LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY dagoski) I was out for the big brouhaha over swisscelt's earlier post. As for myself, I'm not entirely sure where I stand on the whole issue. I tend to be very bigoted towards Christians, unfortunately, with very good reason. The church I was dragged to a a kid would change the denomination listed on its sign every six months or so presumably as they received cease and desist orders from the leadership of those denominations. And no one seemed to notice. What I remember of the theology was very twisted including a lot stuff about race that just didn't fit with what I saw outside. The experience was not pleasant nor have my other experiences with Christianity been positive. I wish I knew more about what was going on, but the Church pretended to be quite normal. Only as time wore on did its craziness become more and more evident. In a way, I think this is a metaphor for what's happening to Christianity in this generation. Based on conversations I've had with some of the better religious people I've known over the years, the brand of religiosity we now know as Dominionism started in the South as a reaction to the victories of the Civil Rights Movement. From there it's spread. I'd appreciate reading dogemperor's thoughts on this. I'm guessing that not only did they found weird stealth churches like the one I went to, but they were invading other congregations even in the 1970s. And that brings me to the actual point of this post. On commenter in swisscelt's post mentioned a book with an interesting title: Antagonists in the Church. I went looking on Amazon to see what this is all about and turned up a second book along the same lines Clergy Killers: Guidance for Pastors and Congregations Under Attack .  The first one was written in 1988 and the later in 1997.  Both books talk about the attackers in terms of mental illness.  Neither mentions anything about organized efforts, but the awareness of disruptive elements in the midst of more mainstream congregations goes back quite sometime.  Steeplejacking seems like a new term that's come up only in the past few years, but these books both make it very clear to me that an organized effort to take churches over has been underway for a very long time now.  Read the reviews of these books and note their dates.  What we're seeing in terms of Dominionism might not necessarily be rooted in the scripture, but rather rooted in a fundamentally political movement that seeks to develop power for its own sake.   What do people know about the history of steeplejacking?  Do we know how long it's been going on?  Have any of you in the community been through it?  If so, please share your experiences.  

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY catvincent)

It'll be interesting to see what they come up with, and how they'd plan to enforce it... and how long before someone gets 'over-zealous', in the literal sense.

' GENEVA - Christian churches are moving closer to a common code of conduct on how they go about winning converts among themselves and from other religions, the World Council of Churches (WCC) said on Monday.

Conversion, sometimes dubbed “sheep-stealing” as it targets another’s flock, is a cause of friction and conflict between religions and among different branches of individual faiths.

Militant groups are often accused of underhand tactics in winning over new adherents.


' The Geneva-based WCC, working with the Vatican on the issue, said a meeting in Toulouse later this week should bring the year-long process of agreeing a conversion rule-book nearer to completion by its target date of 2009.

“Evangelical and Pentecostal representatives will be taking part in the dialogue for the first time, and we see this as a good sign for the eventual success of this project,” said WCC spokesman Juan Michel.

The two strongly proselytizing sects, which have made heavy inroads into membership of other Christian groupings especially in Latin America, Africa and Asia, stood aloof when the effort was launched at a meeting near Rome in May last year.

But this time senior figures from both — German-based philosopher Thomas Schirrmacher of a group called WEA and Bishop Tony Richie of the Church of God in the United States — will attend, although in their personal rather than institutional capacity.

“We have always wanted this process to be inclusive and open, so that all religious partners from Christian faiths and others can make a contribution towards the shaping of the code,” said Michel. '

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY tully_monster)

Before it disappears from the front page of Daily Kos, take a look at this diary. It describes the covert, ongoing 20-year scheme by a cadre of evangelical organizations and wealthy far-right foundations to undermine the Main Line denominations that make up the National Council of Churches.

I was there when this began.

( the shadow wars--a memoir )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

This Daily Kos article by Frederick Clarkson talks about mainline Protestant churches fighting forced takeovers by extreme right groups.

The [Institute on Religion and Democracy] supports and encourages campaigns of disruption and attack in Mainline churches through its Alliance of Church Renewal. IRD has committees specifically focused on the United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church, and the Presbyterian Church (USA), committees which provide support for so-called renewal groups within each of these denominations - the Presbyterian Lay Committee, Good News, and Anglicans United. More recently the United Church of Christ, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the American Baptist Churches, and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) have increasingly come into their sights as well. The IRD pursues its political agenda in the churches through three strategies: campaigns of disinformation that seek to discredit church leadership, advocacy efforts at church assemblies seeking to influence church policy, and grass roots organizing which, in some cases, encourages schismatic movements encouraging members and congregations either to redirect mission funding or even to leave their denominations. Indeed, the Mainline churches are facing hardball tactics.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY jrfrench)

NEW YORK - Rabbi James Rudin is less scared by global terror threatening American democracy, or by the conservative administration based on a pious president in the White House, which is threatening individual liberty and the freedom of worship. He is more bothered by the campaign currently being conducted for the takeover by the Christian religion of all areas of life in the United States. This is "the most significant internal struggle since the Civil War," says Rudin, a Reform rabbi who is accepted in the United States as an authority on interreligious relations.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY bluemoontide)

Apparently being a Protestant Christian isn't good enough these days. One must subscribe to Dominionism, or die!

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/2/6/233823/5430
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/2/13/232452/901