Posted on 11/14/2003 6:47:13 PM PST by Chancellor Palpatine
Here is a long snippet:
Other noted Reconstructionists include Greg Bahnson, David Barton of WallBuilders, Inc., David Chilton, Gary DeMar of American Vision and Worldview Magazine; Ted DeMoss of Christian Business Men's Committee; Kenneth Gentry, Jay Grimstead of Coalition on Revival; James Kennedy of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church; Tim LaHaye of American Coalition for Traditional Values; Mrs. Connie Marshner of Free Congress Foundation; Rev. Joseph Morecraft; Gary North of Institute for Christian Economics; Mark Siljander of Global Strategies, Inc.; Randall Terry of Operation Rescue and Rev. Donald Wildmon of American Family Association. Dr. Kennedy, Rev. LaHaye, Mrs. Marshner, Mr. North, R.J. Rushdoony, and Rev. Wildmon are all members of the Council For National Policy.
"Whether it is acknowledged or not, Reconstructionism has profoundly influenced the Christian Right. Perhaps its most important role within the Christian Right can be traced to the formation in 1982 of the Coalition on Revival (COR)…Founded and headed by Dr. Jay Grimstead, COR has sought in this way to create a transdenominational theology…The COR leadership has significantly overlapped with the Christian Right, and has included: John Whitehead, Don Wildmon…Tim LaHaye and D. James Kennedy, Randall Terry…Steven Hotze, Rev. Glen Cole…Michael Farris…Robert Dugan…Bill Dannemeyer…Mark Siljander…R.J. Rushdoony, Gary North, Joseph Moorecraft, David Chilton, Gary DeMar… and Rus Walton."
CHRISTIAN RECONSTRUCTIONISM AND HOMESCHOOLING
It is difficult for secular homeschoolers to understand the apparent double standard when Christian homeschoolers are discriminatory against them at the local support group level, while at the same time, courting their efforts when it comes to state or national political causes. Understanding Reconstructionist Theology and Theocracy is important because it reflects understanding on the division in the homeschooling community between secular and religious members, and the theocratic motivations of politically manipulating the community.
Gary North declared, "All long-term social change comes from the successful efforts of one or another struggling organizations to capture the minds of a hard core of future leaders."
Reconstructionists believe that Christian schools and the homeschooling movement are the key to capturing those minds. Joseph Moorecraft said in 1987, that the Reconstruction movement was made up of a small number but expected a massive acceleration in 25 to 30 years 'when those kids that are now in Christian schools have graduated and taken their places in American society, and moved into places of influence and power.'
It's interesting to note that Reconstructionist Jay Rogers wrote, " A little known fact: R. J Rushdoony, aside from being the founder of Christian Reconstruction, is also the founder of the modern home schooling movement. Most people who deride the Reconstructionist movement for being 'too political' don't realize that." This declaration completely ignores the work of secular writers, such as John Holt, who promoted homeschooling as an alternative in the 1970's and '80's.
When it comes to politics, the principles are simple: "The long-term goal of Christians in politics should be to gain exclusive control over the franchise. Those who refuse to submit publicly to the eternal sanctions of God by submitting to His Church's public marks of the covenant--baptism and Holy Communion--must be denied citizenship, just as they were in ancient Israel."
"Gary North claims that 'the ideas of the Reconstructionists have penetrated into Protestant circles that for the most part are unaware of the original source of the theological ideas that are beginning to transform them.' North describes the 'three major legs of the Reconstructionist movement' as 'the Presbyterian oriented educators, the Baptist school headmasters and pastors, and the charismatic telecommunications system.' What this means is that hundreds of thousands of Pentecostals and charismatic Christians, as well as many fundamentalist Baptists, have moved out of the apolitical camp. Many have thrown themselves into political work - not merely as voters, but as ideologically driven activists, bringing a reconstructed 'Biblical world view' to bear on their area of activism."
The Home School Legal Defense Association/Foundation has many links to Reconstructionism. In his well-researched 1995 book, Home Schooling: The Right Choice, HSLDA attorney Christopher Klicka frequently quotes Reconstructionst writers, notably Rushdoony and Barton. In addition to including Rushdoony's "The Difference Between Christian Education and Humanistic Education", the book's forward was written by D. James Kennedy and many of the ideals expressed seem Reconstructionist, however, he does not state specifically that he is a Reconstructionist.
OMG! If I wasn't already afraid of Ashcroft, this would certaily do the trick.
Hey, you gotta admit, he's fiscally responsible. We wouldn't even have to pay the salary of an executioner. This would take a load off, if not completely eliminate, the prison system. And community stonings are democratic. I mean, a kid's first stoning would be sort of like a kid's first haircut--give him a little rock (with camcorder rolling) and watch him chunk it at the condemned with all his might, while the parents stand by, smiling indulgently. "That kid's really got an arm on him!" someone might say. "He'll be getting head shots with a fist-sized rock in no time at all!"
Terry once said that the "old him" wouldn't be very sympathetic to his decision to leave his wife "because the music died", the fact that the "old him" would have advocated stoning the new him.
However, as for Grant and Kennedy, the author does them a grave injustice. I've read three of his books and Grant does not advocate anything of the sort. Rather, he sites Francis Schaeffer as one his primary sources of inspiration.
Neither does Kennedy call for the radical reconstruction proposed by Rushmooney. In fact, in his book, "What If Jesus Had Never Been Born", he admits the crusades, anti-semitism, and the Salem witch trials to be sins.
Of course, the response may be that that Grant and Kennedy did not write what they wrote in books because they feared their views being discovered and their plot revealed. Of course, one could fairly ask why Gary North has taken no such precautions with own work, neither has Rushmooney.
To add Judge Moore into this is ridiculous as the only connection is a tenuous link between Moore and Kennedy whom they have no real proof advocates such an extreme ideology.
I'd add that Alan Keyes also supports Judge Moore and that he would not if he thought Moore was part of an ultra-Calvanist conspiracy to impose his religion on the United States. Though, I'm sure the Evil Emperor, Free Republic's liberal troll extrordinaire, would suggest otherwise, he also inserted Keyes into conversation between Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson.
In 1996, in a Speech to the New Hampshire Republican Party, Keyes said,
I have been asked in the last few days, and I'm sure it's been on the minds of some folks here, "Now, why doesn't that Keyes fellow just withdraw, and let Pat Buchanan move along?" I'll tell you why not. I'll tell you exactly why not. Because I believe that we cannot present our moral conservative convictions under a guise that divides this country. I believe that we have to present it with the serious, thoughtful truth. And when I stand up to say that abortion is wrong, my heart, my Christian heart knows that it's wrong 'cause God says that it's wrong, because he has declared, "Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee." I know that we begin not as a moment in the womb, but as a moment in the mind of God.
But though I feel it in my Christian heart, when I speak it from my lips as an American politician, I shall speak it with the words of American principle that all Americans--regardless of their faith, regardless of their background--must heed, must respect, or else we lose it all. And I think that that's the only way that we can hope to call this nation back to moral principle.
We cannot do it in a way that suggests that we aim for religious domination, because none of us do.
Finally,The author of the article says that even fundamentalists are alarmed by North and Rushmooney's rhetoric. The author is obviously unaware that North does not consider himself a fundamentalist, in fact their a source of mockery in his article.
I thank God that you do not rule our country. You would have to begin by repealing the first amendment. Religious people can only be free in your America if they shut up and sit in their pews.
And how do you establish a cult? Jack Chick insists that the Roman Catholic church's top goal is world domination. Are the Catholics a cult because he says so?
Are Calvanists of conscience cults? This author has tied together a rather flimsy case accusing pro-life Calvanist post-millenialists of wanting to kill 80% of Americans? Are they cults?
Is every pro-life church a cult? Every church that stands against the culture of death, subject to arrest, disbandment, and imprisonment.
Shall a Christian who supports restoring America's constitutional heritage of respect for God in the public sphere now a terrorist?
I'm not scared by Gary North and his ilk. Most Christians would never support their radical agenda, it is rather you who scare me.
For I see in your words a future Stalnist America with concentration camps for "cultists".
Now, as I said previously, on this thread and many others...go get ALL of the facts BEFORE you run on at the mouth. Elsewise, you're the one who looks the fool. ;^)
It appears to be, but I highly doubt Dr. Kennedy does. The rest of them, I don't know, but I doubt it.
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