BabyDraco (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} babydraco) wrote in ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} thecosmicdance,@ 2005-12-05 15:30:00 |
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What is a fundamentalist Christian?
An ultra conservative member of the Christian religion. They're often socially/politically conservative as well as theologically so. When it becomes a problem is when someone decides that God wants them to go further- and that they just can't take no for an answer. That not only are they right, but you have no right to disagree with their total rightness.
The world has gotten smaller. If something big happens in Jakarta, twenty minutes later everyone in the world who has a tv or an Internet enabled computer can know about it.
In other words, a lie can get halfway around the world before the truth has its boots on. (Terry Pratchett "The Truth")
A fundamentalist Christian is known chiefly for their stance that the Bible is the literal word of the one true God- the books were either recorded by eyewitnesses or reliable sources and it's not really meant to be metaphor. While fundamentalist Catholics exist, the biggest group of fundamentalists are Protestant. They believe in the Bible as a literal guide to life, generally using an English translation.
They're not "orthodox" Christians. The Orthodox are one of two things- an actual group of denominations popular in Eastern Europe, Greece and the Middle East which dates back to the early Christians and has nothing to do with American fundamentalism, and a category of early Christian beliefs just meaning what was considered by general consensus to be canon (Jesus's death on the cross is an orthodox belief, God creating the world in exactly six days is a fundamentalist belief). Most mainline Christians find the fundamentalists to be anything but orthodox-they see them as the utter fringes of what is considered normal Christianity.
I try to go more in depth here.
What does PreMillenial Dispensationalist mean?
It's based on an interpretation of Revelation which may not be Biblical at all but overlaid with an 18th century idea. Basically, they believe that just before the Apocalypse (some say seven years, some say a thousand) God will take all true believers to Heaven and leave all unsaved people on earth. Of course, in this view, "true believer" means baptized and saved Christians.
Because the world is ending, there's no need to be responsible with money or to take care of the environment.
The countdown will begin with the rise of a One World Government. Its leader will be the Anti Christ, who will establish world peace (this is considered a bad thing because the peace is supposed to come at the expense of something which is not specified). The rise of this "beast" will begin the Tribulation, when Christians left behind will be persecuted (no, it's not explained how true believers will suffer this if they've already been Raptured).
Naturally, PMDs assume that they must be the victims and can't possibly be the aggressors.
Marks of the Tribulation include increased invasion of privacy by the government. All followers of the Beast will wear a certain mark on either their arms or their foreheads. True believers will not accept the mark, and will be persecuted because of it. They won't be able to work or buy things, and then the government will start rounding people up and killing them. They fear that the "Mark of the Beast" will be a microchip imbedded in human skin. In the 80s, Christians were warned not to get ATM cards.
You might be familiar with all of this if you've peeked at the "Left Behind" series by Tim LeHaye and Jerry Jenkins.
This is why it's nearly impossible to get through to them that secular people do not want to destroy Christianity. They're too constantly on guard against the time when the world will turn on Christians. Because they feel this way, of course they begin to make people hostile toward the faith. They're fighting this war that almost no one else is interested in fighting, every move the "other side" (people who are not PMDs) make is considered an act of war against them, even if the "other side" just considers it a request for common courtesy.
The fear of the One World Government has led them to distrust the UN. This distrust coupled with a nearly fascist obsession with America's role as God's Chosen Nation has actually helped to turn America into a frightening global empire, a….potential candidate for a One World Government. The fear that world peace will bring the Anti Christ has turned the world into chaos, setting the stage for warlords, and unethical leaders to seize control of various nations. Doesn't it often seem like someone out there wants chaos in the Middle East and Africa? Whenever they come close to achieving peace, something bizarre happens? I mean the situation in Iraq, for example, has degenerated into such a mess that it could only have been done on purpose. This level of total incompetence does not happen by accident.
http://www.livejournal.com/community/th
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_prop
http://www.slate.com/id/2131365/
http://www.livejournal.com/community/th
By now, the Neocons' role in the preemptive invasion of Iraq is fairly well known (Indeed, most of their plans for Iraq and its oil resources can be easily read in articles going back to the early 90s available on the Project for a New American Century web-page )
" After the attacks, Bush began to cast the global situation as a vast war between Good and Evil, the forces of liberty and democracy against the forces of tyranny and terror:"
Guess what, it still is. The question is not really whether good and evil exist, but who is good and who is evil here. The Dominionists and neo cons are utterly convinced that they are the heroes of this story. But they haven't brought us liberty or democracy, liberty and democracy are their code words for "Fundamentalist Christian capitalist totalitarian theocracy", "tyranny" is their word for "creep we installed as our puppet who now refuses to dance" and "terror" is their word for "anyone who tries to stand up to us".
The younger Bush was far more successful in connecting with the Religious Right; as Craig Unger put it, he was "deeply attuned to the nuances of the evangelical subcultures" and "replaced his father's visionless pragmatism with the Manichaean certitudes of Good and Evil."
People often say this, as if we're meant to infer that only scary conservatives see a line between Good and Evil, Anyone who sees a divide between Good and Evil is automatically labeled a " Manichaean". This is highly insulting to the poor Manichaens, who were very strict about their views but not megalomaniacal and certainly not the first or the last people to have ideas about Good and Evil being opposing cosmic forces.
What is a Dominionist/Christian Reconstructionist?
In 1973 a man named Rousas John Rushdoony wrote a book called "Institutes of Biblical Law". He believed in "presuppositionalism" which says that all issues are religious and people don't have the right to decide for themselves how to interpret that. This differs wildly from most modern Christians because it says that even if what you're doing is not hurting anyone else, if there's a verse in the Bible that says it's not allowed, the government should be given the right to punish you for it.
Not all Recons/Dominionists agree exactly on all of this , but they're willing to put aside minor differences to accomplish the larger goal. Since the 1970s they have quietly been gathering strength in the US, they were given ample support by the Reagan administration. They also tried to sucker in Bush Senior, and it's believed that they withdrew their support from him during his second run for president because he wouldn't give in to all their demands. I think they realized that in Bush Jr they had a much better puppet, a recovering drug addict and alcoholic who was just not very bright to begin with and desperately ambitious.
Dominionists believe that God will one day return to earth, end the world and take all his true believers to Heaven. This is supposed to be a good thing, so it's the duty of all good Christians to hurry it along, by any means necessary. But before God comes back, Christians have to prepare for him by saving as many people as possible, and by achieving "Dominion" over the world. This means first either conquering every other nation (because Dominionism is a primarily American philosophy, with the belief that America is God's chosen nation) or converting everyone by some other means. Everyone is to follow government mandated laws based on the Laws of Moses, their strictest, most literal interpretations; underscored by fanatical capitalism (many leading Dominionists are extremely wealthy).
Unlike the PMDs, the Dominionists have no problem being seen as the aggressors, they expect it, they welcome the chance to serve God in this way. They play on the fears of the PMDs, turning the extreme conservatives of Christianity into a huge, slimy, self replicating, oil guzzling, vindictive, grasping Beast.
http://www.motherjones.com/news/fea
http://www.livejournal.com/users/cargow
http://www.wittenburgdoor.com/archi
How are these people connected?
http://alternet.org/story/29054/
Dominionists participate in crowning of Rev Moon as the Messiah (video footage).
Deemed "scary," even by Jerry Falwell's followers
http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominio
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/st
The Washington Times is owned by Dominionists
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blume
http://www.motherjones.com/news/fea
http://www.livejournal.com/community/da
http://www.livejournal.com/community/da
http://www.danmahony.com/wp6.htm
http://www.reandev.com/taliban/
The Promise Keepers are also connected to various Dominionist organizations.
What do they want with the Jews?
They want to convert all Jews to Christianity, and in doing this, gain access to Israeli government to turn the tides of the Mid-East conflict toward the Apocalypse. They believe that when Christ comes back, all true believers will be in Israel to witness the arrival of the "New Jerusalem". They think the best way to manage this is to have the country in Christian hands. One of America's most important diplomats to the state of Israel is a Reconstructionist.
They've cozied up to certain very conservative and very Zionist Jewish groups but they're basically just using them as pawns in the game. Most Dominionists are actually raging anti Semites- the author of "Institutes of Biblical Law" believed the Holocaust never happened. One powerful Dominionist group contributes money to certain Neo-Nazi organizations and the KKK. The Anti Christ, which they hope will come soon so Armageddon can begin, is supposed to commit mass slaughter of the Jews, leading to spectacular conversion rates.
Oh, Grandma, what big teeth you have!"
And Grandma, what big ears you have!
In the past three or four decades, Dominionists have been specifically targeting Jews for conversion under the guise of wanting to be friends. They've planted denominations designed to welcome Jews- in fact, pretending to be Jewish groups that have "recognized the truth that Jesus was the Messiah of the Jewish people". The Assembly of God and the Southern Baptists have planted the majority of these groups. They love to slip in rhetoric that turns these Jews against their own people and against certain other Christian groups. They brainwash their new converts then turn them out to bring in more people.
I think we should call them. Dominyanists. Because they need to convert a certain number of Jews for their plan to work. (rimshot!).
http://www.livejournal.com/community/da
http://www.livejournal.com/community/da
http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/mo
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Fasci
http://www.opinionjournal.com/taste/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Me
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2005/1
What do they want with the Muslims?
They've been able to capitalize on the fact that many people in the world don't understand Islam and fear Muslims, the Dominionists can get away with doing things to Muslims that people won't let them get away with doing to Jews anymore. The Muslims are key to destabilizing the Middle East, all the Dominionists have to do is lie to them and egg them on. Iraq used to be Babylon and the Dominionists, who are literalists, think the references to Babylon in Revelation indicate that Iraq has a prominent role in the Apocalypse.
The Jews are pawns but the Muslims are cannon fodder. Bush claims that God told him to invade Iraq.
Also, as the world's third largest and fastest growing religion, Islam is probably thought of as a threat to Christian power. The Christian hierarchy realized that back during the Crusades. Unlike a lot of modern religions, Islam is also a proselytizing faith, which brings it up against Christianity. Dominionist Christians love to accuse Islam of doing the very things they (the Dominionist Christians) have been not so secretly planning to institute themselves. Since they believe that Islam is a false faith that was demonically inspired- they're not so much upset at the rules advocated by fundamentalist Muslims as they are upset that "worshippers of a false prophet" beat them to it. And of course, they're (the Dominionists) in cahoots with the oil people too.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jesse-kor
Why are they pushing Creationism so hard?
Because it's the fundamental (no pun intended) building block of their entire world view. It's not whether the story is true or not, it's how they can use it to keep the sheep in line. Allowing anyone to believe even just a variation of the story will open the door to the acceptance of the mythology of other cultures, which leads to new views of God and less control over their followers.
Why the obsession with the Ten Commandments?
It's code. The Ten Commandments are a symbol of all the other laws in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. So yes, they do know that there are more than ten. And they want us to follow every single one, even the ones that Judaism decided centuries ago were not required. Dominionist leaders have hinted that sinners should be beaten or stoned, and anyone not prepared to accept these rules should be denied citizenship. They don't really understand the Laws as they're meant to be followed or as they apply to modern times, which makes it all that much more dangerous.
In ancient times, if you didn't follow the laws of Judaism then you couldn't participate in Jewish life. But that doesn't necessarily mean what Dominionists want it to mean. Not being allowed in the Temple until you've taken a purification bath is not the same as being deported from the United States for refusing to pray to Jesus. Especially since one of the ultimate goals of Dominionism is to make the entire world Christian and American.
When does life begin for them?
Life begins at conception for most conservative and fundamentalist Christians. But for the hardcore, life begins before conception- sperm must not be wasted or tampered with, and eggs have to be fertilized or you're killing a potential baby. Sperm donors and surrogate mothers are seen as adultery, stem cell research is abortion. Sex is for procreation- and couples that deliberately decide not to have children (without a health excuse) are sinning. Because abortion is seen as ending a life, no matter what trimester it happens in, it's murder and a woman who aborts is a murderer. In the world of the Dominionists, if she loses the baby due to her own negligence, she's committed manslaughter.
Naturally this leads to wondering what would happen if a woman really didn't want to get pregnant…Now, if refusing to get pregnant is a sin, and you're advocating that the US government conform to the laws of Christianity, you are basically saying that to not have children ought to be illegal.
Do they talk in code?
Yes. Suspicious language includes phrases like "biblical worldview", "God bless America", "America is a Christian nation", etc. Frequent references to the Ten Commandments, the "God of the Old Testament", the "Old Testament Jewish prophets", "God's dominion" and "Faith based" are favorites too.
Dominionist churches often hide their affiliations by choosing generic sounding names like "World Harvest Tabernacle: A non-denominational church" or "Christian Life Center" (which doesn't even sound like a church, it sounds like a day care facility or a rec room).
Not all "non denominational" churches are Dominionist fronts.
Do they really believe this stuff?
There are the people on the bottom, the flock of congregations who are shown "Left Behind" videos and who have all sources of real news cut off. These might actually believe in it all, many believe in the Dominionist theology as it actually is, but there are also thousands who have been duped into thinking it's just innocent rhetoric. They don't realize the Talibangelists mean all that "Dominion" stuff literally. There are also thousands of Christians who don't follow the Dominonist theology at all, and would be horrified to discover it existed, but well, they don't know it exists. They think James Dobson is just the lone crackpot his denomination produced, every group has its weirdo and you can just tune him out, right? After all, it's not like he and all those other lone nuts go off and have secret conferences where they plot the takeover of the government…right?
The way news travels in Christianity is unique. Word does not pass back and forth between Catholics/Anglicans and Protestants, so things that have the Catholic church up in arms don't even attract the notice of Protestants. And I think a lot of evangelicals I know didn't even realize that the Anglican church almost split apart recently. But gossip travels fast in the Protestant world, even faster now that there's all Christian radio networks and cable tv channels, ISPs, newspapers, and magazines. But since gossip often passes for actual news, it becomes difficult for conservative Christians to verify things.
But then there's some guys way at the top, who may or may not actually believe their own stories, but what they really feed on is the power they get from controlling everyone else. Dominionism in its purest form is the ultimate result of total selfishness. The heads of these mega churches and multinational publishing empires are raking in millions of dollars a year by basically fleecing their sheep. They like to talk about God showering blessings on his most faithful followers- except these guys embezzle, lie, cheat, bully and whore themselves out to get the money.
How will I know one when I see one?
Dominionist Christians are, for some reason, obsessed with the American pioneers. The majority of inspirational romances seem to be set on the prairie. Children are encouraged to watch movies and read books about the pioneers. Perhaps because it all seems so sexless and austere. Favorite historical periods seem to avoid any time when people were interested in dissent or sexuality or questioning God. The American Revolution is not a favorite time period for Dominionist Christians despite their own rampant patriotism.
Obviously, there's the clear signs of a plethora of Bush bumper stickers, yellow ribbons, American flags and such. They often have a lot of children. They dress rather conservatively- for church the men wear ties and nice pants and the women wear dresses. In the most extreme groups, women are not allowed to wear trousers at all.
Wives often stay at home with the children, and children are often home schooled or sent to private Christian schools. Children who are homeschooled by Dominionist Christian parents have certain clear personality traits, well behaved but emotionally childish.
Wives often seem independent, they almost seem equal, but the ultimate decision making power resides with the husband. The more conservative the Christian, the younger they tend to marry,three girls I grew up with are already married, with two or more children.
Very conservative Christians-especially fundamentalists-especially Dominionists believe in corporal punishment. Many leaders support an alternative to that, since corporal punishment is outlawed in some places, and it's called hot saucing.
If you meet one, they'll let you know right away that they're Christian. Not by demonstrating Christ like behavior but by saying it loudly and often and strewing their space with Christian books, pamphlets and jewelry.
A lot of Dominionist "mega" churches will not be holding Sunday services this upcoming Christmas morning. I'm not sure what the point of this is, but it's something they all seem to have in common.
http://www.sfweekly.com/Issues/2005-1
http://www.sfweekly.com/Issues/2005-0
What makes them different from scholarly liberal Christians?
Wikipedia entry on liberal Christianity.
Seriously, are you pulling my chain?
No. Absolutely not. The reason why we can know for sure that this Dominionism thing is real is because the Dominionists themselves don't bother to hide it.
Does it matter if the Apocalyptic prophecies were meant to apply to modern times? No, it does not, because we're perfectly capable of ending the world entirely on our own without supernatural help and that's the scariest part of all. We could all die just because someone pushed the wrong button. Thousands of people have already died because of the Dominionists.
I don't know how literally I take the End Times prophecies, but I know how seriously Dominionists take them and that's all that matters. More people need to wake up and pay attention and stop dismissing it all as ridiculous rantings of irrational people because they are coming for your birth control, your gay friends and neighbors, your unapproved books, your science, your porn, your "immodest clothing", your right to die with dignity, your welfare, your sexual rights, your freedom to pray to whoever you want (yes, even your freedom to practice Christianity the way you want to). They're coming for your country and your government.
