Response below:
From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org on behalf of Marta Russell Sent: Thu 11/11/2004 3:07 PM To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Subject: [lbo-talk] Dominionist theocrats?
I'm not sure who wrote this, I have never heard of the "Dominionists". Chip, this is up your alley. m
Subject: theocracy = = =
Theocratic Christians and Dominionsim do pose a problem for democracy.
The Christian Right is strong, but see:
It Wasn't Just (Or Even Mostly) the 'Religious Right' New Beliefnet Analysis: Catholics and moderately religious voters were just as important as very religious 'Born Agains' By Steven Waldman and John Green
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/155/story_15598_1.html
Theocrats support a form of government where the actions of the political leaders are seen as sanctioned by God, and where these leaders claim that they are carrying out God's will.
The Christian Right version of theocracy is based on some components of early Calvinism: the ideas that people are basically sinful and must be restrained by harsh and punitive laws. Today this translates into the idea that social problems are caused by satanic conspiracies aided and abetted by liberals, homosexuals, feminists and secular humanists. These evil forces must be exposed and neutralized. This is the point of the article I posted, "Empire Christianity vs Liberation Christianity," by Ruby Sales, Founder and Director of SpiritHouse.
http://www.portside.org/showpost.php?postid=1075
In the Christian Right the most common theological framework for this is called premillennial dispensationalism. The relatively tiny Christian Reconstructionists have a theology called postmillennialism. There is a wide gulf between the two eschatological (End Times) positions. Yet they can agree along with other Christians that godly people should take "dominion" over secualr society--thus the umbrella term "Dominionism."
Some folks are using the term Christian Reconstructionism in a sweeping way that globs together several tendencies in the Christian Right. Not all dominionism is Christian Reconstructionism, although CR influenced the spread of dominionism, as Fred Clarkson points out in his book. Some of the recent posts I have seen on this subject get much of the complexity and differentiation wrong--and many are just outlandish hysteria.
Sara Diamond wrote about theocracy and dominionism in the late 1980s in her book Spiritual Warfare.
Also this article:
http://www.publiceye.org/diamond/sd_domin.html
http://www.publiceye.org/eyes/sd_theo.html
Fred Clarkson has a whole book on it called "Eternal Hostility." Matt Lyons and I also covered it in "Right-Wing Populism in America."
A Clarkson article on Reconstructionism is on the PRA website:
http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v08n1/chrisre1.html
This is in the book I edited: Eyes Right!
An excellent survey of dominionism and Reconstuctionism is Bruce Barron, Heaven on Earth? The Social and Political Agendas of Dominion Theology, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervon, 1992).
See also the recent book by Esther Kaplan: "With God on their Side."
-Chip Berlet
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