LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY thedemonprist)

sunfell may find the first one of particular interest. ( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

I am trying to assemble a comprehensive lexicon of terms that are commonly used in Dominionist parlance. I am especially interested in 'End Times' and apocalyptic terms, that seem to be the focus of many of these congregations. Here are some of the words I desire definitions for:

A-millennial
Pre-millennial
Post-millennial
Dispensation
Tribulation
Pre-tribulation
Pre tribulation tribulation (yes, I heard that mentioned last week!)
Rapture
Armageddon
Apocalypse (I know what the original traditional meaning is, but it has been coopted by the Dominionists to mean something entirely different)
End-times
Heavenlies
Revelations

Any related words or terms are welcome. Since it seems that these congregations concentrate on 'end times' events, and are even actively trying to make them happen, a good solid mini-Wiki for those of us who have not gotten this instruction would be helpful. Plus, I am attempting to assemble a comprehensive lexicon for the mini-conferences on the Religious Right that I've been inspired to do because of that conference I attended.

So, dig out your para-biblical material, and help me out. If you have cites from books or websites with additional definitions on them, please include them. I want this to be as accurate and scholarly as possible.

Thanks!

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY meta4life)

I caught this one on The National Post (Canadian):

Satanists, apocalypse watchers and heavy metal guitarists may have to adjust their demonic numerology after a recently deciphered ancient biblical text revealed that 666 is not the fabled Number of the Beast after all.

A fragment from the oldest surviving copy of the New Testament, dating to the Third century, gives the more mundane 616 as the mark of the Antichrist. (Read More...)

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

From twistedchick come four interesting articles from Online Journal:

Targeted by the Traditional Values Coalition

Crusader for a Christian Nation

Theocon Valley

Unscrupulous Theocrats Aim to Destroy our Constitution

twistedchick has a great daily selection of political and religious articles- definitely worth reading.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

This NY Times article talks about the GOP's attempt to turn PBS into another 'fair and balanced' network:

Republican Chairman Exerts Pressure on PBS, Alleging Biases

By STEPHEN LABATON, LORNE MANLY
and ELIZABETH JENSEN

WASHINGTON, May 1 - The Republican chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is aggressively pressing public television to correct what he and other conservatives consider liberal bias, prompting some public broadcasting leaders - including the chief executive of PBS - to object that his actions pose a threat to editorial independence.

Without the knowledge of his board, the chairman, Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, contracted last year with an outside consultant to keep track of the guests' political leanings on one program, "Now With Bill Moyers."( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Talk To Action has a post on the success of last weekend's Religious Right Conference which I attended (and which I am still compiling notes on):

NY Conference on Theocracy a Big Success

This past weekend a big conference titled Examining the Agenda of the Religious Far Right was staged in New York. Over 500 people participated including numerous reporters and documentary film makers. Conference participants heard an unusually diverse range of critical perspectives on the religious right. I was honored to be among the speakers -- but I spent alot of time in very worthwhile listening.

Those who wanted to be there, but were unable to come, will be pleased to learn that the conference sponsors plan to edit the conference down to an hour long film, which they plan to broadcast and make available on DVD. A book based on the main conference presentations may be in the works. Those who would like to know what I said, can check out these blog posts ( here, here and here) which provided much of the substance of my talk.)( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

From Max Blumenthal's blog (click for inline links):

1 May, 2005

ABC to Run Focus on the Family Ads During Prime Time , Rejected Ads from United Church of Christ Last Year

During today's season finale of ABC's schlocky reality show, "Supernanny," James Dobson's Focus on the Family will be running ads promoting its "Focus on Your Child" program, which advises parents on how to implement the parenting principles outlined in his best-seller, "Dare to Discipline." These include spanking with "sufficient magnitude to cause the child to cry genuinely." Children have to be taught respect for authority at an early age, Dobson preaches, or they'll never develop respect for governmental authority or God.

Dobson's theory on corporal punishment reveals the political underside of his self-help work. The ads Focus on the Family will run are seemingly innocuous offerings of assistance to parents who, like the heroic nanny depicted in ABC's show, need techniques for pacifying "strong-willed" children. As Focus's president, Jim Daly said in Focus's newsletter,

"The show was all about Focus on the Family principles. It was boundaries and using the time-out chair, respect for authority and good parenting skills.”( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

This article from Dissident Voice explains the volitile intersection of religion and politics that has become the GOP. Great links.

I encountered the liberal insularity of the 'blue states' that the writer speaks of when I was in NYC. They think that the heartland and especially the South is like Afghanistan or something. And that everyone who lives in these states are a bunch of liberal, tobacco-spit stained, Bible-banging hicks. When I told one totally shocked Long Islander that I was from Arkansas, she looked at me like I had two heads. "Are you a Right wing spy?" she asked me. I looked at her like she had three heads. "Hell, no!" I crisply replied.

Good Gawd.

It was time for my ClueStick™ Prayer: "O Creator, please spare me from too long an encounter with the Clueless, and if I must be stuck with them, grant me the Deep Stillness I will need to keep from whacking their skulls with the nearest heavy object. Amen!"

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY britzkrieg)

GREENBELT, Maryland (AP) -- Two groups filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday to block a health curriculum that would allow discussions of homosexuality with eighth graders, and a video to be shown to sophomores demonstrating how to use a condom.

Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum and the Virginia-based Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays want to prevent Montgomery County from starting the program in six schools later this week. A hearing has been set for Thursday.

Full Story

The plaintiffs here are among those who believe that homosexuality is a disease that can be cured -- or at least treated by religion.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

A friend of mine linked to this page which contains some in-depth information about the roots of the Dominionist/Reconstructionist movement. Here is the article from the Bible Discernment Ministries page:

Notes on Reconstructionism*
Roots of a New "Christian" Inquisition?

- During the 1960s, a new movement began within the sphere of Reformed or Covenant Theology, primarily out of conservative Presbyterianism (Reformed and Orthodox). That movement has been called by three different names: Reconstructionism (because it advocates the reconstruction of society), Dominion Theology (because its theology teaches that Biblical Christianity is to rule every sphere of society), and Theonomy (a combination of two Greek words -- theos [God] and nomos [law] -- because it asserts that all of society is to be brought into the obedience to the Mosaic Law). It should be noted that this movement is not advocated by everyone within the realm of Reformed or Covenant Theology (12/90, Israel My Glory). "The Reconstructionist movement and its allies and offshoots, by substituting political and cultural action for the proclamation of the Gospel, by substituting eschatology for soteriology, and by mangling the Gospel itself, have become tools of Romanist political action" (3/02, The Trinity Review).( long, but worth your time... )