LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

I found a link to a very interesting article about Dominionism (called here 'reconstructionism' by the writer) on the Mainstream Baptists site.

An excerpt:

Very few people in Oklahoma or in our entire country have any idea who Rousas Rushdoony was. Fewer still know the impact that his thought and writings are having on life in our society. Most of the people who have been influenced by him are loathe to admit that his ideas have had an impact on their thinking. Some, like John Whitehead who heads the Rutherford Institute and was a prominent advisor to George W. Bush during the legal battles in Florida after the last presidential election, acknowledged Rushdoony’s influence in their early writings, but have found it necessary to distance themselves from him as they acquired positions of public influence. Oklahoma is one of the few states where influential people have little fear that their credibility could be undermined by being openly identified with Rushdoony or with the Chalcedon Foundation that he started. I suspect that the Daily Oklahoman is the only major daily newspaper in the world to eulogize Rushdoony on its editorial page and State Representative Bill Graves of Oklahoma City is one of the few elected officials in the country who writes articles for the Chalcedon Report -- the Foundation’s monthly newsletter. Bill Graves has articles published in both the January and the March 2002 issues of the Chalcedon Report.

Openly identifying with Rushdoony and the Reconstructionist movement is problematic for people in the public eye because Rushdoony was an adamant opponent of the First Amendment to the constitution. His magnum opus, published in 1973, is an 800 page tome patterned after Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion that Rushdoony entitled The Institutes of Biblical Law. On page 294, Rushdoony gives an indication why he believes that the American system of pluralistic democracy is heresy. He wrote, “In the name of toleration, the believer is asked to associate on a common level of total acceptance with the atheist, the pervert, the criminal, and the adherents of other religions.” ( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

"My Thoughts, exactly" has an entry about how, even though he teaches Sunday School, he isn't really a Christian:

I then paused (yeah, for effect) and then announced to the class that I am not a Christian. I told them I knew they must be shocked since I was a Sunday School teacher and I desperately want to be in the ministry full-time, but I simply was not a Christian (again, a pause for effect). The term “Christian is used three times in Scripture (see here, here, and here). The context of each of these uses indicates that the name “Christian” was applied and therefore defined by those who were not “Christians”. In other words, non-Christians define what it means to be a Christian. At this, some in my class gave me knowing looks as if they knew where I was headed. After my dramatic pause, I told them that to be a Christian in America means four things. A Christian is one who (1) opposes gay marriage, (2) opposes abortion, (3) is pro-war, and (4) is Republican. I then proceeded to shock the class even more by announcing that I could not be a Christian because I am not a Republican.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Thanks to twistedchick for this find. Here's the website: Ohio Restoration Project And here is what twistedchick said about it on her blog:

"This is a Dominionist move to install religious law instead of civil law in the state of Ohio, with recruitment for support through conservative churches; I linked in my last post to a pastor's letter to the editor opposing it.

What's involved? Let's look at the website itself. When you read the following excerpt, please remember that the buzzwords like freedom and harvest and spiritual warfare may mean something different to the people for which it was written:"[emphasis mine]( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Former President Bill Clinton was interviewed by Larry King on Wednesday. Here's what he has to say about mixing religion and politics:

In the Wednesday night interview, Clinton also discussed the impact of religious groups on politics, his humanitarian projects and his relationship with former President George H.W. Bush.

When asked whether the Christian conservative movement -- which makes up much of President Bush's political base -- concerns him, Clinton replied: "I think they should be worried about it. Because I think whenever religious people try to exercise political power in God's name, and to say that they have the whole truth and they can impose it ... that's always hazardous.

"Our country is the most religious, big country on Earth, with more different faiths flourishing and more regular observance because we haven't had a state religion," he said. "And we haven't had politics as religion. And we haven't had politicians claiming to be in possession of the whole truth."

But religious influence in politics comes and goes, Clinton added.

He admitted that Democrats often are uncomfortable with discussions of the moral dilemmas many religious people feel. "And so we have ceded the ground of too many voters to the religious right," he said. "But that's our fault. We should engage in this debate."