| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Mark Ervin" |
| Date: |
16 Nov 2004 11:08:35 PM |
| Object: |
Theocracy Watch |
Theocracy Watch: Making Sense Out of World Events
"Christians are mandated to gradually occupy
all secular institutions until Christ returns"
Definition of Dominion Theology by sociologist Sara Diamond
"It's Moral Values, Stupid!"
Politicians once followed the slogan, "It's the economy, stupid!" Since the
2004 election we have been hearing that "moral values" have become more
important to voters than their own economic self interest. But the term "moral"
is twisted and misused.
The goal of the dominionist movement, as we demonstrate in this web site, is to
impose its interpretation of the Bible on the rest of society. Twenty-five
years ago it began targeting the Republican Party as the vehicle through which
it could advance its agenda. The goal of political dominion is veiled in a
cloak of "moral values." Let's look at some of those "moral values."
This movement values guns and the death penalty. It values the rich at the
expense of the poor. It favors corporations at the expense of individuals. It
seeks to eliminate virtually all regulations that protect the environment,
worker safety, and public health. And in an effort to fulfill the dominionist
belief in the manifest destiny of "Christian" nations, it values an aggressive
foreign policy. It is possessed of absolute moral righteousness. It tolerates
no dissent. And now it has extraordinary power in the U.S. government, with two
branches solidly in its pocket and the third, the judiciary, just a couple of
retirements away.
A memo from Pat Robertson's political organization in 1986 says, "Rule the
world for God." That call to arms sums up the goals of the dominionist
movement, and explains their Congressional leadership which suspends the basic
rules of Democracy: all that matters is winning, because it is for God. The
ends justify the means.
Tom DeLay, R-TX, the powerful House Majority Leader who was reprimanded by the
House Ethics Committee for shady dealings, articulates a dominionist
theological imperative. Speaking at a Worldview Weekend, DeLay said:
He [God] is using me, all the time, everywhere, to stand up for a biblical
worldview in everything that I do and everywhere I am. He is training me.
As portrayed in the graph below, the United States has become two very
different nations reflected by the two political parties. One party represents
dominion, or a "Christian" nation: "The Republican Party of Texas affirms that
the United States is a Christian nation." The other party represents a
pluralistic society that values tolerance and a diversity of beliefs. It has
become the party of Democracy.
Christian Coalition Rates the U.S. Senate, 2004
To see Senate scorecards produced by the League of Conservation Voters, a
consortium of environmental organizations, compared to the scorecards produced
by three dominionist organizations, the Christian Coalition, the Family
Research Council, and the Eagle Forum, click here. (These tables were provided
by Glenn Scherer of Grist Magazine, October, 2004.)
The graph on the right is based on Christian Coalition scorecards. It shows how
often members of the U.S. Senate voted with or against Christian Coalition
supported bills. Republicans are red, Democrats are blue. Forty-one out of
fifty-one Republican Senators received scores of 100% from Christian Coalition,
meaning they voted with Christian Coalition 100% of the time.
One Democrat received a score of 100% -- Zell Miller, (D-GA) who was in the
national spotlight when he spoke at the Republican convention. Thirty-one out
of forty-eight Democrats and one independent received scores of 0. This graph
indicates that there are basically three moderate Republicans in the U.S.
Senate: Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, and Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins
from Maine. Those three Senators are in the sixty percent column.
Do you know these people?
United States Senate Republican Leadership
Bill Frist, TN Mitch McConnell, KY Rick Santorum, PA
Bob Bennet, UT Kay Bailey Hutchinson, TX Jon Kyl, AZ George Allen, VA
They are the seven highest ranking Republican Senators in the U.S. Senate.
Every one of them received a scorecard of 100% from Christian Coalition.
That means they voted with Christian Coalition 100% of the time. They all
received scores of 0 to 8% from the League of Conservation Voters -- a
consortium of environmental groups.
How were people representing such an extreme ideological point of view elected
to the top positions in the Republican Party? The leaders of the Republican
Party were chosen by their colleagues who share their values.
Christianization of the Republican Party: In Their Own Words
Christianization of the Republican Party, an article from the The Christian
Statesman, claims,
Once dismissed as a small regional movement, Christian conservatives have
become a staple of politics nearly everywhere. Christian conservatives now hold
a majority of seats in 36% of all Republican Party state committees (or 18 of
50 states), plus large minorities in 81% of the rest, double their strength
from a decade before.
The twin surges of Christians into GOP ranks in the early 1980s and early 1990s
have begun to bear fruit, as naive, idealistic recruits have transformed into
savvy operatives and leaders, building organizations, winning leadership
positions, fighting onto platform committees, and electing many of their own to
public office.
The Christian Statesman is a publication of the National Reform Association.
Who is the National Reform Association?
The mission of the National Reform Association is to maintain and promote in
our national life the Christian principles of civil government, which include,
but are not limited to, the following:
Jesus Christ is Lord in all aspects of life, including civil government.
Jesus Christ is, therefore, the Ruler of Nations, and should be explicitly
confessed as such in any constitutional documents. The civil ruler is to be a
servant of God, he derives his authority from God and he is duty-bound to
govern according to the expressed will of God.
The civil government of our nation, its laws, institutions, and practices must
therefore be conformed to the principles of Biblical law as revealed in the Old
and New Testaments.
The terms "Christian Conservative" are misnomers. Many Christian leaders
believe the dominionist movement is an aberration of Christianity. And the
movement is anything but conservative. One can see from the record budget
deficit that dominionists care more about winning votes and staying in power
than managing the budget responsibly. And dominionists seek radical change.
George Grant, was Executive Director of Coral Ridge Ministries for many years
and is a dominionist author and educator. He wrote in The Changing of the
Guard, Biblical Principles for Political Action:
Christians have an obligation, a mandate, a commission, a holy responsibility
to reclaim the land for Jesus Christ -- to have dominion in civil structures,
just as in every other aspect of life and godliness.
But it is dominion we are after. Not just a voice.
It is dominion we are after. Not just influence.
It is dominion we are after. Not just equal time.
It is dominion we are after.
World conquest. That's what Christ has commissioned us to accomplish. We must
win the world with the power of the Gospel. And we must never settle for
anything less... Thus, Christian politics has as its primary intent the
conquest of the land -- of men, families, institutions, bureaucracies, courts,
and governments for the Kingdom of Christ. (pp. 50-51)
How did this happen?
Voter apathy is the key to the phenomenal ascent of dominionism in the U.S.
government.
With the apathy that exists today, a small, well-organized minority can
influence the selection of candidates to an astonishing degree.
Pat Robertson wrote those words in The Millennium, 1990, and it has been a key
organizing principle of the Religious Right ever since.
Pat Robertson tells us who makes up that "well-organized minority." It includes
only Christians who share his point of view. As he said on his television
program, the 700 Club: "You say you're supposed to be nice to the Episcopalians
and the Presbyterians and the Methodists, and this and that and the other
thing. Nonsense! I don't have to be nice to the spirit of the Antichrist." (Pat
Robertson, the Most Dangerous Man in America?, 149, Rob Boston),
"The apathy of other Americans can become a blessing and advantage to
Christians," wrote Mark Beliles and Stephen McDowell in 1989, in America's
Providential History a popular textbook for Christian schools and the Christian
homeschool movement.
If just 10% of all Christians in America today woke up and realized how easy it
is, got involved consistently for the long haul, it would not take long to
reform America completely.
For the authors, the term "Christian" refers to a very narrow group of people.
The word "reform" is key. It means reforming the United Sates so that it
becomes a "Christian" nation, or theocracy.
Where do we go from here?
If you are a U.S. citizen, don't change your citizenship. The fight for
Democracy is not over, and what happens in the United States will have a
profound impact on the rest of the world. There is no hiding from a country
that devastates the environment and has a massive arsenal of nuclear weapons.
The dominionist movement is twenty-five years old, and it is being noticed only
now! We need to educate the American public about the political goals of
Dominion Theology.
We need to stop using terms such as "Christian," "conservative" and most of all
"moral," and start calling it what it is: dominionism. This movement seeks
radical change.
And traditional Republicans need to wake up. George Bush succeeded because he
hid behind moderates. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California, spoke at
the Republican Convention about how the Republican Party is tolerant and
inclusive. His speech demonstrates that this country values tolerance and
diversity. But the dominionist movement is not a movement of tolerance. It
believes there is only one truth, and they want to impose that truth on the
rest of the country.
In the words of the Christian Coalition field director, Bill Thomson, the
"leftist" foes should be destroyed:
You're going to run over them. Get around them, run over the top of them,
destroy them - whatever you need to do so that God's word is the word that is
being practiced in Congress, town halls and state legislatures. That's your
job.
Christine Todd Whitman, former Governor of New Jersey who favors environmental
protections, stepped down as director of the Environmental Protection Agency,
an agency that has become, under the Bush administration, an advocate for
polluters. Strangely, after she left the EPA in frustration, she then went on
to lead the Bush re-election campaign in New Jersey. As long as dominionists
can hide behind moderates, it will be easier for them to remain in power.
The kind of political momentum of the 2004 election needs to be sustained.
Dominionists have historically targeted midterm elections because voter turnout
is much smaller than in Presidential elections. Those who favor Democracy and a
pluralistic society need to be passionate, and they need to be involved in
politics. We can replace dominionist legislators in the 2006 elections, but it
will take hard, sustained work, and lots of passion -- the same kind of hard
work and passion that began with the 2004 elections.
http://www.theocracywatch.org/
May you live in interesting times.
--Ancient Chinese Blessing/Curse
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| User: "Meteorite Debris" |
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| Title: Re: Theocracy Watch |
17 Nov 2004 10:12:42 PM |
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On 17 Nov 2004 05:08:35 GMT the ET form known as Mark
Ervin<m4rv1n@aol.comatose> sent a radio signal across the vast expanse
of deep space -._.--._.--._.--._.--._.--._.
Christians have an obligation, a mandate, a commission, a holy responsibility
to reclaim the land for Jesus Christ -- to have dominion in civil structures,
just as in every other aspect of life and godliness.
But it is dominion we are after. Not just a voice.
It is dominion we are after. Not just influence.
It is dominion we are after. Not just equal time.
It is dominion we are after.
World conquest. That's what Christ has commissioned us to accomplish. We must
win the world with the power of the Gospel. And we must never settle for
anything less... Thus, Christian politics has as its primary intent the
conquest of the land -- of men, families, institutions, bureaucracies, courts,
and governments for the Kingdom of Christ. (pp. 50-51)
*****. This is Iranian/Taliban madness.
--
epicurus1*at*optusnet*dot*com*dot*au
apatriot #1, atheist #1417,
Chief EAC prophet
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~pk1956/
Apatriotism Yahoo Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/apatriotism
"Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever
conceived." - Isaac Asimov
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| User: "Brenda Nelson" |
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| Title: Re: Theocracy Watch |
18 Nov 2004 05:22:06 PM |
|
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Meteorite Debris <abuse@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:<MPG.1c06c541a294b4ae989f53@news.optusnet.com.au>...
On 17 Nov 2004 05:08:35 GMT the ET form known as Mark
Ervin<m4rv1n@aol.comatose> sent a radio signal across the vast expanse
of deep space -._.--._.--._.--._.--._.--._.
Christians have an obligation, a mandate, a commission, a holy responsibility
to reclaim the land for Jesus Christ -- to have dominion in civil structures,
just as in every other aspect of life and godliness.
But it is dominion we are after. Not just a voice.
It is dominion we are after. Not just influence.
It is dominion we are after. Not just equal time.
It is dominion we are after.
World conquest. That's what Christ has commissioned us to accomplish. We must
win the world with the power of the Gospel. And we must never settle for
anything less... Thus, Christian politics has as its primary intent the
conquest of the land -- of men, families, institutions, bureaucracies, courts,
and governments for the Kingdom of Christ. (pp. 50-51)
*****. This is Iranian/Taliban madness.
Yes, it is. I sat in a Conservative Baptist church 40+ years ago and
listened to them plan this. I've been warning folks ever since, but
until very recently, couldn't get anyone to take my warning seriously.
*Now* look at the pickle we're in.
Brenda Nelson, A.A.#34
Chief Wrangler and Ramrod Emeritus
(and Professor of Feline Thermometrics)
EAC Equine Transportation Command/Carne Seca Division
in the Prefecture of Baja, Arizona
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