Mother Jones, Dec/Jan, 2006: A Nation Under God

The December/January 2006 Issue of Mother Jones magazine features the cover story, “A Nation Under God,” by John Sugg. The lead-in line reads: “Let others worry about the rapture: For the increasingly powerful Christian Reconstruction movement, the task is to establish the Kingdom of God right now—from the courthouse to the White House.”

Selected excerpts:

Christian Reconstruction — an obscure but increasingly potent theology whose top exponents hold that Christian crusaders must conquer and convert the world, by the sword if necessary, before Jesus will return.

Reconstruction is the spark plug behind much of the battle over religion in politics today. The movement’s founder, theologian Rousas John Rushdoony, claimed 20 million followers—a number that includes many who embrace the Reconstruction tenets without having joined any organization. Card-carrying Reconstructionists are few, but their influence is magnified by their leadership in Christian right crusades, from abortion to homeschooling.

Besides facilitating evangelism, Reconstructionists believe, government should largely be limited to building and maintaining roads, enforcing land-use contracts, and ensuring just weights and measures. Unions would not exist, and neither would unemployment benefits, Social Security, and environmental protection laws. Public schools would disappear; one of the movement’s great successes has been promoting homeschooling programs and publishing texts used by tens of thousands of homeschooling families. And, perhaps most importantly, the state is “God’s minister,” as DeMar puts it in Liberty at Risk, “taking vengeance out on those who do evil.” A major task for the government key Reconstructionists envision is fielding armies for conquest in the name of Jesus.

In this worldview, the mandate for Christians is not just to live right or to help their neighbors: They are called upon to take over or eliminate the institutions of secular government. This is what sets Reconstruction apart from the conventional Christian right and gives it a key advantage in organizing.

Interesting reading for anyone seeking to understand what’s happening in America today.

Writer John Sugg is senior editor for a group of alternative newsweeklies and has written and edited for the Miami Herald, Atlanta Constitution, Palm Beach Post, and American Lawyer.

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