LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY eiredrake)

Can someone explain the significance of swearing in when testifying before the senate? I realize that doesn't precisely fit into the realm of Dark_christian but this group contains a lot of well educated folks and I figure someone knows. I've been doing net searches but coming up with nothing definitive.

There reason I ask is that the Senate comittee heads that are investigating seem to be tossing that aside quite often lately. For example when the oil execs were hauled before the senate the chairmen refused to swear in the guys.

Are they trying to use this as a tactic to protect them somehow?

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY enkinhou)

...anyone here know anything about Messiah College?

All I know is that the college is based in Pennsylvania, and it was founded in 1972 by the Brethren in Christ Church. (The timing of the founding sets off a red flag for me...)

Conservative? Indications I've seen point towards "yes" (though I could be wrong). However, though Dominionist churches tend to be ultra-conservative, conservative does not a Dominionist make...

...which is why I come to you people...

( From the 'Core Values of Brethren in Christ Church Page'... )

They also list the Apostle's Creed as well as their own Confession of Faith in the college's Statement of Faith page.

However, one thing that causes me less worry is that in their page about Anabaptism (one of the three tradition that the church purportedly follows), they cite the tradition's adherence to Separation of Church and State and how the government should not be in the business of endorsing any religion.

My Googling has yielded me no association between these people and Dominionism in general.

Your thoughts on the matter would be appreciated.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

If you examine the mission statements of many Christian religious organizations, you will discover two distinctive types. The first utilizes the Nicene Creed or the Apostle's Creed to acknowledge their beliefs. This creed usually starts with "We believe in the Father [or God] Almighty, creator of Heaven and Earth..." and goes on from there.

The second type states that the Bible is the inspired, infallible Word of God, and places God and Christ second and third on the list of beliefs. Here's the first three statements National Association of Evangelicals statement of belief:

# We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God,

# We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

# We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory.

The Mainstream Baptist site goes into detail about the 'demotion' of Christ in their articles of belief.

It might be interesting to note that many of the religious organizations that place the Bible above God also are promoting the Dominionist agenda, too. So, when you examine a church or religious organization, check out their statement of belief. If they place the Bible above God and Christ, reconsider your involvement with them.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY gleef)

[This was originally intended to be a reply to this post by thornewilder, but I got interrupted halfway through writing it, and I realized it was of more general use, so I decided to make it a separate post.]

Many churches and other religious organizations put forward a "Statement of Beliefs" or similar document. Many of us are trying to figure out which churches and other religious organizations are Dominionist, which are scary but not Dominionist, and which can be either safely ignored or safely worked with. It would be very useful to know more about these Statements of Belief and what they do and don't tell us about the group we want to know more about. This post explores this issue, using the Statement of Beliefs of the Nazarene group linked to in an earlier post.

( Statements )

I'd say, chances are they aren't Dominionist (but don't expect sweetness and light out of them), but don't count 100% on that.

From a more general viewpoint, I hope I've better illustrated how these Statements can be used as part of an exploration of a group.

Project Tocsin has a very interesting article on their blog page regarding godcasters that is in reference to a recent article on the main group in the US coordinating "godcasting" groups, televangelists and the like. (The original Harper's article is available here as part of their "Soldiers of Christ" collection on dominionism.)

Specifically, the Tocsin article details a national conference of "godcasting" broadcasters by the National Religious Broadcasters, which included an awards ceremony at which an FCC employee received an award:

The convention opened on Saturday evening with an awards ceremony highlighted by the prestigious Chairman’s Award which was something of a paradox as it was “for serving the Christian community in a distinguished and exemplary manner,” but it was given to a nonbeliever, homophobic talk radio host, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, who received a standing ovation. She acknowledged the award by saying she was “just a Jewish girl from the Bronx,” and that “we both serve the same God.”

Another award which one would think raises conflict-of-interest issues was given to Federal Communications Commission Chief of Media, Roy Stewart, the senior staff person who handles all broadcast matters. He accepted his award saying, “It is you who should be honored.”

FCC spokesperson David Sisk said the bureau had no policy about FCC employees receiving awards from those whom they regulate that everyone including the FCC commissioners receive awards all the time. Also honored as TV program of the year was Pat Robertson’s 700 Club.

This so far makes two confirmed dominionist-friendly regulators in the FCC--the other being advisor Penny Nance (whose connections to dominionist groups are thoroughly documented here.

The really worrying thing, however, is that Roy Stewart is head of the Media Bureau of the FCC (which is the division that regulates both radio and television stations, including LPFM stations). Per the FCC Phonebook he is still employed there, and per the Media Bureau's bureau chief listing he is Senior Deputy Media Chief of the Media Bureau. Roy Stewart is also--notably--Chief, Office of Broadcast License Policy. (In other words, the very guy who accepted the award from the National Religious Broadcasters is the very guy who sets official FCC policy for who gets and who doesn't get an FCC broadcast license.)

Disturbingly, the FCC also apparently sees no conflict of interest in receiving awards from dominionist "godcasters" (many of whom are blatantly hijacking LPFM licenses to set up barely regulated "godcasting" networks and would in fact be applying for LPFM and translator licenses from the Media Bureau itself).

We may have just found direct evidence of collusion between dominionists (and the hijacking of LPFM licenses) and the FCC itself. I'll keep you all posted.

( References for NRB and dominionist links )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

A Christian adoption agency in Mississippi has changed its practice of not placing children with Roman Catholic couples.

According to this article, the board voted unanimously to change the policy.

I like to do follow-ups to articles like this one, because it is good to see positive change in the Christian community.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY seshen)

Christian adoption agency snubs Catholics

A Christian adoption agency that receives money from Choose Life license plate fees said it does not place children with Roman Catholic couples because their religion conflicts with the agency's "Statement of Faith."

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Dominionists have a habit of presenting destructive concepts in 'friendly' looking packages. Take Intelligent Design, for example. It is presented as an 'alternative' to standard science, which teaches evolution, but is actually meant to discredit science altogether and replace it with religious beliefs.

But they don't stop with ID- they also want to put a friendly face on their desire to destroy the planet to hasten Christ's return. There are many websites that look official, but are masquerades for Dominionist-driven programs that will do more harm to the environment than good. Here are some examples. ( Read more... )