The ultra-conservative Christian activist group the True Texas Project (TTP) is facing a crisis over its two-day July conference after three scheduled speakers backed out amid concerns about the ideology of some of the participants and the event itself, according to The Texas Tribune.
The outlet reported that some of the guests invited to address attendees at this summer’s 15th-anniversary gathering on July 12 and 13 had ties to far-right extremists.
Since then, the Tribune reports, three of the original 12 speakers have pulled out, two of whom said they would not have agreed to appear in the first place had they understood the conference’s themes.
Seminars entitled “Multiculturalism and the War on White America”, “Great Replacement Theory” and “The Case for Christian Nationalism” are all listed on the TTP’s dedicated webpage for the event.
Todd Bensman, a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, explained his decision by saying: “I was unaware of the racialist themes of the conference and language of the other sessions related to it until the past couple of days.
“I categorically reject white replacement theory and never write or speak about it. I’m not interested in any of that stuff.”
Former state senator Don Huffines, a prominent GOP donor, said the event was a “dumb and inaccurate way to promote the Republican agenda” and that he “was never given a lineup of speakers or topics”.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation also confirmed that senior fellow and immigration expert Ammon Blair would not take part.
What’s more, the conference’s purported original venue, the Fort Worth Botanic Garden, issued a statement on Wednesday saying it would not be involved and that its management “rejects all forms of hate speech, discrimination, or bigotry”.
Julie McCarty, the TTP’s founder, responded to that by telling supporters in an email that the garden “went back on their agreement” to host and blamed “woke attacks” for attempting to “silence TTP and prevent us from advancing the grassroots movement across Texas”.
The Independent has approached the True Texas Project for comment on the reported turmoil surrounding its summer conference.
The event’s itinerary listed online openly promotes fringe hard-right ideologies like the Great Replacement Theory – arguing that the white race is being systematically phased out by shadowy forces – and Christian nationalism, which it defines as nothing more sinister than “a robust English Protestant cultural and political order”.
The TTP’s introduction to its upcoming seminar on the former subject describes it as “clearly not just a theory, but a reality” and states: “Concerned citizens are told not to believe their lying eyes, while the progressive Left celebrates a majority-minority future as a moral triumph.”
A passage introducing its talk on the “War on White America” declares: “You’d have to be hiding under a rock at this point to not have noticed the blatant anti-white campaign by the Left. They don’t even hide their intent to rid the earth of the white race.
“It’s absolutely vital we remember that when they say ‘white supremacy’ or ‘white nationalism’ or whatever the most recent scare phrase is, they literally just mean your heritage and historical way of life. It’s a culture war, simple as that.
“Stop apologizing. Stop backing down. Start fighting back.”
