Free Christian Nation by Frederic C. Rich Page B

fits together now.”
    “I haven’t heard of any of them,” Emilie said, with an inflection that signaled boredom and the hope that Sanjay would change the subject. He was oblivious.
    Sanjay continued. “Rushdoony started out as a fairly traditional Calvinist but then promulgated the simple and powerful view that no law made by man can ever have authority or legitimacy. Instead, the civil man-made law must be replaced with, or at least be subordinated to, the law of God as revealed in the Bible. They argue that man cannot create law; man can only embrace or reject God’s law. Under this view, of course, the idea of individual rights is anathema or, as one of them said, ‘an assault on God’s sovereignty.’ Is that not fascinating? Within their frame of reference, it makes perfect sense. If God is supposed to be omnipotent and rule all things, then to speak of men as having rights is nonsense. And of course you will appreciate the other implication.”
    No one answered, but George had the courtesy to say “What?”
    “Democracy, of course. Democracy is rule by the majority, not God, with the minority protected by inviolable individual civil rights. So democracy too is anathema. As Rushdoony himself has said, ‘Christianity and democracy are inevitably enemies.’ ”
    George looked shocked.
    “And here is the most important thing,” Sanjay continued. “This isn’t just a philosophy or political ideology. Rushdoony believed that living in a society ruled solely by God’s law is so important because this in turn is required as a condition for the return of Jesus, for the second coming of Christ. Do you understand? No theocracy, no second coming. Before Rushdoony, most evangelicals were, and I believe still are, what is called ‘pre-millennial,’ believing that when Jesus returns, all born-again Christians will go up to heaven, physically, in the rapture, leaving the unbelievers to endure the tribulation and the apocalypse. But Rushdoony believes in ‘post-millenialism,’ meaning that Jesus will come only after Christians succeed in establishing Christian rule over the earth. This urgent imperative for Christian rule over civil institutions in order that Jesus can come again is at the heart of what they call dominionism. Dominionism simply means that Christians have a God-given right to rule, and that in preparation for the second coming of Christ, Christians have responsibility to take over every aspect of society and to govern solely in accordance with biblical law. The pursuit of secular power, of control over the legislature and the courts, is a theological imperative, and the most important one there is. And all this with its roots in a man you never heard of, R. J. Rushdoony.”
    “Oh for God’s sake,” said Emilie, impatient at the turn of the conversation, “please Sanjay, not all the theology. Although I like his name. Rushdoony. Rhymes with looney. Rushdoony is a loony. Easy to remember.”
    “We also have Rushdoony and his followers to thank for home schooling. It is hard to get a precise number, but some scholars estimate that 10 percent of American children are either homeschooled or taught in fundamentalist Christian private schools. As a percentage of all children, this is significantly higher than the proportion of Pakistani children attending fundamentalist madrassahs. That translates into roughly two million children in homeschool, almost all from evangelical families. And it was largely Rushdoony’s idea—he argued that establishing Christian rule required little more than indoctrinating a couple of generations of children. It is not just about filling them with Christian doctrine and protecting them from immorality; it has the effect of undermining reason and science as a mode of knowing the world. Children are taught that faith and acceptance of the revealed wisdom of God are the highest values and the only legitimate and reliable ways to know the world. With children thus trained,