News Intelligence Analysis
What Is Christian Reconstructionism?
by Frederick Clarkson
While Rev. D. James Kennedy of the Coral Ridge teleministry appears
to represent "soft dominionism," he is a borderline
case. Some of the political agenda he, Moore and their allies
pursue strikes me as hard dominionist. And by this I mean rooted
in Christian Reconstructionism, a theology that arose out of
conservative Presbyterianism in the 1970's. It asserts that contemporary
application of the laws of Old Testament Israel should be the
basis for reconstructing society towards the Kingdom of God on
earth.
Led by the movement's seminal thinker, the late Rev. R. J. Rushdoony, Reconstructionism argues that the Bible is to be the governing text for all areas of life, art, education, health care, government, family life, law and so on. They have formulated a "biblical worldview" and "biblical principles" to inform and govern their lives and their politics. Reconstructionist theologian David Chilton succinctly described 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."13
It has been difficult for many Americans to accept the idea that a theocratic movement could be afoot, let along gain much influence in 20th century America, but Robert Billings, one of the founders of the Moral Majority once said, "if it weren't for [Rushdoony's] books, none of us would be here." This does not, of course, mean that everyone influenced by Rushdoony's work is a Reconstructionist. Rather, as Billings indicated, it provided a catalyst and an ideological center of gravity for the wider movement of ideas that have percolated throughout evangelical Christianity, and parts of mainline Protestantism and Catholicism for the past three decades.
The original and defining text of Reconstructionism, is Rushdoony's 1973 opus, The Institutes of Biblical Law – an 800-page explanation of the Ten Commandments, the Biblical "case law" that derives from them and their application today. "The only true order," he wrote, "is founded on Biblical Law. All law is religious in nature, and every non-Biblical law-order represents an anti-Christian religion." In brief, he continues, "every law-order is a state of war against the enemies of that order, and all law is a form of warfare."14
The Chalcedon Foundation, a Reconstructionist think tank under whose auspices Rushdoony did most of his writing, recently celebrated its 40th anniversary with a conference on the life and work of Rushdoony.
Interestingly, the Chalcedon Report, the journal of the Chalcedon Foundation, recently reported that Roy Moore's Foundation for Moral Law is preparing "to hold seminars that will teach judges, lawyers, and law students about Biblical Law as the basis of America's laws and Constitution." "There is a lot more being written and said about this than there was a few years ago," Moore told Chalcedon Report. "The truth that's been cut off for so long is being brought out into the open, and it will prevail."15
Send a letter to the editor about this article Related Articles: The Despoiling of America by Katherine Yurica
Stanley Kurtz Attacks Yurica’s,
“The Despoiling of America”
A Response
By Katherine Yurica
May 23, 2005
Stanley Kurtz did his best. In
an article titled, “Dominionist
Domination,” published May 2, 2005 by National Review
Online,
he tried to attack and crumble the reasoning in my essay,
“The Despoiling of America.” He didn’t have much
to work with,
so as a last resort he made up things. He invented an essay
that does not exist and said, “See! Look at what she wrote!”
Then he gave a list of the imaginary faults in his newly rewritten
essay and
attributed them to me!
Can Democracy Be Christian?
An
Interview With Katherine Yurica
Questions
by Terri Murray
Posted October 10, 2005
It depends on how we define “democracy.”
If we
limit it to mean: rule of the majority, then I see
an inherent conflict between democracy and
the great principles of the Judeo-Christian tradition,
because there is such a thing as the
“tyranny
of the majority.”
Bloodguilty Churches
Why Bush’s Agenda Is
Immoral
and an Abomination to God
By Katherine Yurica
This is a
stunning major analysis of Mr.
Bush's agenda.
Updated January
25, 2005
Did you know the Bible prohibits:
deregulation;
vote rigging; privatization of Social Security; tax
cuts for the wealthy; invading Iraq; oppressing the
Hispanics who cross our borders; cutting Medicaid
services; cutting Medicare services; hurting the
environment; failing to answer all the questions
from the 9/11 families; Tort Reform; torture; lying
to congress; bribes; tampering with the justice
system; appointing prejudiced nominees to the
bench; tipping the scales of justice to favor big
corporations? Read Bloodguilty Churches.
Don't miss
this hard hitting new report.
Bloodguilty
Churches is now available
in paperback. Click here to see the book.
Dominionist Bill Limits the
Supreme
Court's Jurisdiction
The Constitution Restoration Act
of 2004 and Now 2005
by Katherine Yurica
You read it here first. The Yurica
Report published
articles revealing the intentions of Dominionists to
revamp the American Federal Court system. The first
major attempt has been placed before both houses
of Congress in two nearly identical bills. Drafted by
Herb
Titus, the first Dean of Pat Robertson's School
of Public Policy and a known Dominionist, our
question is: What is actually intended by the
Constitution Restoration Act of 2004? If the bill
passes, the Supreme Court will be placed under the
Dominionists' thumb.
See Also: Directory on the Rise of Christian Dominionism
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