Now these guys scare me. This is another reason why we need to change
Congress and chase their allies out.
---
October 6, 2006
THE DOMINIONISTS / FAR RIGHT THREAT TO AMERICA
By Allen L Roland
" Their ultimate goal is to plant the seeds of a "faith-based"
government that will endure far longer than Bush's presidency ~ all the
way until Jesus comes back:" Bob Moser / Rolling Stone
The far right Christian evangelicals are now the nation's most powerful
and effective political machine ~ having brought over 4 million new
christian voters to the polls in 2004 and will be a major force in this
years mid term elections.
They see themselves as ' Crusaders ' and their goal is to rebuild
America in their own image.
Bob Moser, Rolling Stone, blew the whistle on them last year with his
brilliant analysis of the Dominionists -- biblical literalists who
believe God has called them to take over the U.S. government .
Excerpt:"This movement is no more about following the example of Christ
than Bush's Clean Water Act is about clean water ... It helps that
Dominionists have a direct line to the White House: The Rev. Richard
Land, top lobbyist for the 16-million-member Southern Baptist
Convention, enjoys a weekly conference call with top Bush advisers
including Karl Rove ..The Dominionists are also stepping up efforts to
turn public schools into forums for evangelism...While the dominionists
rely on grass-roots activists to fight their battles, they are backed by
some of America's richest entrepreneurs ... The one-two punch of
militant activists and big money has helped make the Dominionists a
force in Washington, where a growing number of congressmen owe their
elections to the machine."
Allen L Roland
http://blogs.salon.com/0002255/2006/10/06.html
THE CRUSADERS
Christian evangelicals are plotting to remake America in their own image
By BOB MOSER
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article8499.htm
04/08/05 "Rolling Stone" - - It's February, and 900 of America's
staunchest Christian fundamentalists have gathered in Fort Lauderdale to
look back on what they accomplished in last year's election -- and to
plan what's next.
As they assemble in the vast sanctuary of Coral Ridge Presbyterian, with
all fifty state flags dangling from the rafters, three stadium-size
video screens flash the name of the conference: reclaiming america for
christ.
These are the evangelical activists behind the nation's most effective
political machine -- one that brought more than 4 million new Christian
voters to the polls last November, sending George W. Bush back to the
White House and thirty-two new pro-lifers to Congress.
But despite their unprecedented power, fundamentalists still see
themselves as a persecuted minority, waging a holy war against the
godless forces of secularism. To rouse themselves, they kick off the
festivities with "Soldiers of the Cross, Arise," the bloodthirstiest
tune in all of Christendom: "Seize your armor, gird it on/Now the battle
will be won/Soon, your enemies all slain/Crowns of glory you shall gain."
Meet the Dominionists -- biblical literalists who believe God has called
them to take over the U.S. government. As the far-right wing of the
evangelical movement, Dominionists are pressing an agenda that makes
Newt Gingrich's Contract With America look like the Communist Manifesto.
They want to rewrite schoolbooks to reflect a Christian version of
American history, pack the nation's courts with judges who follow Old
Testament law, post the Ten Commandments in every courthouse and make it
a felony for gay men to have sex and women to have abortions.
In Florida, when the courts ordered Terri Schiavo's feeding tube
removed, it was the Dominionists who organized round-the-clock protests
and issued a fiery call for Gov. Jeb Bush to defy the law and take
Schiavo into state custody.
Their ultimate goal is to plant the seeds of a "faith-based" government
that will endure far longer than Bush's presidency -- all the way until
Jesus comes back.
"Most people hear them talk about a 'Christian nation' and think, 'Well,
that sounds like a good, moral thing,' says the Rev. Mel White, who
ghostwrote Jerry Falwell's autobiography before breaking with the
evangelical movement. "What they don't know -- what even most
conservative Christians who voted for Bush don't know -- is that
'Christian nation' means something else entirely to these Dominionist
leaders.
This movement is no more about following the example of Christ than
Bush's Clean Water Act is about clean water."
The godfather of the Dominionists is D. James Kennedy, the most
influential evangelical you've never heard of. A former Arthur Murray
dance instructor, he launched his Florida ministry in 1959, when most
evangelicals still followed Billy Graham's gospel of nonpartisan
soul-saving. Kennedy built Coral Ridge Ministries into a
$37-million-a-year empire, with a TV-and-radio audience of 3 million, by
preaching that it was time to save America -- not soul by soul but
election by election.
After helping found the Moral Majority in 1979, Kennedy became a
five-star general in the Christian army. Bush sought his blessing before
running for president -- and continues to consult top Dominionists on
matters of federal policy.
"Our job is to reclaim America for Christ, whatever the cost," Kennedy
says. "As the vice regents of God, we are to exercise godly dominion and
influence over our neighborhoods, our schools, our government, our
literature and arts, our sports arenas, our entertainment media, our
news media, our scientific endeavors -- in short, over every aspect and
institution of human society."
At Reclaiming America, most of the conference is taken up by grassroots
training sessions that supply ministers, retirees and devout churchgoers
with "The Facts of Stem-Cell Research" or "Practical Steps to Impact
Your Community with America's Historical Judeo-Christian Heritage."
"We're going to turn you into an army of one," Gary Cass, executive
director of Reclaiming America, promises activists at one workshop held
in Evangalism Explosion Hall.
The Dominionists also attend speeches by supporters like Rep. Katherine
Harris of Florida, who urges them to "win back America for God." In
their spare time, conference-goers buy books about a God-devised health
program called the Maker's Diet or meet with a financial adviser who
offers a "biblically sound investment plan."
To implement their sweeping agenda, the Dominionists are working to
remake the federal courts in God's image. In their view, the Founding
Fathers never intended to erect a barrier between politics and religion.
"The First Amendment does not say there should be a separation of church
and state," declares Alan Sears, president and CEO of the Alliance
Defense Fund, a team of 750 attorneys trained by the Dominionists to
fight abortion and gay marriage.
Sears argues that the constitutional guarantee against state-sponsored
religion is actually designed to "shield" the church from federal
interference -- allowing Christians to take their rightful place at the
head of the government. "We have a right, indeed an obligation, to
govern," says David Limbaugh, brother of Rush and author of Persecution:
How Liberals Are Waging War Against Christianity.
Nothing gets the Dominionists to their feet faster than ringing
condemnations of judicial tyranny. "Activist judges have systematically
deconstructed the Constitution," roars Rick Scarborough, author of
Mixing Church and State. "A God-free society is their goal!"
Activist judges, of course, are precisely what the Dominionists want.
Their model is Roy Moore, the former Alabama chief justice who installed
a 5,300-pound granite memorial to the Ten Commandments, complete with an
open Bible carved in its top, in the state judicial building.
At Reclaiming America, Roy's Rock sits out front, fresh off a tour of
twenty-one states, perched on the flag-festooned flatbed of a diesel
truck, a potent symbol of the "faith-based" justice the Dominionists are
bent on imposing. Activists at the conference pose for photographs
beside the rock and have circulated a petition urging President Bush to
appoint Moore -- who once penned an opinion calling for the state to
execute "practicing homosexuals" -- to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"The other side knows we've got strongholds in the executive and
legislative branches," Cass tells the troops. "If we start winning the
judiciary, their power base is going to be eroded."
To pack the courts with fundamentalists like Moore, Dominionist leaders
are planning a massive media blitz. They're also pressuring Senate
Majority Leader Bill Frist -- an ally who's courting support for his
presidential bid -- to halt the long-standing use of filibusters to hold
up judicial nominations.
An anti-filibuster petition circulating at the conference blasts
Democrats for their "outrageous stonewalling of appointments" -- even
though Congress has approved more nominees of Bush than of any president
since Jimmy Carter.
It helps that Dominionists have a direct line to the White House: The
Rev. Richard Land, top lobbyist for the 16-million-member Southern
Baptist Convention, enjoys a weekly conference call with top Bush
advisers including Karl Rove. "We've got the Holy Spirit's wind at our
backs!" Land declares in an arm-waving, red-faced speech.
He takes particular aim at the threat posed by John Lennon, denouncing
"Imagine" as a "secular anthem" that envisions a future of "clone
plantations, child sacrifice, legalized polygamy and hard-core porn."
The Dominionists are also stepping up efforts to turn public schools
into forums for evangelism. In a landmark case, the Alliance Defense
Fund is suing a California school district that threatened to dismiss a
born-again teacher who was evangelizing fifth-graders.
In the conference's opening ceremony, the Dominionists recite an oath
they dream of hearing in every classroom: "I pledge allegiance to the
Christian flag, and to the Savior for whose kingdom it stands. One
Savior, crucified, risen and coming again, with life and liberty for all
who believe."
Cass urges conference-goers to stack school boards with Dominionists.
"The most humble Christian is more qualified for office than the
best-educated pagan," says Cass, an anti-abortion activist who led a
takeover of his school district's board in San Diego. "We built quite a
little grass-roots machine out there. Now it's my burden to multiply
that success all across America."
Cass points to the Rev. Gary Beeler, a Baptist minister from Tennessee
who got permission for thousands of students to skip class and attend
weeklong events that he calls "old-time revivals, with preaching and
singing and soul-saving and the whole nine yards."
Now, with support from Kennedy, Beeler is selling his house and buying a
mobile home to spread his crusade nationwide. "It's not exactly what I
planned to do with my retirement," he says. "But it's what God told me
to do."
Cass also presents another small-town activist, Kevin McCoy, with a Salt
and Light Award for leading a successful campaign to shut down an
anti-bullying program in West Virginia schools. McCoy, a soft-spoken,
prematurely gray postal worker, fought to end the program because it
taught tolerance for gay people -- and thus, in his view, constituted a
"thinly disguised effort to promote the homosexual agenda." "What
America needs," Cass tells the faithful, "is more Kevin McCoys."
While the dominionists rely on grass-roots activists to fight their
battles, they are backed by some of America's richest entrepreneurs.
Amway founder Rich DeVos, a Kennedy ally who's the leading Republican
contender for governor of Michigan, has tossed more than $5 million into
the collection plate. Jean Case, wife of former AOL chief Steve Case --
whose fortune was made largely on sex-chat rooms -- has donated $8
million. And Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza, is a major source
of cash for Focus on the Family, a megaministry working with Kennedy to
eliminate all public schools.
The one-two punch of militant activists and big money has helped make
the Dominionists a force in Washington, where a growing number of
congressmen owe their elections to the machine. Kennedy has also created
the Center for Christian Statesmanship, which trains elected officials
to "more effectively share their faith in the public arena." Speaking to
the group, House Majority Whip Tom DeLay -- a winner of Kennedy's
Distinguished Christian Statesman Award -- called Bush's faith-based
initiatives "a great opportunity to bring God back into the public
institutions of our country."
The most vivid proof of the Christianizing of Capitol Hill comes at the
final session of Reclaiming America. Rep. Walter Jones, a lanky
congressman from North Carolina, gives a fire-and-brimstone speech that
would have gotten him laughed out of Washington thirty years ago.
In today's climate, however, he's got a chance of passing his pet
project, the Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act, which would
permit ministers to endorse political candidates from their pulpits,
effectively converting their tax-exempt churches into Republican
campaign headquarters.
"America is under assault!" Jones thunders as his aides dash around the
sanctuary snapping PR photos. "Everyone in America has the right to
speak freely, except for those standing in the pulpits of our churches!"
The amen chorus reaches a fever pitch. Hands fly heavenward. It's one
thing to hear such words from Dominionist leaders -- but to this crowd,
there's nothing more thrilling than getting the gospel from a U.S.
congressman. "You cannot have a strong nation that does not follow God,"
Jones preaches, working up to a climactic, passionate plea for a
biblical republic. "God, please -- God, please -- God, please -- save
America!"
---
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_allen_l__061006_the_dominionists_
_2f_f.htm
or:
http://tinyurl.com/lst6b
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"
-Voltaire
Contact - Throw a .net over the .com
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