Subject: [Atheist] AANEWS for July 26, 1996 (Evening Edition Part Two) Date: Fri, 26 Jul 1

Subject: [Atheist] AANEWS for July 26, 1996 (Evening Edition~ Part Two)
Date: Fri, 26 Jul 1996 17:06:25 -0700
From: AMERICAN.ATHEISTS@listserv.direct.net
Reply-To: aanews@listserv.atheists.org, AMERICAN.ATHEISTS@listserv.direct.net

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     nnnnnnnnnn   AANEWS   nnnnnnnnnn
     #111 uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu 7/26/96 (Evening Edition~Part Two)

   * More on... CHRISTIAN RECONSTRUCTIONIST MOVEMENT

   Along with the emphasis on religion-based church schools, or home
schooling, Reconstructionists often believe that America is a "Christian
nation" serving a divine purpose.  R.J. Rushdoony's 1963 book "The Nature of
the American System", declares that "The Constitution was design to
perpetuate a Christian order."  Another Reconstructionist author, Gary
DeMarr, praises the churches of pre-revolutionary times, and describes the
the colonies as "Christian states."  This all but ignores the fact that the
official churches of each of the states were disestablished by the American
Revolution. Some consider the First Amendment with its secularist
Establishment clause, or Article VI which prevents the use of a "religious
test" as "mistakes."  But some Reconstructionists, like Gary North, are
adament in recognizing these strictures on behalf of state-church separation
as what they are -- "a legal barrier to Christian theocracy," leading
"directly to the rise of religious pluralism."  For these "out of the
closet", hard-line Reconstructionists, the "Christian theocracy" will mandate
an end to even constitutional protections.
                                   A Movement of Ideas
   Reconstructionism has benefitted from the explosive growth of religious
conservative movements throughout the 1980's and 1990's, but it still retains
a loose, even de-centralized character.  Frederick Clarkson, an author and
lecturer who has tracked fundamentalist and evangelical religious movements,
wrote about Reconstructionism for the March and June 1994 issues of Public
Eye Magazine.  He noted that "As a movement primarily of ideas,
Reconstructionism has no single denominational or institutional home.  Nor is
it totally defined by a single charismatic leader, nor even a single text.
 Rather, it is defined by a small group of scholars who are identified with
Reformed or Orthodox Presbyterianism.  The movement networks primarilly
through magazines, conferences, publishing houses, think tanks, and books
stores.  As a matter of strategy, it is a self-consciously decentralized and
publicity-shy movement."
   The closest Reconstructionism comes to having an "official center" is R.J.
Rushdoony's Chalcedon ministry, which describes itself as a "Christian
educational organization devoted exclusively to research, publishing, and to
cogent communication of a distinctly Christian scholarship to the world at
large."  Its publication, Chalcedon Report, covers topics like "Family
Government," "Natural Law and Theonomy,"Why Home Schooling is Important for
America," and "Debt, Enemy of Dominion."
   But the staid, even theologically complex messages of Reconstructionism
have struck a cord with many religious leaders, including Christian political
activists.  Clarkson notes that "Many Christian Right thinkers and activists
have been profoundly influenced by Reconstructionism," including the late
Francis Schaeffer whose book "A Christian Manifesto" sold over 2,000,000
copies through religious bookstores and meetings.  Another has been Randall
Terry, the founder of the militant anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, who
said: "You have to read Schaeffer's Chjristian Manifesto if you want to
understand" what his movement was based upon.
   Still another individual who has come under the influence of
Reconstructionist ideology is John Whitehead, President and founder of the
Rutherford Institute.  Founded in 1982, the Institute is a Christian
educational and legal organization  which litigates dozens of "religious
liberty" cases throughout the country, often opposing any state-church
separation strictures.  Rutherford represented a Columbus, Ohio postal worker
who was fired for refusing to work on the sabbath, and a member of a Greek
Orthodox Monastery who was fired by Blockbuster video for failing to comply
with the corporate dress code.
                                 Active Within Theopolitical Groups
   Reconstructionist members and groups are active in a number of religious
political coalitions, icnluding the influential Coalition on Revival (COR),
which Clarkson describes as "an umbrella organization which has brokered a
series of theological compromises among differing, competing conservative
evangelical leaders."  COR has produced a number of transdenominational
statements, including the "Manifesto of the Christian Church."  It's
membership roster reads like a whose-who of fundamentalist-evangelical
political organizations, and includes Donald Wildmon (American Family
Association), Randall Terry (Operation Rescue), Robert Dugan (National
Association of Evangelicals), Rus Walton (Plymouth Rock Foundation),
Congressmen Bill Dannemeyer (R-CA.) and Mark Siljander (R.-MI), televangelist
Tim LaHaye (one of the founders of the old Moral Majority and husband of
Beverly LaHaye, Concerned Women for America).  Also serving as COR members
are Reconstructions including Rushdoony, Gary North, Joseph Morecraft and
Gary Chilton.
   COR is not strictly Reconstructionists, but it has adopted the Rushdoony
notion of "Dominionism" of "17 spheres of life."  Clarkson notes that
Reconstructionist overtones within the Coalition drove away some individuals,
including one evangelical critic who claimed that those who signed COR
"covenants" had to be "willing to die in the attempt to establish a theonomic
political state.  This statement makes the COR Manifesto Covenant more than
just a covenant; it is a blood covenant, sworn on the life of the signers."
   A recent convert to the Reconstructionist creed is  Washington powerbroker
and strategist Howard Phillips, who has moved from traditional political
conservatism into a more extreme theopolitical position.  In the 1970's,
Phillips was instrumental in forming powerful groups like the Conservative
Caucus; in 1979, he was working with men like Robert Billings of the National
Christian Action Coalition, mailing-list king Richard Viguerie and
millionaire Ed McAteer.  They founded the Religious Roundtable, a small but
strategically placed group of religious right activists, who then approached
Jerry Falwell with the idea of forming what soon became the Moral Majority.
   With time, Phillips has moved further along the ideological spectrum and
today heads the US Taxpayers Party.  His political agenda strongly reflect
the Reconstructionist mandate of "Dominionism," and he is currently
attempting to persuade Pat Buchanan to be the USTP standardbearer in the
upcoming presidential election.  The USTP is one of the few minority parties
which has made it onto the ballot in all fifty states.
                                Long Term Plans, Long Term Threat
   Not everyone associated with religious right movements  agrees with
Reconstructionist theology and postmillennialist visions of doomsday.  But
increasingly, these groups have become increasingly captivated by the
Reconstructionist teaching of "Dominionism," the notion of a theological
mandate from god whereby biblical lore is to govern all aspects of human life
and society.  The Dominionist impulse is clearly opposed to ideas such as
pluralism, tolerance, acceptance of the need for free and varied speech, and
the separation of government and religion.  For the Dominionist, ONLY "god's
law" is the proper law.
   Reconstructionist teachings about women have also resonated with wider
cultural trends, including movements like the Promise Keepers which seek to
"restore" men to their tradition role as "head of the household."  In the
Reconstructionist universe, women should be barred from holding any civic or
magistrate post; in the home, "direction" is to be given by men, who are
"head of the household" as "Christ is the head of the church."
   To a large extent, many fundamentalist and evangelical movements have
accepted a Dominionist paradigm, especially as they attempt to legislate in
areas of personal life including abortion, sexuality and lifestyle.  It may
even be argued that perhaps the only thing separating much of the religious
right today from hard-core Reconstructionist doctrine is the issue of how far
they would go to punish "sinners" and "enemies."  Rushdoony and his followers
are quite serious in wanting to prescribe the death penalty for a wide range
of transgressions, some of them serious (murder, rape), some of them simply
matters of personal choice (sexual behavior), or even relatively
insignificant problems such as obstreperous children.  Gary North advocates
stoning victims to death as depicted in the bible; besides, he says, stones
are plentiful and cheap.
   Some of this is too strident for even religious conservatives.  But
increasingly, these movements are fixated on demonizing a long list of
"enemies" -- everyone from secular humanists and atheists to gays.  After
learning to hate so deeply, it isn't that big a step to assume that in
stoning one's enemies, one is executing not only a sinner but the mandate of
God as well.
                                                     *********************
For more on Christian Reconstructionism, check out the Public Eye website at:
http://www.publiceye.org  We also recommendf Sarah Diamond's book "Spiritual
Warfare" published by South End Press, Boston.  They may sound cranky (they
are!), but old-fashioned, the Reconstructions are not.  They''ve got a web
site at http://www.mother.com~dlh/Chalcedon
                                                                ****
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