Aug. 30, 2006
Dominionism Out of Control
Posted in Life, the Universe, and Everything
From this mornings Deseret News:
The controversial Westboro Baptist Church of Kansas said in a press release Tuesday that it will picket at the funeral today of recently fallen Marine Cpl. Adam Galvez.
The fundamentalist church, based in Topeka, was sued recently in Maryland for interrupting the private funeral for a soldier there.
A handful of church members have been known to turn up at military funerals, holding up signs that attribute military deaths in Iraq to God's punishment on America for its tolerance of homosexuals.
In its news release, the church says, "Thank God for IEDs (improvised explosive devices)," and says that Adam Galvez "died in shame." The church further says that God has become America's terrorist and has "irreversibly" cursed America.
Adam Galvez was killed Aug. 20 in Iraq when a roadside bomb exploded under a vehicle in which he was riding, killing him and two others.
This kind of idoicy is one of the reasons that theocratic dominionism is a very bad thing. Even if you assume that there is a God, and that homosexuality is against His will, there is nothing that I've found anywhere in Christian scripture, doctrine or dogma that justifies this. Some of these self-defining "Christian" sects feed on brewing hatred and conflict rather than following the teachings of Jesus to "love your neighbor as yourself." Shades of Cotton Mather and the Salem Witch Trials or Joe McCarthy and the "Red Scare" of the '50's.
Comments
Aug. 31, 2006 - While I agree
Posted by Anonymous
with you that dominionism is a very bad thing, don't these Christians quote scripture to justify their actions? After all, the Klan burned crosses. Where to draw that line where one use of scripture-based rules is OK and the other is not?
And, fwiw, I think these nuts have the right to picket these funerals even as I think they are wrong and offensive.
Nance
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Sep. 1, 2006 - Hi, Tad-
Posted by AmoScribo
I commented down below at the categories for reality post.
Thanks for the thought exercise.
Allison
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Sep. 5, 2006 - About this issue:
Posted by AmoScribo
There will always be self-righteous sinners reading the Bible and getting it wrong. It doesn't negate the truth of the Gospel.
Allison
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Sep. 7, 2006 - So theocratic dominionism
Posted by Anonymous
is OK as long as we read the "truth" the right way?
I hope that's not what you are suggesting.
Your "truth" may serve you well. I don't want it managing my life.
Nance
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Sep. 9, 2006 - dominionism
Posted by beepbeepitsme
Dominionism, The Other Autocratic Regime
http://beepbeepitsme.blogspot.com/2006/09/dominionism-other-autocratic-regime.html
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Sep. 13, 2006 - More for your theocracy thread
Posted by Anonymous
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/12/AR2006091201594_pf.html
Nance
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Oct. 5, 2006 - One last thought, but this thread is so old no one will ever read it
Posted by twimmer
Through out history, men have attempted to understand and move closer to what they understand as God. Some, like Nance, reject the idea that there is such a being, while others agree to disagree as to exactly what kind of being He might be. My favorite passage of scripture is Matthew 7, which to me sums up the whole question. Nowhere in any of the scriptures I've read, or in any of the apocrypha, does the Savior, or any other authority, suggest forced conversion. Our first responsibility is to perfect ourselves. I suggest that this will take so much time that there won't be any left over for "perfecting" anyone else. (Assuming that we can define what a "perfect" human being is!)
When someone uses the name of diety to force their views on others, they are, in my view, breaking the second commandment; they are using the Lord's name in vain. They are certainly not doing the Lord's work. "Let your yes be yes, and your no be no."
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