Power and the "Faithful"

Streak's Blog has a good post today drawing attention to the rise to power of the dominionists and some of the flexing of their newly developed muscles. I am not a historian by training or expertise, but I very much enjoy reading history and getting a reputable historian's perspective on events. I think a great program would be the combination of history with future studies, sort of an applied history program. There's probably one out there somewhere, and I'd love to know about it if there is. Anyway, history gives us great lessons. The current trends we are seeing are by no means unique in many of their activities. The war on judges brings to mind FDR and the "nine old men".

Most of us want power, and if we get it we want more. This is about power. The dominionists are getting a good taste of it, and like most who get it they are behaving badly with it. No theocracies that I know of in my admittedly limited exposure to history have behaved well. It is cliche but true: Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Power coupled with religious fervor is somehow uniquely devastating. Barbarians and infidels can wreak havoc for havoc's sake and seek power for power's sake. Those who crave power but at the same time have a constituency based on religious adherence must find ways to make their pursuit of power appear to be motivated by their desire for religious ideals. If their motivation is inwardly contrary to the principles of their religious tenets then they must be savvy enough to make sure their actions reflect enough religiosity to appeal to their supporters. Good theology is replace by issue politics. The ten commandments that have become the sacred relic of the dominionist is surrounded by prophetic writings calling for repentance from using power to crush the poor and powerless. (An excellent text on this is James Limburg's The Prophets and the Powerless). Eventually religious movements based on strict orthodoxy turn on themselves (some animals are more equal than others) as even those who initially helped the movement are seen as not orthodox enough (this is actually a way to put more POWER in fewer hands). Unfortunately, by the time they implode, they have left incredible damage in their wake. The call to be a servant to all and the example of that type of service are never talked about.

We should be active in trying to limit the political power of religious zealots of ANY stripe. (See Charles Kimball's When Religion Becomes Evil: Five Warning Signs.)The key to the picture, in my opinion, is POWER. We cannot be surprised by any of their actions. Anything we see, no matter the language in which it is couched, is motivated by a desire for power. Our hope is to reduce their tenure to as short a period as possible without losing our own souls in the process.


".... there ain't no cure, just a slow turnin' from the inside out." - John Hiatt