David Lane Calls for Dominionist Revolution
Frederick Clarkson printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Sat Jun 29, 2013 at 07:55:25 PM EST
The theocratic intentions of Christian Right leaders sometimes surface in unexpected ways.  Most recently David Lane, a top Christian Right political operative and longtime behind-the-scenes "power broker" called for violent dominionist revolution in an essay published (and then taken down) by World Net Daily.

Lane has, among other things, been the national finance director for The Response, the 2011 prayer rally that served as the de facto launch of Texas Gov. Rick Perry's ill-fated run for president, as well as the organizer of the Texas Restoration Project, which had boosted Perry's political career.  He has worked with and for such GOP pols as Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee and Michelle Bachmann, and most recently, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY).  Lane currently leads the American Renewal Project of Don Wildmon's American Family Association which is targeting twelve states for political development towards the 2014 elections.  

Such nuts and bolts electoral work not withstanding, Lane called in his essay for Christians to "Wage war to restore a Christian America."   The depth and ferocity of Lane's vision is so remarkable that it cannot be explained away by the pundits of pooh pooh. Perhaps that is why it has gone unmentioned in the mainstream press. But Lane's words taken together; in the context of the politics of the moment as he understands it; and in set in the series of epochal historical and biblical moments he invokes -- his meaning is unambiguous.  
He opens by quoting Christian Reconstructionist author Peter J. Leithart:

"Throughout Scripture, the only power that can overcome the seemingly invincible omnipotence of a Babel or a Beast is the power of martyrdom, the power of the witness to King Jesus to the point of loss and death."

Lane goes on, still quoting Leithart, to denounce American Christianity for failing to produce martyrs and for substituting a "heretical Americanism for Christian orthodoxy."  He insists that to put things right "Christians must risk martyrdom" to force people to  either "acknowledge Jesus [as] an imperator and the church as God's imperium or to begin drinking holy blood."

Lane expresses frustration with what he regards as the superficial politics of press releases of "inside the Beltway" Christian Rightists. He calls for "champions of Christ to save the nation from the pagan onslaught imposing homosexual marriage, homosexual scouts, 60 million babies done to death by abortion and red ink as far as the eye can see."  The champions for Christ of his vision will "wage war for the Soul of America and trust the living God to deliver the pagan gods into our hands and restore America to her Judeo-Christian heritage and re-establish a Christian culture."

"America's survival is at stake," he declares, "and this is not tall talk or exaggeration."

"If the American experiment with freedom is to end after 237 years," he suggests, "let each of us commit to brawl all the way to the end because," he explains, quoting a famous radio address by Winston Churchill during the darkest days of the war with Nazi Germany: "Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization."

"You ask," Lane continued, "What is our goal?"  To wage war to restore America to our Judeo-Christian heritage with all of our might and strength that God will give us. You ask, "What is our aim?"  One word only: victory, in spite of all intimidation and terror."

Finally, he calls for a contemporary "Gideon" and a "Rahab the Harlot" to rise to the occasion. Gideon is the Biblical figure who as a young man leads an Israelite army against the oppressive Midianites, who worshiped false gods. Rahab is revered for sheltering two Israelite spies in preparation for the sacking of the city of Jericho by Joshua's army, which resulted the massacre of everyone but Rahab and her family.  That Lane is calling for a network of spies to inform an army aimed at destroying an oppressive, "pagan" government, is also unambiguous.

Almost as revelatory as the content of Lane's essay is the lack of a response from the media and the political community.  Even as it was covered a bit in the blogosphere, notably by Denise Oliver Velez, a featured writer at Daily Kos and by Right Wing Watch and The New Civil Rights Movement, its been pretty much crickets everywhere else.

Update [2013-7-1 16:28:40 by Frederick Clarkson]:

Noted blogger Digby has expanded the discussion of David Lane and Rand Paul over at Hullabaloo


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David Lane Calls for Dominionist Revolution | 20 comments (20 topical, 0 hidden)
If our democratic experiment ends (5.00 / 1)
People like David Lane will be responsible for it.

by khughes1963 on Sat Jun 29, 2013 at 09:22:59 PM EST
Lane and democracy (5.00 / 1)
Lane and his ilk may indeed by responsible for upsurges in violence in this nation, but the only ones who will destroy democracy are the passive and angry ones who neither vote nor engage on issues about which they care. The other dimensions of democratic destruction lie with people on the progressive side who call furiously for the deaths of those such as Lane. That, too, is the end of rule by law, of process, of Constituionality. Anger is not remotely justification for mindless screeching exactly the same as the religious right does routinely. We are in charge here. We make the difference. Emphatic loyalty to democracy and its process is NOT passivity or giving in. For those of us who know violence first hand, for those who have seen change made through our efforts, we KNOW what we can do, how we can succeed even in the fact of such evil as Lane spews. Are you willing to devote your life to preserving democracy? Are you willing to lay down your life if need be? Those are the only questions we who value democracy need to ask. What they do is not the issue half so much as what WE do about it.

by Churchlady on Mon Jul 01, 2013 at 06:01:45 PM EST
Parent
Change made? (5.00 / 1)
I'd like to hear of change being made for the better.  So far everything I've seen was going downhill - and the only ones making changes were the dominionists.

The little tidbits of good news (DOMA being unconstitutional for instance) have been generally swallowed up in a constant rain of dominionist victories.

As far as my own efforts... pretty much worthless, although I am driven to keep trying.  All I've got is my words... and they're usually ignored.


by ArchaeoBob on Mon Jul 01, 2013 at 07:54:59 PM EST
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Curious (5.00 / 2)
I would appreciate examples of progressives who are calling for the deaths of dominionists. I know it is tempting sometimes to harbor a hope that some particularly dreadful disease might hasten the departure of a difficult person, but I honestly cannot recall reading of an instance where a progressive voice actually called for the death of an opponent. I presume we are talking about civilian opponents, not military targets, which would be an entirely different conversation. Thanks!

by MLouise on Mon Jul 01, 2013 at 10:15:17 PM EST
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Moderates (5.00 / 3)
It's been my experience that the self-proclaimed moderate Christians have no knowledge that people like Lane exist. Hell, most of them have never heard of William Lane Craig. I think that's how they maintain their "moderate" status, by ignoring the extremists so they can say "there's only a small handful"

by Red Mann on Sat Jun 29, 2013 at 11:43:10 PM EST
I UNDERSTAND THIS NON-KNOWLEDGE (5.00 / 1)
I am not religious in the least, but my wife is. We go to an evangelical church. I explain to her the Christian Right's belief system and she disagrees with it. But, she and many of her congregants know nothing about the Christian Right's theology. They know about the ideological culture war issues--abortion, gay rights--but that is it. They are essentially oblivious to the underlying epistemological arguments that inform the Christian Right's belief system--the pre-suppositionalism of God's law versus Reason and dominionism of the Christian Reconstructionists, plus the Seven Mountains campaign.

by James Estrada Scaminaci on Sun Jun 30, 2013 at 10:41:14 PM EST
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Ignorance (5.00 / 1)
This may be true, but that's where we need you all to start drumming on the media to speak out about it for the seriousness of the acts. It's a minority all right. So what? They have already murdered dozens of people and NOT just abortion providers, the only acts that get into the news. Make a stink - do NOT stand on the sidelines. Write letters, visit news rooms, take a stand. They won't change their reporting until you do. How do you think the religious RIGHT got so much attention? They demanded it!

by Churchlady on Mon Jul 01, 2013 at 06:04:28 PM EST
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Whenever we warn (5.00 / 3)
about the violent tendencies of the dominionists, silence and crickets chirping is a common response from the general public too.  Another response is to deny it and to claim that we're paranoid or making things up.  A third response is to try to make it all political/economic and take it out of the realm of religion (They're just being used!).  I've stopped mentioning the connections on some blogs and servers I'm on, because I keep getting accusations of being a "tin-hatter"... and blogs like this also get that label when I've linked to articles.

Meanwhile the dominionist voices are getting more and more aggressive and threatening.

I am beginning to really understand why the voices of some of the people I remember from a few years ago aren't heard very much any more (such as dogemperor)... because constantly trying to get people to listen and shouting the truth about the dominionists from the rooftops is exhausting and distracting - and meanwhile we have to try to live.  After a while you just want to get away from it because the reality is so frightening... yet if we DON'T keep struggling, the horror we fear will become reality.

When I read your entry, I immediately thought of the other threats made regarding the Supreme Court and DOMA, which I believe I linked to in another thread.  I just hope President Obama and the leadership (the good people) are on their toes and prevents what I fear will happen... an armed and violent insurrection with strikes at the people they think are the "enemies of God".  The rhetoric is there.


by ArchaeoBob on Sun Jun 30, 2013 at 12:11:05 AM EST

DOGEMPEROR VERY MUCH MISSED (5.00 / 1)
I have to say that DogEmperor's posts were most informative and heartfelt. I do wish her writings would return. She apparently never published the book she was working on. She did such great work.

by James Estrada Scaminaci on Sun Jun 30, 2013 at 10:34:57 PM EST
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DogEmperor (5.00 / 1)
She is around. She will be heard.

by Churchlady on Mon Jul 01, 2013 at 06:05:28 PM EST
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Hiding in Plain Sight (5.00 / 1)
I agree with the other commenters.  I know some of these folks, and if they ever get substantial power, some very bad things will happen.

Why don't "regular" Christians see these folks and the craziness and danger they represent?  I can't believe that the majority of Christians in Texas would back Perry if they knew what the man and his buddies really want to do.  It is very worrisome that, apparently, all someone has to do is claim to be a "Christian," and that gives him or her a pass among a large percentage of folks who, if they understood that these folks want a Theocracy a la the Taliban, would oppose them!

by coralsea on Sun Jun 30, 2013 at 02:38:07 PM EST


How many of them are there? (5.00 / 1)
Do we even have an idea? And a larger quiet faction who would support them should they make their move. Violent or not. If those Plutocrats who want power want them to have it too, at least concerning the rest of us who are richer than Croesus ever was, it won't be pleasant. There will be many purgings of society of the likes of us who stand out too far from their norm. How organized are they all? Funding and infiltration not only in all areas of or our society but other churches as well. We are in real trouble. Not since 1961 and 1934 has the Republic been in such danger.

by Nightgaunt on Sun Jun 30, 2013 at 09:49:50 PM EST
How many of them are there? (5.00 / 1)

My guess is that Christian Nationalists number in the tens of millions.

Dominionists, members of the New Apostolic Reformation, number in the millions - most of them youth. This video should give a hint:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDMQV04j610&feature=related

There were approximately 60,000 plus at the LP stadium in Nashville Tennessee at an event called "The Call" in 2007.

and the same event at night: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEC4A20979Q

My guess is that that amounts roughly to 1% of the population within a 2 hour drive.

Reconstructionists I'd guess number in the hundreds of thousands.



by Villabolo on Sun Jun 30, 2013 at 11:30:17 PM EST
Parent

I've talked with a friend (5.00 / 1)
some time ago about this very issue, and the estimate was between ~11% to ~30% of the American public.

It's hard to pin down, because so many of them have become cautious about surveys, plus so many of them have been taught (when we were talking about it) to give deceptive answers.  The high was a rough estimate based on the numbers of Southern Baptists, "independent" fundamentalist Baptists, and neopentecostals.  The rough estimate (by my friend) at the high end took into account that many of the dominionist churches really inflate their numbers, and at the same time many churches go unreported.  The real numbers may be higher now, and she suggested that the original high estimate of 30% might be low, because so many mainstream churches have been steeplejacked.

It's not a small number... and in this area, they dominate (well over half of the population).  I can't go anywhere (even outside of our house) without encountering some form of dominionist proselytizing or propaganda (neighbors have signs in their yards advocating dominionist causes).  In some counties in the panhandle, it might approach 90%.


by ArchaeoBob on Mon Jul 01, 2013 at 12:05:05 AM EST
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If you don't mind my asking (5.00 / 1)
what kind of slogans do your neighbors set up? Is it - I'm assuming the Florida panhandle - a rural area?

by Villabolo on Mon Jul 01, 2013 at 09:26:51 AM EST
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Central Florida - which is bad enough (5.00 / 1)
Some of the slogans are - America is a Christian Nation, Take back America for Jesus, things like that.

During the winter, "Jesus is the Reason for the Season!" has also been put up.

The sign up now is supposed to be connected to one of those "militia" groups (showing that the person there is either a supporter or a member), and it's along the lines of taking back America for Jesus.  

We've also been treated to anti-liberal sermons, anti-evolution rants, and so on from them, until they learned I'd taught evolution (which triggered a long and very loud rant)... since then they haven't bothered us much - and I'm glad for the lack of rants and sermons.

About three houses up, there are more signs in a couple of yards.  One person keeps his "Jesus is the Reason for the Season!" sign up year-round.  Others come and go.  I've stopped by there a couple of times in the past when he was having a yard sale... got treated to some proselytizing.


by ArchaeoBob on Mon Jul 01, 2013 at 11:25:13 AM EST
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They're worse than (5.00 / 1)
Jehovah's Witnesses and I live in a neighborhood filled with them.

by Villabolo on Mon Jul 01, 2013 at 02:38:34 PM EST
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Correction (5.00 / 1)
That first date should be 1861.

by Nightgaunt on Sun Jun 30, 2013 at 09:50:37 PM EST

Christian Reconstructionist, NAR or both? (none / 0)
Fred or anyone else... would you say that David Lane is more Christian Reconstructionist, New Apostolic Reformation charismatic, or a blend of the two? This article sounds more CR but there are some NAR buzzterms like "men of Issachar" which are kind of disturbing. And of course the Response was a mostly NAR initiative.

Why I'm interested in the distinction:

Most if not all CRs believe that martyrs die physically.  Christ's return isn't until AFTER the 1000 year reign of the church.  They are avowed post-millennialists.  They believe Christ CAN'T come back until Christians "get a clue" and finally take dominion over the earth.

Many NAR leaders believe that at the right time (which is about now) martyrs will be immediately immortalized here on earth... they will rise up to form an immortal Joel's Army who will rule and reign as the corporate Christ.

Or does this guy even have a clue?

BTW, my former group was a mixture of CR and NAR/LR theology (which on a theoretical level contradict one another because one is self-admittedly Calvinist and the other is indirectly descended from radical Pietism).  They believed in martyrdom. But they also believed in eventually becoming so God-empowered on earth that they would become immortal.  You have nothing to lose if you think you will never die, and I mean that in a physical sense not just spiritual or existential.

by ulyankee on Thu Jul 04, 2013 at 10:24:48 AM EST

Cross pollination? (none / 0)

From the research I've done Reconstructionists tend to think that the New Apostolic Reformation is irresponsible because they could provoke a bloodbath. They base this conclusion from the fact that the NAR wants "dominion" as soon as possible which is likely to provoke social unrest. Reconstructionists have a long view of things and tend think in terms of generations for their infiltration.

Also, some of the terms and memes that the NAR uses are seeping into the Christian Nationalist movement. An example would be David Barton who is a Reconstructionist but has used the "Seven Mountains" phrase.

I would say that David Lane sounds like a Christian Nationalist with his own idiosyncratic views or an impatient Reconstructionist.



by Villabolo on Thu Jul 04, 2013 at 01:02:42 PM EST
Parent


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