"Manipulation of religion for partisan purposes has no place in a democracy that is founded on the Constitutional guarantee of the freedom of religion.” -- Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, President of the non-partisan Interfaith Alliance
I've been looking back at some of my posts from last year and realized that this topic is still too hot to ignore. As you read through the following portions of articles, notice how many of the names mentioned can be found on the Council for National Policy. (See Secret Society).
What is the agenda of the radical religious right? According to Pat Robertson, "Our aim is to gain dominion over society."
The plans go far beyond simple partisan policy differences. A group of true believers is convinced that basing our government on their version of the bible is the right thing for the United States. Their plan has been adopted as a political strategy -- in part because their churches provide an accessible grass roots organizing base.
Do these churches represent mainstream Christianity? No.
Pat Robertson stated on his TV 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."
What other Americans are on this right-wing list? Among them: gays and lesbians, yoga teachers, Democrats, astrologers, witches, adulterers, incorrigible children, gun control advocates, women, environmentalists, pro-choice advocates, the United Nations, poor people, peace activists, advocates of religious freedom, local public school boards, the NEA, teachers of evolution, independent journalists, and labor unions. Do you see yourself anywhere on that list?
Will the U.S. become a theocracy? By MAURA STEPHENS
What we are experiencing is the rise of Dominion Theology. This ideology says Christians must begin to take over all secular institutions of government, reclaiming them for Jesus Christ. It is seen as a readying for the Second Coming. See www.theocracywatch.org for more information.
"Our aim is to gain dominion over society," Pat Robertson told a gathering in 1984. He later described how this would be accomplished: By gaining a working control of the Republican Party.
And they've succeeded.
In 2004, 41 out of 51 Republican senators were given 100 percent ratings by the Christian Coalition for their votes on behalf of fundamentalist issues. Meanwhile, 31 out of 48 Democrats scored zero. Similar splits can be found in the House, where Minority Leader Tom DeLay expressly uses dominionist language.
During a "Worldview Weekend" conference in 2002, he said: "(God) is using me, all the time, everywhere, to stand up for a biblical worldview in everything that I do."
Backward, Christian Soldiers By ROBYN E. BLUMNER
It is frightening to think that Tom DeLay's corrupt behavior is part of his biblical worldview.
"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.
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.
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.
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."
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.
The Crusaders: Christian evangelicals are plotting to remake America in their own image By BOB MOSER
Why do ministers need to use their churches for political purposes, when they have multiple non-profit organizations serving those purposes already? Just one example, with connections to D. James Kennedy and James Dobson, among others through Salem Web Network:
Founded in 2004 by high-profile Christian leaders Ed Atsinger and Jay Sekulow, Americans of Faith is a non-profit 501-c3 organization.
Americans of Faith seeks to activate the voices of Evangelical Christians and religious conservatives in our country. Our goal is to have a profound impact on American society and culture. From government and entertainment, to the arts, education, and business, Americans of Faith seeks to make the voice of Evangelical Christians and religious conservatives heard, calling our members and supporters to be good citizens, reliable neighbors, and wise consumers and stewards of our nation's blessings.
And best of all, the defunct “Moral Majority” has returned under the direction of Jerry Falwell as The Moral Majority Coalition.