Begin forwarded message:
From: "Franz Seiler" <seiler_er@t-online.de>
Date: August 23, 2011 9:59:27 PM EDT
To: "Michael Santomauro" <ReporterNotebook@Gmail.com>
Subject: Fw: Before this.....
Before this ....earth-quake in Washington D.C. etc. I just came across one short note in – I don't remember which! – an article by Noam Chomsky that the "Christian" rightists weren't friendly at all with the Jews...... (This was at most a fortnight ago)FranzThe Media Just Doesn't Get Today's Religious Right By Frederick Clarkson Information Clearing House 23.08.2011The Media Just Doesn't Get Today's Religious RightBy Frederick ClarksonAugust 23, 2011 "AlterNet" - - In case we were wondering why the Religious Right often seems to get such uncritical, or at least misguided coverage from so much of the mainstream media -- we need look no further a recent segment from CNN's Situation Room. It is the single most startlingly frank admission of ignorance on the part of major figures in journalism I have ever seen.
You could probably hear my dropping jaw hitting the floor when I heard Jack Cafferty and Wolf Blitzer say they had never heard of dominionism until they read Michelle Goldberg's article onThe Daily Beast. They apparently had never heard of Christian Reconstructionism or the New Apostolic Reformation either. Goldberg's article on Rick Perry and Michelle Bachmann's relationship to all of this was certainly well done. But it is amazing that no other journalist of any prominence had looked into it before these Goldberg's revelations. There are many, and ever-more prominent pols with similar ties. And the failure of our national media and political culture to come to grips with this has been astounding. At least to me. As someone who has written about the Religious Right in its various dimensions for about 30 years, I've watched with horror as too many (but not all) mainstream media missed or misreported the stories of one of the most significant political movements of our time.
Blitzer and Cafferty et al have had plenty of opportunities to learn about dominionism and Christian Reconstructionism. They could have read Michelle Goldberg's New York Times best-selling book Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism. in 2006. They could have read my 1997 book, Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy, or Sara Diamond's 1989 classic, Spiritual Warfare: The Politics of the Christian Right. -- to name but a few that deal specifically with dominionism and Christian Reconstructionism. We were all widely in the media, including national broadcasts talking about this stuff. They could also read material from such well established and well known organizations that study and counter the American right, as Americans United for Separation of Church & State and People for the American Way, and Political Research Associates. (PRA published my studyof Christian Reconstructionism in 1994.) Religion Dispatches reports on these things all the time as well. They have been discussed in wider context in books by such scholarly best selling authors as Gary Wills, Harvey Cox, Jeff Sharlet and Kevin Phillips, to also name but a few, and in major articles in magazines as diverse as Reason and Mother Jones. (I even discuss Christian Reconstructionism on camera in the 2007 Hollywood film documentary on the politics of abortion, Lake of Fire. Watch it for free, here.)
You really cannot have been awake in American public life for the past few decades and not have encountered dominionism and Christian Reconstructionism. Blizter and Cafferty are far from alone in snoozing comfortably through this part of our national life. They are just more startlingly honest that this is no dream.
At the group blog Talk to Action my journalist, scholarly, and activist colleagues and I have been writing in a sustained and focused manner on these things since 2005. If Blitzer and Cafferty -- or anyone else -- is interested in the New Apostolic Reformation, Bruce Wilson and Rachel Tabachnick have been doing ground-breaking research and analysis for several years.Here is a recent compilation of their reporting so far.
These things said, I am grateful for Blitzer and Cafferty's frankness. I think the acknowledgement of their ignorance draws a bright line in our recent history. I don't know that the bright line will lead us to an era of knowledge and enlightenment, but at least we have a chance of knowing what the darkness of ignorance looks like.This link "dominionism" was added to the original article by ICHComments (10)Admin OptionsDisable comments for this pageSave SettingsSort by: Date Rating Last ActivityLoading comments...You are about to flag this comment as being inappropriate. Please explain why you are flagging this comment in the text box below and submit your report. The blog admin will be notified. Thank you for your input.+9 Vote up Vote downInTheKeyOfE · 4 hours agoSince there are many who don't believe in God, they tend to disavow those who do. Many look upon all believers as crackpots, and those in the religious right, as zealots (which they are) whose outlandish ideas and beliefs have no basis in reason, and therefore are easily discounted. If one looks deep into Dominionism, as this writer obviously has, one sees a truly scary group of 'believers' who have nothing to do at all with the ideals of Christ, or Christianity, and everything to do with Satan, and Satanism. They are the true wolves in sheep's clothing, and represent the false face of Christianity which was revealed in Revelations. "Know them by their fruits," is an apt concept, and the Dominionists represent death, destruction, egotistical judgment, and offer no inkling of compassion or love. "Reptilian" is a word some have used to describe their bearing, and that is not far off the mark at all.ReportReply 0 replies · active less than 1 minute ago+2 Vote up Vote downJan · 2 hours agoYour assessment is right on the mark.....but then, any true Christian should know his/her New Testament and realize who the "boss" of the "kingdoms of this world" is, and it sure isn't God or His Son.....case closed......ReportReply 1 reply · active 1 hour ago0 Vote up Vote downcapt jim · 1 hour agoSOOOOOOOOOOOOOO True!ReportReply+4 Vote up Vote downrosemerry · 2 hours agoSince all the US Congress suports every move of Zionist Israel, now ruled by far-right fringe religious groups in the Likud-led government, it is not surprising that weird religious movements increase their hold on the US sheeple. 60 million copies of the "Left Behind" seies are still in print in the USA and tell believers of the Rapture and other strange "facts" of christian fervour. There is NO chance of a genuine non-christian getting power in the USA, though their numbers are rising. A genuine real christian (turn the other cheek) would not even be considered by the war lobby.ReportReply 1 reply · active 2 hours ago+3 Vote up Vote downguest msa · 2 hours agoJust consider what President Jimmy Carter has done with his life since leaving the presidency....he was exactly what the American needed after NIXON left in disgrace....Carter walked the walk not just the talk...and had we followed the precepts he instituted in the WH we would be much further along the 'Conservation' of energy at this point. As for interest rates that he was blamed for you should look at the Fed and who was running money policy then and there you have the culprit..but Americans did not understand that the President does not control.ReportReply+2 Vote up Vote downDennis · 2 hours agoWith our ability to communicate easily today, so many remain locked in the dark cave, called "religion".ReportReply 0 replies · active less than 1 minute ago0 Vote up Vote downcapt jim · 1 hour agoFalse belief is a dark cave but some religions bring much light to the believer!ReportReply 1 reply · active 28 minutes ago0 Vote up Vote downnorman harman · 28 minutes agoReligion is the straightjacket of the mind.ReportReply+1 Vote up Vote downGuesto · 1 hour agoSad that people with that level of highly destructive ignorance are able to gather such a large following.ReportReply 0 replies · active less than 1 minute ago0 Vote up Vote downnorman harman · 30 minutes agoIf you live inside a world of mirrors how can you possibly know anything but your own reflection?ReportReply 0 replies · active less than 1 minute ago
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