bizmark
11-06-2004, 03:46 PM
No, I'm not talking about Christian Identity, per se. I'm talking about something more mainstream: Christian Reconstructionism. Article link below. Selected quotes:
"The Reconstructionists have taken over the Southern Baptist Convention's national leadership,"
The movement holds sway over a broad spectrum of conservative religion, and its power extends throughout local and federal governments. George Bush, for example, has called Reconstructionist Marvin Olasky "compassionate conservatism's leading thinker." Olasky, according to the New York Times, was one of Bush's "original advisers" on the creation of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives -- but became a critic after the agency's first director sought to rein in taxpayer-paid-for proselytizing.
As for the Reconstruction economy, it would be a libertarian's dream -- as long as biblical laws, such as prohibiting usury, were adhered to.
Public schools are anathema. One of the great successes of Reconstruction has been promoting home-schooling programs. Home schooling is much broader than Reconstruction, of course. But Illinois Reconstructionist Paul Lindstrom has devised texts used by tens of thousands of home-schooling families.
The arena that generates the most attention -- and shock -- is dominion theology's radical plans to make capital punishment part of America's daily routine.
Ringgold's Don Boys -- who as a one-term Indiana state official in the 1970s authored legislation that restored capital punishment there -- spoke cheerfully of a time when Americans will witness 10,000 executions a year. And Gary North suggests the method -- stoning -- because rocks are "cheap, plentiful and convenient." Reconstructionists also favor other biblical forms of execution -- burning, hanging and the sword.
Sins suitable for execution are those mentioned in the Old Testament. Interestingly, although male homosexuals would be among the first in line for the Reconstructionists' gallows, lesbians would be exempted because no specific reference to executing them can be found in the Books of Moses.
Rushdoony [intellectual founder of Christian Reconstructionism] wrote in 1973, "All men are not created equal; the facts ... make clear that they are not equal," and "Segregation and separation is thus a basic principle of biblical law."
Then, in 1970, he wrote, "The white man is being systematically indoctrinated into believing that he is guilty of enslaving and abusing the Negro." The theologian concluded that blacks actually benefited from slavery -- they were introduced to Christianity.
While gay marriage is now a hot button, Reconstruction would reopen old racial conflicts about who should be allowed at the altar. Rushdoony wrote in his Institutes that "The burden of [biblical] law is thus against inter-religious, inter-racial and inter-cultural marriage."
Strong elements of anti-Semitism also are found in Reconstruction writings. North tells us that it is his movement's "stated goal ... to preach the Gospel of salvation in Christ to the Jews, until not a trace of the traditional practices of Judaism remains."
Even more dramatically, David Chilton, one of Reconstruction's inner circle, has written, "The god of Judaism is the devil."
Rushdoony opined about what he calls the "false witness" of Germany's responsibility for the Holocaust. He dismissed the accuracy of 6 million Jews being slain, suggesting it was likely only a fraction of that number, and he shrugs off Josef Mengele's hideous human experiments as "a few sterilized women and a few castrated men."
It's very interesting to see this groundswell of Christian conservatives who have much the same goals as WNs.
The rest of the lengthy article:
http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/2004-03-25/cover.html
"The Reconstructionists have taken over the Southern Baptist Convention's national leadership,"
The movement holds sway over a broad spectrum of conservative religion, and its power extends throughout local and federal governments. George Bush, for example, has called Reconstructionist Marvin Olasky "compassionate conservatism's leading thinker." Olasky, according to the New York Times, was one of Bush's "original advisers" on the creation of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives -- but became a critic after the agency's first director sought to rein in taxpayer-paid-for proselytizing.
As for the Reconstruction economy, it would be a libertarian's dream -- as long as biblical laws, such as prohibiting usury, were adhered to.
Public schools are anathema. One of the great successes of Reconstruction has been promoting home-schooling programs. Home schooling is much broader than Reconstruction, of course. But Illinois Reconstructionist Paul Lindstrom has devised texts used by tens of thousands of home-schooling families.
The arena that generates the most attention -- and shock -- is dominion theology's radical plans to make capital punishment part of America's daily routine.
Ringgold's Don Boys -- who as a one-term Indiana state official in the 1970s authored legislation that restored capital punishment there -- spoke cheerfully of a time when Americans will witness 10,000 executions a year. And Gary North suggests the method -- stoning -- because rocks are "cheap, plentiful and convenient." Reconstructionists also favor other biblical forms of execution -- burning, hanging and the sword.
Sins suitable for execution are those mentioned in the Old Testament. Interestingly, although male homosexuals would be among the first in line for the Reconstructionists' gallows, lesbians would be exempted because no specific reference to executing them can be found in the Books of Moses.
Rushdoony [intellectual founder of Christian Reconstructionism] wrote in 1973, "All men are not created equal; the facts ... make clear that they are not equal," and "Segregation and separation is thus a basic principle of biblical law."
Then, in 1970, he wrote, "The white man is being systematically indoctrinated into believing that he is guilty of enslaving and abusing the Negro." The theologian concluded that blacks actually benefited from slavery -- they were introduced to Christianity.
While gay marriage is now a hot button, Reconstruction would reopen old racial conflicts about who should be allowed at the altar. Rushdoony wrote in his Institutes that "The burden of [biblical] law is thus against inter-religious, inter-racial and inter-cultural marriage."
Strong elements of anti-Semitism also are found in Reconstruction writings. North tells us that it is his movement's "stated goal ... to preach the Gospel of salvation in Christ to the Jews, until not a trace of the traditional practices of Judaism remains."
Even more dramatically, David Chilton, one of Reconstruction's inner circle, has written, "The god of Judaism is the devil."
Rushdoony opined about what he calls the "false witness" of Germany's responsibility for the Holocaust. He dismissed the accuracy of 6 million Jews being slain, suggesting it was likely only a fraction of that number, and he shrugs off Josef Mengele's hideous human experiments as "a few sterilized women and a few castrated men."
It's very interesting to see this groundswell of Christian conservatives who have much the same goals as WNs.
The rest of the lengthy article:
http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/2004-03-25/cover.html