What Would Christian Reconstructionism In America Look Like?

Rep. Bobby Franklin (R-GA)

What would Christian Reconstructionism in America look like? For starters, meet state representative Bobby Franklin from the 43rd District of Georgia [Cobb County]. Franklin advocates that the Tea Party should push for making all taxes illegal, and other federal powers he claims are unconstitutional, instead of pushing for mere tax cuts. Franklin would abolish driver’s licenses, public schools, income taxes and mandatory vaccinations. Franklin has proposed legislation to make gold and silver the only legal tender. Franklin wrote a bill calling rape victims “accusers."  Franklin also introduced a bill that would require a woman to provide evidence that their miscarriage occurred naturally or face felony charges.


Back in February 2011, in the Marietta Daily Journal , Franklin made several " off the cuff" comments.

"Cobb County, in its Soviet style central planning, has deemed that you have to have two acres just to have a chicken."

Franklin has been on record saying allowing gays in the military is no different than allowing convicted drug dealers to enter.  Franklin adds:

"We've really adopted all 10 planks of the Communist Manifesto in one form or another in this country."

Rep. Franklin's " Life, Liberty and Property Restoration Act," in which four spheres of government; self-government, family government, church government, and civil government would create a six-person legal repeals panel to undo the incursion of civil government on the other three. What's odd is the requirements Franklin mandates to sit on such a panel. "None of the members shall have graduated from a law school accredited by the American Bar Association or have ever been admitted to the practice of law in any state." [Source: Talkingpointsmemo.com)

Christian Reconstruction in Their Own Words.

Rousa Rushdoony

Rousas Rushdoony has been coined the father of the Christian Reconstruction movement in America. Many credit him with the home schooling movement as well. It was Rushdoony's prolific writing,  Institutes of Biblical Law, that spawned much of what has become known as the Christian right.  This movement advocates that segments of society be reclaimed from the humanist and reconstructed on the basis of biblical law. 

Reconstructionists claim that the unfettered free markets are biblically mandated.

What this is really saying, is that GOD is the force behind capitalism and government intervention is putting faith in man as opposed to GOD. 

    

The Reconstructionists have over the years aligned themselves with radical groups like the John Birch Society. [JBS] In 2006, the Chalcedon foundation published an article celebrating the JBS. The JBS chairman of that time,  John McManus, was interviewed.

John McManus

"For forty-eight years a single organization has led the way in preserving America's national sovereignty while helping to fortify the moral blockade on our failing culture... '' 

Here is what the constitutional conservatives, theocratic libertarians and tea party movement people look and sound like. 

The Institute on the Constitution is an organization offering classes on teaching a Christian nationalist view of the Constitution around the country. This organization featured the above video speaker, Rev. Joseph Morecraft, where he spoke on the topic God and Politics. This so-called, self-proclaimed speaker of GOD himself advocates Godless conservatism has failed. Morecraft goes on by saying that the time has come for Christians to start acting like Christians, and to proclaim Christ Lordship over politics, too. These type proclamations and foundations from the likes of Rep. Franklin and the good pastor Rev. Morecraft are the building blocks, for lack of term, that has manifested the emergence of the “theocratic libertarian." This overall narrative has been marketed by the Reconstructionists and their Dominion Theology. Throw in the Ron Paul school of Austrian economics and spread these narratives through the deep-pockets of the Koch Bros media echo chambers, and you muster in the anti-government crowd and lo-and behold, you have a mess on your hands.[In this writers view] 

Dominion Theology And Why It Is Dangerous.

This worldview advocates abolition of much, if not all of the federal government, regulatory structures, social safety nets, and unions.

It is the adherence to biblical law that becomes the method of control over society once government is decreased, very much like the Taliban has imposed in Afghanistan, and Islam has in Iran for example. It has become apparent that these factions in America have been emboldened and seem to wish for the circumstances in our country to be so bad that people will start buying into their doctrine. Christian Reconstructionists seem to pray for the demise of government so they can prescribe their medicine upon “We the People," no matter how bad that medicine taste. A primary target of the Reconstructionists, the John Birch Society, the Tea Party and the Ron Paul's of the world, is unions. 

Gary North, one of Ron Paul's right-hand men, back in 1978 in a Biblical Economics Today article titled A Christian View of Labor Unions all but called on a holy war against unions.

 Folks, this is the guy heading up Ron Paul's new home-school project that this writer reported on back last year in a LiberalAmerica.org  article titled, Ron Paul: Homeschooling With A Radical Approach. 

Gary North comments:

The unions are as good as busted. It's PATCO all over again. Other governors are already on board the union-busting train. Walker set the pattern....The return of the rank and file of union members to the Democrat Party, if it happens, will be mostly geezers with walkers. When you think `union' think `walker.'

The PATCO reference refers to Ronald Reagan's firing of striking members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization in 1981. 

Funny how the GOD of the right-wing movement played dictator in this situation ,when the using of executive order suits his fancy. How ironic. Just like with the recent fiasco in Nevada with rancher Cliven Bundy, it was an executive order by then President Ronald Reagan that created the land use fees and not the tyrannical U.S. government. This double standard has long been the order of the day with these Christian zealots.

 Fast forwarding to the present political atmosphere, Ron Paul and his protege son, Republican senator from Kentucky, Rand Paul have had a long term association with the Christian Reconstructionists.  Rand Paul Was The Featured Speaker At the Theocratic Constitution Party 2009 Rally. The Tea Party crowd have long described themselves as supporters of the libertarian viewpoints promoted by Ron Paul. However, Ron Paul is not a classical libertarian. Paul is from the right libertarian perspective. Ron Paul likes to parade himself as a Christian Libertarian or Theocratic Libertarian, a worldview more closely associated with the aforementioned Rousas Rushdoony and Reconstructionism.  In closing, what has to be fully understood is the agenda that the Reconstructionists, Tea Party and Ron Paul type Libertarians are advocating. This Christian nationalism dynamic must be recognized for what it truly is and that it's much more than a movement driven by economics and tax reduction. In essence, they want to reconfigure the constitution to their personal whim for their own collective personal gain. The "wolf in sheep's clothing,' comes to this writers mind. But all one has to do is follow their comments to get a real understanding of what their goal would be. To circumvent the constitution's basic tenets; the separation of church and state, doctrines that allow all of us the freedom to choose our faith or lack of, and more importantly to keep it from our public places like schools, governmental buildings, and the courthouse just to name a few. 

Gary North wrote in Dominion Strategies in 1986:

Gary North

"What they are saying in their fund-raising letters is clear, and has been since 1980: `American fundamental Christianity is at last out of the pews and into the streets (Washington for Jesus), and the humanists are going to see their friendly little monopoly over America blown to kingdom-come.' Whether kingdom-come is officially premillennial or officially postmillennial isn't particularly relevant at this point. I assume that an activist, `let's get involved' Christian leader has become an operational postmillennialist and an operational Christian Reconstructionist until he writes a detailed book or produces a detailed tape series spelling out exactly why and in what ways he is not in deed (though not in word) on most specific issues, a Christian reconstructionist and a postmillennialist. Deeds are what counts. Motivational speeches are what count. The intricate details and particular qualifications of a man's personally held (and rarely spoken) eschatology are not what count."

Rev. Joseph Morecraft

I believe the children in the Christian schools of America are the Army that is going to take the future. Right now. . .the Christian Reconstruction movement is made up of a few preachers, teachers, writers, scholars, publishing houses, editors of magazines, and it's growing quickly. But I expect a massive acceleration of this movement in about 25 or 30 years, when those kids that are now in Christian schools have graduated and taken their places in American society, and moved into places of influence and power.'"

Written By: Johnny Hill

Is America Really A Christian Nation?

God Bless  America, One Nation Under God, slogans from my childhood growing up in rural Bible belt North Carolina. They were as common as hello, good morning. Fast forwarding, to this present day I find myself asking the question, Is America Really A Christian Nation? There was a time in America, when the Christian faith had a major influence in everyday America life. Most everybody claimed they were Christians. In 1972, 64% of all Americans identified themselves as Protestant. While 93% of Americans claim affiliation with some form of religion. Nowadays, those type numbers have changed drastically.

The rate of Americans today who claim no religious affiliation whatsoever is growing at rapid rates. 

In a 2012, Pew Research Poll, In the last five years alone, the unaffiliated have increased from just over 15% to just under 20% of all U.S. adults. Their ranks now include more than 13 million self-described atheists and agnostics. Nearly 6% of the U.S. public, as well as nearly 33 million people who say they have no particular religious affiliation (14%).

The facts bear out the reality that a religion is no longer something that people have on their mind. Evidence shows that the younger you are, the less likely you will identify with a religious organization.

88 percent of those that are religiously unaffiliated “are not looking for religion”.

Many studies and surveys have found that religiously unaffiliated people tend to support gay marriage and legalized abortions. The data reveals that some 24% of the religiously unaffiliated are registered Democrats or lean Democratic. One of the most shocking, revelations to this writer, is the fact that Protestants are no longer the majority in America. At one time, in the past, Protestants made up 64% of the American population. Another trend is that more and more people do not go to church services on Sunday. Why? 

51 percent of all U.S. adults believe that churches and other religious organizations “are too concerned with money and power”.

What these number reveal is that religion has lost its influence on a vast majority of the present day Americans. Moreover, with the ever-increasing political factions trying to invoke religion into the everyday business of government.  And, claiming that America is a " Christian Nation," founded on " Christian Principles," one needs to revisit the founding fathers waywardness of this very notion.

    

Despite the aforementioned data. Despite the factual historical  record of statements from our founding fathers, despite the Bill of Rights and the constitutional doctrine of  "church and state." We have today factions in our country who still make a claim and have a desire to make America a Christian nation. The Tea Party and the Libertarians backed by their deep-pocketed media echo-chambers would have us go back to a time that the American people have progressed from or woke up from that was never intended in the first place. These factions are quick to throw Jesus, God and Israel into their political jargon. They do all this under the guise of what they call physical conservatism. But, when you examine the motives of these groups its the religious mantra that they seem to rely on to garner support for their cause. Which we have seen played out since 2010. Tax breaks for the rich, off the backs of the middle-class and poor. Deregulation and the doing away of unions and workers rights. Regressing Civil rights and Voting rights with regressive voter suppression measures. We have seen these factions cut money for public education, and social safety net programs. All in the name of GOD, the Tea Party is nothing more than a rewrite of the old Jerry Falwell crowd who have lost their luster. And now don't know what to do with themselves but cause polarization not only in our country, but; in the Republican party as well. What is evident is that the long-held battle cry of social conservatism is their compelling driving force. Anti-gay, Anti-same-sex-marriage, anti-minorities, anti-woman, anti-workers rights, anti-minimum wage increase, and lastly anti-government. They have been the impudence for the Republican party being labeled the "party of no."

The Tea Party Movement Has Been Co-Oped By Big Money Donors.

So, while the Republican party and it's factions of Libertarian's and Tea Party members claim they are physical conservatives the gong they bang the loudest come from the social issues. As the mid-terms near and posturing for the 2016 presidential race starts to format itself, its the age-old social issues that have these potential candidates posturing for support and money. And, what better way than ring the tried and true church bells of religion.

In closing, I wonder what Jesus answer to the question would be, Is America a Christian nation?