I wrote this in 2004. I didn't imagine at the time how successful these jokers would be with dominion theology. (I wrote this for an education bulletin board I owned and moderated at the time. I don't have time to edit out the BB code. I'm sure most of the links are not working almost 18 years later. Sorry.)
(My focus in politics is always partly on education, and since the people I'm "bashing" are avowed enemies of public education and, in most cases, scientific thought, this is right on target. I am not bashing Christians here. I am not bashing conservatives. There are many Christian and conservative organizations around who are also fighting the rise of the theocratic right.)
Genesis 1:28 commands men to have "dominion" over "every living thing." Taking their cue from that verse, Dominionist are Christians who believe that Christians (and Christians only) have a mandate for dominion over the globe, and who believe that Christ won't return until this is accomplished.
The Dominionists made some advances in the late seventies and on into the eighties, with the Moral Majority, but lost steam in the nineties. Their power is growing again and they seem to have heard a call to battle with Bush's November election victory.
In Matthew 28:19-20, the "Great Commission," Jesus commands his followers to proselytize to the world. George Bush, who often acknowledges his supporters in the Dominionist movement using carefully phrased key words in his speeches, uses the "great commission" keyword often in policy speeches. Viewed through the framework of Dominionism, Bush's policies - which at times seem incompressible to those who don't support him - make sense. The push into Iraq, for example, is the first step toward the great commission and the losses of life and money, along with the political hits are worth it. Bush's tax cuts, which some of us find indefensible during a time of war, make perfect sense in the context of destroying the federal government, a Dominionist goal.
In addition to theocracy, some of the broad goals of the Dominionists include the near total abolition of the federal government, including especially the IRS, public education, and public health; the broad application of the death penalty to offenses mentioned in the Bible (including sodomy and adultery); and the abrogation of the advancements women's rights advocates have made over the past half-century. Abortion, of course, would also subject both the abortionists and their clients to the death penalty.
Dominionists are sometimes called Reconstructionists (there is a difference between the two, but basically Dominionists practice a
lite version of Reconstructionalism). Zell Miller is one. Supreme Court Justice Scalia and Thomas have both used Dominionist ideals in their written rulings and in their speeches. Scalia, in particular, affirms openly his belief in the supremacy of biblical law over constitutional law.
http://www.thementalmilitia.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=251&mode=thread
[quote]Justice Antonin Scalia...declared in the theological journal
First Things that the state derives its moral authority from God, not the "consent of the governed," as that old licentious reveler Thomas Jefferson held in the Declaration of Independence. No, government "is the 'minister of God' with powers to 'revenge,' to 'execute wrath,' including even wrath by the sword," Scalia wrote. He railed against the "tendency of democracy to obscure the divine authority behind government."[/quote]
Please note that I don't think the Bush administration is Dominionist. Bush may be sympathetic, but I think the real movers and shakers in the Bush administration are using the Dominionist to help achieve whatever goals they feel are important to them. In turn, the Dominionists may be using the Bush administration to advance their cause.
Because their extreme views are not supported by the majority, many Americans aren't aware of this gathering threat to democracy or think this is not a threat or is a nuisance at worst. But Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson acknowledge that they are a minority. Their writings and speeches reveal that their tactics for gaining power as a minority depend on voter apathy, low voter-turnout, not revealing their more radical ideals, and keeping a relatively low profile. I don't want these people to have a low profile. They are too dangerous to let them slip by.
I've included a few quotes from an article published in Tampa's Daily Planet in March 2004 and now on the [url=
http://www.theocracywatch.org/]Theocracy Watch[/url] web site.
http://www.theocracywatch.org/christian_recon_planet_weekly_mar2004.htm
[quote]In 2000, the Republican Party of Texas signed onto an agenda that Reconstructionists would applaud as a critical first step toward theocracy. The GOP declared that it "affirms that the United States is a Christian nation."Last month, that sentiment reached the national level. [url=
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:H.R.3799:] The Constitution Restoration Act of 2004[/url] would acknowledge Christianity's God as the "sovereign source" of our laws. It would reach back in history and reverse all judicial decisions that have built a wall between church and state, and it would prohibit federal judges from making such rulings in the future.
The bill was co-sponsored in the Senate by Zell Miller, the...Georgia Democrat (and United Methodist), and several Republican colleagues, including South Carolina's Lindsey Graham; in the House, the sponsors were all Republican, including Georgia's Jack Kingston.[/quote]
(See [url=
http://www.tuff-teach.com/pcs/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7765].this Tuff post[/url] for more about The Constitution Restoration Act of 2004.)
[quote]DeMar, North and other Reconstructionists believe the state should be limited to building and maintaining roads, enforcing land-use contracts, ensuring just weights and measures -- and not much else.
Except, as DeMar writes in his book Liberty at Risk, "The State is God's 'minister,' taking vengeance out on those who do evil," a role eagerly embraced by the Bush administration. A major task for the Christian state would be to field armies to conquer in the name of Jesus.
As Jerry Falwell -- not technically a Reconstructionist because of theological nuances, but a preacher who generally follows the movement's tactical plan for creating a Christian government -- proclaimed earlier this year, "God is pro-war." And, Atlanta's Rev. Charles Stanley, a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention and another dominion theology tagalong, was among the first in line wanting to dispatch his missionaries alongside American troops in Iraq.
Stanley wrote last year, "God favors war for divine reasons and sometimes uses it to accomplish His will." That, of course, is balm to the neo-conservatives in the Bush administration.
As for the Reconstruction economy, it would be a libertarian's dream -- as long as biblical laws, such as prohibiting usury, were adhered to.
DeMar said last month, "There's much (libertarian talk-show host) Neal Boortz and I agree on." Primarily, government isn't needed when it comes to economic issues.
Unions would be illegal, as would any government role in workplace safety. Employers could discriminate for any and all reasons. Minimum wage, unemployment benefits, Social Security, welfare -- all history. Adios environmental protection laws, as well as regulation on who can call themselves a physician or lawyer.
Public schools are anathema. One of the great successes of Reconstruction has been promoting home-schooling programs. Home schooling is much broader than Reconstruction, of course. But Illinois Reconstructionist Paul Lindstrom has devised texts used by tens of thousands of home- schooling families.
The arena that generates the most attention -- and shock -- is dominion theology's radical plans to make capital punishment part of America's daily routine.
Ringgold's Don Boys -- who as a one-term Indiana state official in the 1970s authored legislation that restored capital punishment there -- spoke cheerfully of a time when Americans will witness 10,000 executions a year. And Gary North suggests the method -- stoning -- because rocks are "cheap, plentiful and convenient." Reconstructionists also favor other biblical forms of execution -- burning, hanging and the sword.
Sins suitable for execution are those mentioned in the Old Testament. Interestingly, although male homosexuals would be among the first in line for the Reconstructionists' gallows, lesbians would be exempted because no specific reference to executing them can be found in the Books of Moses.[/quote]
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