LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

This entry in "Orcinus" talks about the neologism "Christianist" and how it should be applied to todays 'talibangelicals':

In an analogy to Islamism, I would propose the term "Christianism" to describe a political ideology inspired by Christianity that advocates the replacement of a secular government with one that is profoundly informed by a self-styled "literal" interpretation of the Bible. By this definition, Rudolph is perhaps best described as a radical "Christianist," a man inspired by Christianity to effect social change through violence.

"Christianism" is without a doubt an ugly neologism. However, it is a mistake to describe as "Christian" people and groups like Robertson, Falwell, Christian Identity, and those who are even more radical in their mission to transform the US into an explicitly fundamentalist "christian" state. This confuses Christianity, a religious belief, with a purely secular agenda. Furtheremore, it is highly misleading to ignore the hijacking of Christianity and its symbols by the Rudolphs of the world simply by repressing any reference to their Christian inspirations and calling them "anti-abortion terrorists" or some similar name.

I thought about this while driving home and listening to a report about an Islamist gunman who barged into a Turkish court and shot the judges residing there- killing one. His motives were nearly identical to those of Christianists in this country who rail against 'activist' or 'secular' judges.

And that made me think- Christianists are creeping closer and closer to total identity and motivation with their Islamist kindred- not yet into suicide bombing, but working on destablizing governments, terrorising and murdering people that they do not agree with- like abortion care providers and gay people, and brainwashing young people into being some kind of 'martyrs' for Jesus.

"Christianist" indeed. Theirs is a legacy of hatred and fear, not love and compassion.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY larathia)

Opinion piece: Christian Nationalism

...mostly because I don't think it's been posted here yet?

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY cheap_laugh)

AND WHY YOU MUST READ AND THINK ABOUT WHAT HE SAYS

I am simply posting the link, rather than posting with excerpts since I believe nothing in the interview should be taken out of context.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY gairid)

I thought that his article should be posted here, since this is obviously one of those 'Name it & Claim it " guys.


Prosperity Bishop aims for US Senate


Charisma magazine is backing a pastor-candidate for the US Senate:

Ordinarily a national publication such as Charisma makes endorsements only for president and vice president-the only offices voted on by all Americans. But Charisma is endorsing Keith Butler for U.S. Senate from the state of Michigan. We urge all our readers to support his candidacy.


The entire article, with links, is here:

http://blogs.salon.com/0003494/2006/02/07.html#a465

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Ohio is the first (but not only) battleground in the orchestrated takedown of conventional government by religious supremacists. It is the home of Pastor Parsley and his "Patriot Pastors", and its legislature is currently deciding on whether or not to pretty much hand the reigns of power over to these people.

Theocracy Watch has some background on what is going on in this state.

Americans must be 'Christocrats" -- citizens of both their country and the Kingdom of God -- the Rev. Rod Parsley told his congregation at the World Harvest Church, located just outside Columbus, Ohio. "And that is not a democracy; that is a theocracy," he said. "That means God is in control, and you are not."

Think about that. These people see the 2006 election as an "apocalyptic clash between a virtuous Christianity and the evildoers who oppose Christianity's values," and they are feeling their oats, and are confident that their side will win.

If you live in Ohio, it's time for you to stand up and start demanding that these people get run out of power. It's time to push back. Because if Ohio goes down, that will embolden these people even more, and the juggernaught will take off, chewing through state legislatures and turning state governments into theocratic governments.

If you live in a state where such people are crawling around in the background and are grasping for power, stand up to them. Do your homework. Find out about your candidates. Write letters to the editor of your local paper. Expose the theocrats for what they are. We are not the 'hordes of hell', as one would-be theocrat would describe us. We are citizens, and by All, we have to stand up for our country, our government, and our rights.

I am. Are you? Will you?

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Parsley is the creator of the "Patriot Pastor" movement. Here's an in-depth article about him and his church:

With God On His Side

An excerpt:

When Zell Miller took the stage at one of Ohio’s largest “megachurches” last August, there was no talk of spitballs or duels, but there was plenty of rhetoric about soldiers and war. As the featured speaker at both a regular Sunday-evening church service and a political rally for about 1,300 pastors the following morning, the former Georgia senator wasn’t talking about gun-toting soldiers bringing democracy to the Middle East. Instead, to the delight of thousands of congregants at the World Harvest Church in Columbus, Miller spoke of Bible-toting Christian soldiers bringing theocracy to America.

The apostate Democrat came to Ohio as the special guest of televangelist Rod Parsley, a rising star of the Christian right who was lifted from political obscurity onto the national stage for his role in mobilizing voters in favor of his state’s gay-marriage ban last year. Parsley, a Bible-college dropout who claims to have begun his evangelical career in his parents’ backyard by preaching to a tiny congregation nearly 20 years ago, now boasts a 12,000-member church with affiliated schools offering education from preschool through college; a daily television program, Breakthrough, seen on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) and other fundamentalist-Christian television outlets; a 2,000-member fellowship of affiliated churches; and a political organization, the Orwellian-sounding Center for Moral Clarity. But Parsley, who is hailed by the theocratic Christian right as a model of virtue and a representative of “values voters,” has been questioned by congregants and even his own family about his church governance and secretive fund-raising practices.

“Probably President Bush would not be in office today had it not been for him,” said Bishop Harry Jackson, a black pastor from the Washington, D.C., suburbs and a fellow rising star in the religious right. A registered Democrat who said that he and Parsley share the same theological and political viewpoint, Jackson runs the High Impact Leadership Coalition, which promotes its “Black Contract With America on Moral Values.” That effort has led Jackson into alliance with the Arlington Group, a coalition of the Christian-right political elite with which Parsley is also affiliated. According to Jackson, Parsley’s style of preaching is “very, very user-friendly to African Americans,” which may explain why the white pastor has a congregation that is 40-percent black. Jackson also maintained that Parsley’s work with Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, as a “black and white team” campaigning for the gay-marriage ban in churches across Ohio, created the “ricochet effect” of bringing out voters for George W. Bush in 2004.

Jackson was careful to point out that Parsley did not explicitly campaign for Bush, which would have jeopardized his church’s tax-exempt status. But that was something Parsley clearly wanted to do in light of his $2,000 contribution to the Bush-Cheney campaign and his outspoken contempt for the Internal Revenue Service rules that prohibit clergy from endorsing candidates. His tag-team campaign for the gay-marriage ban with Blackwell -- who was not only the state co-chair of the Bush-Cheney re-election effort but also supervised the election as secretary of state -- certainly provided support to Bush. Now, through campaign contributions and joint public appearances, Parsley is supporting Blackwell’s bid to become the Republican gubernatorial nominee in 2006.

Although Parsley has barely stopped short of explicitly endorsing Blackwell, he insists that party affiliation doesn’t matter, and that he supports anyone, Republican or Democrat, who shares his view that the Bible offers the ultimate word on morality. Portraying himself as nonpartisan, and even as a Christ-like savior of the less fortunate, he claims (borrowing from Miller) that he is neither a Democrat nor a Republican but a “Christocrat.”

Definitely a must-read.