The movement, also dubbed "dominion theology" and "theonomy," has spread far beyond the right wing of Presbyterian and Reformed churches. It has penetrated, to some degree, most conservative denominations, including Southern Baptist.
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The Reconstruction movement has burrowed deep into the religious right. Its architects have gained strength via a broad alliance with other religious advocates who seek a radical restructuring of America. Reconstruction and dominion theology certainly set much of the agenda for conservative Christianity's political activism.
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Yet, these men, their theology and the secretive groups they have founded are like an invisible black hole whose gravity inexorably pulls the religious debate toward a theocracy with its closest parallel in Iran's government-by-mullahs.
Reconstructionists, who don't hesitate at casting the first stone, are behind-the-scenes strategists for much of the religious right. They and their fellow travelers established a beachhead in the White House (although the Bush administration is rapidly falling from grace because of its failure to unequivocally condemn Islam as a religion of the devil). Many in Congress pay tribute, and they're backing Reconstruction-inspired legislation.
The goal, one Reconstructionists feel is now within reach, is a transformation of America into a religious state whose mission is to spread the Gospel (as they interpret it). Violence isn't shunned. As Gary North, the current grand man of the movement, wrote, "In winning a nation to the Gospel, the sword as well as the pen must be used." Those who don't buy the plan could flee, or face unbending Mosaic "justice."
In the beginning, 1981, a radical Calvinist named Francis Schaeffer published a book, The Christian Manifesto, which depicts America sliding down the slope of humanistic secularism. Schaeffer called for action to restore biblical principles. And he mapped out a battle campaign to ignite the movement: Stop abortions.
Thus was born dominion theology, sometimes dubbed covenant or kingdom theology. From this theology comes the concept of theonomy, literally "God's law," which advocates define as application of the 600-plus Old Testament proscriptions to today's society. Theonomy would be the law of the land in the future that the dominionists want to construct.
"Schaeffer made abortion an issue for Christians more than anyone else, and he commanded Christian soldiers to start marching," said Ed Larson, a University of Georgia professor of history and religion. "Before The Christian Manifesto, most Protestants were indifferent to abortion because it was seen as a Catholic issue."
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The core faith of Reconstruction is Calvinism -- which during its early European history and in America's Puritan colony, had got a taste of governing. Two conservative denominations, the Presbyterian Church in America (both the Midway and Chalcedon churches in Cobb County are affiliates) and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church are Reconstruction-occupied territory.
Those denominations deny that they foster extremists, and they say they abhor violence. It's a matter of interpretation. North, for example, has vented, "How long do we expect God to withhold His wrath, if by crushing the humanists who promote mass abortion ... He might spare the lives of literally millions of innocents?" From there, it's not a great distance to Paul Hill, executed last September for the 1994 murders of abortion clinic workers in Pensacola, Fla. Hill had been a minister for both ultra-Calvinist Presbyterian sects. (The Reconstruction movement shouldn't be confused with mainstream Calvinist groups, such as the Presbyterian Church USA.)
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At the heart of dominion beliefs -- whether Boys' gut-punching invective or Rushdoony's and North's complex theological contemplations -- are two biblical passages. Genesis 1:28 commands men to have "dominion" over "every living thing." Adam and Eve broke their covenant with God, and Satan seized dominion. The church -- the church sanctioned by the Reconstructionists, that is -- claims it has a reconstituted covenant with God, and the right to a new dominion in his name.
Then, in Matthew 28:19-20, the "Great Commission," Jesus commands his followers to proselytize to the world.
Put another way, for the dominion theologians, the motto is: We rule!
Starting from those verses, dominion theology preaches that government would be largely replaced by the church. Or, more precisely, three "governments" would emerge, according to Cobb County's DeMar: the family, the state and the church. All three would be subject to strict religious oversight.
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Don't dismiss the dominion theologians and their movement as fringe. Christian Reconstruction "has been the driving force behind the Christian right for some time," says Daniel Levitas, an Atlanta author who follows extremist groups, many of whom, such as the racist "Christian Identity" sects, have found succor in the words of Rushdoony and his disciples.The movement holds sway over a broad spectrum of conservative religion, and its power extends throughout local and federal governments. George Bush, for example, has called Reconstructionist Marvin Olasky "compassionate conservatism's leading thinker." Olasky, according to The New York Times, was one of Bush's "original advisers" on the creation of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives -- but became a critic after the agency's first director sought to rein in taxpayer-paid-for proselytizing.