Creedofcrusades wrote:

Actually it appears you created this thread to tar the "religious right" with the biased nonsense of religioustolerance.com regarding some small splinter movement...and it misrepresents their stance even so. But they get their bigoted point across.

This "small splinter movement" is NOT small in its impact. Dominionist theology has been extraordinarily influential in a variety of denominations, specifically the Southern Baptists and the Pentecostals. Its language and major themes can be heard from the pulpits of conservative churches all over the country, but particularly in the South.

How do I know? Well, I've made quite a study of Dominionism, and I've seen it at work first-hand in the Baptist church my large extended family attends. I first recognized its poison at family reunions, in fact, and wondered where my cousins were getting their very odd, militant, and decidedly unBaptist ideas.

Organizations such as Focus on the Family, the Coral Gables ministry, Liberty University, David Barton's Wallbuilders, and many more are infected from top to bottom with Dominionism.

It is a very widespread and very dangerous philosophy. Here is a link you may want to check out:
http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/AmericaTheTheocracySugg.html

I have many more articles if anyone is interested. Frederick Clarkson's site www.Talk2Action.org also has a wealth of resources.

Leigh

colossians3_12 wrote:

Organizations such as Focus on the Family, the Coral Gables ministry, Liberty University, David Barton's Wallbuilders, and many more are infected from top to bottom with Dominionism.

It is a very widespread and very dangerous philosophy. Here is a link you may want to check out:
http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/AmericaTheTheocracySugg.html

I have many more articles if anyone is interested. Frederick Clarkson's site www.Talk2Action.org also has a wealth of resources.

Leigh

I also think you are confusing Reconstructionism with Domionism-Domionism calls for Christian Rule-Reconstructionism is more lite and just calls for Bibical principles where applicable.

davelaw40 wrote:

http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/AmericaTheTheocracySugg.html

ok, i went to the site and was confimed by what I had thought; by conflating Dominionism and Reconstructionism as the same thing-it lumps everyone together and glosses over the differences as mere denominational differences

Rushdooney was a Dominionist-who wanted to remake America in the Image of the OT's vision of a perfected Israel

Reconstructionists like Bibical principles; but are more concerned about finding men and women of Christian principle that are willing to serve in the public sector

I think you have this backwards, Davelaw. Rushdoony was a Reconstructionist, as is his disciple Gary North. The foundation Rushdoony set up, the Chalcedon Foundation, uses this definition, and distinguishes it from Dominionism. There are some theological differences between the two, as this article indicates:
http://www.chalcedon.edu/articles/article.php?ArticleID=2308

I should probably point out, however, that many people use the terms as Davelaw has used them. I myself prefer to use the terminology the Chalcedon Foundation uses.

I don't want to harp on the differences between Dominionism and Reconstructionism, however, because in the major denominations their influences are equivalent.

The simplistic and extreme definition of dominionism used by CofC is not in itself, of course, the influence I'm discussing. Only the most radical of theocrats, for example, Gary North, might be described in that way.

This article (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Dominionism) distinguishes between the two terms and has, to my mind, one of the most telling quotes of all:


Chip Berlet argued in 1996: "Reconstructionism is a theology that argues that only Christian men should rule civil society. It has a softer related theology called dominionism. ... 'Dominionism' in general threatens the Church/State separation so vital to our democracy as a pluralist society. Groups such as the Christian Coalition really have adopted many of the tenets of Dominionism, and some key Christian right leaders are close to Reconstructionism, which thinks that the U.S. Constitution is a sub-document overruled by Old Testament Biblical Laws."

Given that the foremost Evangelical candidate of this election cycle, Mike Huckabee (a Southern Baptist) famously bore out this very contention, I would suggest that the burden of proof is on those who would argue that Dominionism has had no influence.


"Speaking to a not-particularly religious crowd near Detroit on Monday, before the Michigan primary, he [Huckabee] slipped into an argument to amend the Constitution to ban abortion and same-sex marriage, “so it’s in God’s standards, rather than try to change God’s standards.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/19/us/politics/19huckabee.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

But don't take my word for this. Visit the Chalcedon Foundation web site for yourself, or Google "dominionism influence denominations" and read some of the articles. I'd also urge you to visit the Vision America website; Rick Scarborough is the Dominionist with who I am most, and indeed personally, familiar.

Leigh