Begone, Satan!

Ayah Young feels the power as the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence perform an exorcism shortly after a right-wing religious group's "Battle Cry" rally on the steps of City Hall. The Christian youth group was in San Francisco for a two-day rally at SBC Park, which drew some 25,000 participants.

Currently on display in SF: more than 200 artworks by Buddhist guru Master Wan Ko Yee. According to the master's disciples, his art — including the truly ugly sculpture above, which appears to be crafted from home insulating foam and spray painted, with a light inside — "could not possibly have been created by a human being." Uh, OK.

yunart.org

Catholic conflict

He's at the end of a command chain that goes straight to new arch-conservative Pope Benedict XVI, so observers say it's going to be difficult for San Francisco Catholic Charities director Brian Cahill to work around the Vatican's recent ruling that gays and lesbians can't adopt children through his agency.

Although he may be at the end of the line, he's also between a rock and a hard place, because two weeks ago all 11 San Francisco supervisors voted to condemn the ruling, and gay, Catholic supe Tom Ammiano has threatened to cut off Catholic Charities' city contracts, worth about $6.5 million, if the agency decides to discriminate (in defiance of both state and local laws).

So Ammiano met with Cahill March 23 to try to nail down a compromise. "He's making a real honest effort," Ammiano said, but at the meeting Cahill said he can't buck church doctrine. Ammiano hopes something can be worked out to avoid a showdown like the one that took place three weeks ago in Boston, when the Catholic Charities agency there abandoned its founding mission and quit doing adoptions entirely.

Cahill reportedly has the support of parish priests and many within the Archdiocese who are happy to see gay and lesbian adoptions continue. However, the day before Cahill met with Ammiano, former San Francisco archbishop William J. Levada — now a high-ranking Vatican official — took an oath of "unconditioned loyalty" to the new Pope Benedict XVI, who, when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, wrote the 2003 encyclical that declared that placing children in gay households would do them "violence." (Joe Dignan)

Christian soldiers throw down in SF

The right-wing culture warriors came to San Francisco March 24, waving red flags and sounding their battle cry from the steps of City Hall. "We're not hateful. We're sharing the love of God," declared "Battle Cry" founder, author, and evangelical preacher Ron Luce, who nonetheless uses bellicose rhetoric in his crusade to recruit an army of young people to combat the evils of homosexuality, promiscuity, abortion, substance abuse, and other byproducts of a culture he believes has forsaken God.

Luce's army of about 200 — mostly teenagers bussed in from all over the West for the Battle Cry event over the weekend at SBC Park — was countered by almost as many protesters from San Francisco, chanting slogans that included, "Religion is one thing, theocracy is another, the Christian Right is wrong."

It was an emotionally charged conflict mediated by police and metal barriers but still including plenty of provocation from both sides. "You teach racism and you teach hate, get out of our city, get out of our state," went one chant from protesters, while a boy from Luce's group who looked to be about 12 years old at one point flipped the bird at a transgender man and mouthed, "Faggot!"

Luce chose this setting to kick off his latest campaign because of City Hall's role as a symbol of the fight to legalize same-sex marriage, according to promotional materials. Mike Doughney of the Maryland-based Biblical America Resistance Front told the Guardian he's monitored Battle Cry for about eight years and flew out because the confrontational rally at City Hall marks a new and more aggressive tactic by Luce.

"They came here to try to provoke people," Doughney said.

Yet not all the attendees were down with such militant tactics. Ryan Asbro, 18, of Eugene, Ore., told us he was simply interested in going on a church retreat and was uncomfortable with the approach of Battle Cry. So why did he come? Asbro said his youth group recently got a new advisor who insisted they take part. (Steven T. Jones)

Postscript

You may remember "The Father," our March 22 story on alleged screwups in the police investigation into the 2003 murder of Kevin Coleman. Coleman's grieving father, Floyd Coleman, a retired Sacramento probation officer, helped solve the case — and he had some fairly unflattering things to say about the San Francisco Police Department. Well, after the piece ran, we got some feedback from the cops.

"I was kind of taken aback by the criticism," said Capt. Kevin Cashman, a high-ranking officer in the bureau of investigation. "It's a victory anytime you walk away with two first-degree-murder convictions and sentences of 50 to life. It doesn't get much better than that."

Inspector Tony Casillas, one of the detectives on the case, said Floyd Coleman "didn't have all the facts" and insisted the department had "an extremely strong case" before Coleman got involved.

Still, Casillas credited Coleman with advancing the probe, notably when it came to a defendant named Antonio Woods. "There's no doubt he helped us move forward," the inspector said. (AC Thompson)