|
Note: This essay first appeared in the
February 2007 Baptist Studies Bulletin.
For
years the Religious Right has warned Christians of the dangers of
liberalism and “secular humanism” in American society. Now some
on the Religious Right want your children to march off to war to save
America by turning the nation into a theocracy.
To Christian
theocrats (also known as Reconstructionists or Dominionists), democracy is an
enemy. Betty Fischer, director of Kids in Ministry International and founder
and director of Kids on Fire summer camp in North Dakota, declared in the
recently-released
Jesus Camp documentary that democracy is a
problem because it "treats everyone as equals.” Therein is the fundamental
reason why Christian theocrats are striving to turn America into a theocracy:
the belief that (certain) Christians should receive preferential treatment
in America and control the system of laws. This is the only way to
vanquish pluralism and “secular humanism.”
Who exactly are
these Christians that would replace democracy with theocracy? The ideological
founders and leaders of the movement include(d)
Rousas
J. Rushdooney,
Francis A. Schaeffer and
Gary
DeMar.
American Vision, led by Demar, is a leading
Christian theocratic organization. Demar and other theocrats use terminology
such as “Biblical Worldview” or “Christian Worldview” to express their goals
of turning America into a theocracy. This spring,
the Southern Baptist Convention's LifeWay is hosting a Gary Demar
"Worldview Super Conference" entitled "Training
the Next Generation to Capture the Future."
Alarmingly, the
theocrats are increasingly recruiting children to fight their war against
democracy. In the Jesus Camp documentary, the children at the Kids on
Fire summer camp are forced to smash ceramic cups with hammers to represent
their commitment to destroying America’s democratic legal system in order to
replace it with theocratic laws. Repeatedly called the chosen generation, the
children are told they will take over America for God. And in Georgia, the
Georgia Home Education Association (GHEA) is
featuring Gary Demar at their upcoming 2007 annual conference as they train
the children to be “little patriots.”
Christian
schooling and homeschooling are vital tools for Christian theocrats. Demar’s
American Vision offers an
extensive line of homeschool resouces that are very
popular in the Christian homeschool movement and Christian schools, including
the
Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), a
leading national homeschool, and blatantly theocratic, organization that
proclaims “now
it’s time for homeschooled children to take back America”
for God. The militantly-minded HSLDA aligned with Marilyn Musgrove (R-CO),
sponsor of the Federal Marriage Amendment, to sponsor legislation (H.R. 3753 /
S 1691) that would direct the Department of Defense to obtain homeschool
records of children for the purpose of “recruitment
and enlistment”
into the armed forces. In addition, the
Homeschool division
of the Southern Baptist Convention's Lifeway is affiliated with HSLDA.
Michael P.
Farris, the founder of HSLDA whose books are sold by LifeWay, wants control of Christian children from
elementary school through the teenage years and beyond. He is also the
founder of
Patrick Henry College, a Christian college for
homeschoolers located near Washington D.C. and devoted to promoting a
theocratic agenda by transforming the U.S. government to “adhere
to principles of biblical morality.” The HSLDA, in
addition, is the founder of
Joshua Generation Ministries,
a theocratic organization which recruits young people aged 11 to 19 to “become
a force in the civic and political arenas” and banish pluralism and secular
humanism from America: “We believe His promise that one of us can put a
thousand to flight and two can put ten thousands to flight.”
Joshua
Generation Ministries is now forming local chapters referred to as “GenJ”
clubs. Earlier this month churches in Morgan County, Georgia, received
promotional materials for “BLT (Building Leaders for Tomorrow) the GenJ Club
of Morgan County.” The theocratic agenda is not even disguised in these
materials. Holding up Puritan leader John Winthrop as a role model and hero,
the literature proudly proclaims, “Generation Joshua wants America to be a
perpetual city on a hill …. Generation Joshua trains the newest generation of
young people to be effective leaders today in order to change government
policies tomorrow ... to give young people a vision for taking America back to
its Judeo-Christian foundations.”
In short,
some prominent leaders and organizations spearheading the Christian homeschool
movement want to turn our children into God’s warriors. As the flyer for
Joshua Generation reveals, they are not content to recruit homeschooled
children only. They want to draft the youth in our churches to fight in the
army of their God. We must educate ourselves and be diligent in protecting
our children and youth from the hungry grasp of today’s Christian theocrats. |
