Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Sarah Palin: Dangerous Religious Fanatic

Fresh reason today to despise Sarah Palin and to say a prayer to God, today, right now, that He will see it in His will and best interest to eradicate this person from any position of power in the whole wide world.

As it turns out, Ms. Palin isn’t just your run-of-the-mill “whack job,” as the Republican handlers have leaked in recent days. She is a PRODUCT of an actual movement by some FRIGHTENING whack jobs that are also very well-organized.

I have recently been disgusted to find out that almost every major church in this country and even some of the less-recognized ones, all operate EXACTLY like large corporations. They have administrative arms, financial arms, employment arms, and whatever other kinds of departments you might find at any major corporation. They have their own retirement funds and other financial instruments. If you ever wondered what the deal is with this “prosperity gospel” that many churches are preaching now, well, it is REAL. It’s not wishing for prosperity, it is actually INVESTING in church businesses and financial instruments and getting rich. It may seem counter-intuitive or counter to Jesus’ teachings, but they are all organized beyond imagining and do not see any conflict-of-interest in getting rich off of Jesus.

Though this is enough in itself to turn anyone away from organized religion, there are also legal arms. Many of the evangelical churches have united together toward a common goal of taking over the country and forcing their teachings on us all. This movement is called “Dominionism.” They would like to rewrite the Constitution to conform to what they believe are “God’s Laws.” And they are EXTREMELY well-organized. And they have multiple legal organizations backing them up. It is chilling.

And this is where Ms. Palin comes in. Because, as it turns out, she belongs to a Dominionist church and has been counseled by some of the Dominionist legal organizations. Check out these websites to learn more:

http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/about/Purpose/Default.aspx

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/sep/02/palin-no-stranger-focus-family/

http://www.npr.org/blogs/newsandviews/2008/09
/the_tax_man_cometh_to_church.html

Wikipedia defines Dominionism this way:

Dominionism describes, in several distinct ways, a tendency among some conservative politically-active Christians, especially in the United States of America, to seek influence or control over secular civil government through political action — aiming either at a nation governed by Christians, or a nation governed by a conservative Christian understanding of biblical law.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominionism

In the same entry, Dominion Theology is defined this way:

Dominion Theology is a grouping of theological systems with the common belief that society should be governed exclusively by the law of God as codified in the Bible, to the exclusion of secular law, a view also known as theonomy. The most prominent modern formulation of Dominion Theology is Christian Reconstructionism, founded by R. J. Rushdoony in the 1970s. Reconstructionists themselves use the word dominionism to refer to their belief that civil government should be controlled by Christians alone and conducted according to Biblical law. Social scientists have used the word "dominionism" to refer to adherence to Dominion Theology as well as to the influence in the broader Christian Right of ideas inspired by Dominion Theology. Although such influence (particularly of Reconstructionism) has been described by many authors, full adherents to Reconstructionism are few and marginalized among conservative Christians.
According to Diamond, the defining concept of dominionism is "that Christians alone are Biblically mandated to occupy all secular institutions until Christ returns". In 1989, Diamond declared that this concept "has become the central unifying ideology for the Christian Right" (p.138, emphasis in original). In 1995, she called it "prevalent on the Christian Right." Journalist Chip Berlet added in 1998 that, although they represent different theological and political ideas, dominionists assert a Christian duty to take "control of a sinful secular society."
In 2005, Clarkson enumerated the following characteristics shared by all forms of dominionism:
1. Dominionists celebrate Christian nationalism, in that they believe that the United States once was, and should once again be, a Christian nation. In this way, they deny the Enlightenment roots of American democracy.
2. Dominionists promote religious supremacy, insofar as they generally do not respect the equality of other religions, or even other versions of Christianity.
3. Dominionists endorse theocratic visions, insofar as they believe that the Ten Commandments, or "biblical law," should be the foundation of American law, and that the U.S. Constitution should be seen as a vehicle for implementing Biblical principles.


A website in Canada had this to say about Dominionism:

Its most common form, Dominionism, represents one of the most extreme forms of Fundamentalist Christianity thought. Its followers, called Dominionists, are attempting to peacefully convert the laws of United States so that they match those of the Hebrew Scriptures. They intend to achieve this by using the freedom of religion in the US to train a generation of children in private Christian religious schools. Later, their graduates will be charged with the responsibility of creating a new Bible-based political, religious and social order. One of the first tasks of this order will be to eliminate religious choice and freedom. Their eventual goal is to achieve the "Kingdom of God" in which much of the world is converted to Christianity. They feel that the power of God's word will bring about this conversion. No armed force or insurrection will be needed; in fact, they believe that there will be little opposition to their plan. People will willingly accept it. All that needs to be done is to properly explain it to them.
All religious organizations, congregations etc. other than strictly Fundamentalist Christianity would be suppressed. Nonconforming Evangelical, main line and liberal Christian religious institutions would no longer be allowed to hold services, organize, proselytize, etc. Society would revert to the laws and punishments of the Hebrew Scriptures. Any person who advocated or practiced other religious beliefs outside of their home would be tried for idolatry and executed. Blasphemy, adultery and homosexual behavior would be criminalized; those found guilty would also be executed. At that time that this essay was originally written, this was the only religious movement in North America of which we were aware which advocates genocide for followers of minority religions and non-conforming members of their own religion. Since then, we have learned of two conservative Christian pastors in Texas who have advocated the execution of all Wiccans. Ralph Reed, the executive director of the conservative public policy group the Christian Coalition has criticized Reconstructionism as "an authoritarian ideology that threatens the most basic civil liberties of a free and democratic society."

http://www.religioustolerance.org/reconstr.htm

For more frightening reading, please check out these two articles which are both well-cited (with links):

http://dogemperor.newsvine.com/_news/2008/08/29/1803647-sarah-palin-dominionist-stalking-horse

http://correntewire.com/palin_dominionist_intimidation_and_actual_witch_hunters

And, for some truly worrisome reading, here is what they are using to brainwash their kids:

http://community.livejournal.com/dark_christian/209138.html

WOW! No wonder Palin draws such nutty crowds and no wonder they adore her with such an unthinking passion. They most likely believe, as they did of Bush, that she is ordained by God. I wish that by losing this election, it would cause some of these folks to question their beliefs. But, these are true fanatics.

We have SO much to worry about for a long time to come in this Country.

May God Bless America (by saving us from these nuts).

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