“[…] The quoted language above of “Three Important Documents” is in violation of the U.S. Constitution and should be immediately removed. MRFF also demands that the Air Force immediately conduct a review of all its training materials to ensure that similar language be deleted from the mandatory reading materials.

Accordingly, we demand the Air Force’s prompt assurances and written undertaking, within fourteen (14) days from the date of this letter, that will cease and desist any and all use of the above-quoted language from “Three Important Documents” and that the Air Force open a review of mandatory training materials to identify and remove other similarly unconstitutional language. If this request is not honored, we shall consider other such legal action as may be deemed advisable to protect our client’s interests.”

Here is an initial email that we received at MRFF about this practice of proselytizing through the command chain wherein he refers to some of this specific language in “Three Important Documents” document used to train officers from a Christian who understands the dangers of Dominionist Christians in our military. (Emphasis added by me)

From: USAF Officer’s E-Mail Address Withheld March 27, 2012 10:31:32 PM MDT To: Information Weinstein <mikey@militaryreligiousfreedom.org>

Subject: Seeking Help From The MRFF

“I am a United States Air Force Officer, a CGO (“Company Grade Officer”; meaning 2Lt, 1Lt. or Captain ) born and raised in an evangelical household. I am writing this statement because I feel compelled to tell people about this. I am horrified and shocked at the blatant violation of the Constitution, and what I feel is a direct attack towards me and officers like me.

Why I write anonymously:

I never thought I would write anything anonymously. I am straight, white, and male. I never experienced being in the “out-group,” the minority. When I imagined whistle blowing about a possible corruption in the government, I imagined I would do so openly; after all, what could they do?  Spending these years in the Air Force has taught me the answer to that question. You simply do not know whom to trust when it comes to these particular Christian fundamentalists. The forces at work behind the scenes easily obfuscate themselves, and they they can be brutal. The last person, who spoke out about this on the record, had his career ended, and his service dog poisoned; right in the middle of the faculty offices of the Air Force Academy. It is sad but true I must remain anonymous for the sake of my USAF career and those I love. I hope that someday soon, at least in the 21^st century, officers like me can feel safe without fear of reprisal, for fulfilling my oath to support and defend the Constitution.

And so I write, but do so anonymously. This is not the first time, just the most blatant. I have felt this way before, many times. Perhaps not this intensely, because its’ never been so blatant. The instruction to go to chapel was just the last straw that broke the camel’s back.   I’ve wanted to tell someone about these abuses. Someone who would care. I think I’ve found that person now in Mikey Weinstein.  So here goes…”

Selected Letter Excerpts:

• I am a United States Air Force Officer, a CGO (“Company Grade Officer”; meaning 2Lt, 1Lt. or Captain ) born and raised in an evangelical household. I am writing this statement because I feel compelled to tell people about this. I am horrified and shocked at the blatant violation of the Constitution, and what I feel is a direct attack towards me and officers like me.

• Often, in one’s career, you hear that it is an unwritten rule you need to be the right type of Christian to be a good officer. But it turns out it IS written! Not in some obscure corner of the Air Force library but front-and-center in the Squadron Officer School (SOS) curriculum. Unit 1, Module 1, the required reading assignment called “Three Important Documents.”

• The real problem, the one that chills me to the core and gave me flashbacks to my 2nd LT days and being pressured by my superiors, came a few sentences later. In order to be a good ethical officer, according to the example in the text, you should attend chapel regularly and make sure your subordinates know you attend chapel. Otherwise, your command would be seen as ethically lax, and the morality of the unit will deteriorate. There, in black and white, what I always heard being said with winks and nods, and read between the lines, there clear and crisp, as the ink printed on the paper, is the enshrined Air Force Policy – Attend chapel, or be a deviant officer with questionable ethics. There, in my required reading, I read I would be considered not up to the standards of an officer unless I went to church.

• Evangelicals, as a whole, are not the problem. It is those who are deliberately plotting to convert the Air Force to their Version of Christianity; by planting proselytizing material in the textbooks of AETC, pamphlets in break rooms, and plan mandatory chapel events in units across the DoD. They violate our Constitution, marginalize Air Force members, and if left unchecked, could usher in a time where being their type of Christian will determine whether or not you may serve your country.

• I personally have been told by a Major, two Lt Colonels and numerous CGOs, that it would be good for my career to be obviously Christian. One Lt Col. recommended I should play Christian Contemporary music in my office loud enough for people to hear – as he was doing at that very moment – when I arrived at my first duty location as a young impressionable 2nd LT.

• When my fellow Company Grade Officers (CGOs) and our even higher-ranking leaders begin proselytizing, it creates an uneasy pressure for me; a seasoned CGO. I can’t imagine the pressure a young Airman, straight out of high school, might feel upon being exposed to such fervency.

What this officer is sharing from the heart is vitally important and to hear the bulk of his story drives that home. You can read his entire letter by clicking here. In the name of full disclosure, I am on the Executive Board with Mikey Weinstein and former U.S. Ambassador Joe Wilson IV. We all take seriously these backdoor attempts to “harvest souls” using our military as the breeding ground for conversion in an authoritarian environment ripe with fear, sense of mortality and a longing for meaning. This is parasitic proselytizing at its worst and in the most dangerous institution of all – our military.

The Republican Party as a whole is demonstrating in actions and words that they just don’t give a damn about the needs of women - particularly when it comes to health and reproductive rights. For instance, on the campaign stump in Illinois this week, when asked by crowd attendees where the millions of women who rely on the myriad of services provided for by Planned Parenthood are supposed to go if that organization is shut down, Romney literally said, “They can go where ever they’d like to go, this is a free society”.

Notice the use of ‘they’. Now read this next sentence, again a direct quote from Willard Romney, “The federal government should not tax these people to pay for planned parenthood”. There it is – the They vs. These position, pitting Americans against each other.

This excerpt from Alternet hits a point that I blurt out every time I hear this issue coined as an entitlement program.

3. Never say Employer Paid Health Insurance.

–Instead, say Employee Earned Health Insurance.

When we say “employer paid,” we immediately think of it as something that’s given to the employee by their employer. But as I pointed out in my blog post, “It’s Not About Who Writes The Check—Stop The Republican Lie About Who Pays For Contraceptives,” all employee health insurance is earned by virtue of the employee’s labor. That makes it “paid for” by the employee, even if they aren’t the ones writing the checks to the insurance companies themselves. Employee health insurance is just one of several forms of compensation in exchange for labor, that include cash, retirement funds, long- and short-term disability coverage, etc.

Employee health insurance is not a “gift,” it is compensation in exchange for labor. Cease the labor and the compensation ceases right along with it. Employees earn their insurance. Say that. ~ By jillwklausen | Sourced from Daily Kos

Exactly! This is not about *free* – it is about an expectation to have full coverage that is paid for by each and every one of us, whether through our taxes in the form of subsidizing organizations like Planned Parenthood; or through our payroll deductions for health coverage at our jobs; or through our private insurance premiums that we pay directly.

Ignorant remarks like Romney’s, Santorum’s, Newt’s and a whole host of other pre-enlightenment brain repositories breed deeper resentment. It encourages those who do not value preventative health care and reproductive freedoms for women to think that it is their tax dollars, and theirs only, paying for all those “theys” out there looking for something *free*. How about the costs for services that I may find extraneous and unnecessary? Are we heading in a direction that opens the door for us all to become armchair medical experts?

We are not Stepford wives. Feminism is not destroying America (as your clergy leaders are telling you). Women do not use abortion for birth control. Contraception does not lead to higher promiscuity. Sex education does not encourage children to become sexually active. The highest teen pregnancies are in the bible-belt. The highest unwed pregnancies are in the bible-belt. You can say no, even to your husband. These are just a few items that are getting distorted and demonized by an ever-evolving Christianized Republican Party who are self-appointing themselves as our moral superiors and proposing laws that would force us to live in accordance with their beliefs.

Women’s rights are being trampled in one form or another across America. This is outrageous – and any woman who votes for any one of these men on the GOP 2012 ticket running for President; or the men AND women who voted for the Blunt Amendment in Congress; or any republican who votes with their caucus in the state bodies – is complicit in turning back the enormous efforts gained for women since the 1950s.

Consider yourselves Stepford wives in the flesh. Wake up! These same men (and the few women that are their colleagues) scream about the dangers and threats of Shariah Law coming to this country to rapture and oppress America’s women – and yet their proposals against women in this country get more egregious and hateful with every passing day.

What is happening in the conservative politics with the transition of the Republican Party has been coming for a long time and we are seeing the full-Monty unfolding before us in 2012. They are becoming the ReBiblican Party and god only knows where they are going next after they are done taking Dominion over our uteruses.

As I repeat often – this is no longer simple Party politics of Democrats vs. Republicans – it is seriously – Freedom vs. Theocracy.

There is an increasing call to take military action against Iran from the adrenalin filled voices on the GOP stumps as they sell their wares to potential voters. Efforts to whip their supporters into a frenzy of fear and paranoia about the threats of Iran and its Muslim leadership is taking hold.

This is déjà vu all over again. The reckless rhetoric about Iran’s nuclear capabilities is designed to incite islamaphobic hatred and an unfounded fear of the safety and security of Iran’s neighbors as well as its threat to distant shores.

We did this in 2003 when then President George W. Bush contrived a reason to invade Iraq even after being told by numerous experts that Iraq did not possess nuclear weapons. Now we are faced with the same false premises about Iran from today’s GOP contenders to be Commander-in-Chief. Bush was truly setting us up for a Holy War of Christendom vs. Islam – a modern day Crusades, and the ideas expressed by republicans today are a continuation of that same dangerous flirtation with all-out World conflict.

Is it necessary for us to be vigilant? You bet. Do we pursue diplomatic solutions with seriousness and conviction? Absolutely. Do we work with others in the world and the neighboring countries most closely associated with these potential threats rather than taking a unilateral position? Without question!

Is war and aggressiveness the FINAL answer? Always!

Here is an impressive animated map that is visual (without sound). It speaks for itself…

This Map of Religious Wars shows the breadth of its spread is in the least bone-chilling. Add to that the knowledge of the horrific violence that occurred, the suffering, the devastation – in the name of religion makes it even more poignant.

The three contenders for the Republican nomination – Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich –  are all expressing these dangerous calls for war. For me, their careless statements are as frightening as any threat from beyond our borders. Recently, President Obama called their rhetoric “bluster”, but that does not adequately depict how dangerous their words are.

I often share articles written by Pastor Howard Bess who is not a Dominionist Baptist. With all that I opened this with, Pastor’s thoughts on Christians and war are well worth sharing for us all to consider…and I am talking to the GOP candidates who claim Christianity as their justification called the Just War Theory.

CHRISTIANITY AND THE PULL TOWARD VIOLENCE

By Howard Bess

By the grace of God, I am a Christian. Further, I am a particular kind of Christian. I am a born-again evangelical Christian in the tradition of American Baptists. This description makes me a part of a tiny minority among the more than 2 billion Christians in the world. I am so different that I am seen as peculiar even by my fellow American Baptists. No one who knows me could possibly suggest that I am not a person with deep convictions and beliefs. Further, I am very religious. I never miss Sunday worship and my time use and the manner in which I use my resources are witnesses to my religiosity.

One of my most profound struggles is the pull to condemn those who disagree with me. I consider social justice to be an essential element in my Christian faith. Because of my commitment to social justice, I have had my share of public debates and encounters. I find it difficult to be entirely gracious to those with whom I have had conflicts. After all, if I am right, do not others who have differing views have to be wrong?

Formal logic insists on that conclusion. To add to the conflict, parts of the Bible send a very clear message that evil must be confronted and defeated. With a cross held high and words from the Bible imprinted on mind and heart, Christians have been brilliant killers of enemies. Usually Christians killed one another to prove that a particular brand of Christianity was correct. In possibly the bloodiest of all religious wars, Christians battled Muslims for the control of Jerusalem. Multiple crusades stretched over centuries. A lot of people were slaughtered.

Most Christians look back on the Crusades of the early 2^nd millennium CE and admit that those wars were not the way to settle theological disputes. Christian communities have always produced protesters against any form of violence. Mennonites and Quakers have spoken to our consciences over and over again. However the vast majority of Christians make excuses for violence with such things as Just War Theory and pronouncements about the magnitude of the evils that confront us. We may give lip service to acceptance of diversity, but we are all too eager to grab our weapons when our particular religious understandings are threatened.

Is it possible to be devout in Christian faith and at the same time fully accept the religious diversity that now characterizes our world? In the first half of the 20^th century, comparative religion studies were in vogue. Many accepted the idea that there are many common denominators found when the great religions are examined. Differences were minimized. Harmony was the goal. The harmonizing never happened. For me, comparative religious studies and harmonizing the world’s religions were dead on arrival. My own conclusions were that there are fundamental differences among the great religions of the world. To attempt to harmonize leaves a watered-down mishmash that is non-functional to a person who wants to be devout.

As I observe the development of our world, I am beginning to believe that pluralism is a part of the nature of life and must be accepted as a fact with which we must live. Oneness may well be the false God who is betraying us all. I observe the cultures of China, India, Russia, Central Africa, the Middle East, Korea, Argentina, Germany, and Mexico and I see no possibility of a world melting pot.  I look at Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam and see no possibility of harmony.

Is it possible for me to have a vital, uncompromised, devout Christian faith and at the same give full respect and acceptance of others with differing faiths? My answer is a profound “yes.” For too long we have chased the God of unity. In the process we have fostered unhelpful tensions in our communities and have fought senseless wars on life’s big screens. Christians have a terrible record of fighting wars and abusing humanity. We need to embrace all the possibilities of diversity and pluralism.

Where would all this lead? I would eventually claim heaven for all, but for the present, pluralism offers an exciting life adventure. Some scientists are claiming that there is evidence that the universe is not as orderly as earlier thought. Apparently there is an element of chaos that is intrinsic to our universe. The result is a universe that is dependable, but not predictable. I try to imagine what life would be like if I fully accepted the full diversity of life, knowing that the future is not predictable. Might that be what heaven is all about?

Please forgive if this has been a bit too esoteric. We need to get rid of the senseless killing and the destructive wars.

THE END

The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister, who lives in Palmer, Alaska.

Responsible campaigning is invisible. Lying, fabricating, name-calling, disrespect, inflammatory falsehoods and a host of other yet unseen speech tactics are irresponsible and dangerous – and this is about the way these top GOP candidates are attacking each other as much as President Obama.

As a country we must inform ourselves of the real threats and weigh the mature, responsible and most peaceful way to solve the serious issues that face us as a Nation and as members of the global community. This is not just about winning a campaign.

This short video was produced by the organizers at www.reclaim7mountains.com…

Their message could not be more direct, they are teaching their followers that not only is it a mandate from God that they take dominion over these 7 secular mountains, but give them precise steps to accomplish their goals in their numerous seminars that they charge handsomely for. All one has to do is take a look at the successes they are having in politics and the debates over religiously based legislation from the local to national levels to see that their message is growing legs.

As their acts and efforts become more brazen, we hear them making attempts in recent months to distance themselves from the label of Dominionists. Clicking their heels together and spinning a message to us that they are not trying to “reclaim” these mountains for Christ is an insult to all of us who were educated rather than indoctrinated. There is a huge difference.

Although this branding is relatively new given that they claim this message to have been delivered directly by God to Loren Cunningham and Bill Bright in 1975, the pursuits by extremists bound in their faith is not new.

The Family Mountain is particularly important to these Dominionists. Their views are that it all starts with procreating liberally and then properly indoctrinating children to be good soldiers for Christ when they grow up and work to become leaders of the 7 Mountains. This is why they are so vehemently militaristic on issues of abortion/contraception, same-sex marriage, stem cell research and adoption for married male/females only.

2012 GOP candidate, Rick Santorum puts all of this on stage for the world to see in his current quest for the presidency of the United States. He is an Evangelical Catholic, the Dominionist faction of the Catholic church, as is Newt Gingrich who touts the benefits of changing the laws to allow children to work as indentured servants again. These positions echo the 7 Mountain Mandate with a bullhorn. Recently, Santorum has been beating his proverbial drum regarding abortion, contraception, homosexuals and adoption. Remember, I just pointed out that he is a Dominionist Catholic who comes from a hugely powerful religious machine that has heinous acts to clean up in their own houses of worship – some that most of us have never heard about.

Beyond the unforgivable behaviors of child rape by heterosexual pedophiles in the Catholic Church, I am just now learning about “Butterbox Babies”, where approximately 900 children were sold from Nova Scotia to families up and down the East Coast through religious organizations and churches. Those deemed imperfect were starved to death and buried in wooden crates called butter boxes and buried in the yard. This married couple who started this home for unwed mothers and profited from trafficking babies were Seventh Day Adventists. This is disturbing to learn about as are all the heinous acts and deeds performed by zealots in the name of God, but it is important because this is still happening in America.

Even now in 2012 child-trafficking is rampant and many of those engaged in this horrific business are associated with religious adoption organizations. The Catholic church is no stranger to profiting from forcing women to sign adoption papers in a drug induced condition. 150,000 babies were ripped from their mothers in Australia through Catholic services and adopted out for a price.

Tonight on The Forward Blitz Radio Show we will hear from a grown woman who was one of these babies, taken from her mother in Nova Scotia and adopted out to a Pennsylvania couple. Her story is chilling but so very important as we hear these sanctimonious claims spewed on the campaign trail and from lawmakers who want to revert women’s rights back to the 1900s.

Santorum and Gingrich are surrounded by like-minded political Christians who use their religion to oppress others and announce themselves as our moral leaders. It cannot be stated more emphatically that we are edging closer to a theocratic conservative government in America if we do not take seriously the actions of those who appear to be simply – good social conservatives.

All Christians are not Dominionists ~ BUT ~ All Dominionists Claim Christianity

Goldwater had a great deal more to say about this on the floor of the U.S. Senate in 1981:

“There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs. There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this supreme being. But like any powerful weapon, the use of God’s name on one’s behalf should be used sparingly. The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both. I’m frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in ‘A,’ ‘B,’ ‘C,’ and ‘D.’ Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me? And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the Senate. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of ‘conservatism.’ “
(1909-1998) US Senator (R-Arizona) Source: Congressional Record, September 16, 1981

And he listed the goals of the religious right:

• “I am a conservative Republican, but I believe in democracy and the separation of church and state.  The conservative movement is founded on the simple tenet that people have the right to live life as they please as long as they don’t hurt anyone else in the process.”
  (in a 1994 Washington Post essay)
• “The religious factions will go on imposing their will on others,”
• “I don’t have any respect for the Religious Right.”
• “Every good Christian should line up and kick Jerry Falwell’s ass.”
• “A woman has a right to an abortion.”

Thank you to Liberals Like Christ.org for these quotes that help remind us of why I insist that I am not anti-republican, nor anti-conservative – as defined in the days before the GOP allowed itself to be overwhelmingly infested with political Christians.

Join us tonight on the Forward Blitz if you can for another lively discussion about these issues and more…

There are specific reasons for many of the positions being expressed by candidates like Rick Santorum. The comments on environment, resource development, eradicating public schools and so much more are intentional…scripted and are anything but random!

Though not all the money-backers of political Dominionists share the same religious beliefs, they do share common goals and interests such as deregulation, privatization and control. This chart compiled by our hosts on the Forward Blitz details the connections in just the group known as ALEC:

ALEC is one of many, many financially backed entities that most Americans do not know about even though their actions affect all of us.

We hope you will join us for this continuing series in our efforts to inform Americans about this well-funded, well-organized and devout push to insert a scripture-twisted theology into our laws – forcing all of us to adhere to what they have decided is best for our culture.

This is no longer simply Democrats vs. Republicans – it is now…

This is a brief definition of Dominionism 101

“Defined in its simplest form, Christian Dominionism is a political approach to Christian faith based on a literal interpretation of Genesis Chapter 1 verses 26 – 28 of the Christian Bible. Believers perceive themselves as the “chosen” or the “elect”, commanded by God to “subdue” the earth and “have dominion” over all living creatures.

The goal of Christian Dominionism in the United States is to abolish Separation of Church and State, establishing it as a distinctively Christian Nation based upon Old Testament Mosaic Law.

Dominionism is an umbrella term that harbors many divergent franchise groups claiming a foundation in Christianity.

You must be “born again” ~ accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour ~ and profess your personal relationship with Christ.” ~ Leah L Burton

Tonight we will:

• Define what the umbrella term Dominionism means…
• Share statements and quotes with you directly from some of these extremists
• Discuss the transformation from what was viewed as an innocuous influence of political Christians to the Religious Right on steroids
• A review of some of the most recognizable names in political Christianity and our gratitude that their brazen sense of superiority is raising the crescendo to a level of undeniable presence
• How these political Christians threaten our freedoms and are pushing toward establishing a theocracy in America through their 7 Mountains Mandate
• What it really means when they claim devout allegiance to Israel yet their actions are severely anti-Semitic
• What is in it for these zealots who are championing an all out conflict with Iran and encouraging Israel to initiate war – why do they seem to LOVE Israel…but Jews…not-so-much
• And then we will touch on the topic for Wednesday night when we will talk about the efforts that are already underway to prepare for a determined campaign in 2016. They know 2012 is out of their grasp and they will take their embarrassments and lessons learned into 2016 with a vengeance

These topics and more will make for an important and lively discussion tonight, so please join us. You can click on the link to the show on my sidebar. If you are unable to listen live, all these shows are recorded and available as podcast archives.

We are not anti-Christian. We are not anti-republican.We are not anti-conservative. What we are…is anti-extremism. The following is a direct quote from Texas evangelical George Grant back in 1987 laying out what these political Christians are after:

“Christians have an obligation, a mandate, a commission, a holy responsibility to reclaim the land for Jesus Christ — to havedominion in civil structures, just as in every other aspect of life and godliness. But it is dominion we are after. Not just a voice. It is dominion we are after. Not just influence. It isdominion 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. And we must never settle for anything less…

Thus, Christian politics has as its primary intent the conquest of the land — of men, families, institutions, bureaucracies, courts, and governments for the Kingdom of Christ.” From The Changing of the Guard: Biblical Principles for Political Action by George Grant, published in 1987 by Dominion Press His web site is here.

This is why we are working so hard to expose this bible-based cult of Dominionism and raise awareness as to how they set a plan into action to take over the Republican Party beginning in the 1980s – and they have succeeded.

Monday, January 30, 2012

MRFF Friends and Allies,

This is a monumentally-clear indication that when organizations such as the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and VoteVets work toward a common goal, with the strength of our dedicated supporters behind us, concrete positive change can be achieved.

We are deeply saddened that it took a public outcry of this magnitude to cause Boykin to pull out from this event, likely under pressure from within the Pentagon. Our outcry must not stop – all individuals within the command structure responsible for inviting this vile Islamophobe must be held accountable via courts martial.

On behalf of every single serviceman and servicewoman that we represent, and especially our 101 clients at West Point, we thank you so much for your continued support. Please read the powerful email below that we just received from one of our anonymous West Point Faculty clients.

This is truly a momentous victory for the Constitution, and you’re responsible for it.

Michael L. “Mikey” Weinstein, Esq.
Founder & President
Military Religious Freedom Foundation

WHO is Boykin? Chris Rodda summed up a bit about him on her blog on freethoughts.com:

[...] none so far beats the choice of West Point — none other than retired Lt. Gen. Jerry “my god is bigger than your god” Boykin!

On Feb. 8, 2012, the United States Military Academy at West Point is planning to host a National Prayer Breakfast featuring ret. Lt. Gen. William “Jerry” Boykin, an individual who has a long record of issuing hate-filled rhetoric about Muslims.

Here’s what Boykin has said about Muslims in the past: there should be “no mosques in America“; Muslims worship an “idol“; “Islam is a totalitarian way of life, it’s not just a religion”; “it should not be protected under the First Amendment”; Muslims operate “under an obligation to destroy our Constitution.”

The importance of this cannot be understated. The work that we do at MRFF does not get the recognition that it deserves in light of how infested our military is with political Christians who aide and abet the Dominionist goals by overtly overstepping the U.S. Constitution and work to obliterate the wall of separation of church and state.

Dominionists have inserted themselves into all facets of American culture over the past few decades, but none of their achievements match the global threat that their influence has in our military…training our men and women that we are in a Holy War against Islam. The ramifications of this threat are real. The consequences of ignoring this threat are global.

This is reminiscent of 2010 when MRFF put forth a similar protest to have Franklin Graham disinvited as keynote speaker at the Pentagon for the National Day of Prayer due to Graham’s outspoken Islamophobic statements painting all of Islam as “evil”. Once again, MRFF was successfully able to send communication to the leaders in our military and the President in protest of another internationally known Islamophobe, Boykin, from potentially slithering under the radar as an invited speaker representing the un-American position of intolerance, religious supremacy and global divisiveness.

These victories, though hardly noticed by most Americans, are crucial to the protection of our freedoms in this world that we all share. We are not anti-Christian; we are not anti-conservative – we are anti-extremism. MRFF’s 26,000 clients are overwhelmingly 96% Protestant Christians and Catholics. Our volunteer staff mirror that ratio. We support mainstream Christians, Muslims, Jews, Atheists, Agnostics, and a broad spectrum of people of faith and non-faith.

Any of you who are watching the political news of 2012 cannot deny that we have come to a point where this is no longer about simply two parties – this is not merely Democrats vs. Republicans – this is emphatically about Freedom vs. Theocracy.

(Oh…and by the way…the logo behind Boykin’s head in the picture is for “The Oak Initiatvie” which I will address in an upcoming post for PoliticusUSA.com this weekend). 

It is mind-boggling to me how many people attribute this date as the literal day that Jesus was born. Historians have written about this myth for years pointing out numerous factors that indicate that the birth more than likely ocurred in June – September.

Outrage seems to increase each year about the commercialization of this holiday season and it stems from devout Christians who are intent on insinuating their faith into this time of year. As I do often, I turned to several knowledgeable Bible scholars and historians and none other than my co-researcher, Alex Bird who is known as “dogemporer”. She contributed the following that gives background to this holiday which should defuse any sanctimonious cry about a “War on Christmas”. (Notice that I said “should”)

By Alex Bird

“The arguments concerning the birth date of Jesus have to do with numerous criteria including the following:

 

a) The fact that a number of church holidays (especially holidays outside of Easter–which is one of the few holidays VERY much tied to a holiday on the pre-existing Jewish calendar) coincide with pre-Christian paleopagan holidays.  In the case of Christmas, the fact that the old festival of Saturnalia was based around the time of the Solstice and other pre-Christian indigenous faiths in Europe have Solstice festivals points to this.

 

As noted below, the Cathoic Church had not set a liturgical date for the birth of Jesus until 270 CE–a number of centuries after Jesus supposedly walked the earth; an accepted date among all Christian groups of the time (including the Coptic Church) did not exist until at least 337 CE.

 

b) Another good argument comes from the Bible itself in Luke 1:26:
“In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, ” (RSV; wording is substantially identical in all English translations)

 

At the time the Bible was written, two calendar systems would have been in use–the Hebrew calendar (the modern Jewish liturgical calendar, now used as the legal calendar in Israel) and the Julian calendar (used as a liturgical calendar in some Eastern Rite churches); neither of those use the same new-year dates as the modern Gregorian calendar.  There were also areas still using the old Egyptian calendar system (and a variant of that is still used as the liturgical calendar in the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Churches.)

 

The Jewish calendar (and the Coptic calendar) both have their “New Years” in September, as does the “old Greek” calendar known as the “Byzantine Calendar” which was formerly used as the liturgical calendar for the Orthodox Church . The Coptic Calendar usually has its New Years’ Day around 11 or 12 September , and the Byzantine calendar usually has its New Year’s Day around 13 or 14 September (it is based in part on the Coptic calendar).  The Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar, and Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) normally falls sometime in September.

 

The sixth month of these calendars and their equivalent Gregorian dates are as follows: 6th month of Coptic calendar would fall roughly between February and March (which IS pretty much when lambing and calving would begin–fun with growing up right next door to a farm) and also the sixth month (at least for civil purposes) usually falls around February-March.

 

It gets worse when we include ecclesiastical “calendar skewing” in the Jewish calendar and the Julian Calendar.

 

To make a very long story short–the Julian calendar originally had March as the first month, with New Year’s Day being March 1; there is also an ‘ecclesiastical calendar” used in Jewish calendar calculations that is skewed exactly six months from the primary civil calendar.  The sixth months for each of these….don’t look good for winter Christmases; the “sixth month” in the Jewish ecclesiastical calendar would end up right smack dab in the middle of August/September (with the end of the month culminating in Yom Kippur) whilst the “sixth month” in the Julian calendar (VERY new at that time, so it hadn’t yet had the “date creep” from its error in calculating leap years) has its “sixth month” being–surprise surprise–AUGUST.  (In fact, they’d just renamed the month Formerly Known As Sextilus pretty much within shouting distance of the time of Christ’s birth (usually felt to be anywhere from 4 BCE to 7 CE; the change of Sextilus to August occurred 8 BCE).

 

c) The big argument isn’t so much with temperature as agricultural cycles. Specifically, the Bible explicitly depicts the Star of Bethlehem and the angelic visitation being seen by shepherds guarding flocks grazing freely (indicating that this would be during the lambing season in spring; normally sheep would be corralled in winter as they would be at greater risk of predation).

 

As for the star of Bethlehem (which supposedly shined when Jesus was born)…nobody is really sure about that yet (for many reasons, not the least of which is still a definite uncertainty over whether the story of Jesus is itself a co-opting of Mithraic mythology or (if he existed) what the date of birth was).

 

Most who do think the Star of Bethlehem existed don’t see it as anything in the modern skies. not something we can point to today, at any rate.

 

The particular account of the “star” only occurs in Matthew, and there are those Biblical scholars who feel this may have been a later addition or even a bit of “divine gloss”; astronomers who don’t just dismiss the story of the Star of Bethlehem being an embellishment have attributed it to conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn, to comets (even Halley’s Comet), and to a supernova explosion that caused a temporary brightening of a star.

 

(Of note, the one account that gives an actual date is that of Luke, which does NOT include the story of the three Magi.)

 

If there’s anything to the “Star of Bethlehem” story, the role of the Magi becomes important, as “Magi” in the world of that time were typically Zoroastrian priests who were astronomers (yes, if the Magi existed…it’s very likely they came from what is now Iran, as this is where Zoroastrianism was based until religious oppression led to most active Zoroastrians moving to India or following their faith underground in Iran) and by extension the term was applied to all practitioners of esoteric arts; in fact the term “Magi” is pretty much consistently translated as “fortune-teller, illusionist, practitioner of esoterica” OTHER than in John (save in VERY early versions of the Bible, where it is translated “magician”–in this sense, a magick-user, a practitioner of magick).

 

Probably the closest parallels nowadays would be if a neopagan circle saw an unusual occurence in the sky as an astrological omen and followed it.

 

Those who dismiss the Star of Bethlehem story as dramatic gloss (and even some who do accept it as true) have noted the author of that particular section was almost certainly familiar with the “Star Prophecy”(Numbers 24:17; which was popular amongst Israeli independence groups in what was then the Roman province of Judaea (technically what was then Judaea would be what we’d refer to now as an autonomous area or overseas possession of the Roman Empire, with Herod being a “Hellenic-friendly” king generally despised by those seeking full independence from Rome).

 

The “Star Prophecy” becomes important in this note because it’s a method of setting Jesus up as “King of the Jews” destined to drive invaders out of the land–it was also notably used explicitly in the late Jewish revolts against the Roman Empire, including the final stand at Masada and the final revolt that led to the Diaspora (and the functional end of Judah and Israel as independent states until 1948).  A popular theory is that the Magi may have observed an astronomical occultation of Jupiter in Ares, which was seen as a sign of a kingly birth.

 

There are a few Chinese and Babylonian sources that would point to a number of possible unusual astronomical events that could have been described as the “Star of Bethlehem”; most likely (that fit with the time period in Luke) is a possible supernova event recorded by Chinese and Korean sources around March 31st, 4 BCE that would probably have been seen as notable enough to get the notice of astrologers.

 

(Of particular note here–a supernova of a star not normally visible to the naked eye would appear to be a “new star” that would shine for only a few months to a year.  The brightening of the sky by a supernova can be impressive; the Supernova of 1054 was visible for two years.

 

All in all, though, this is actually somewhat irrelevant:

d) Christmas, liturgically speaking (and even popular-culture-speaking) is actually a relatively young holiday; celebrations of Christmas are almost unknown until at least the late first millennium CE (in fact, early Christian writings–including that notably of Origen of Alexandria–explicitly mock the entire concept of birth anniversaries and celebration of birthdays as pagan).  The earliest definitive mention of Christmas as a holiday being celebrated dates from 336 CE; there was not set liturgical date for what we know as Christmas until 170 CE.

 

More important–well into the medieval period–were celebrations of Easter; in fact, in many Eastern Orthodox traditions (particularly the Russian Orthodox and Greek Orthodox) Easter is STILL seen as the more important liturgical holiday and a much bigger deal than Christmas (many of these countries pretty much didn’t have a winter-holiday tradition until Westernization happened in the 20th Century).

 

After the great split of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches in 1054 CE, the Catholic Church seems to have embraced Christmas (with Christmas replacing Easter as the primary liturgical holiday by 1100 CE) and it started becoming a popular holiday until the 1500s in Catholic (and later, CoE) parts of the world.  This ended up getting shot to hell by (ironically) the Protestant Reformation, as we’ll see below.

 

e) Christmas–at least as celebrated in the US–is pretty much a holiday restricted to present and former Commonwealth countries and to South Korea and Japan (and in the last two cases, primarily as a marketing holiday–though South Korea does have at least enough of a Christian presence as the result of American and British missionary groups to have a “Commonwealth-style Christmas”).

 

In general, in the rest of the Christian world, Christmas is still seen very much as a liturgical holiday (similarly to how Easter is seen here, or more properly, how Pesach is celebrated in Jewish communities worldwide); the gift-giving usually takes place before Christmas on St. Nicholas’ Day (December 6th) in Germanic- and Nordic-language nations, or on Epiphany (January 6th) in Romance-language countries; Santa Claus also does not exist, with presents given out in “St. Nicholas Day countries” by St. Nicholas and a helper (sometimes the politically-incorrect “Black Peter” or a “Moorish helper”, sometimes (and elevated to a meme by the American cartoon “Venture Brothers”) the Krampus–a goat-demon-thing that gives switches to bad children; interestingly, the Netherlands (the ultimate source of American depictions of what would becomes Santa) is of the “St. Nicholas and Black Peter” tradition, which has caused not a small bit of controversy as of late).  “Epiphany countries” typically have the Three Magi giving out presents, though some countries actually have the Christ Child delivering presents to good kids.

 

To complicate things even more–in parts of the U.S. that have been relatively isolated until recently (Appalachia, for one, and also Amish communities) you have the interesting phenomenon in much of Appalachia and Pennsylvania Dutch country of having both “new Christmas” (the December 25th holiday, which is seen as more secular) and “old Christmas” (which is–ironically–Epiphany) which follows the older Scots-Irish and German traditions, and yes, I’ve known folks in Appalachia who celebrate both.

 

f) Even in Commonwealth and ex-Commonwealth countries, Christmas is a modern phenomenon.  The very celebration of Christmas was seen as outright pagan during the Protestant Reformation, and was considered controversial enough well into the 1600s that it was one of the precipitating events behind the coup-de-etat of the British monarchy by theocrats in the 1600s (during the Cromwell years, Christmas celebrations were actually forbidden by decree); in the United States (largely founded by religious communities that had a distressing tendency to set up their own state religions after leaving countries with OTHER state religions) Christmas as we know it was pretty much well unknown if not forbidden by law.

 

(Yes, you’re reading this right: the early religionationalists in the United States literally made Christmas illegal.  Truly ironic, considering their spiritual successors promoting the “War on Christmas”!)

 

One of the FEW places in what would become the United States that managed to preserve old British Christmas traditions (pre-Saint Nicholas, and in spite of Oliver Cromwell and his son trying to make the holiday illegal) was the state of Virginia; you can actually go to Colonial Williamsburg and see how Christmas was celebrated at that time.

 

Pretty much it bore little resemblance to Christmas nowadays; if it was celebrated at all (which was still extremely controversial and by no means universal even in Colonial-era Virginia) it was pretty much an excuse to get drunk and/or party–not unlike how we celebrate New Year’s Eve nowadays in modern times; also common was the tradition of indentured servants and the poor begging for alms (a tradition that still lives on in most Commonwealth countries, including Canada, as “Boxing Day”–the day when donation boxes for the poor in churches would be distributed…the closest thing we have to that tradition in the U.S. is with Toys for Tots).

 

St. Nicholas didn’t come to the US at large till the 1800s; until then, he was a New York phenomenon (thanks to the fact the Dutch were the first Europeans in New York, and there was still enough of a Dutch influence to have a Dutch-American Society in the 1700s and 1800s).  His “American Break-out” was when the New York Historical Society declared him their patron saint and started the Dutch gift-giving tradition (though, I expect, without “Black Peter” helping out Santa).

 

The modern image of Christmas (as other than a strictly religious holiday) can be said to have come from four sources: Clement C. Moore’s poem “A Visit From St. Nicholas” (which actually didn’t refer to Santa as we know him, but rather Norwegian and Finnish depictions of St. Nicholas), Charles Dickens (whom, in his fictionalized depictions of Victorian-era poverty also pretty much depicted his ideal of the Perfect Christmas–yes, “A Christmas Carol” has done a LOT to shape modern depictions of Christmas), Thomas Nast and later Coca-Cola (pretty much giving the US the modern image of Santa Claus) and the Montgomery Ward store chain (the ultimate origin of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer–as amazing as it sounds, Rudolph didn’t exist until 1939, when a storybook was released as part of a Montgomery Ward toy campaign–probably the most successful ever).

 

Christmas celebrations didn’t really catch on in the US until well into the 1800s; it pretty much wasn’t until after the Civil War (during Reconstruction) that Christmas became a universally celebrated holiday in the States.

 

(Interestingly, no less than the Americanized version of St. Nicholas–Santa Claus–was used in a propaganda effort against the Confederacy during the Civil War; Abraham Lincoln asked Thomas Nast (pretty much responsible for modern “fat Santa” depictions) to create a picture of Santa with Union Soldiers–implying the Rebs would all be getting coal and switches in their stockings.)

 

-dogemperor (and I bet these folks would be really disappointed to read the National Geographic stuff on excavations and research on the actual reign of King Herod–long story short, not a whole lot of evidence of baby genocide, but evidence he may have been disliked due to being “too damn Hellenicized”)”

What Alex has laid out here is just the tip of the iceberg. There are volumes of information available for all of us to read and research into how December 25th became this recent high-Holy holiday. Being informed, bodes well for all of us in all things, and this is another example of where learning about the origins of traditions can help us avoid taking ridiculous stances that create tension and divisiveness. Fortunately this new hymn – the “War on Christmas” is emanating from a minority of devotees that spend more time complaining than studying.

Most of us have never heard of Dominionism and when I mention it the immediate response is – “What is it?” I speak of Christian Dominionism everyday and its takeover of conservative politics in America and the most oft asked question is, “What is it?” Followed by, “I’ve never heard of it before, why?”

I am posting some of the best articles and posts written across the internet over the past couple of decades by scholars, journalists and researchers who do a stellar job of putting this all in perspective for those who are seeking answers to the questions above.

We must go beyond Wikipedia to get an accurate picture. Even though the contributors have expanded the definition over the months to incorporate the broad-base way in which I began using this term nearly 3 years ago – it is subject to a tug-and-pull by those who argue the “correctness” in defining Dominionism.

I have intentionally used it as an umbrella term for a radical Christian sect whose goal is to take “dominion” over all things secular and then spin this Nation into a Christian Nationalist country run by a theocratic government. Putting it VERY simply…

“Defined in its simplest form, Christian Dominionism is a political approach to Christian faith based on a literal interpretation of Genesis Chapter 1 verses 26 – 28 of the Christian Bible. Believers perceive themselves as the “chosen” or the “elect”, commanded by God to “subdue” the earth and “have dominion” over all living creatures.

The goal of Christian Dominionism in the United States is to abolish Separation of Church and State, establishing it as a distinctively Christian Nation based upon Old Testament Mosaic Law.

Dominionism is an umbrella term that harbors many divergent franchise groups claiming a foundation in Christianity.

You must be “born again” ~ accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour ~ and profess your personal relationship with Christ.” ~ Leah L Burton

Dominion = take over = ANY type of Christian who believes that their theology trumps anyone else’s and work to impose their brand of twisted Christianity on the rest of the world – period.

Simple? Yes. But it is understandable. This is a minority of those who call themselves Christian. To put it succinctly…

All Christians are NOT Dominionists ~ But ~ All Dominionists CLAIM Christianity

Here is one of the very BEST expanded definitions of Dominionism I have seen anywhere, by renowned Dominionist expert researcher/author and blogger at www.discernementministries.com as well as www.herescope.com. With her permission I am posting the captures of her Newsletter. If you find this difficult to read in this format you can always click on any one of the panels below to view her pdf that will allow you to enlarge the article.

Many, many thanks to Sarah Leslie for letting me post this entire article here for all of you to read. As I say, she is a renowned authority on Dominionism and her work has contributed to  those like myself getting involved in this fight against a Scripture-twisted co-opting of the Christian faith to use as a vehicle to take control over our lives and erode our freedoms falsely using the name of Jesus Christ.

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The following is an article posted at Newsvine.com in May 2009 by my fellow researcher, Alex Bird who writes as “dogemporer”:

Over the past few days, I’ve written articles for Wayang Party on the international involvement of Joel’s Army groups in the steeplejack of AWARE 1 and the actual agenda of the American-based “Christian Nationalist” group Focus on the Family 2. From the responses received here, it’s obvious that steeplejacking and the growth of “Christian Nationalism”–especially the Joel’s Army variety–is of such a national concern that even the Home Affairs Minister has issued a statement warning of the threat to the secular state 3.

In this particular article, I wish to present essentially a layman’s guide to the internal mythology of “Joel’s Army”–and how it tends to radically differ from mainstream Christianity or even evangelical Christianity.

A “Joel’s Army” mythological primer

Firstly, just to note–in this particular sense, I’m using the term “myth” in the way sociologists use it, not in the term that it’s used in common parlance. Basically, in social sciences, “mythology” and “myths” are used to refer to stories people tell to teach a certain cultural and spiritual path–there’s no value judgement made on this. (I note this, as an aside, because people in modern living faith systems sometimes get offended when sociologists refer to their religious or spiritual paths as “mythology” or “myths”.)

Anyways, much like other faith systems (including mainstream Christianity), “Joel’s Army” groups have their own faith system that is often at radical odds with mainstream Christianity.

One area where the Joel’s Army groups diverge from mainstream Christianity is with the common Christian story of the fall of man from grace–where Eve and Adam were tempted to eat the fruit despite God’s warning. Joel’s Army groups tend to teach that at this moment Satan was given dominion over the world 4–this becomes very important later, because it can be argued the whole general theme of Joel’s Army theology is dominion–literally a Biblical mandate to take over the world.

The Wagner-linked Joel’s Army groups, as well as some of the older Assemblies-linked “Joel’s Army” groups, go even further and promote concepts not noted in the Bible at all. Specifically, they rely on a very odd claim by William F. Branham 5–an early “Latter Rain” preacher (“Latter Rain” was a sort of proto-”Joel’s Army” movement popular in the 30s and 40s)–that claims that Eve made love to the Serpent and that Cain and his descendants were, literally, sons of the Devil.

Branham’s concept of interspecies and interplanar adultery–what he termed the “Serpent Seed” theology–ended up going in two different directions. One branch, promoted by racists (Branham was a known member of the Ku Klux Klan) became the racist theology known in the US as Christian Identity; the other branch–which held that people who opposed the “Latter Rain” and its agenda were the “sons of the Devil”–became what we know now as Joel’s Army or Elijah’s Army. (Interestingly, Branham himself may have well coined the “Elijah’s Army” branding–he promoted himself as a reincarination of the prophet Elijah. 6)

This isn’t the only area at variance with traditional Christian eschatology. In traditional Christian belief, Jesus’ death and resurrection ultimately defeated the devil. “Joel’s Army” churches have a decidedly neutered interpretation of this–usually they preach that Jesus was tortured in hell or wrestled the devil in hell for three days (the so-called “Harrowing of Hell”), and his death and resurrection only merely bought the keys for man to take back dominion–and it is “Joel’s Army”, acting as “regents for Christ”, who must reclaim the world and society for God. (Yes, you’re reading this right; essentially these groups promote Christ as being too weak to free humanity. Christians may be free to be utterly mortified at this.)

In “Joel’s Army” theology, the world is at perpetual war, with the “Army of God” at one end, the literal sons of the devil at the other, and most of humanity and humanity’s diverse societies seen as literal battlefield “territory” to be “named and claimed”. This is, in part, why there’s such a heavy emphasis on steeplejacking and taking over institutions (including other churches) from within–in their viewpoint (as I’ll note in the next few paragraphs), the people within aren’t really “Saved” and thus are seen as legitimate territory to “name and claim”. 7

In addition, the “Joel’s Army” groups tend to be neopentecostal (often labeled as “charismatic” in denominations that aren’t traditionally part of the pentecostal movement)–and these tend to have some rather unique claims regarding salvation, especially those close to traditionally neopentecostal denominations.

Most mainstream Christian churches either believe one is saved at baptism (the Baptists and a number of other “adult baptism” Protestant groups) or upon confession and formal dedication to the church including first Communion (Catholics, Anglicans, and most of the Christian denominations that practice infant baptism). Most Christian churches also tend to believe that once one has been saved, one retains that salvation short of really messing up (things like mortal sins like murder, etc. or outright conversion to another religion).

“Joel’s Army” groups, and neopente groups in general, are a little different. In these groups, you are not seen as truly saved unless one has had an additional “baptism in fire” or “baptism in the Holy Spirit”–and in these groups, the invariable sign of this is some form of supernatural manifestation. In pentecostal churches, this has traditionally been “speaking in tongues” (usually without someone translating what is being spoken, and usually noted as being a “heavenly language”); in the “charismatic” groups in “non-denominational” churches and steeplejacked churches, this tends to be in regards to other “divine gifts” (usually someone being a prophet or an “apostle”)–you hear a lot about something called the “fivefold ministry” 8, which is a term used for a specific division of “divine categories” of preachers and pastors in these groups.

Even in the mainstream churches that do accept “speaking in tongues” and divine gifts of the Spirit, the practice is a lot different. Typically “speaking in tongues” requires the tongue to be in an earthly language and translated to be accepted (for example, this is how it works in evangelical Methodist churches in the US); other divine gifts also have similar “testing of the fruits of the Spirit”. There is little or none of this testing in churches infected with Joel’s Army theology; in fact, people who attempt to do so are often accused of “denying the river” or of being possessed by the Devil and trying to “rob God’s blessing” 9.

In general, there is a huge emphasis (compared to mainstream Christian churches) of “signs and wonders”–up to and including claims that the “outbreaks of miracles” are proof that these groups are the only ones truly saved, and that only they have the “key” to thwarting the Devil and unlocking all the blessings that are rightfully theirs (as direct descendants of God via Adam). In Singapore itself, this imagery has even included references to the “red packets” traditionally given out at Lunar New Year’s 10.

Conversely, it’s also taught that it is very easy to lose salvation, to “backslide”, to even lose one’s blessing if it is not aggressively “named and claimed”. This leads to things like 40-day “fasting and prayer marathons” (where they don’t eat for 40 days in fasting that is more severe than Puasa/Ramadhan fasting) where people pray for wealth or healing, the “prophetic conferences”–and massive calls for censorship of anything that could be opposed to their theology, because the mere act of being exposed to such things can lead to “demonic oppression”–essentially remaining not-rich and in strife–or even frank possession by the devil. (This, incidentially, may be why AWARE itself was targeted–not only is LGBT tolerance considered controlled by demons, but feminism in and of itself is promoted as being controlled by “Jezebel spirits”.) The term for this is “deliverance ministry”, and in practice tends to lead to people being isolated from all info sources other than that led by the church 11.

It’s not only what you do that may mess things up as well. Even “saved” people can be “demonically oppressed” due to the actions of their ancestors up to seven generations back, according to their theology–there’s even a term for it called “generational curses”. (Those of you who have respect for the ancestors are free to be rightfully horrified.) This has led to literal purges of pre-Christian cultural references en masse in some countries (sub-Saharan Africa in particular as well as in Guatemala 12).

This has led to another thing at wide variance to mainstream Christianity–the practice of Joel’s Army exorcisms 13. Most Christian churches do not conduct the rite of exorcism, or tend to have only specific people trained in the rite who have also had psychological training to be able to differentiate mental illness from potential “spiritual illness”; Catholic priests trained in the Rite of Exorcism are essentially to a one licensed psychologists in their countries. “Joel’s Army” groups conduct it all the time, and for such perceived things as being a feminist (and thus being possessed by “Jezebel spirits”) or a child being “willful” or someone being depressed; this has led to suicides and worse in the US and elsewhere 14.

The demon-haunted world of Joel’s Army also directly leads to their “mandate from God” to steeplejack everything.

In Joel’s Army theology (unlike mainstream Christianity, which typically teaches–even in its evangelical variants–that the kingdom of God is not one of this world) it’s taught that businesses and countries and entire cultures, just like people, can gain and lose God’s blessing depending on how strictly they follow the “battle plan”–and that just like people, businesses and countries and cultures can be literally possessed by Satan en masse. (In the States, it’s popularly promoted by Joel’s Army groups that Moslems as a whole are possessed; this, despite large populations of moderate Moslems in Singapore and Malaysia.)

In order to secure not only their own “blessing” but “blessings for their nation”, Joel’s Army groups feel they must take over all institutions, essentially “exorcise” them, and “name and claim” them for God–converting everything to a Joel’s Army owned-and-operated tool for theocracy that, taken to its ultimate extent, forces non-NAR people–including Christians not part of steeplejacked churches–to submit or die. (And yes, they have stated rather blatantly internally this is the intent.) There are even specific seminars on this subject–the “Transformation” conferences (of which a branch is held in Singapore sponsored by LOVE Singapore) promote a particular branding of this strategy called the “Seven Mountains Strategy” 15 that goes into rather graphic detail on how not only governments but NGOs, schools, entertainment industries, the military, and all pillars of society must be taken over as “strongholds from the enemy”.

Other uniquely “Joel’s Army” theologies

The evidence of “Joel’s Army” and “Christian Identity” groups being “brothers” shows up in other ways as well that don’t show up in any other group claiming to be Christian.

“Joel’s Army” groups have been documented promoting the “Phinehas Priesthood” (named after a famous Israeli priest who impaled a man and his Midianite lover in the temple, led a bloody revolution, and went on to almost cause fully a fourth of the tribes in Israel to be slaughtered over a misunderstanding over building a second temple) as an example of the levels of dedication needed to take over the world 16; there’s a Christian Identity group in the US that has used the same name as a call for extermination of interracial couples (and has occasionally committed pro-racist domestic terrorism here in the US) 17.

In addition, the endtime theology of these groups is so variant that it deserves a special mention.

Most mainstream Christian groups tend to fall in one of three categories regarding their concept of the end of the world: postmillenial (meaning that Jesus reigns for 1000 years and then the end of the world comes), premillenial (meaning that Jesus “raptures up” the Faithful, seven years of literal hell on earth breaks out in what is called the Tribulation, and then evil is defeated and Jesus reigns for 1000 years) or amillenial (in which the millenial reign is seen as rather irrelevant and the important thing is “doing what Jesus would do”). Typically most Protestant groups trend towards postmillenial or amillenial thought, with evangelical groups trending towards either being postmillenial or premillenial.

The denominations that spawned “Joel’s Army” (the Assemblies of God and Foursquare) started out as premillenial–and some of the unique quirks in their versions of premillenial theology come from a particular reference bible called the Scofield Reference Bible 18. Premillenial theology, more often termed premillenial dispensationalism, is actually pretty young as a theology (dating back to John Darby in the 1820s and with what would become the Brethren), and Scofield’s version even younger than that (1907 at its earliest). Much of Scofield’s version did become the basis for the theology promoted in “Assemblies linked” groups like Campus Crusade and FGBMFI, and later on Youth With A Mission.

The Wagner line started out as postmillenial–with a unique twist, based on a version of Latter Rain theology called “Manifest Sons of God”, that claimed that in essence the church was the “corporate Christ” and that the millenial reign could not begin until everything was “named and claimed”.19

There’s been quite a lot of cross-fertilisation, and now the dominant theology can’t really be said to be premillenial or postmillenial–more of “quasi-premillenial” theology that goes something like this 20:

a) Satan has dominion over most of the world, so “strongholds” and in particular spiritually powerful areas known as “gates” have to be secured, purged of Satanic influence, and converted to “Godly strongholds” to secure blessings for those peoples in the area. (Of note: Singapore has been mentioned as a “gate” in Wagner’s “Joel’s Army” groups 21.)

b) Areas “named and claimed” will be sites of great miracles and “outpourings” which will cause people to convert en masse, adding foot soldiers to “Elijah’s Army”. It’s taught that until a critical mass of people are converted (“every nation”, and/or 144,000 Jewish people, and/or 1/3rd of the human population total–there’s a huge emphasis on “second billion” (as in “second billion Christians”) in some Joel’s Army circles) Jesus cannot return–hence there’s the whole “regents and holding army for Christ” thing going on.

c) Rapture happens, two people convert post-Rapture and are martyred in Jerusalem (where every Jewish person in the world has been herded by the Russians–this is one of the Scofield weirdnesses that was originally a reference to Tsarist progroms) and this causes a massive revival about three and a half years into the
Tribulation

d) At the end of the Tribulation, all the Raptured along with General Jesus descend from Heaven and join the convertees, who all proceed to slaughter the rest of humanity, consign them to Hell, and are granted a “new heaven and new earth” as reward.

Amazingly enough, this very scenario has been laid out for public view in a book series. Tim LaHaye, who has not only written several books on this particular endtime scenario but has co-published (along with Jerry Jenkins) what amounts to Joel’s Army fanfiction (the “Left Behind” series). It’s a wildly popular series among the Joel’s Army set in the US, and a writer called “Slacktivist” has been conducting a read-through including notes on the rather bizarre theology promoted therein (at least from a mainstream Christian viewpoint) 22.

Scofield’s contributions bear special note. Among other things, Scofield is directly responsible for claims that Russia and Iran will go to the Final War with the US and Israel; this was used to frighteningly good effect by early Joel’s Army groups who promoted themselves as “anti-Communist” (and now are being promoted as “anti-Islamist” as well, though being arguably as dangerous). This has led to some very interesting conspiracy theory, including claims that the United Nations is run by the Russians or is otherwise secretly a Soviet plot. In addition, Scofield’s view of how the world will end can literally be described as a sort of “Hopscotch with the Bible”–hopping to one verse, then another, then another, often in separate testaments much less books or chapters, and typically taking verses wildly out of context 23. (This has often led to even evangelical Christians wondering just where they’re getting this stuff.)

In addition, Joel’s Army groups also have a heavy emphasis on “divine revelation” completely outside of the Bible altogether–they put as much stock in utterances of “prophets” and “apostles” (as long as their utterances fall under the general “party line” of the Joel’s Army group in question) as the Bible itself, and if the “prophecy” is justified at all it’s often in terms of other “prophecies” or a Bible verse taken out of context. (There’s an amazing amount of examples of this “in action” over at the main Joel’s Army site online, “Elijah’s List” 24.)

All in all, Joel’s Army groups can legitimately be said to be about as divorced from mainstream Christianity–or even mainstream, non-NAR evangelical Christianity–as, say, the Unification Church or other “Bible-based” groups. (Many Biblical scholars at the least state they should be essentially treated as a third denominational grouping separate from Catholicism/Orthodoxy and Protestantism; some have more recently argued that these groups should be considered a religion wholly separate from historical Christianity 25.)

You will find a complete listing of all of her footnotes to this article by going to Newsvine where this article was first published.

******************************************************************************************************

There are many, many knowledgeable researchers, writers, teachers, ex-Dominionist theologians and more who have written about the dangers of this extremism and it is impossible to list them all here – but I will provide links to some of the most notable articles that are well wroth taking the time to read.

• The Despoiling of America by Katherine Yurica – Yurica Report.com
• Dominionism & the Rise of Christian Imperialism by Sarah Leslie
• A Collection of Articles by Dr. Orrel Steinkamp
• A Collection of Contributors at Theocracy Watch.org

I will add more over time…but this should sufficiently overwhelm any first time reader of Christian Dominionism in American politics. Stay with me! We need everyone to become aware of this extremism. It is our own homegrown version of what the Muslim world has dealt with for years when they are all lumped in with the Islamic extremists.

Mainline Christians are no more Dominionists than all Muslims are Muslim extremists.

I hope you will all take the time to read every word of this posting even though it is quite long. This is so important for all of us to understand, Christians and non-Christians alike. Conservatives and liberals. ALL Americans! And please…once you have read this, pass it on to as many people as you possibly can! We can stop this theocratic runaway train from becoming a train wreck that changes our country and the world forever!

Today’s thoughts revolve around countering the Dominionist conservative perspective that justifies outrageous defense spending at the expense of proposing catastrophic social services cuts that protect our most vulnerable in America.

LET’S TALK ABOUT WAR

By Howard Bess

At every level of governmental organization, our nation is talking about budgets.

Budgets are revealing of the values of our nation.  Budgets are just as much moral statements as the Ten Commandments or the Sermon on the Mount.  The language that is used may be different, but the essence is plain for the reader, who reads with thoughtful consideration.

Dwight Eisenhower was the first candidate for U.S. President for whom I voted.  I believed he was not just a war hero but also a man of high moral integrity.  While history has shown him to have his flaws, I remember him for two things.  He proposed and initiated the building of the interstate highway system.  I have driven the interstate highways from California to Maine and from Florida to Washington.  As I have driven this magnificent system, I recalled Eisenhower and his grand dream.

The second thing for which I remember Eisenhower is his comments about war weaponry.  Many people remember his comment about the dangers of the American military/industrial complex.  America built the highway but did not listen at all to his warning about the partnership between American industry and American military.

His more important statement about military weaponry is longer, harder to remember, but equally ignored.  “Every gun that is made, every warship that is launched, every rocket fired, in the final sense, is a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.  This world in arms is not spending money alone.  It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.”

I had respect for General Eisenhower as a war leader in World War II, but that was an exercise in destruction.  Dead Americans on the beaches of Normandy were his nightmare.  The building of the interstate highway system was an exercise in building in which Eisenhower must have found great satisfaction.  The great sadness of his life must be an America that has not listened to his warnings about the cost of weapons that robs every vulnerable American citizen.

The budgets that continue to feed an American military monstrosity are moral documents that fail every test of decency and moral sensitivity.

In the discussions about our federal budget, few people are willing to attack the military portion of the budget.  With attitudes that would please Ayn Rand, legislators are willing to cut appropriations for health care, education, the arts and public television, while leaving intact military expenditures.

Americans have become obsessed with the nation’s military strength.  Just as the alcoholic is addicted to alcohol and the drug addict is addicted to his drug of choice, Americans are addicted to military spending.  Here in Alaska we cannot imagine life without Elmendorf Air Force Base, Fort Richardson, and Eielson Air Force Base.  They are billed as being essential for American defense.  In truth, second only to oil, military spending is one of the economic driving forces of the Alaskan economy.  Alaskans love military spending because it benefits the Alaska economy.

Slated for elimination from the federal budget is funding for Alaska’s Denali Commission.  What does the Denali Commission do?  It builds water and waste systems for the native villages that dot our vast state.  It builds health clinics and provides basic dental care for the benefit of the residents of those same villages.

And the words of Eisenhower ring in my ears.

As we examine military spending, the great folly is not military spending, it is war itself.  War is about killing human beings.  The winner of wars is the nation that is willing to kill people beyond the tolerance of its foe.  As obscene as military spending by America might be, it is nothing compared to the loss of life that accompanies every war.

Our current war in Afghanistan has claimed the lives of over 6,000 Americans.  An additional 40,000 have been wounded.  Those who will suffer psychological problems for the remainder of their lives are added to the human toll.  The casualties of allies and enemies far exceed the losses suffered by Americans.  While President Obama has promised withdrawal of American troops, the killing and the injuries to life will continue.

When we talk of the human costs of war, the conversation takes a different turn.  If our legislative bodies voted on the military budget in terms of life, rather than dollars, would the vote be altered?  Voting 300 billion dollars for the Afghanistan War is acceptable.  Would voting another 3,000 dead Americans and another 10,000 wounded Americans clarify the vote?

Jim Wallis, editor of Sojourners Magazine, has recently pointed out that the issue of the human cost of war does not move the power brokers of America.  Since the draft was set aside in favor of an all volunteer military, middle and upper class Americans have almost disappeared from the enlisted ranks of the U.S. military.  Americans who are doing the dying are from the ranks of America’s minorities and poor.

As we examine war and its costs, its unacceptability becomes even more dramatic.  The true costs of war are being hidden in an unassailable federal budget.  We are deluded if we think budgets are not moral statements.

THE END

The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister, who lives in Palmer, Alaska.

 

Here is why this is a wake up call to those of us in America who truly are moderates – whether liberal or conservative; Democrat or pre-Religious Right Republican; believer or non-believer – MOST Americans do not want to live in a theocracy. A theocracy is a government that is run by a religious authority.

I make this point because, as I have said so often throughout the years I have written on this post, the current incarnation of the Republican Party is controlled by Christian Dominionists. Because of that, my focus as a staunch advocate of the separation of church & state focuses in on the Dominionist politicians because they are such a serious threat to our freedoms.

Of those many politicians and candidates, Palin is but one. Left unchecked and taken very seriously she will careen headlong into the nomination. Romney and Huntsman will NEVER win because they are Mormon…might as well be Pagan in this GOP crowd. Newt, aside from being a royal jack ass, liar, fraud, narcissist, etc. he would have done better to revert back to his Southern Baptist Convention roots instead of choosing to become an Opus Dei Catholic…again might as well be Pagan. Santorum…Catholic…Pagan…

So who are we left with?

The time has come to review who we have so far gathering in the GOP 2012 Zoo. I will be posting this as a series because there are more characters in this gathering than most of us may realize. A hat tip and thank you to Republican Candidates.org for doing the leg work to assemble them in one place. You can see the alphabetical list on their site, but I will add to it below, beginning with the first 5 in the Declared or Exploring category. Our commentary is provided for by my trusty researcher, Alex Bird and we will be honing these assessments for you over the coming months ahead:

Herman Cain - basically a Dominionist preacher who also is owner of Godfather Pizza and largely ran that chain into the ground. As the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza (a regional pizza chain that has all but gone out of business) who became known in GOP circles when he was involved in the deliberate sabotage of the Clinton attempts to pass healthcare reform in 1993/1994; he was primarily a radio host and, most recently, a commentator on the Fox News Business channel and a syndicated columnist.

Gary E. Johnson is basically a bone being thrown out for the Ron Paul fanboys; he’s run primarily as a pseudo-libertarian.  He’s best known for pushing heavily for school vouchers so as to divert tax dollars to sectarian schools. He’s also called for marijuana decriminalisation, so it’s doubtful he will actually get the nomination; he’s probably being nominated primarily because his example when he was governor of New Mexico could be described primarily as drowning government in a bathtub (he actually set records for vetos whilst in office). 

Johnson is one of the few who is not an overt NARasite or Dominionist per se, he is a hardcore Ayn Rand-oid and is friendly towards the crazier segments of libertarianism. Has been known to partner with Dominionist GOP members in what amounts to “marriages of convenience” and would be popular among the neocon and uber-libertarian wings (basically, the guy is trying to be in the same general mold as Ron Paul, and his candidacy is designed to appeal to those who’d be big Ron Paul fans).

Fred Karger – Nomination is as likely as the New Jersey Devils moving to downtown Hades.  Openly gay ex-Republican, could not even get nominated, is running as an independent; has been in VERY active spats with Mitt Romney over the LDS’s support of Proposition 8; of Jewish descent (and presumably part of a Reform or Restoration congregation, as Orthodox Jews tend to be anti-LGBT).  I would hesitate to even consider him a Republican at this point, as the Log Cabin Republicans have been all but pushed out of the party and he HAS pretty much de facto (if not de jure) left the GOP…A prime example of working against ones own interests.

Right Wing Extremists Anoint Sarah Palin as the Chosen One

Posted on September 18, 2010 by Sarah Jones

Sarah Palin is a religious extremist. She does believe she is divinely ordained to lead this country. But the problem isn’t just her enormously inappropriate ego or the dangerous extremism combined with her willful lack of knowledge regarding this country’s government and laws. That’s just scratching the surface.

The real problem with someone who holds Palin’s beliefs is that they believe in End Times, which explains Palin’s constant war mongering and utterly insane threats to Muslim nations. Palin believes the wars we are fighting are Holy Wars and that she was mantled to come into office to finish the Muslims off for good, bringing about End Times at which point, she and the chosen will be uplifted to Heaven through a portal in Alaska.

No, this isn’t a joke.

The myth of Palin as savior of the world is based upon utter fallacy and fantasy. Palin presents herself to us as the “alternative” to the “DC boys”, but Palin as a leader was actually more corrupt, less fiscally responsible, and more morally bankrupt than even your average Republican. But her followers couldn’t care less about how Palin governed or that she was a socialist. They care about the myth and the fantasy.

The myth of Palin is that she is every right wing male’s ultimate woman; she’s hot, she cooks up home-cooked stews from animals she shot and killed and cleaned herself, all while spitting out baby after baby and running around the country setting Americans on the morally straight road. Wow. That’s some woman. [...] read entire article here…

You have nailed this! And your last sentence, oddly enough, is the one that sends CHILLS through my body!

All of us who are not desirous of waking up in an America whose laws are rooted in biblical mosaic law had best quit scoffing, mocking and dismissing the Christian Dominionist Movement in this country and VOTE! This is NOT partisan politics…this is a fight between the majority of us in America who are NOT Christian Dominionists, and the 60-80 million that are. And they are casting their nets far and wide to embrace thousands who are mired in ideologies that allow them to be persuaded to “play” on their political playground. After all, it is all about the “win”. The ends justify the means – and they truly mean it.

We no longer have the luxury of quibbling over liberal versus conservative issues. It is not about the socially compassionate versus fiscally prudent (and those span both Parties over the years). We took a HARD Right turn in the early 90s when the GOP was steeplejacked by Christian Dominionists.

Elections in America are now down to this…

- Democracy NOT Theocracy! -

Please….VOTE! I don’t care if you have to hold your nose! Please…VOTE!

I, like so many reasonable, rational and intelligent Americans have been outraged by the antics of not ONLY a minority of Muslim-identified extremists who perpetrated this horror on us on 9-11-2001…but equally as distressed by the horrific antics of some who self-identify as Christian in America who ignorantly seek to elevate their own twisted agendas to gain recognition and notoriety…aka Terry Jones ( a fellow classmate of Rush Limbaugh and like-minded lock-step brother with Fred Phelps); and then the likes of Sarah Palin who chimes in with her uncontrollable diarrhea of the mouth to dare give a dictate to the Islamic World to “Stand Down” after fabricating a threat of death by Islamic Leaders to U.S. children.

But THEN….

And even FURTHERMORE…

We have this irresponsible adulterer, who in his zealous pursuit of the White House in 2012…forfeits any sense of COMMON sense for not only his fellow Americans! But the world as a whole – who puts out this propoganda that incites and ignites the “conservative” base in this country on the anniversary of 9/11…

You tell me…YOU TELL ME…that this is not as irresponsible, ignorant and dangerous as the ridiculous dog and pony show we just witnessed with Jones’ threat to burn the Qur’ans!!

Newt stands there with his current wife (#3 who he left wife #2 for and looks like a clone of Cindy McCain) and flashes images of President Obama respectfully nodding a bow to a Muslim world leader, flashes an image of the Dome of Omar with all surrounding landscape in gray scale – save for the Dome of Omar (which sits on what the Christian Dominionists consider the absolute piece of real estate that MUST have the Temple of Solomon re-built before the 2nd coming of Christ), engages a sympathetic messianic Jew to add ‘credibility’ to his garbage and that is simply the TRAILER!

Am I upset?? You BET I am!

Given that we are now seeing how great the numbers of uneducated (and that includes educated idiots with degrees) voters we have in this country…and the sheer numbers of Sheeples that will absorb anything conveyed to them as long as you preface it with “God”; and the hate and intolerance brewing faster than tea bags can be produced…I am beyond ALARMED!

Listen to the way that Rachel Maddow juxtoposes both President Obama’s message yesterday and the clips by Bush, Jr. about how we are NOT at war with Islam…

I am not suggesting that we should NOT be taking the antics of Christian Dominionist zealots any less seriously than we take a threat from Islamic extremists. They are indeed BOTH extremists!

But we also MUST take the dangerous and inflammatory rhetoric by the current incarnation of the GOP/Tea Nation politicians as seriously as we do the Terry Jones, Fred Phelps, Jim Jones, David Koresh, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Dr. Sun Myung Moon (who owns the Washington Times by the way) or any OTHER self-aggrandizing representative of “godly values” equally as seriously as we do any threat from other religions.

These zealots are equally committed to dominating the minds and souls of people world-wide in the name of “Christ”. They proudly call their pursuits, “soul harvesting”. They openly rail about the 7 Mountains Mandate (this weeks’ latest as I am so fortunate to get the weekly updates) where the 7 spheres are to be dominated which are…

Education – Religion – Family – Politics/Government – Arts/Entertainment – Media – Business & Banking

Though I am widely criticized for pointing out what they proudly proclaim, the fact remains that these are their goals. I don’t make this vile up…I couldn’t. I just have the unpleasant task of falling upon their dangerous agenda and am left with no choice but to do all that I can to expose them. And for those who think that this all sounds unbelievable, I urge you to revisit the hundreds of blogs I have written that all contain links to their own very expertly and very expensively produced message.

It is unbelievable. I agree. But if we don’t push back, we will be sitting here wondering how in the hell this happened. America as a theocratic State.

There IS one message that I share with the blasphemous Gingrich…WAKE UP AMERICA!

Well…I don’t know how to get this across any more directly than to play the words that are falling straight out of the horse’s mouth!

Enter Queen Esther…

Hooboy! I am tellin’ya…I should get combat pay for just watching all this! Her snarky, smirking arrogance is unpalatable. For one thing, “In God We Trust” was first introduced during the American Civil War, but did not become an official motto until 1956. Christian zealots then and now continue to assert falsely that America was founded as a Christian nation, and they often cite this motto as evidence.

Palin’s 2-cents worth (In God We Trust first appeared on the 2 cent coin) is as relevant as the 2 cent piece. During the 1950s when this issue was again brought up in politics, America was hysterical about the “red scare” of communism. Now – we have millions of mis-informed alarmists scurrying to and fro shouting “socialism”, “Marxism”, “facsism” and “communism”!

Palin inarticulately feeds this frenzy and adds her Christian Dominionist propaganda to the mix. She throws out words like worldview, founding fathers, Christian nation, and unalienable like she actually knows what they all mean. She doesn’t. But let me tell you what she is driving at. She is becoming more and more bold at revealing her beliefs…beliefs that would lead to America as a theocracy under the rule of Christian Dominionists.

I read a great article on “News That Matters” and am re-posting this snippet from their post:

By Jeff Green

(Palin quoted from the O’Reilly Show)

“I think we should keep this clean, keep it simple, go back to what our founders and our founding documents meant. They’re quite clear that we would create law based on the God of the Bible and the 10 commandments, it’s pretty simple.”

So said Sarah Palin on FOX the other night and I’m willing to agree. Let’s go back and rewrite the entirety of US Federal and local laws based on Leviticus.

So, here we go:

• From now on you will be paid on the day you’ve worked, no more of this every two weeks crap.
• It will be an insult before God to cut your hair,
• Or to wear two different fabrics at the same time.
• If you get caught wearing any of those cotton/poly blends you will be stoned to death. And I don’t mean with a mean Thai stick, but with real rocks thrown by your god-fearing neighbors, none of whom have committed sins.
• In order to save money at home you may now sell your daughters into slavery.
• All your debts will be forgiven every seven years.
• All our laws will be thrown out and rewritten every seven years.
• For you farmers and gardeners, you’ll leave the corners of your fields and the fruit that has fallen off your trees unharvested so that those who are hungry may come and eat.
• You will no longer be able to have a cheeseburger and a shake, doing so will get you stoned to death.
• If you have sex out of wedlock, both of you will be killed and please, don’t have sex with your mom.
• Clams? Shrimp? Pork Sirloin? Just for the heathens – who will be killed.
• Masturbation? Oy vey! You are unclean and anything you’ve touched will be unclean. In order to make clean you must take two doves and ritually sacrifice them. Then you’re kosher again.
• Woman having their periods? For seven days you are unclean and again, anything you touch will also be unlcean. And in order to get clean again… yeah, get those doves ready.
• If you plant corn and beans in the same garden plot you will be killed.
• And lastly, you have to be nice to immigrants.

I said it last week and I’ll say it again, Sarah Palin is the stupidest woman we’ve ever let go before a microphone. ~ News That Matters

They really think the rest of us do not still have our Bibles and know how to read them? I know how ludicrous this sounds, but seriously…exactly WHAT part of the Bible is Palin & Co. suggesting we base our laws on? And what portions are we to believe they are omitting? It is all very frightening, indeed…

Since we know that this is just a sampling of the violent and retributive biblical law laid out in the Bible I would like to ask all of you to add more to this list. It is important to show just how extreme this notion is, and while still in the midst of having to answer hate mail from “Christian Patriots” telling me how violent the Koran is – they do seem to completely ignore how violent the Old Testament is!

When it is unfolding right before our eyes, it is time to stop doubting and start pushing back.

My next post will elaborate further on Palin’s appearance at the “Women of Joy” conference that O’Reilly showed a very brief clip of in his “interview” above.