Guest blogged by Frank Schaeffer
Nothing illustrates the danger we face from our own Taliban better than the way American “Christians” are now tangled up with the homophobic — now potentially gay murdering — Ugandan Christian/political leadership.
The Ugandan Parliament is considering a bill that would impose the death penalty on gays. One American must be cheering from the grave. Here’s what the late R.J. Rushdoony, Reconstructionist theologian and founder of the modern movement of that name, wrote in a letter to gay rights activist Mel White: “God in His law requires the death penalty for homosexuals.â€
Disclosure: Both Mel White and Rushdoony were friends of mine, back in the day I was a Religious Right leader and sidekick to my father – the late Francis Schaeffer – who is “credited†by many, including by Karen Armstrong and Max Blumenthal – with being a key father of the Religious Right…along with R.J. Rushdoony. I quit the movement over its hate for the “other†and got out by the late 80s and started writing novels like Portofino, aimed at the heart of the movement through humor at fundamentalist’s expense.
Back in the day before Mel came out he was working with me on one of my father’s movie/book projects. We both left our far right “faith.†Mel acknowledged that he was gay and I said I’d had it with hate. These days I propose an anti-right progressive Christianity in my book Patience with God: Faith for People Who Don’t Like Religion (or Atheism)
That said… The problem of American exceptionalism combined with a theocracy in which the “we†of evangelical faith finally destroy the “they†(everyone else) is growing. Who do you think Fox News’ rabid followers are? Who do you think calls Obama “Hitler” while using the tactics of fascism themselves?…
Rick Warren et al
Today Rick Warren under the guise of his benign smile, the C-Street religious gang and commune in Washington DC and Mike Huckabee, amongst many other American political and religious leaders, are carrying on my father’s ideology of “taking back America†for Jesus, and forwarding the theocratic delusions and radical hate campaign of the late R.J. Rushdoony.
Others with ties to violent groups are also striving to turn America into our version of a “Christian†Iran. Reconstructionism, otherwise known as Dominionist Christianity, and the Republican Party are one and the same thing these days.
Consider Erik Prince – founder of the nefarious Blackwater private “security†firm.
Prince is the son of Edgar Prince. His vast wealth funded Dominionist organizations including the Moral Majority and Focus on the Family. I was connected to both groups, speaking often for Jerry Falwell, and James Dobson gave away 150,000 copies of one of my right wing “books†(A Time For Anger) in which I called for revolution against the “Left†and the “liberals.â€
Erik Prince grew up with powerful leaders in the Christian Right. Prince quit a White House internship with George H.W. Bush. He said Bush was too secular. As a converted Catholic, Prince joined the Knights of Columbus. Today Prince sees himself as a Christian crusader, an armed one with a private army. Blackwater’s criminal torture of U.S. war prisoners has been documented so has employee intimidation and threats of violence. Prince sees his call to rid the world of Islam and make way for Christian hegemony.
Meanwhile…
Rushdoony who Prince, Huckabee and others follow, said the Bible must replace civil laws and constitutions with the Old and New Testaments, including the revival of the death penalty for homosexuality, incest, adultery, losing virginity before marriage and apostasy. Rushdoony once told me: “Democracy is a heresy.â€
These are core beliefs among several leading figures including Huckabee, Sarah Palin and the inner core of George W. Bush’s far right “crusader” religious circle.
Others carried on where Rushdoony left off.
George Grant is one of the far right/theocratic mentors. He appeared with Rushdoony in the video, “God’s Law and Society.†Grant was the co-author for Huckabee’s 1998 book, Kids Who Kill: Confronting Our Culture of Violence. That was the book where Huckabee and Grant said homosexuality and pedophilia, sadomasochism and necrophilia were all “institutionally supported aberrations.â€
George Grant wrote The Changing of the Guard: Biblical Principles for Political Action. He called on a “holy responsibility to reclaim the land for Jesus Christ – to have dominion in the civil structures, just as in every other aspect of life and godliness.â€
“…It is dominion we are after. Not just influence. It is dominion we are after. Not just equal time. It is dominion we are after. World conquest. That’s what Christ has commissioned us to accomplish. We must win the world with the power of the Gospel.”
Gothard
It’s instructive that Huckabee gave his friendship to Bill Gothard, who runs an outfit called the Institute In Basic Life Principles. Gothard teaches that “character choices†result in societal “ills†: “homosexuality, divorce, contraception, crime.”
Gothard runs “training institutes†that teach that families must be ruled by his Reconstructionist beliefs. Hundreds of thousands of American (mostly home schooled) children have been raised according to his ideas. He forbids dancing, dating, rock music and “wrong clothes.†Wives must submit to their husbands. Adults must submit to their fathers, and there must be no birth control.
Meanwhile over on C-Street…
“The Family” at C Street is allegedly backing the proposed anti-gay legislation in Uganda. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, and David Bahati, the Ugandan lawmaker, are both active members of “The Family” which has poured millions of dollars into their “international outreach.â€
Congressmen Bart Stupak (D-MI) and Joe Pitts (R-PA), Senator John Ensign (R-NV), Governor Mark Sanford (R-SC), and former Representative Chip Pickering (R-MS), and, Senators Brownback (R-KS) and Inhofe (R-OK) are “Family” members amongst many others.
As Jeff Sharlet, author of the exposé The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power
What unites all the Reconstructionists from Erik Prince to Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee?
The ideological link between the members of “The Family” on C-Street to the Ugandan fascists wanting to kill gays can be best summed up by looking at several quotes from R.J. Rushdoony:
“The Bible is without reservation in its condemnation of homosexuality . . . If a man also lie with mankind . . . they shall be put to death. (Lev. 20:13) . . . This is certainly clear enough and there is not a single text in all of the New Testament to indicate that this penalty has been altered or removed. . . (pp 422-25). . . We find that St. Paul far from setting aside the law and its penalties appeals to the death penalty against homosexuals as an established and continuing fact.†(Rom 1:32) (p735) [R.J. Rushdoony, The Institutes of Biblical Law]
“Democracy is the great love of the failures and cowards of life.†[R.J. Rushdoony, Thy Kingdom Come 1978]
“One faith, one law and one standard of justice did not mean democracy. The heresy of democracy has since then worked havoc in church and state . . . Christianity and democracy are inevitably enemies.†(p 100) [R.J. Rushdoony, The Institutes of Biblical Law]
“The ‘civil rights’ revolutionary groups are a case in point. Their goal is not equality but power. The background of Negro culture is African and magic, and the purposes of magic are control and power. . . Voodoo or magic was the religion and life of American Negroes. Voodoo songs underlie jazz, and old voodoo, with its power goal, has been merely replaced with revolutionary voodoo, a modernized power drive.” (p. 61) [R.J. Rushdoony, The Institutes of Biblical Law]
“Biblical law permits voluntary slavery because it recognizes that some people are not able to maintain a position of independence . . . The law is humane and also unsentimental. It recognizes that some people are by nature slaves and will always be so.†(pp. 286, 251) [R.J. Rushdoony, The Institutes of Biblical Law]
“All who are content with a humanistic law system and do not strive to replace it with Biblical law are guilty of idolatry. They have forsaken the covenant of their God, and they are asking us to serve other gods. They are thus idolaters, and are, in our generation, when our world is idolatrous and our states also, to be objects of missionary activity. They must be called out of their idolatry into the service of the living God. ….†[R.J. Rushdoony, Law and Society: Volume II of the Institutes of Biblical Law pp. 468, 316]
“The goal is the developed Kingdom of God, the New Jerusalem, a world order under God’s law.†[R.J. Rushdoony, The Institutes of Biblical Law p. 357]
Killing homosexuals? Why doesn’t Rick Warren condemn the anti-gay legislation in Uganda?
In a January 2009 piece for The Daily Beast, Max Blumenthal wrote that “a charismatic pastor named Martin Ssempa”, the head of the Makerere Community Church — “a rapidly growing congregation” — was “Warren’s man in Uganda.” Blumenthal pointed out that Ssempa “enjoys close ties to his country’s First Lady, Janet Museveni, and [was] a favorite of the Bush White House.”
During a Meet the Press appearance on November 29, Warren said: “I’m not pro-life, I’m whole life, which means I don’t just want to protect that little baby girl before she’s born; I want to make sure she gets an education, she’s not raised in poverty, she gets her vaccinations,” he said. “And so this is what I call the whole life platform, which, beyond just pro-life of protecting that unborn child, goes on.”
When asked about whether he would oppose gay marriage if the issue returned to the ballot in 2010, Warren said: “As a pastor, my job is to encourage, to support. I never take sides.”
Why Rick Warren’s silence? Because under the mask of love he buys into Reconstructionism.
“The Christian goal for the world”?
“The Christian goal for the world,” theologian David Chilton has explained, is “the universal development of Biblical theocratic republics.” To which Erik Prince, George W. Bush, Rick Warren and C-Street all say a hearty Amen!
Prominent California philanthropist Howard F. Ahmanson Jr., (someone who once handed me a check for 150,000 dollars for one of my far right projects), who has given Rushdoony’s operations more than $700,000 over the years is tired of this mess. According to the June 30, 1996, Orange County Register, Ahmanson departed the Rushdoony-founded “Chalcedon†board and says he “does not embrace all of Rushdoony’s teachings.”
But Howard is the exception. So am I.
More “respectable” leaders like Warren, Huckabee and Palin won’t admit it but they would like to do here what the Ugandans are doing there, and not just to gays, to all the “other” who are in the way of their taking America into the darkness of theocracy.
Pastor Rick is the epitome of the two-faced friendly evangelical leader today: say one thing for the public, believe another thing and work for it.
Reconstructionists persist and the movement is growing while key figures in Congress, to big time pastors, routinely deny they are part of this political/religious movement. Meanwhile they’re fixin’ to go to a hangin’ in Uganda, with the blessing of the smiling nice guys like Rick Warren and and a wink and a nod from the Reconstructionist handmaid Sarah-Tea-Bagger-Palin.
Frank Schaeffer is the author of Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back
His previous articles at The BRAD BLOG can be read here…
Well…
I don’t usually approve of killing anyone and I strongly believe that what 2 consenting adults decide to to behind closed doors (if it doesn’t hurt anyone) is no one else’s business…
But if killing gays is for Jesus, how can a true christian object /snark
And it looks like Rick Warren approves (though he claims he won’t directly advocate for the murders).
Mr. Schaeffer,
Thank you for your courage and insights. I too was a Right Wing Conservative Christian who read and re-read your father’s book, A Christian Manifesto.
Now, older and wiser, I am thankful for my current view of the world and God. I can’t wait to read your book!
Susan Parker
Author of Walking in the Deep End
http://www.walkinginthedeepend.com
I agree with your abhorrence of these ideas…but I sure would like to see more footnotes, because these are very serious accusations you are making. I hope you won’t mind if I don’t just take your word for it. If you would supply some corroborating evidence, I would appreciate it.
Is Hillary Clinton associated with the Family? Is Barack Obama?
These people are especially dangerous because they don’t ultimately believe in the rule of law. The ends justify the means. They cannot be trusted. They should be closely watched and called out whenever their actions do not match their religious rhetoric.
Thank you, Mr. Schaeffer! You sir, inspire me, and I am grateful to God for you.
mpt
Great analysis, Frank. I believe what you’re saying – but I would request a follow-up article, that provides more back up evidence for your assertions against Huckabee & Palin, especially – evidence that they are Dominionists (quotes from them, etc.)
Also, perhaps they are too ill-numbered to be relevant to the American political sphere, but I find American Eastern Orthodox (especially converts from Evangelicalism) an interesting, though perhaps benign, example – in some cases – of the mentality you’re talking about – with a strange twist. Will the weird/fabricated Byzantine-nostalgia of the Orthodox play into the hands of the Dominionists?
What’s that called, when you do bad things and say it’s in the name of Jesus or some other religion? And Jesus or the religion never said it? And what’s it called when people fall for it anyway?
Stupak – D is a member of The Family? Is that the guy from the “Stupak Amendment” in the health care bill? Why isn’t it well know that the same guy from the famous Stupak member is also a member of The Family?
Big Dan – not sure why it’s not “better known”, but Rachel Maddow did do some pretty extensive reporting on Stupak’s ties to the Fam just after the health care bill passed in the House.
For starters Rushdoony is a heretic. He in no way represents Jesus or the God’s heart toward people. I deplore his views. That said, I think your connections between Palin, Warren and Rushdoony are overstated. It is reasonable to ask why he hasn’t addressed the issue publicly. It is unreasonable to yoke him to Rushdooney and all of his views because of his silence on the issue. I appreciate your viewpoint and agree that these are dangerous ideas. Don’t discredit yourself by making weak connections and accusations.
Have mercy, Mr. Schaeffer – no really, have mercy. Evidently you Left Behind (pun intended) one culture of hate for the ‘other’ and joined another culture of hate for the ‘other’, because this article is one of the most hateful things I have read in a long time.
You, Hitchens, Harris, Maher, Dawkins, et al. – supposedly smart men all – are intellectually dishonest when you lump all Christians who are more sure about their faith than you are sure about anything into one ugly ball called fundamentalism. And yes, I know, you consider yourself in a class different from the ones I mention above, but you’re not really. You should hear yourself sometime.
Absolutely, there are some heretical nutjobs out there, but most of the people you sit on your ‘I’ve been there back in the day’ high-horse and condemn are authentic disciples of Christ and have done much good as His body in the world.
I used to try to be open to read what you have to say, since I am familiar with L’Abri and wanted to understand what happened in your past to make you the person you are, but I just can’t take the vitriol anymore.
You were apparently motivated by hate before the great change, and you seem motivated by hate now, even though you’ve been loosed from your(according to you – I have no way of knowing otherwise) hypocritical, abusive, hen-pecked father. The common denominator here seems to be your own heart; maybe that’s what needs to be examined. God have mercy on you, Frank.
This Reconstructionist movment reminds me of the early church in the 4th century, only far dumber. It appears that they are trying to transform our ‘secular’ Republic into a theocracy based on Fundamentalist, far right perverse interpretations of the Holy Bible.
To me, being a heterodox (as in non fundamentalist) Chritianos, the modern homogenized American Consumer Mega Church is doing far more harm than good. After all, the point is to save people by telling them about the good news. When their practices are contrary to the message, they appear to be nothing more than tools of Lucifer. Total fail.
I wonder who the new Constantine will be? I wonder how many of the liberal Christians they will persecute?
All that I know is that they must be stopped! Otherwise they will manifest the apocalypse themselves.
Sinclair Lewis is right!
Thanks for seeing the Light and giving us insight into the machinations of these vile (i.e. Prince and Palin) creatures.
-I live in the land of Dick Devos and Erik Prince
Thank you, Mr. Schaeffer, for this great article. I don’t feel quite as ashamed of being a Christian when I read articles such as yours. It shows me that all is not lost and one also needs to realize that, strong as these fundamentalists’ beliefs are, thank God they are in a small minority. They aren’t called the American Taliban without good reason.
Again, my thanks! I look forward to reading more of your literary works.
Blessings,
Dakotahgeo M.Div. Pastor/Chaplain
Religion is the root of nearly all that is evil. At least that’s the way it seems in our modern world.
I wonder if the average person really understands how sealed our fates are?
Communist countries — Atheist countries with no religion — have also been murderous and evil (ever heard of organ harvesting?). I would argue that any kind of extreme and intolerant dogma is evil, whether religious in nature or not.
This is scary. Didn’t Hitler start with this kind of hate? I too was a Reagan/Bush/Dobson/Huckabee right wing fundamentalist Christian until God showed me that it is based on self righteousness and judgmentalism. By Gods grace I Saw the emptiness of that phony theology and I had to withdraw from the cultic idea that my acts of ‘holiness’ were antiChristian. There is so much freedom in trusting in Gods Grace than my own works which were as filthy rags. God will open our blinded eyes when we come to Him with reliance on Christ alone.
I think this assessment is a bit much. Especialliy linking Palin and the “Huckster” in with these far right religious mullahs.
And the FOX watching remark is annoying. I prefer FOX over the other more “progressive” stations but I don’t hate homosexuals nor want to see “sinners” put to death.
I’m a Ron Paul type republican. Freedom of religion, freedom from religion.
Thank you Mr. Schaeffer for exposing the hypocrisy among these so-called Christians. I am an Athiest, but I like to believe that I follow the teachings of Christ as a Humanist. My mother also used to say that the world would be a better place if we just followed the last 7 commandments.
Keep up the good work.
[ed note: Comment deleted. The precise wording of racist comments attributed to Ron Paul is in every comments section across the internet. With no source reference in any of them. No spam here. No racist speech here. No racist speech by public figures you don’t source here. –99]
[ed note: This two-year-old Digital Journal post may have been the source…. –99]
That the “Huckster” would take the advice of Bishops over Prosecutors in freeing criminals, even when it goes against the “tough on crime” brand of Rethuglicans shows exactly how true this assessment is.
Palin isn’t capable of being a “believer” in anything, as that would require consistency of thought and the ability to THINK, neither of which she has. However, as a good “follower” of her husband, Todd, it’s clear that she is also a nut-job from this ilk.
I think the quote attributed to Napoleon that “Religion is what keeps the poor from killing the rich” is going to prove quite true, and is very relevant as we lose the middle class and end up with just the “rich” and the “poor.”
Christian fundamentalists have one and only one aim: to set the (world) stage for the Apocalypse. Anyone in public life that claims christian fundamentalism as their religion is a danger to the world and the extent of their danger rises proportionally with their level of or access to power. These people want the end of the world.
Hi, Frank Schaeffer here thanking everyone for the comments. I’m grateful for the words from Dakotahgeo M.Div. Pastor/Chaplain since if there is one tragedy here amongst others it’s that the religion in religion has been destroyed by the politics. I also agree with Ilene, atheists and religious people all can and often do subscribe to an ethic we can all share. For Symbiont, there is a lot of back up out there, for instance Jeff Sharlet is tireless in providing it re the Family and C-Street. I knew lots of these guys first hand and heard the hate with my own ears, for instance the late Jerry Falwell telling me “If I had a dog that did what homosexuals do I’d shoot it.” I’m witness to what I know, saw, heard. Of course I’m also taking an informed guess at some things people like Warren won’t ever admit. But thans all, and the “follow up” will be in (hopefully) many future posts.
Christian fundamentalists aching for Armeggedon
I mean come on….what better way to prove the bible is true ?
They have to make earth unlivable by orchestrating Armeggedon…
Of course they have themselves covered because they (the fundamentalist war mongers) will be raptured out of here (risen into the sky to be with the lord)…while us leftist bleeding heart liberal peacemakers will burn in the hell of our own creation.
That’s some mighty god they believe in huh ?
Who would Jesus kill?
And if Jesus did give another man a blow job or perhaps caused an incident of santorum, would our Lord, the Son of God then kill that man?
Thank you Frank Schaeffer, really. I’ve been so thankful for every article of yours that I’ve come across in the last two years especially, and I feel like I may have just read your finest work yet! Or maybe it’s just extra satisfaction for having read so many of your valuable insights tied in together in one place that has me saying BRILLIANT! I hope this is shared widely.
I also look forward to your book. Somebody needed to write about that for people like my father; who are principled, faithful Christians and are aghast at what the religious right is doing to Christianity. I may not be a Christian myself, but I really feel for people who are in my father’s position. And even I can understand that Jesus was a Liberal!!!
At what point does the Reconstructionist Movement become treason and not a freedom of religion issue?
If they say that Democracy is evil and are fighting against it, then what makes them any different then the RR hated ‘Muslims’?
It was a serious mistake to make 9/11 a holy war.
Terrorism is terrorism is terrorism,no matter if you advocate the overthrow of a government for religious purposes or for terrorism.
It is time to STOP these people.
Since you know this first-hand, I would like to know why, in your opinion, these few people have convinced themselves that out of the billions of people walking the planet, that Jesus has picked them to kill everyone who does not agree with them?
While I agree that there are far to many who claim the love of Christ as a reason for hate, I find this article to be very hateful. Your response to the request for more footnotes is vague also. If you can’t backup your accusations with evidence, don’t make them. The claim that it was stuff that you heard them say, reference when. Your admittion that some of it was just speculation is very telling.
I don’t disagree with you on the issue of Uganda and laws to execute homosexuals. Your piece did not do the issue justice, it just became more of the same hate that everyone else dishes out.
Maybe it’s time for ALL gays to start arming themselves, just like the nutball right wingers. I’m looking into it cause this country is getting whackier and whackier by the moment. I will not have any hesitation putting some nutbag right winger out if they threaten me.
You are painting with a broad brush, making sweeping and very serious accusations based on guilt by association logic. For the most part the evidence that the politicians you mention support the execution of homosexuals is very tenuous at best. Most irresponsible is your statement:
“More ‘respectable’ leaders like Warren, Huckabee and Palin won’t admit it but they would like to do here what the Ugandans are doing there, and not just to gays, to all the ‘other’ who are in the way of their taking America into the darkness of theocracy.”
I am not a Republican and would not vote for these people, but your hyped up rhetoric borders on slander.
Mr. Schaeffer,
Its difficult to take seriously your criticism of those who have no regard for the “other” while at the same time you call your “others:” “two-faced,” “Tea-Bagger” (tea-bagging is a sexual slur but I’m sure you knew that already), fascists (“using the tactics of fascism”), etc. One would think that someone who is so concerned with demonstrating love for the “other” would also be a practioner of this ethic. Your article is the furthest thing from this.