Stick to what you know, McLeroy.

I know what you mean. I have spent much of the past 20 years of my life studying good academic literature on the religious right and what I would now call Christian Neo-Fundamentalism in this country. I say that because the old 19th century Christian fundamentalism that was espoused by famous academic figures such as J. Gresham Machen at Princeton University was in many ways the Orthodox American Christianity of that time. It was supported and defended at that time by real academics with a good education. Many people across this country still think that that form of Christian fundamentalism is exactly the same type of fundamentalism that we have today and that it developed solely from old seeds planted ages ago in the American South. That is just plain not true. While the religion of the south has always leaned in a conservative direction, it really has a separate church history from that of the rest of the nation. The old, traditional, 19th century Christian fundamentalism, as a movement body, actually developed among fairly well educated people up north and settled in its early yaers in areas surrounding the Great Lakes states—and spread out from there.

This Christian Neo-Fundamentalism that we have today has developed here in the United States just over the past 40 years or so. While it might have taken some ideological cues such as Biblical inerrantism from the traditional 19th century Christian fundamentalists, this new and highly mutated form is a very different animal. The many factors that have influenced its development are bizarre and frightening. You mentioned the new Dominion Theology and Christian Reconstructionism. I would bet my last dime that no more than one person in every 100 people that sit in the pews at a Christian fundamentalist church know what these terms mean, and chances are high that this one person is in a leadership position in the church—which leaves the members of the congregation in total darkness about the evil and frankly quite nonChristian forces that are subliminally shaping their beliefs and values. Because of what I know after 20 years of study, I am firmly convinced that Satan has taken control of these people and their churches without them having a single clue about it—which is the way the force of evil in this world has always operated. They just sit there in the pews like “dumb bunnies,” taking in all of the clap-trap and making it part of their lives—never knowing what it is and where it came from originally. And it has just enough half scripture thrown in with it to make the lying and evil other half look good. Their attitude is like this: “Well, Pastor Farkus did go to seminary for a lot of years. He seems to be such a good and kind man of the Lord. Surely, anything that he urges us to believe or do must be the right thing. Right?” My mother was like that, God rest her kind and departed soul. If a stranger just used the name “Jesus” a couple of times in the process, she could have been persuaded that a page torn from an astrology book was gospel truth.

Frankly, while I still fight it whenever possible (like here), I do not hold out much hope for the reign of good sense and real Christian faith in this country (the real, kind, and loving red-letter faith in Jesus). The people in these churches have been sucked into the lies and distortions so deeply over the past 40 years that I am beginning to believe that there is little chance of them waking up and little chance for the future of our country. Out before us, I see our own version of 1861 headed our way—just like Skynet in the “Terminator” movies. I believe that this viral Christian-Neo-Fundamentalism may very well be leading us into a second American Civil War. I am talking about a shooting war with real bloodshed where deceived and fanatical Christian Neo-Fundamentalists on one side are pitted against opposing factions of mainline Christians and nonbelievers. It would be easy to think that such a conflagration could never occur here. The problem is that it already did 144 years ago, and what happened once can happen again. This little “evolution weaknesses” war in Texas is just a mild symptom of a much larger and more dangerous problem that is developing here in the United States. It has been said, and I think well so, “If fascism ever takes over in the United States, it will come draped in an American flag and carrying a cross.” We should all pray to Jesus that we will have enough good sense to step back from the abyss and never allow this happen. I hope religious conservatives at places like the Dallas Theological Seminary are listening and considering what might happen if these so-called Culture War fights continue? Is reaching for, attaining, and holding on to personal position, power, and glory within a church hierarchy really that important in the face of such potential tragedies. Where are the red-letter Christians these days and the simple, loving pastors of old who could spend a lifetime doing nothing else but caring for a small flock of parisioners and helping their fellowman—all at low pay? Where have all these pastors gone? Were they lured away by the wealth, power, and flashy lights of the Broadway religious show down at the megachurch. Who knows?

Just for those who do not know about it and think that I might be nuts, here are three articles on Dominion Theology and Christian Reconstructionism, which is already influencing churches, pastors, and parachurch organizations around our country—-without church members knowing it.

http://www.gotquestions.org/dominion-theology.html

http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v08n1/chrisre1.html

http://www.conservapedia.com/Christian_Reconstructionism