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"They won't need a theocracy."
On October 28, 2005, NBC aired "In God they trust -- NBC's Tom Brokaw goes inside the world of Christian Evangelicals." Brokaw interviews Ted Haggard, President of the National Association of Evangelicals representing some 45,000 churches. Haggard makes a claim I've heard often: "We're not talking about theocracy." Here's the interview with Brokaw's very subtle, ironic response. Ted Haggard: Well, I think all of us have a responsibility to advance God's will through government. But we are in a pluralistic society. We're not talking about theocracy. We're not talking about some group of religious leaders dictating to the government how to write law. I'm not a power broker. I don't call presidents. I don't harangue the White House. At the end of the program, Haggard repeats his claim that he does not want a theocracy. Haggard: There's no one that's leading the mega-church movement or involved in the mega-church movement that is in favor of a theocracy. None of us are for that. We're all defenders of freedom and liberty for all. Brokaw reveals his grasp of the situation in his concluding remarks - maybe too subtle for some people to appreciate:
Brokaw: In fact the Evangelicals don't have some kind of secret formula. They play by the old rules, they organize around their common beliefs, and they're highly motivated to advance those beliefs in their communities and at the ballot box. If they're successful, and they gain control of the presidency and the Congress, they won't need a theocracy. To read the full transcript, click here. When Ted Haggard said, "There's no one that's leading the mega-church movement or involved in the mega-church movement that is in favor of a theocracy" - he maybe hadn't heard the Reverend Rod Parsley tell his congregation at the World Harvest Church, located just outside Columbus, Ohio: Americans must be "Christocrats" -- citizens of both their country and the Kingdom of God -- And that is not a democracy; that is a theocracy. That means God is in control, and you are not. more. In fact Rod Parsley, who has preached at Ted Haggard's New Life Church in Colorado Springs, is unusually candid. Leaders of the Christian Right shy away from the word "theocracy" for good reason. It's a loaded term associated with repressive political regimes such as the Taliban or the Islamic Republic of Iran. It's hard to imagine that well-meaning leaders of the Christian Right could be leading the United States down a path to a Christian fundamentalist theocracy. Below are quotes from other influential leaders who don't want a theocracy. "We don't want a theocracy" D. James Kennedy, Pastor of the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, told Terri Gross on NPR's Fresh Air. Kennedy is founder of the "Reclaiming America for Christ Campaign." Kennedy said at a Reclaiming America for Christ conference : Our job is to reclaim America for Christ, whatever the cost. As the vice regents of God, we are to exercise godly dominion and influence over our neighborhoods, our schools, our government, our literature and arts, our sports arenas, our entertainment media, our news media, our scientific endeavors -- in short, over every aspect and institution of human society. Francis Schaeffer, one of the most influential Christian thinkers of our time, wrote in A Christian Manifesto: We must make definite that we are in no way talking about any kind of a theocracy. Let me say that with great emphasis. Earlier in his Manifesto, Schaefer discusses the relationship between government and religion. The civil government, as all of life, stands under the law of God. If civil government "stands under the law of God," then God is the supreme authority. But whose God? Is it a Protestant or Catholic God? Where do Buddhists and Hindus fit into this government since some on the Christian Right believe that non-monotheistic religions are Satanic? What about people who don't believe in God? Do they have a place in this government? Ralph Reed is a highly influential political operative. On the subject of Democracy Reed wrote in Active Faith: How Christians Are Changing the Soul of American Politics: The surest antidote to tyranny is a free people who believe it owes its allegiance to a Higher Power, not the government. The consent of the governed rests upon faith in a sovereign God. Faith as a political force is the very essence of Democracy. As with D. James Kennedy and Francis Schaeffer, Reed does not believe in theocracy. He just calls for a Democracy where everyone believes in "a sovereign God." But again, we must wonder whose God? Religious wars decimated Europe for two thousand years over that very question. And again, what about people who don't believe they owe their allegiance to "a Higher Power." Can they be a part of Reed's Democracy?
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in First Things, a journal of religion and public life, that "government is the minister of God": ...Government...derives its moral authority from God. It is the minister of God with powers to "avenge" to "execute wrath" including even wrath by the sword. more The ministers Ted Haggard and D. James Kennedy, philosopher Francis Schaeffer, political operative Ralph Reed, and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia may say that they do not advocate a theocracy, but, in legal parlance, they are making a distinction without a difference. Once laws are passed affirming that their God rules supreme, as Tom Brokaw says, "they won't need a theocracy."
"They won't need a theocracy." | 11 comments (11 topical, 0 hidden)
"They won't need a theocracy." | 11 comments (11 topical, 0 hidden)
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