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The Supreme Court and Theocracy
A good place to go to understand the political agenda of the theocratic right is the Texas Republican Party Platform. In 2004 the Texas GOP called for abolishing
the Bureau of Tobacco and Firearms, the position of Surgeon General, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Departments of Energy, Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Education, Commerce and Labor. We also call for the de-funding or abolition of the National Endowment for the Arts, and Public Broadcasting System. While all these agencies are abolished, so is what they call the "myth" of separation of church and state, thereby paving the way for theocratic rule:
Our party pledges to exert its influence to ... dispel the "myth" of the separation of church and state. And,
The Republican Party of Texas affirms the United States of America is a Christian Nation.
This "Christian nation" platform makes several recommendations about the environment highlighting their belief in the absolute right of property owners to pollute: We reaffirm belief in the fundamental constitutional right of an individual to use property without governmental interference. We oppose conservation easements on our natural resources administered by organizations unaccountable to tax payers and voters. That means land trusts and conservation groups would be declared unconstitutional. We oppose the Endangered Species Act. We believe that groundwater is an absolute, vested right of the landowner. We oppose passage of any international treaty that overrides United States sovereignty including the Kyoto agreement and Biodiversity Treaty. Another way to understand the link between theocracy and the environment is to look at who dissented on the Supreme Court's ruling. The dissenters were Justices Scalia, Thomas, Alito and Chief Justice Roberts. Scalia wrote an article for an influential journal of religion in public life, First Things, in May, 2002. (Their site is currently under construction) ... 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. Scalia appears hostile to Democracy: The "consensus" [that government is the minister of God] has been upset, I think by the emergence of democracy...It is much more difficult to see the hand of God...behind the fools and rogues...we ourselves elect of our own free will. He sees democracy as obscuring the divine authority: ... the reaction of people of faith to this tendency of democracy to obscure divine authority...should [be] the resolution to combat it as effectively as possible. A book was published in 1988 that sheds light on the ideals of Dominion Theology. Thomas Ice had just walked away from a theology that he had wholeheartedly embraced for twelve years and wrote Dominion Theology: Blessing or Curse? He explains the role of the federal government this way:
The only legitimate functions of the state are: restraining civil evil; punishing evil; protecting the law abiding; and defending the nation. In a theocratic vision the church would assume all social functions of government such as education and welfare. When the theocratic right was setting the agenda for Congress, before the November midterm elections of 2006, understanding this view of government explained a lot of legislation they were passing. I wrote a series of articles for Talk To Action on the role of the federal government in a theocracy. Go to: Dominionism and The Constitution in Exile Movement House Bill Would Eliminate Most Regulatory Functions Of Federal Government Paul Weyrich: The Man Who Framed the Republican Party ALEC: Traditional values discover corporate funding They're at it again! The Texas GOP Declares "America is a Christian nation Are We Becoming The "Reconstructed Kingdom" ? The Invisible Hand of Rousas J. Rushdooney
The Supreme Court and Theocracy | 2 comments (2 topical, 0 hidden)
The Supreme Court and Theocracy | 2 comments (2 topical, 0 hidden)
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