It is Dominion we are after
Just to make clear who and what I was referring to in that last post, let me post this quote, which I found at Theocracy Watch. These are the people that the current administration is allied with, and beholden to.
Author and educator George Grant was Executive Director of Coral Ridge Ministries for many years. He explains 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)
Using this guy ae representative of the view of all Christians is like saying the views of Bin Laden represents all Muslims. You cannot quote the extremist views of the radical minority and, with any credibility, say it represents the larger group. 99% of all Christians would find this statement radical, and not representative of their Christian beliefs. 99% of all Christian, while not agreeing with the homosexual agenda, would never dream of violence against such a person, and in fact, would be the first person to stand alongside any homosexual physically attacked for being a homosexual. Christ never attempted to overthrow or influence the Roman Empire, he simply ministered to people among it.
I definitely know Christians who believe as you say they do. I also know Christians who believe as this man does. I don’t have figures, of course, on how many there may be of each. But my impression, certainly, is that the Dominionists are far more than 1% of Christians. And they are certainly the portion of Christians who are seeking, and gaining, political power at this time.
If this were indeed the way most Christians felt, or even a tiny minority, it seems to me that the war in Northern Ireland would have had some very serious ramifications here, with at least a little tension between Catholics and Protestants. But aside from some white haired, red nosed drunkards in Boston, there was hardly a ripple. I am a Catholic and not one time do I ever remember cheering on the IRA as they bombed and slaughtered innocents in London.
That’s the difference between us and them – such a movement would not have an “ocean to swim in” here, and would be ratted out at every turn by Christians that found them and their ways repugnant. I mean give me a break – even the Vatican can’t get traction here, and can’t get us to follow them unquestionably. Note for example, the number of pro-choice Catholics, including John Kerry. Note the fact that the US Council of Bishops was 180 degrees from the Vatican and Cardinal Law on the child-rape scandal.
The guy is clearly in the lunatic fringe, and I think the fears of a theocracy here in the US are way, way overwrought.
Don’t you remember when Jesus took hostages and forced them to convert or die?
Me neither, but that does seem to be the way this is trending. The fact that 98%-99% don’t behave that way is irrelevant when the power is in the hands of the ones that do.
When the networks refuse to air ads for a church that welcomes everybody because tolerance has become too controvercial, when Reverend (who is a psychologist not a real reverend) Dobson goes on the attack against Spongebob Squarepants, Winnie the Poo, and tens of other cartoon characters who stood for tolerance is listened to and followed by Christians who do not know about his meanspiritedness, it does not matter if they aren’t that way.
A good friend of mine stood in my kitchen one day this spring, and I swear her eyes glazed over when out of the blue she looked at me and said “I think government should teach marriage.”
Of course she listens to “rev” Dobson daily; he is on the telly and radio ten times every day here and he gets a big column in our Sunday newspaper, too and his Focus on the Family ads run another 20-50 times a day.
Every grocery store around here has at least one prominent rack of right wing simplistic christian books and magazines and people buy them like crazy not even realizing that there is another side of the Christian faith because our more liberal christian leaders aren’t backed up by the Mellon-Scaife-Bradley-Coors political money.
It doesn’t matter if most Christians are not like that if they are brainwashed to give the ones who do more money and power to push their agenda because the things they do hear sound like plain and simple god loving common sense.
I’m confused. I live in Houston Freakin’ Texas, and although I know some people who are pretty damn devout (some say I should spend sometime praying over my business model), I don’t know one person who has said to me “Praise God, let’s kill a fag,” or anything remotely close. I grew up in rural Texas, too.
Good grief, like me see if I’m getting this straight – people is your berg are getting turned into pods because “Rev.” Dobson is on the TV and radio and there are right wing publications at the Piggly Wiggly. And because of this “brainwashing” they are sending money to the evil Rev. because he sounds like he makes sense.
Where exactly do you live? Sounds like heaven for a stockbroker…