I just learned about a new movement today: The Dominionists. Sounds benign enough, but the goals are not, and with Perry leading Obama in some polls right now, it is downright scary.
Here are a few snippets:
Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry aren't just devout—both have deep ties to a fringe fundamentalist movement known as Dominionism, which says Christians should rule the world. Ed Note: Sounds like what I believe Islam wants to, except it wants Muslims to rule the world.
....Rick Perry examined his relationship with the New Apostolic Reformation, a Dominionist variant of Pentecostalism that coalesced about a decade ago. “[W]hat makes the New Apostolic Reformation movement so potent is its growing fascination with infiltrating politics and government,” wrote Forrest Wilder. Its members “believe Christians—certain Christians—are destined to not just take ‘dominion’ over government, but stealthily climb to the commanding heights of what they term the ‘Seven Mountains’ of society, including the media and the arts and entertainment world.”
In many ways, Dominionism is more a political phenomenon than a theological one. It cuts across Christian denominations, from stern, austere sects to the signs-and-wonders culture of modern megachurches. Think of it like political Islamism, which shapes the activism of a number of antagonistic fundamentalist movements, from Sunni Wahabis in the Arab world to Shiite fundamentalists in Iran.
Dominionism derives from a small fringe sect called Christian Reconstructionism, founded by a Calvinist theologian named R. J. Rushdoony in the 1960s. Christian Reconstructionism openly advocates replacing American law with the strictures of the Old Testament, replete with the death penalty for homosexuality, abortion, and even apostasy. The appeal of Christian Reconstructionism is, obviously, limited, and mainstream Christian right figures like Ralph Reed have denounced it.
"Dominionism is simply that Christians of this belief system must take control over the various institutions of society and government. Some things that make this group unique is that they have some unusual concepts of what they call spiritual warfare that have not been seen before in other groups. Spiritual warfare is a common term in evangelicalism and in Christianity but they have some unique approaches and some unique spins on this that distinguish them from other groups."
On the topics at Rick Perry's rally
"The major topics at these events [are] anti-abortion, anti-gay rights and the conversion of Jews in order to advance the end times," she says. "And this was very visible at Perry's events as these Apostles led all of these different prayers and repentance ceremonies at [his rally].'"
Have a listen here. Rachel Tabachnick is an expert on the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), which is the Dominionist Movement. Tabachnick was raised a Christian Fundy but converted to Judaism because of marriage.
I still strongly believe that the Religious Right is a marginalized group, so once an actual GOP candidate is announced, and if the ticket includes either Bachmann or Perry or Palin, I believe that Obama will win be a landslide. What bothers me is that I could be wrong.
No matter what, it seems Perry and Bachmann are on a mission. The idea of converting Jews to fast track the second coming is really disturbing.
September 4, 2011
August 18, 2011
Rick Perry, Typical Anti-Science GOP Candidate
Here is goes with the evolution is just a theory crapola:
No one really knows how old the earth is....it is really old though. 10,000 years is pretty old to Perry most likely.
On evolution and creationism:
"I figure out you are smart enough to figure out which one is right"
Obviously Perry isn't smart enough.
He doesn't even know that creationism isn't taught in his own state of Texas...but he said it is. Wow. And this guy is one of the GOP faves?
Not only the age of the earth and evolution, when it comes to global warming, he believes it is a scientific conspiracy as scientists are out to make a fortune from it:
He seems to be patting himself a lot on the back regarding job creation. Seems that in the past 4 years 47% of new government jobs in the USA were created...in Texas. I thought the GOP's platform is there is too much government.
One more thing. He might be another one of those GOP anti-gay closet homosexuals:
Is Rick Perry a hypocritical homosexual? I report, you decide:
No one really knows how old the earth is....it is really old though. 10,000 years is pretty old to Perry most likely.
On evolution and creationism:
"I figure out you are smart enough to figure out which one is right"
Obviously Perry isn't smart enough.
He doesn't even know that creationism isn't taught in his own state of Texas...but he said it is. Wow. And this guy is one of the GOP faves?
Not only the age of the earth and evolution, when it comes to global warming, he believes it is a scientific conspiracy as scientists are out to make a fortune from it:
He seems to be patting himself a lot on the back regarding job creation. Seems that in the past 4 years 47% of new government jobs in the USA were created...in Texas. I thought the GOP's platform is there is too much government.
One more thing. He might be another one of those GOP anti-gay closet homosexuals:
Is Rick Perry a hypocritical homosexual? I report, you decide:
August 10, 2011
If I Openly Vandalized A Business, I'd Expect To Be Shot
What is going on in Britain right now is ridiculous. If rioters were raping or murdering in the open, they would be warned and then shot at. To me, there is no difference when it comes to vandalizing and looting a business.
Warn and shoot. It might take a couple of dead youths, but the riots would stop very quickly.
I'm a major proponent of deterrents. I especially believe they work well on the "devil made me do it crowd," but I'm also sure that it keeps the odd atheist from doing stupid things too.
Warn and shoot. It might take a couple of dead youths, but the riots would stop very quickly.
I'm a major proponent of deterrents. I especially believe they work well on the "devil made me do it crowd," but I'm also sure that it keeps the odd atheist from doing stupid things too.
July 23, 2011
Muslim Prayer In Ontario Public Schools
When I first read about the Muslim prayer controversy at the Valley Park Middle School in Toronto the first thing that struck me was "wow, a public school in Toronto that has a Muslim population of at least 80%."
Of course, most probably most of these kids and their families believe that Jews coming to Israel and becoming a majority there was something that had no business happening. And of course, they don't see the hypocrisy.
Now here are my major problems with this. It is a public school, when I grew up at least 80% of the kids in the school were Christian. It would have been terrible for me or any non Christian kid to have to have gone to a school with the knowledge that there was a special time set aside for most of the school's population to go to so that they can pray to Christ. It was hard enough at Christmas to be sort of an outcast because my family didn't celebrate the mythological Christ's mythological birthday.
Secondly, again, since it is a public school, tax dollars are involved. And tax dollars should not be spent on any religion (yeah I know that Ontario has a deal with the devil: The Catholic Church, that seems very binding). The fact that this prayer is organized and also happens during class time, is at best a misuse of funding.
Third, I don't buy the excuse that kids come back late from the Mosque, if they come back to the school at all. If they can't get the lunch prayers done on time, and come back late, they should be penalized in the same way any kid who is consistently tardy or truant is. Religion is no excuse for this. If you are taking advantage of the public system, play by the rules.
Fourth, because it is held in the cafeteria, anyone who wants to be there should be allowed. Apparently they ban non Muslims from entering the cafeteria during prayer.
This is too organized. Empty classrooms should be used, and the amount of kids in a room should be reduced to what is allowable by the fire code. If you can't get enough volunteer Imams to show up....too bad.
I have no problem with Christian groups, Jewish groups, atheist groups, etc. to have their own clubs after school....yes, after school. But the meetings need to be held in class rooms that are not going to be used or needed by anyone else in the school.
Fifth, to the people upset about menstruating girls having to be at the back of the prayer room....Get over it. Islam is a misogynist religion. This complaint is meaningless in the scheme of things, and has nothing to do with the fact that this type of organized prayer should not be allowed to happen during school hours.
Finally, there are two solutions. Turn Valley Park into a private school, and let the families pay for their kids education, or, ban religious prayer during class hours. If Muslims need to pray on Fridays, keep it to themselves, find unused classrooms at lunch or after school, or forget about it.
Of course, most probably most of these kids and their families believe that Jews coming to Israel and becoming a majority there was something that had no business happening. And of course, they don't see the hypocrisy.
Now here are my major problems with this. It is a public school, when I grew up at least 80% of the kids in the school were Christian. It would have been terrible for me or any non Christian kid to have to have gone to a school with the knowledge that there was a special time set aside for most of the school's population to go to so that they can pray to Christ. It was hard enough at Christmas to be sort of an outcast because my family didn't celebrate the mythological Christ's mythological birthday.
Secondly, again, since it is a public school, tax dollars are involved. And tax dollars should not be spent on any religion (yeah I know that Ontario has a deal with the devil: The Catholic Church, that seems very binding). The fact that this prayer is organized and also happens during class time, is at best a misuse of funding.
Third, I don't buy the excuse that kids come back late from the Mosque, if they come back to the school at all. If they can't get the lunch prayers done on time, and come back late, they should be penalized in the same way any kid who is consistently tardy or truant is. Religion is no excuse for this. If you are taking advantage of the public system, play by the rules.
Fourth, because it is held in the cafeteria, anyone who wants to be there should be allowed. Apparently they ban non Muslims from entering the cafeteria during prayer.
This is too organized. Empty classrooms should be used, and the amount of kids in a room should be reduced to what is allowable by the fire code. If you can't get enough volunteer Imams to show up....too bad.
I have no problem with Christian groups, Jewish groups, atheist groups, etc. to have their own clubs after school....yes, after school. But the meetings need to be held in class rooms that are not going to be used or needed by anyone else in the school.
Fifth, to the people upset about menstruating girls having to be at the back of the prayer room....Get over it. Islam is a misogynist religion. This complaint is meaningless in the scheme of things, and has nothing to do with the fact that this type of organized prayer should not be allowed to happen during school hours.
Finally, there are two solutions. Turn Valley Park into a private school, and let the families pay for their kids education, or, ban religious prayer during class hours. If Muslims need to pray on Fridays, keep it to themselves, find unused classrooms at lunch or after school, or forget about it.
July 6, 2011
Does It Ever Dawn On High Profile Trial Jurors That They Are Morons
After watching the verdict in the Casey Anthony trial yesterday, a case of deja vu hit me. The same feeling I had after the OJ trial.
The defense selects the most dimwitted jurors in order to give themselves the best chance to win.
When watching a high profile trial, that fact is quickly forgotten.
But when the verdict comes in, it is clear that the most important job of the defense is to finding barely functioning idiots. Those who have major problems making inferences based on evidence. In other words, those who can't put two and two together. Possibly willfully ignorant individuals, the same who deny evolution because they've never seen a human come out of a monkey's vagina.
In fact, with the death penalty looming, the defense is best to look for Creationists, because they ignore science when it is convenient for them, and more importantly, they can be liberal when it comes to the evidence because if they are wrong in voting not guilty, God will ultimately right the wrong. If they sentence the wrong person to death, the juror might wind up in hell......I think I'm onto something, The Dumb Juror's Wager.
I just wonder when it finally hits the selected juror, that the main reason the person was selected, was because they just aren't the sharpest knife in the drawer.
I guess that is like asking if Creationists realize they are reality deniers.
Maybe the answer is never.
The defense selects the most dimwitted jurors in order to give themselves the best chance to win.
When watching a high profile trial, that fact is quickly forgotten.
But when the verdict comes in, it is clear that the most important job of the defense is to finding barely functioning idiots. Those who have major problems making inferences based on evidence. In other words, those who can't put two and two together. Possibly willfully ignorant individuals, the same who deny evolution because they've never seen a human come out of a monkey's vagina.
In fact, with the death penalty looming, the defense is best to look for Creationists, because they ignore science when it is convenient for them, and more importantly, they can be liberal when it comes to the evidence because if they are wrong in voting not guilty, God will ultimately right the wrong. If they sentence the wrong person to death, the juror might wind up in hell......I think I'm onto something, The Dumb Juror's Wager.
I just wonder when it finally hits the selected juror, that the main reason the person was selected, was because they just aren't the sharpest knife in the drawer.
I guess that is like asking if Creationists realize they are reality deniers.
Maybe the answer is never.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)