Religion & Ethics: Content from Across the ABC




Date/Time 14 Jul 2014 11:52:52am
Doug of Reality,

Please tell me how dominionism and reconstructionism differ for I see them as synonyms. I have had the misfortune to attend a Summit Ministries seminar – and to paraphrase Voltaire, I will defend their right to promote their ideas but oppose those ideas with every fibre of my body.

Stevenson might acknowledge religious liberty but only accepts the milder religious versions. Using the same tactics that were used to silence Australian communists in the fifties and sixties, Stevenson labels Christian reconstructionist, dominionist or advocates of sharia law as “being the enemy within”. If they are up front about their aims, so be it! From the evidence in presented, Stevenson wants to label Jim Wallace and the ACL with the same extremist tag.

Why people engage in politics? They believe a certain action would benefit the entire community. The ACL believes that Australia would be a better place if we did not have same sex marriages or legal abortions. Yes, they are a private organisation. So they are using alliances to build what they see as a favourable consensus on the issues. That is what political groups have being doing since Noah played in the forward pocket for Jerusalem. Given the flood, thank God he did not play for the Dockers!

Don’t get me wrong. My Christian faith makes me a passionate advocate for same sex marriage and legal abortions. Being off topic, my reasons will remain unstated. Further, I believe that the only valid form of theocracy is a secular government. Secularism originates within Christianity and in particular amongst the Baptists. Baptist rejected the imposition of the state church and the isolationism of the Anabaptists. When Roger William (1603- 1683) was excommunicated from Boston he founded the first secular civil government. It was secular because it had no religious test to hold office. Providence, Rhode Island still has America’s oldest Baptist Church and Jewish Synagogue. He was not about excluding religion from public debates. He wanted to protect the garden of the Church from the wildness of the state.