Primer on Reconstructionism
Generally, Reconstructionism seeks to replace democracy with a theocratic elite that would govern by imposing their interpretation of "Biblical Law." Reconstructionism would eliminate not only democracy but many of its manifestations, such as labor unions, civil rights laws, and public schools. Women would be generally relegated to hearth and home. Insufficiently Christian men would be denied citizenship, perhaps executed. So severe is this theocracy that it would extend US capital punishment practices beyond such crimes as kidnapping, rape, and murder to include, among other things, blasphemy, heresy, adultery, and homosexuality.
Reconstructionist theologian David Chilton succinctly describes this view: "The Christian goal for the world is the universal development of Biblical theocratic republics, in which every area of life is redeemed and placed under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the rule of God's law."
Epitomizing the Reconstructionist idea of Biblical "warfare" is the centrality of capital punishment under Biblical Law. Doctrinal leaders (notably Rousus Rushdoony, North, and Bahnsen) call for the death penalty for a wide range of crimes in addition to such contemporary capital crimes as rape, kidnapping, and murder. Death is also the punishment for apostasy (abandonment of the faith), heresy, blasphemy, witchcraft, astrology, adultery, "sodomy or homosexuality," incest, striking a parent, incorrigible juvenile delinquency, and, in the case of women, "unchastity before marriage."
According to Gary North (son in law of the former head of the Chalcedon foundation, Rousus Rushdoony), women who have abortions should be publicly executed, "along with those who advised them to abort their children." Rushdoony concluded: "God's government prevails, and His alternatives are clear-cut: either men and nations obey His laws, or God invokes the death penalty against them." Reconstructionists insist that "the death penalty is the maximum, not necessarily the mandatory penalty." However, such judgements may depend less on Biblical Principles than on which faction gains power in the theocratic republic. The potential for bloodthirsty episodes on the order of the Salem witchcraft trials or the Spanish Inquisition is inadvertently revealed by Reconstructionist theologian Rev. Ray Sutton, who claims that the Reconstructed Biblical theocracies would be "happy" places, to which people would flock because "capital punishment is one of the best evangelistic tools of a society."
Slavery - There is debate among Reconstructionists about whether or not slavery should be reinstituted, but the fact that the debate even exists is telling in and of itself. Women in particular would have their status reduced to that of a slave.
Other Notes: More on the relationship between Dominionism and Creation Ministries.
Here are some quick background notes on the matter. The first is from http://www.yuricareport.com.
“Born in Christian Reconstructionism [Dominionism], which was founded by the late R. J. Rushdoony, the framers of the new cult included Rushdoony, his son-in-law Gary North, Pat Robertson, Herb Titus, the former Dean of Robertson’s Regent University School of Public Policy (formerly CBN University), Charles Colson, Robertson’s political strategist, Tim LaHaye, Gary Bauer, the late Francis Schaeffer, and Paul Crouch, the founder of TBN, the world’s largest television network, plus a virtual army of likeminded television and radio evangelists and news talk show hosts.”
Note that Tim LaHaye (another extremely powerful funadmentalist) helped establish the Institution for Creation Research (alongside Henry Morris, the “inventor” of creationism) of which Answers in Genesis USA was a spin-off. Ken Ham, who established AiG USA, worked for ICR between 1987 and 1994. Ken Ham came from Australia. According to Wikipedia, AiG was originally established in Australia in the late 1970s by Ken Ham and John Mackay but Ham moved (in 1987) to the States to work for the ICR before setting up AiG USA in 1994.
Ham, of course, is the fundie who has been associated with the Vardy schools. A Creationist conference was held at Emmanuel College in 2002; beforehand senior staff at the college were given a series of lectures urging teachers to promote biblical fundamentalism and giving tips on techniques to make pupils doubt the theory of evolution. Ham was a star speaker at the conference.
Note that the nutters are also broadcasting their views in the UK through some of the seven religious TV channels on Sky TV, including The God Channel’s two services.
Pat Robertson is a very high profile US right-wing political activist who controls the Christian Broadcasting Network, one of the country’s top televangelical TV channels. God TV has carried the 700 Club programming which Robertson hosts on CBN. He campaigned unsuccessfully to become a Republican presidential nomination in 1988.
Here is some more background info from http://rwor.org/a/033/dominionism-be-very-afraid.htm
“Dominionism is a doctrine which demands the total remaking of society to conform with the laws of the Old Testament of the Bible, and it states that the second coming of Jesus Christ will never occur until "God’s kingdom" is established on earth and reigns for either a thousand years or an unknown time period. They contend that all of the laws of the Old Testament, unless specifically revoked later in the Bible, are still valid and they want to literally replace the U.S. Constitution and legal system with the Ten Commandments and the Mosaic laws of the Bible. If you have read Bob Avakian’s writings on religion, or the Revolution series "God the Original Fascist," you know what this would mean:
This Dominionist trend has been promoted and built up with major assistance from powerful ruling class forces. For example, two major contributors to the [Dominionist think tank] Chalcedon Foundation are Howard Ahmanson and Nelson Bunker Hunt - who are big monopoly capitalists and whose families played key roles in financing electronic voting machine manufacturer Election Systems & Software
Dominionists use Black pastors, such as Harry Jackson, quoted above, to pull in Black people to what is a pro-slavery, white supremacist movement. Key Dominionist writers, such as RJ Rushdoony and Gary North, have openly proclaim white supremacy, and Dominionists such as Tony Perkins and Roy Moore have ties to white supremacist groups and leaders in Louisiana and Alabama, respectively.”
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