Christian Dominionism and the Shutdown: Barry Goldwater and Robert Jackson Warned Us

[SecularMotion]

Well we are in day two of the government shutdown of 2013 with no end in sight. Sadly I have to say that the groups most responsible for this on the Tea Party and Republican Party side of the house are Evangelical Christians and ultra-conservative Catholics. The Evangelical are held in the thrall of Christian Dominionism, or Recontructionism while the conservative Catholics long for the days when their church owned the governments of Europe.

If the shutdown was about pragmatic budgetary considerations I might give the authors of the shutdown some consideration. However, it is not and their leaders have either said it openly or all but said this to be the case.

I am a Christian and a Priest in a small Old Catholic denomination. I am a graduate of a premier Evangelical Protestant Seminary where I came to appreciate and revere religious liberty. What I am going to write today may offend some but it has to be said. I believe that the cause of religious liberty, and for that matter the liberty of the Christian Church to be faithful to its call and unencumbered by unseemly political alliances is in danger due to the actions of people that in many cases honestly believe that they are defending religious liberty. Justice Robert Jackson prosecuted the major Nazi War criminals at Nuremberg and was able to view the results of what happened when churches that entered into such alliances.

I back in my days as a more “conservative” Evangelical Christian I attended and unlike conservative Christian TV icon and former governor of Arkansas actually graduated from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth Texas. This was in the days just prior to the Fundamentalist takeover of the seminary and the denomination. It was at Southwestern that I gained a distinct appreciation of and love for the concept of the separation of church and state and the importance of the rights, both civil and religious of non-believers, members of minority religions and others not in the religious majority, or those without power, be it religious, social or economic.

http://padresteve.com/2013/10/02/christian-dominionism-and-the-shutdown-barry-goldwater-and-robert-jackson-warned-us/

[Bluenorthwest]

1. Some 'moderately' anti gay religious nut speaking about his nutty peer group with whom

he agrees on almost everything. Whatever. Sick of the 'cite the bigot' religious threads on DU.

[el_bryanto]

2. What is your evidence that this person is an anti-gay religious nut?

I'm reviewing his blog to see if I can find evidence of that, but so far haven't seen it. Thought it might be quicker just to ask.

Bryant

[SecularMotion]

3. Kick

[padresteve]

4. Before you Judge me

Just a note to the person who called me a "moderately anti-gay religious nut."

You don't know me. I am a Democrat, a supporter of Equality for LGBT and even was thrown out of the conservative Anglican church that I used to be part of for speaking out and writing about it. I have experienced as a straight person the wrath of those who hate gays and fight against equality.

As a career military officer I have spoken up for the rights of gays since my earliest days, even before DADT. What I warn about in this as in many other commentaries is the danger that we face from the real RWNJs who use religion to poison our country and to persecute minorities, be they LGBT, women, blacks, Muslims, Atheists, secularists or anyone else that they do not approve.

If you take the time to actually read my site, as well as my frequent posts on twitter where I always show my pro-equality stance you will see that. You can also ask the gays and lesbians who not only count me as a friend but as a spiritual guide, and there are many. There are at least two gay couples that I may end up performing their marriages now that I belong to a denomination where it is okay. The biggest hurdle is the logistics of getting them and me to a state where it is legal since all of us live in very Red states.

As for the term "moderate" in my blog title, I see it is a badge of distinction. You see in the Southern Baptist seminary I attended and in my previous denomination the term was pejorative and was equated with being a liberal. People said it and sneered when they did. One preacher said the only thing a moderate was good for was to be run over in the middle of the road. When I started writing the blog I decided to use it because the term liberal has been so abused and because it confuses the RWNJs.

My blog articles span a wide variety of subjects and over the course of almost 5 years I have posted almost 1700 articles, many very substantive on matters of history, social issues, religion, foreign policy, civil rights, movies, music and baseball. Because of my position in the military I write with some degree of nuance. That being said I have been viciously attacked by some on the right including, Taliban like "Christians," neo-Nazi and neo-Confederates. I have lost people who I thought were friends because of things that I have wrote.

So I invite you to follow me on my blog and Twitter as well. You will see that I am a friend.

Peace

Padre Steve+

[TBF]

5. Welcome to DU Padre

I am a transplant to Texas and the culture is a bit foreign to me at times. I do take my daughter to Sunday School and although I've met some intolerance down here I have also met quite a few moderate/liberal folks. Some who are very loyal dems and open to things like gay marriage even if their particular denominations haven't caught up to them.