For the second year in a row last weekend, teens from Teen Mania Ministries, a group known for its fundamental Christian and anti-gay beliefs, attended the Acquire the Fire event at San Diego State University’s Cox Arena. And for the second year in a row some teens were met with a different message than they anticipated when they crossed spiritual paths with The Asylum of the Tortured Heart Incorporated, the San Diego Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

The Sisters, a self-defined “order of 21st century nuns dedicated to the promulgation of universal joy and the expiation of stigmatic guilt staged a “joytest” called “PeaceCry” to counter Teen Mania’s “Branded by God – The Mark of a Warrior: Acquire The Fire” tour that rolled into San Diego on May 9.

Sr. Iona Dubble-Wyde, “chairnun” of the board of directors of The Asylum of the Tortured Heart, said that many of the teens met them with as much joy, love and compassion, as they were there to give.

“It gives me hope for the future to see that majority of teens at the event were open to accept the differences we all have regardless of if they agreed with us or not,” Dubble-Wyde said.

“It seemed that for each person that condemned us to hell there were five more to step up and say God loves everyone,” the Sister said, noting that many of the teens are willing to look past what they are being taught.

According to Ron Luce, 45, who founded Teen Mania Ministries in 1986, the kids are taught that “as far as homosexuality is concerned, God is the ultimate judge. He loves the sinner, but he does not love the sin.”

The message, among others that Teen Mania promotes, draws praise from such prominent evangelical leaders as Joyce Meyer, Jerry Falwell, Chuck Colson, Pat Robertson and Jack Hayford.

It’s a message that Teen Mania propagates at about 30 conferences in as many cities across the United States and Canada each year, according to the group’s Web site, www.battlecry.com.

“TeenMania exploits homophobia to preach about the so-called evils of American popular culture and targets its message of intolerance toward 14 to 21-year olds,” according to a past release from the Sisters.

Various publications and organizations have expressed similar views. When the group convened in San Francisco in 2006, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Assemblymember Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, said that such fundamentalists are “loud, they’re obnoxious, they’re disgusting, and they should get out of San Francisco.”

And while the Sisters say they don’t agree with the message TeenMania drives home, the recipients of that message are intelligent, respectful and well informed – at least with regard to quoting scripture. The teens gathered in front of the nuns with a variety of questions.

“The event was simultaneously uplifting and heart-wrenching because the extremes in Christian teaching were displayed,” Sr. Evelyn Tentions, Abbess of The Asylum of the Tortured Heart Incorporated.

“Kids as young as 10 approached, saying that we faced eternity in hell unless we changed our ways, while others asked for hugs and affirmed that God loves us all,” Tentions said.

Although agnostic, the Sister said she was moved several times when participants asked if they could pray for her. “This exhibited the most fundamental aspects of Christian faith: charity, compassion and love,” Tentions said.

According to the Sisters, even the adults were very supportive and thanked them for talking to the teens and being honest about their beliefs.

“Several of the interns were delighted to see us at Acquire the Fire. They had heard about us from last year’s group of interns and were hoping they too would get a chance to meet up with us and share some tears and laughs,” Dubble-Wyde said.

Some even got a couple pictures to post on their MySpace and FaceBook pages.

“These kids can see past the message of BattleCry,” Dubble-Wyde said.

That doesn’t surprise Luce. According to Luce, Teen Mania Ministries is not as far-right as it is perceived to be, and people opposed to the group are mistaken. “They don’t know the real reason that we are here,” Luce said.

Luce denies Teen Mania has political affiliations or a political message. “With Acquire the Fire, I hope to get the message across to today’s youth that they don’t have to give in to the ideas and beliefs that media and pop culture are throwing at them,” he says.

Political affiliations or not, Luce does have some powerful political and religious connections. In 2003, President George W. Bush gave Luce an appointment to the White House Advisory Commission on Drug-Free Communities. And, according to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia.com, Teen Mania Ministries is a member of the Arlington Group, a coalition that unites the leaders of almost all the most prominent Christian Right organizations.