LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY thedemonprist)

( An article and some amusing pics )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY arxacies)

What are some of the big dominionist denominations? I know the Southern Baptists have their share, and I think Assembly of God. What others?

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

This opinion article from Salon puts the theocrats in their place:

God doesn't take sides
How do I reconcile my faith with that of the spiritual hysterics in the White House? Easy. I don't even try.

By Anne Lamott

April 27, 2005 | I have been on a book tour for a month, and as God is my witness, at every single reading I gave, someone asked how I can "reconcile my Christian faith with that of the radical right." I never quite answered this to my own satisfaction, but would like to try to do so now. And the answer is, "I don't. Why would you even bother?"

The truth is that many of us left-wing Christians with fragile nerves and bad attitudes are becoming ever so slightly tense about the distinct possibility that this country we love is becoming, under the Bush administration, a theocracy. Those of us with public lives are constantly asked, "Don't you think the radical right has appropriated God, and if so, what is your response to that?"

My answer to the first question is no. No one can appropriate God, goodness, the Bible or Jesus. It just seems that way. The people currently in charge of this country have so spiritualized their hysteria that their antics make for much better news coverage than the rest of us. Terri Schiavo ("Has America begun murdering its handicapped?" they thunder, and we say meekly, "Well, um, no"). "Lord of the Flies" rallies against gay marriage. Pro-life violence. And -- my personal favorite -- the frenzied opposition to stem cell research, based on the right's conviction that it is an atrocity to save actual human lives by creating new stem cell lines using frozen embryos slated to be thrown out after couples undergoing IVF conceive or give up.( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

This AlterNet article talks about the 'constitutional option':

It's a joke that the right wing claims it is against "judicial activists." What they want are judicial activists who agree with them.

I was all set to write a column about the nuclear option -- the proposal to change the rules of the Senate in order to get President Bush's most questionable judicial appointments through -- when, lo, word came that there is no nuclear option anymore. It is now called "the constitutional option."

Who changed it? Why, the Republican Party, of course. Having found that "nuclear option" does not poll well, the Republicans simply decreed the rules change can no longer be described by that name. Further, the Republican Party sent media operatives around to major news organizations to inform them that anyone who fails to obey the new diktat on usage will be demonstrating the dread "liberal bias."

Since this particularly fateful rules change was first christened "the nuclear option" by Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi in 2003, and has been called "the nuclear option" ever since -- by Republicans, along with everybody else -- I have to say this is a distinctly Orwellian development.( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Reading the Alternet comments in the post below led me to DemiOrator's blog. Very interesting reading. People are catching on!

I especially liked this entry:

Word of the Day: Bibliolater

Using the term "fundmentalist Christian" has often irked me a little. In my opinion, a fundamentalist Christian would adhere strictly to (wait for it) the teachings of Jesus Christ. However I think most of the denominations and people refered to as fundamentalist Christians would more accurately be described as Bibliolaters or Biblicists. I'm capitalizing these words to link them to the Christian Bible and not books in general.

From Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary:

Bibliolator: one excessively venerating the Bible literally interpreted.
Biblicism: adherence to the letter of the Bible.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Truth Out is on part 3 of a five-part series about America's religious right. Very interesting reading.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY dabroots)

A few entries back in dark_christian, a question was asked about which major Christian denominations besides Southern Baptists and Assembly of God make up substantial portions of the Dominionist aspect of Christian fundamentalism in the U.S.

A good source information on many contemporary subjects is en.wikipedia.org.

Here are a few useful links on this subject, more of which you'll find within the linked articles:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominionism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamentalism#Christian_Views
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominion_Theology

I can't say that any of them especially answer the specific question, but it gives you places to dig further. Look at the links and click on them.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY britzkrieg)

This is not overtly Dominionist, but I think we all know where this sentiment is coming from.

Republican Alabama lawmaker Gerald Allen says homosexuality is an unacceptable lifestyle. As CBS News Correspondent Mark Strassmann reports, under his bill, public school libraries could no longer buy new copies of plays or books by gay authors, or about gay characters.

"I don't look at it as censorship," says State Representative Gerald Allen. "I look at it as protecting the hearts and souls and minds of our children."

Books by any gay author would have to go: Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote and Gore Vidal. Alice Walker's novel "The Color Purple" has lesbian characters.

Allen originally wanted to ban even some Shakespeare. After criticism, he narrowed his bill to exempt the classics, although he still can't define what a classic is. Also exempted now Alabama's public and college libraries...

But in book after book, Allen reads what he calls the "homosexual agenda," and he's alarmed.

"It's not healthy for America, it doesn't fit what we stand for," says Allen. "And they will do whatever it takes to reach their goal."

Full Story

I wonder if Mr. Allen would care to articulate exactly what the "homosexual agenda" is or define this "goal" he speaks of. Perhaps he's merely talking about gay people's desire for protection against discrimination?

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Everyone who is planning to attend the NY Open Center conference on the Religious Right's Agenda, this is your final call to get in touch with me. You can contact me at sunfell at livejournal dot com.

Thanks!

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Metaphors for Life takes a look at Dominionism:

Take a deep breath before you read any farther. If you're like me and just getting educated on the extreme fringe of the religious right-wing, you're going to learn that your right to go on breathing is something these folks would like to see changed.

To paraphrase, dominionism is not a separate Christian denomination, but rather a range of beliefs that penetrate many denominations, most of them fundamentalist. They use a single bible verse from Genesis (1:26) as a springboard:


"Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth and over all the creatures that move along the ground.'" (NIV)( Read more... )