bishops of the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, also signed a previous statement from the Christians Against Christian Nationalism initiative denouncing the ideology that now underlies the tour.
These faith leaders are not the only ones speaking out against this event. New York Attorney General Letitia James sent a letter to Batavia's Cornerstone Church and organizers of the event, warning the church and the organizers that her team could pursue legal action if the "extremist" rhetoric results in unlawful conduct.
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Meanwhile at the ReAwaken America event, General Michael Flynn spoke with reporters Friday saying that he himself would like Letita James to come to the event and speak.
"We invited the Attorney General here, there's a seat for her right over there We invite- I mean, I would have, I would have loved to have had her get up and speak. No, I mean, no, seriously. I mean, we're wide open here. We're wide open here," said Flynn at Friday's event.
See below for the full conference from protestors: