"America has a problem: It’s filled with people who take the Bible seriously. America has a blessing: It’s filled with people who take the Bible seriously. How does this blessing coexist with the curse derived from the same source: the Bible? The answer is that the Bible is a curse or a blessing depending on who is doing the interpreting. Sometimes belief in the Bible leads to building a hospital. Sometimes it leads to justifying perpetual war and empire building. Same book—different interpretation.
and on the roots of the current Religious Right :
...When you hear words like “We want to take back America for God!” the 21st-century expression of such theocratic ideas can be traced back to... the Reconstructionists.
Most Americans have never heard of the Reconstructionists. But they have felt their impact through the Reconstructionists’ profound (if indirect) influence over the wider (and vast) evangelical community.
Quotes By Frank Schaeffer son of the founder of the Religious Right movement in America
" Michele Bachmann Was Inspired By My Dad and His Christian Reconstructionist Friends -- Here's Why That's Terrifying "
Alternet.org, August 9, 2011
A clip of a who's who of the religious right from Governor Rick Perry's Presidential campaign first Big public appearance at his brainchild The Response: Religious Right and GOP Leaders United In Prayer
Uploaded by RWWBlog on Aug 6, 2011
Rick Perry, David Barton, Tony Perkins, Penny Nance, Gov. Rick Scott, Gov. Sam Brownback, Jim Garlow, and John Hagee speak and pray at "The Response."
The Republican Tea Party held a presidential candidates debate in which for the most part they each attempted to appeal to the extreme Religious Right and the Tea Party Movement.
Of course as the Republican party moves further to the right in American political and social terms this means that what is referred as mainstream America or the "Centricism of Obama " moves further to the right thereby marginalizing moderate conservatives on the one hand and the Progressives associated with the Democratic Party on the other.
This helps those who are Progressives to better understand why President Obama has become openly hostile to the Progressives such as Moveon.org or pokes fun at anyone suggesting reform of drug laws in America ie Legalization or at least decriminalization of Marijuana.
So as the New York Times and Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks and other Progressives and liberals point out President Obama appears more interested in getting re-elected than passing progressive legislation or taking on these radical Republicans who represent the Radical Religious Right and the superwealthy .
Obama also appears to fear confrontation and so prefers compromise, appeasement and capitulation on issues inorder to avoid such confrontations.
GOP Prez Debate Evokes Bevy of Far-Right Themes: States' Rights, Rapist Babies, Gold Standard and More by Adele M. Stan via Alternet.org, August 12, 2011
...If there was any doubt that the Republican Party is now firmly in the hands of far-right ideologues, last night's broadcast surely dispelled that notion. In fact, many of the themes sounded throughout the evening appeared to come right out of the platform of the Constitution Party, the hard-core, theocratic party founded by Christian Reconstructionist Howard Phillips.
Candidates discussed the right of fetuses conceived in rape to be born, a return to the gold standard as the basis for U.S. currency, and the proposed abolition of the Federal Reserve, all tenets of the Constitution Party platform. Rounding out the Reconstructionist agenda was a question to Bachmann about her adherence to the doctrine of "wifely submission," advocated by several right-wing Christian sects, which she dodged by saying that the term simply meant mutual respect between husband and wife.
and on the issue of Gay Rights & Gay Marriage the majority of candidates in the debate follow the platform policies of the Religious Right .
" All the Anti-Gay Rhetoric From the GOP Presidential Debate -- In Under 2 Minutes " by Igor Volsky ThinkProgress via Alternet.org, August 12, 2011
The GOP presidential candidates reiterated their opposition to same-sex marriage during Thursday’s debate in Ames, Iowa, even as the majority of Americans now support marriage equality and 11.4 percent of the population lives in a state that recognizes the unions of gay and lesbian couples. The contenders sparred over the role of the federal government in regulating marriage, while former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman distinguished himself for his support of civil unions and greater LGBT equality
also see:
" The Biggest Religious Movement You Never Heard of: Nine Things You Need to Know About Rick Perry's Prayer Event
Perry's endorsers are not just a random group of radical evangelists but part of a large and little-understood international religious movement." by Paul Rosenberg at Alternet.org, August 6, 2011
“Perry’s endorsers are not just a random group of radical evangelists making outrageous statements,” researcher Rachel Tabachnick subsequently wrote at Alternet.org. “These are the apostles and prophets of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), the biggest international religious movement you never heard of.” Almost simultaneously, investigative reporter Forrest Wilder of the Texas Observer published an extensive article on Perry's prayer event and his endorsers, “Rick Perry's Army of God.”
The NAR's intellectual godfather, C. Peter Wagner, one of Perry's early endorsers, brags that it's the most significant change in how Christianity is practiced since the Protestant Reformation. Like him or not, in a sense he's right: With tens, even hundreds of millions of followers worldwide, the NAR's stress on Godlike prophetic and apostolic powers, its revisions of end-time prophecies, its methodology of “spiritual warfare,” and its agenda of theocratic dominion over all aspects of society are not just threatening to modern secular democracy and the religious pluralism it protects, they have been sharply criticized by other conservative Christians as unbiblical, deviant teachings, even a form of the very demonic practices they obsessively declare war against. Indeed, the Assemblies of God — the largest Pentecostal denomination in America — condemned some of the NAR's teachings and practices as “deviant” in 2000, though Tabachnick told me that many within the denomination have since embraced the movement.
Wilder told me they were going to “tone it down a little bit to make it less overt in terms of the particular set of beliefs and practices that most of the people behind the event hold.” So, probably no talk about taking over government, sex with demons or Oprah Winfrey as a harbinger of the Antichrist — the sort of more alarming tidbits Maddow highlighted...
Frank Schaeffer who was an insider when the Religious Right was being made into a political, social and religious force in the United States. Frank Scaeffer's father Francis Schaeffer was one of the leading voices in the coalescing of the various individuals and groups on the religious right to become a more powerful voice in America and thereby influence American politics and the re-framing or re-branding of various social issues such as abortion as the "Pro-Life Movement" which also spawned "Operation Rescue" ; the hatred of Gays was reframed into the more media friendly "Pro-Family Movement" and the creation of the now defunct Moral Majority Inc. led by Rev. Jerry Falwell. and the creation of radical right wing "Think Tanks" such as the Heritage Foundation and numerous other organizations which are always morphing and re-branding.
The issue they exploited was that of Abortion six years after Roe V. Wade which they found resonated to Christian Evangelicals across the board though many of the original founders such as Jerry Falwell, Dobson Robertson Bill Bright Billy graham and so forth were actually more interested in losing their tax exemptions and federal aid if they refused to racially integrate their schools and universities. So the motivation of many was their blatant, unabashed theologically based racism which recently we have seen bubble to the surface with the rise of the Tea party.
Francis Schaeffer main talking point was the branding the enemy of Christianity as "The Secular Humanists" that is those who believed in the Separation of Church and State and who believed in tolerance and pluralism and multiculturalism and other liberal notions. Francis Schaeffer characterized "Secular Humanism" as a competing secular religion which ultimately lead to undermining the values and traditions of Western Civilization which he believed was based upon Judeo-Christian values which are to be found in the Bible itself. While the Secualr Humanists preached Moral and cultural Relativism the Judeo-Christian system of thought preached Moral absolutism in which there is little room for compromise or exceptions to any particular moral value. Every social and political decision becomes part of the on-going fight between "Secular Humanists" (liberals, socialists, communists, collectivists, progressives etc.) and Judeo Christian beliefs and values.
So those in favor of allowing even a minimum of exceptions for allowing legal abortions or gives any rights to Homosexuals or promotes sex education in the public schools is not just wrong but is considered anti-Life , anti-family and anti-family values and anti-Bible and anti-God and therefore a moral relativist and as being anti-Judeo Christian values and a promoter of heresy , Paganism and other false religions which were spawned ( they would argue)by evil men or the product of Satan The Father of lies. (cue evil laughter and demonic figure rising )
This is part of the mindset of those who now represent the Christian Nationalists who believe that all facets of society including governance and the judiciary must reflect the Will of God and therefore institute what Reconstructionists refer to as "God's Law". Any changes or inovations made to these laws is defacto heretical and immoral and pernicious.
These "True Believers " have been working hard for at least the last forty odd years or so sometimes quite openly other times in a stealth mode while the political elite and the media downplayed their activities characterizing them as a fringe movement of extremist who were not to be taken seriously while at the same time many liberals were and some still are afraid to go on the defensive in fear of being labeled a bigot or prejudice or intolerant.
After all Christian Evangelicals even the most extreme have rights and should be tolerated and even shown respect no matter how wacky or intolerant or anti-democratic their ideas and theology are. These very values they hate and deride they have used to gain respectability and power beyond their actual numbers.
Is this a conspiracy well in one sense yes but it is not hidden or a secret their published works and speeches and sermons etc. are all available to the general public as books, audio-tapes, DVDs and soon in Bluray or download to IPOD etc. Their works are not at all difficult to find just go online or visit any bookstore and especially Christian bookstores from the Bible Society to Evangelical bookstores in your area.
" Michele Bachmann Was Inspired By My Dad and His Christian Reconstructionist Friends -- Here's Why That's Terrifying
Bachmann's radical right-wing influences include the most extremist figures in the history of the religious right." by Frank Schaeffer at Alternet.org, August 9, 2011 |
As presidential candidate Michele Bachmann chews up scenery in the GOP primaries, the mainstream media is finally digging into her extremist beliefs in a serious way. In a profile published earlier this week, the New Yorker's Ryan Lizza talked about Bachmann's radical right-wing influences, which include the most extremist figures in the history of the religious right movement.
America has a problem: It’s filled with people who take the Bible seriously. America has a blessing: It’s filled with people who take the Bible seriously. How does this blessing coexist with the curse derived from the same source: the Bible? The answer is that the Bible is a curse or a blessing depending on who is doing the interpreting. Sometimes belief in the Bible leads to building a hospital. Sometimes it leads to justifying perpetual war and empire building. Same book—different interpretation.
...When you hear words like “We want to take back America for God!” the 21st-century expression of such theocratic ideas can be traced back to... the Reconstructionists.
Most Americans have never heard of the Reconstructionists. But they have felt their impact through the Reconstructionists’ profound (if indirect) influence over the wider (and vast) evangelical community.
...Take Michele Bachmann. She is a Reconstructionist schooled – literally – by some of that obscure movement’s leading thinkers, including my father.
The evangelicals have shaped the politics of a secular culture that barely understood the religious right, let alone the forces within that movement that gave it its edge. The Americans inhabiting the wider (and more secular) culture just saw the results of Reconstructionism without understanding where those results had come from—for instance, how the hell George W. Bush got elected and then reelected or why Michele Bachmann was into home schooling long before she was into trying to become president in order to turn America into a homophobic theocracy.
Victimhood
If you feel victimized by modernity, then the Reconstructionists have the answer in their version of biblical interpretation. Reconstructionists want to replace the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights with their interpretation of the Bible.
and so it goes,
GORD.
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