Update-- New revelations re "stealth dominionist" Sarah Palin

[kath]

http://dogemperor.newsvine.com/_news/2008/09/02/1817283-new-revelations-re-stealth-dominionist-sarah-palin?threadId=0

The intro:

A few days ago, I wrote one of the first articles out there regarding Sarah Palin's VP nomination as a "stealth dominionist"--a "stealther" with extensive Assemblies connections (and to particularly scary segments of the Assemblies, as we'll get into) as well as dominionist orgs like Campus Crusade frontgroups and deceptive "feminist" anti-reproductive-healthcare groups.

The thing is, I may have just scratched the surface.

Much has been made of the recent revelation that Sarah Palin may be connected to the "Alaska Independence Party", but not revealed is its connection to the far-right Constitution Party--and she not only has attempted censorious campaigns in office, but was also apparently put in the GOP vice-presidential spot by none other than the kingmakers of the dominionist movement in the US.

* * *

New information re Palin's church...and what it could mean for you

In my original post, I noted Sarah Palin's membership in a "stealth Assemblies" congregation--that is, an Assemblies of God church that tries very hard to hide the fact from outsiders that it is, in fact, an Assemblies of God church. This is pretty much a danger sign in and of itself, especially to those of us familiar with the Assemblies and its increasingly strident calls from district leaders for literal holy war with the rest of America.
However, a recent Harper's Magazine article reveals just WHY she shouldn't be near a borough dogcatcher position, much less a literal heartbeat away from the office of President.

For starters, apparently the church she presently attends maintains *very* close relations with John Hagee's "Christians United For Israel". I've written on Hagee in past--ironically, Hagee was one of two "Joel's Army"-connected pastors McCain formerly used as "spiritual advisors" in an attempt to curry favour with the dominionist wing of the GOP. And this relationship is troubling, to say the least, because Hagee and CUFI have a real love of seeing Israel as a literal "Armageddon pawn" to make the Rapture hurry the hell up and get here--including destroying the Dome on the Rock to build the Third Temple, if necessary (and yes, they've done Photoshopped images of just this). This is also the same lovely fellow, of note, who also essentially termed the nuking of the East Coast as a divine pimp-slapping.

{much more at link}

The same article is at Kos:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/2/14422/49170/241/583511

Also, the diarist dogemperor is a "Survivor of coercive dominionist group, now doing my best to educate people on dominionism and hopefully inspiring folks on ways to take back our country and faith" and has a WEALTH of information on Dominionism, going clear back to Sept 2006 - highly recommend:
http://dogemperor.dailykos.com /
(just saw that s/he has several entries on Bill Gothard and his "Character First!" program, which is infiltrating local governments and schools across the country - this is something I have also been trying to sound the alarm on. If your town is a "City of Character" or if your schools have adopted "Character First!", then your tax dollars are paying for this Dominionist crap.)

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Won't these revelations cement her support among the fundies??

They scare the hell out of me...It would be like living during the Inquisition, or perhaps even worse.

[kath]

2. THe fundies probably already know about her ties - it's the REST of America who needs to become

aware of what this crowd is up to, and just how extreme they are.

[Retrograde]

3. Gothard, huh?

She reminds me a lot of http://www.duggarfamily.com">these folks: the same little poof to the hair, the entrusting of infants to their children to raise, the outward claims of sanctity and independence while holding out their hands - fewer children, but the spirit's the same. A lot better at blending in, as well.

[progressivebydesign]

4. I'd suspected she was a "stealth candidate" like those that took over school boards.

This was an issue in the 90s, and even now. Stealth candidates are getting into positions that affect local policy. Now we have one getting into the White House? The scary thing about her is that Bush pretended to be one of the hardcore religious right (to pander the vote) but that fool Palin believes all this shit!!

[BrklynLiberal]

5. YES> that is the problem here. prez shit-for-brains just pandered for the votes...Baracuda really

believes that stuff.

[underseasurveyor]

6. In a nutshell are these dominionists along the same lines of

those Christian Re-constructionist ala john asscroft? You know the ones that want to 'punish by death' anyone that has had an abortion or those that preformed them, kill the fags, etc., and kill just about everyone and anyone that's not a "Christian" as defined by their terms?

[kath]

8. YES, absolutely.

I'm not sure of the exact distinctions between Dominionism and Reconstructionism, but they're pretty similar, as far as I can tell. dogemperor, who wrote the piece, and has written EXTENSIVELY on Dominionism, might explain the differences in one of his diaries - there are dozens of them, and I just found them today.

I was looking at their preferred methods of execution the other day - one is stoning and there are others. Will try to find...

[underseasurveyor]

12. I'm just starting to read more about the "dominionists"

side of it. The "Re-constructionists" I became familiar with about the time asscroft decided that Lady Liberty's breasts should be covered and what I learned about them... I WAS truly shocked.

I read, A Handmaids Tale, back in the 90's and as I was reading it I was thankful it was 'just a story.' Then came bush 2 and along with him he brought asscroft. The Handmaids Tale suddenly became more than just fiction:scared:

[kestrel91316]

13. Dominionism is also known as Christian Reconstructionism.

[underseasurveyor]

16. OK so it is one in the same

I am familiar with the reconstructionists and their "ideas."

OOh :scared:

[kestrel91316]

14. Dominionism is also known as Christian Reconstructionism.

[kayell]

29. If you want to get a good notion of what dominionists are all about, read

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. All about the wonders of living in a right wing, evangelical theocracy - exactly what the dominionists are working for. Fictionalized, but probably not unrealistic, as horrifying as it seem. Per the writings of dominionist preachers they are working for a strict, literalist reading of the bible to be the law of the land. Yes, that includes all the ancient punishments like stoning, burning etc.

Someone tells you about another religion (added: presumably to convert you)? - stoning
Child rude and disobedient? - stoning
Fornicating daughter of a priest - Burn her
Blaspheming or taking the name of the lord in vain (aka, saying "oh, god") - stoning
"Breach (broken bone) for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again."
Woman raped inside the city (the presumption made that she didn't scream loud enough or it wouldn't have happened) - death
Adultery - death
etc, etc.

Take a little tour through Deuteronomy and Leviticus - Dominionist's firmly believe in bringing that all back. They aren't kidding. They really, really mean it. Bristol is damn lucky her mom went into politics, not preaching.

[kayell]

35. Also, reading about how military enemies are treated in the bible

the "infallible, word of god" bible goes a long way toward explaining why a lot of "Christian" people in this country seem to have no trouble with us committing war crimes and atrocities of all kinds. Hey, reading the stuff "God" told the Israelites to do makes the US look downright soft.

[LibertyorDeath]

7. Thanks Kath good info

Rec!

[bdamomma]

9. this article seems to be gone

http://dogemperor.newsvine.com/_news/2008/09/02/1817283 ...

[kath]

15. hmmm -try this link

http://dogemperor.newsvine.com/_news/2008/09/02/1817283-new-revelations-re-stealth-dominionist-sarah-palin?threadId=0

at any rate, the article is the same as that at Kos - only the comments would be different.

[hootinholler]

18. Link got hosed in OP, here...

The article at KOS.

-Hoot

[Wilber_Stool]

10. Unfortuatly Americans are too

uninformed to digest even a fraction of this. It will sound too crazy to them.

[kestrel91316]

11. I am equally concerned about the link between AIP and Palin and

white supremacist groups and Dominionists. They are all part of the same package, I suspect.

[EFerrari]

17. Yes, they are. This is the same slime that produced Erik Prince

and BlackWater.

[kath]

19. Blackwater is tied to this TOO?!

Eek, I did not know that. The tentacles reach very far and deep.
:scared: :scared:

[EFerrari]

20. Eric Prince is a dominionist. Look at their logo -- "Christian" predators:

[kath]

26. Oy.

Must admit, I haven't read much about Blackwater. Saw some things a few years back that were scary, but I haven't delved into much detail.

[EFerrari]

27. One of Prince's in laws is the Amway fortune and they're huge

funders of these crazy people. I couldn't find the link to dominionism and white supremacy when I looked for it about a year ago but was suspicious because BlackWater was set up where the term "white supremacy" was coined. Since then, someone else did find it.

[hootinholler]

30. I don't see the Christian symbology, cn you help me out?

:shrug:

-Hoot

[EFerrari]

32. Crosshairs / cross.

Prince didn't do that by accident. He's too into the whole ideology.

[hootinholler]

44. I see that as a gun/sniper thing

Not a christian warrior thing.

I was squinting to get an alpha and omega out of it lol.

-Hoot

[hootinholler]

21. It's time to do a social network on these people.

Weak minded fools easily steered and whipped to a froth by invoking divine rights.

-Hoot

[EFerrari]

22. I've been trying to find the site where you can map social networks.

Haven't used it in years but, you could plug in a name or two names, and get a matrix of names.

It was so cool but I can't remember the site to save my life.

[hootinholler]

28. I don't think it draws the maps but there is

political Friendster, is that the site you were thinking of?

-Hoot

[EFerrari]

31. Thanks, hoot. I don't think it is.

The one I'm thinking of actually did a graphic and the names were all links.

[Cerridwen]

34. I think you mean this one?

Main page: http://www.namebase.org/

Proximity search (social network diagram): http://www.namebase.org/p2search.html

[EFerrari]

39. HA! Thank you!

:yourock:

[Wiley50]

23. This is the very shit I've been most fearful of

This needs to really be pumped up and spread far and wide

But, notice, Rush has already started playing defense on this stuff
(like the boy buggering oxy head cares about moral bullshit)

But if the average joe really knew what this church was really about
he wouldn't want that crazy woman anywhere near the nuclear football

K&R

[EFerrari]

25. I don't think moderate Republicans even know how crazy these people are.

They're anti-Republicans. It's like "Aliens" -- they've just colonized the Republican party.

[katty]

38. no, what does it take to wake up?! we are living in 1930's Germany

and have been for awhile!

[kath]

24. I've corrected the links in my OP

I had some difficulty in posting it originally, and the links got chopped off. Should be okay now.

[bdamomma]

33. I don't know if this relates to the OP but I will post anyway.

just FYI

http://www.theocracywatch.org/introduction2.htm

[kath]

41. Thanks - TheocracyWatch looks like a real good resource.

I was also going to mention the Yurica Report (links to lots of articles on the rise of Dominionism), but someone below just beat me to it.

[conscious evolution]

46. Yurica Report rocks

It is one of the best sites on the web as far as documenting the rise of the dominionists.
Any emails sent to friends concerning the dominionists should include a link to her site.

[Bluebear]

50. agreed!

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

36. Theocratic Dominionism Gains Influence

http://www.tylwythteg.com/enemies/reconstruct2.html

Christian Reconstructionism

The significance of the Reconstructionist movement is not its numbers, but the power of its ideas and their surprisingly rapid acceptance. Many on the Christian Right are unaware that they hold Reconstructionist ideas. Because as a theology it is controversial, even among evangelicals, many who are consciously influenced by it avoid the label. This furtiveness is not, however, as significant as the potency of the ideology itself. 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 capital punishment beyond such crimes as kidnapping, rape, and murder to include, among other things, blasphemy, heresy, adultery, and homosexuality.

Reconstructionism has expanded from the works of a small group of scholars to inform a wide swath of conservative Christian thought and action. While many Reconstructionist political positions are commonly held conservative views, what is significant is that Reconstructionists have created a comprehensive program, with Biblical justifications for far right political policies. Many post-World War II conservative, anticommunist activists were also, if secondarily, conservative Christians. However, the Reconstructionist movement calls on conservatives to be Christians first, and to build a church-based political movement from
there.

:scared:

[starroute]

37. The Yurica Report is also a good source on Dominionism

http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/DirectoryRiseOfDominionismInAmerica.html

[BeHereNow]

40. You beat me to it...

I was going to add that link to the discussion.
DU minds think alike and all.

We used to have lots of posts linking to the Yurica Report.
Glad to see her work mentioned here again.

BHN

[kath]

42. Ha- and beat me as well.

was just going to link to it.
When I have some time, I want to poke around through all of dogemperors diaries and see what gems are linked to there.

[kath]

43. Preferred methods of execution:

(from an earlier article by Frederick Clarkson)

Capital Punishment
Epitomizing the Reconstructionist idea of Biblical "warfare" is the centrality of capital punishment under Biblical Law. Doctrinal leaders (notably 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, women who have abortions should be publicly executed, "along with those who advised them to abort their children." Rushdoony concludes: "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 judgments 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."

The Biblically approved methods of execution include burning (at the stake for example), stoning, hanging, and "the sword." Gary North, the self-described economist of Reconstructionism, prefers stoning because, among other things, stones are cheap, plentiful, and convenient. Punishments for non-capital crimes generally involve whipping, restitution in the form of indentured servitude, or slavery. Prisons would likely be only temporary holding tanks, prior to imposition of the actual sentence.

People who sympathize with Reconstructionism often flee the label because of the severe and unpopular nature of such views. Even those who feel it appropriate that they would be the governors of God's theocracy often waffle on the particulars, like capital punishment for sinners and nonbelievers. Unflinching advocates, however, insist upon consistency. Rev. Greg Bahnsen, in his book By This Standard, writes: "We. . .endorse the justice of God's penal code, if the Bible is to be the foundation of our Christian political ethic."

http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v08n1/chrisre1.html


Why stoning is the preferred method for some:

"The Christian goal for the world," Recon theologian David Chilton has explained, is "the universal development of Biblical theocratic republics." Scripturally based law would be enforced by the state with a stern rod in these republics. And not just any scriptural law, either, but a hardline-originalist version of Old Testament law-- {snip}

So when Exodus 21:15-17 prescribes that cursing or striking a parent is to be punished by execution, that's fine with Gary North. "When people curse their parents, it unquestionably is a capital crime," he writes. "The integrity of the family must be maintained by the threat of death." Likewise with blasphemy, dealt with summarily in Leviticus 24:16: "And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him."

Reconstructionists provide the most enthusiastic constituency for stoning since the Taliban seized Kabul. "Why stoning?" asks North. "There are many reasons. First, the implements of execution are available to everyone at virtually no cost." Thrift and ubiquity aside, "executions are community projects--not with spectators who watch a professional executioner do `his' duty, but rather with actual participants." You might even say that like square dances or quilting bees, they represent the kind of hands-on neighborliness so often missed in this impersonal era. "That modern Christians never consider the possibility of the reintroduction of stoning for capital crimes," North continues, "indicates how thoroughly humanistic concepts of punishment have influenced the thinking of Christians." And he may be right about that last point, you know.

http://www.reason.com/news/show/30789.html

[Shallah Kali]

45. Talk2Action is a good resource - in fact dogemperor posts there as well

http://www.talk2action.org

Way too many people don't know how extreme these people are. They think if a person or group calls themselves Christian it must be A-OK not realizing there are people with power who want to bring back stoning as punishment for mouthy teens and women who aren't virgins when they marry.

[crispini]

47. K&R

Why isn't the MSM reporting on this freaky dominionist shit? These people frighten me.

[kath]

48. kick for the lunchtime crowd.

[eleny]

49. kr