God's Own Party

When I was a younger man, and a Republican, the GOP was the “Grand Old Party.” It was a party of fiscally responsible, serious politicians who would represent its principles faithfully. But something happened to it in the last two decades. It’s been infiltrated with religious extremists who have co-opted the heart of the party. This is an excerpt from a site titled, godsownparty.com/blog. “Posted by Leah on Jun 16, 2011, “First – STOP calling it “social conservatism”. Call it what it IS! Religious politics – and even more specifically Christian Dominionist politics. That is a very narrow group and they are a minority. Why are we letting them redefine our language and turn this into a Movement that will exclude all who are not like them – including mainline Christians as well as all other faith and non-faith citizens in the United States?” Why indeed are we allowing this Bible-based cult disguised as a religious movement to control the political narrative in this country that was founded on freedom “of or from” religion?

A few days ago I listened to an interview with Bob Vander Plaats, the head of an organization named, The Family Leader.  He and this organization are at the center of  Christian Dominionist politics. Dominionism is a term used to describe politically active conservative Christians that are conspiring to take control over secular civil government with the goal of a nation governed by conservative Christian understanding of biblical law.

During the interview, Mr. Vander Plaats explained the Dominionist position. I paraphrase here: God created three pillars or institutions: the family, church and government. Therefore, all three should be ruled by God’s laws as explained in the King James version of the Bible. Yes. That’s right, including government.

Full disclosure time: I am a Christian agnostic: Christian by education, agnostic by introspection. I am more a practitioner than a believer. So it’s difficult for me to believe anything any human being says about the existence or the nature of God; and in particular, God’s will and intentions.

Lest we forget, the early pilgrims came here to escape the government-prescribed religion of their ancestors. And now the GOP has become a political arm of a religious movement to install a form of Christian Sharia. In case you don’t remember, Sharia is Islamic religious law, based on the Koran.

Frankly, I don’t want either Christian or Islamic law affecting my life. And I definitely don’t want them infesting our government. On a more reflective note, I could argue that this whole Dominionist dream is, as Shakespeare wrote, “ a tale of sound and fury, told my an idiot, signifying nothing.” That would be a mistake. It is the main source of alienation and separation that polarizes our political discourse.

The poison of religious intolerance is being disguised as social conservatism and it is being used as the litmus test for any viable GOP candidate. It has shaped itself into an agenda of anti-science and anti-intellectualism that threatens our ability to compete in a world where science and technology pave the route to the future.

Dominionism is to progress, what Sharia is to Islam. It is an attempt to regress post modernity back to antiquity. Organized religion has a history of regressive movements and it needn’t be that way. When religion is able to rise above superstition, it can light the path forward for humanity. Extreme right Christian Dominionism blows out the candle and attempts to take us back to medieval morality.

In addition to being a threat to sane government, Christian Dominionism casts an undeserved dark shadow over all Christianity. Unfortunately, religion can be used to advance immoral earthly agendas. But only if people don’t think for themselves. America was built on individualism. Why does that trait disappear when it comes to religious intolerance? If you don’t like our government now, try to imagine an American  theocracy.

Robert DeFilippis