Think Progress has been such a great source of journal ideas. California state senator Mimi Walters is running for congress. She’s a Republican. And while she SAYS she’s a supporter of small government one of her largest donors, Howard Ahmanson, has distributed large donations to groups and candidates promoting a “Christian Worldview.” And he’s set things up so that a private company that can spread the money around without having to disclose them publicly. Don’t you just love how so many donors at the far end of both spectrums don’t want anybody to know who they’re giving their money to.
Which brings us to Rousas John Rushdoony, the godfather of those who want to bring US laws into compliance with the Bible. In particular Leviticus. He had a list of about twenty transgressions that would earn you the death penalty, preferably by stoning. These included but weren’t limited to gays, adulterers, juvenile delinquents, non Christians, those who abandoned Christianity and well, you get the picture. He considered Democracy to be a heresy, but advocated using democratic means to gain power in what would probably be the last free election in the history of the country.
The good reverend is a classic example of first generation immigrants like Rick Santorum and Justice Scalia. His family immigrated to the US in 1915 to escape the persecution of Armenians by the Ottoman government. He was born in 1916 here in the good ol US of A. The family eventually settled in California. I just love how first generation immigrants have been welcomed to this country and then turn around and tell the rest of us how we got it all wrong. If the blighter was still alive I’d invite him to go back to his native land and try his theocratic ideals out on the Armenians and leave the rest of us in peace. I suspect the Armenians would probably try and send him back. And I'd also remind him that we tried that theocratic schtick in the seventeenth century in the colony of Massachusetts. It' didn't work then, either.
And this is a link to an article from Reason magazine’s archives. It was originally printed back in the mid nineties. Apparently quite a few original supporters backed off as they realized the full implications of these beliefs. It’s titled Invitation to a Stoning. Catch the quote from Gary North at the end. About how he and his fellows would use our traditions of religious freedom and liberty to take power. And keep it. And the fundies wonder why the rest of us are running in the opposite direction.
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