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Theocracy!: Avoiding the serious issues

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Byron York

In “Left Paints the Campaign as a Religious War” (Townhall , September 7, 2011), The Washington Examiner’s Byron York examines the curious accusations against – in particular – Republican prez hopefuls Perry and Bachman, that they are suppposedly theocrats:

For example, the Daily Beast/Newsweek recently published an article titled “A Christian Plot for Domination?” claiming that Perry and Bachmann are “deeply associated with a theocratic strain of Christian fundamentalism” known as dominionism. A widely discussed article in the Texas Observer claimed that dominionists — a “little-known movement of radical Christians” — are readying an “army of God” to “commandeer civilian government,” with Perry the “vessel” for their ambitions. Finally, The New Yorker published a long article claiming that Bachmann believes “Christians, and Christians alone, are Biblically mandated to occupy all secular institutions until Christ returns.”

Surveying those articles, the executive editor of The New York Times, Bill Keller, concludes that “an unusually large number” of Republican candidates “belong to churches that are mysterious or suspect to many Americans.” Perry and Bachmann, in particular, are connected to “fervid subsets of evangelical Christianity,” which Keller says “has raised concerns about their respect for the separation of church and state, not to mention the separation of fact and fiction.” Fearing that Perry or Bachmann could be a “Trojan horse” for a religious takeover of the government, Keller advocates strict questioning of candidates on doctrinal issues.

It’s all nonsense, of course, and the “Dominionist” movement hardly even existed. But here’s the curious part: The sort of people who believe in all that stuff accuse those who oppose actual theocrats – we mean Islamists who believe they have a divine right to rule – of “hate.” In other words, you are guilty, of “hate” if you oppose organized religious hatred and oppression.

York is likely right to see that this “theocracy” nonsense distracts attention from the tanking economy. When an economy is down the john, hard facts must be faced and hard decisions taken.

Many would far rather obsess over whether Michele Bachmann is a theocrat than whether she is right about cutting government spending. So they resort to a fantasy battle where they “zap” zombies.

See also: Francis Schaeffer expert offers the facts on Michele Bachman, Francis Schaeffer, and “Dominionism.”

“Dominionist” follies: Wholly fictional cult ties dog ID-friendly US prez candidates

History prof provides context for nutty attack on ID-friendly US pols

Dominionist, are you? Welcome to your home and native land (Canadians find the whole thing a hoot because … )

Comments
"Canada’s no longer a good place to come if one is ranting for jihad or Marxist revolution. Canadians are starting to discover who they are, which includes the fact that they didn’t even join the American revolution – that’s how into revolution they are." Actually I think the average Joe Canadian has always been that way. It's the ideologues who have a different agenda. It's no different than in the US. When people get fed up there's always some tea brewing.CannuckianYankee
September 8, 2011
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Hmmm. Very recently, the Canuck Prime Minister came right out and said that "Islamism" is a threat to national security. Of course that's true, but in many places, none dare say it. It's not necessarily the Red Diaper Babies' Canada any more. As for immigration - Canada's no longer a good place to come if one is ranting for jihad or Marxist revolution. Canadians are starting to discover who they are, which includes the fact that they didn't even join the American revolution - that's how into revolution they are. It's becoming okay to say, this is what we stand for. We won't move. If you come here, you change, not us. We have a good thing going and are happy to share, in principle, but - leave all the hatred where you found it.News
September 8, 2011
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Maybe we can ease their minds rationally by pointing to the fact that Canada is a dominion. Their thinking is so muddled, I doubt if they'd be able to figure out the difference. A lot of left leaning Americans really do wish that the US was a lot more like Canada. It's the model for Obamacare, tightening up on emissions, immigration and dare I say "hate speech legislation?" And since we can all agree that at least one of those is perhaps a good thing, shouldn't we all be thinking more like dominionists? Snicker snicker.CannuckianYankee
September 8, 2011
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