In the view of Christian dominionists, they own this country. Jesus himself gave it to them to rule, and they are, more than ever, bent on making that a reality (Washington Post):
It is a world in which demons are real, miracles are real, and the ultimate mission is not just transforming individual lives but also turning civilization itself into their version of God’s Kingdom: one with two genders, no abortion, a free-market economy, Bible-based education, church-based social programs and laws such as the ones curtailing LGBTQ rights now moving through statehouses around the country.
Smashing antiquities comes later.
The Post sketch of the growing nondenominational movement describes loud, highly produced services (requiring ear plugs) at a Fort Worth, Texas church named Mercy Culture. Donald Trump adviser Paula White comes from such a place. Predictions of a “heavenly strike” and “a Christian populist uprising” from the movement led some to believe they’d been led by God to assault the Capitol on Jan. 6th.
The Daily Beast described the court appearance of one such believer:
Pauline Bauer, a Pennsylvania pizzeria owner, is accused of multiple counts of violent entry, disruptive conduct, and obstruction of Congress after she allegedly broke into the Capitol on Jan. 6. Prosecutors allege that Bauer tried organizing buses to transport people to D.C. for a rally that preceded the riot, and that while in the Capitol rotunda she told police that she wanted to kill House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
But in what experts describe as an inadvisable legal strategy, Bauer has demanded to represent herself in court, appeared to threaten a court clerk with prison time, and declared herself a “self-governed individual” with special legal privileges.
“I am here by special divine appearance, a living soul,” she told a judge. She wants to represent herself.
She don’t need no stinking constitution. She has a Bible and she knows how to use it.
Is Bauer a dominionist or just another sovereign citizen? Who knows?
We’ve covered Dominionism here at Hullabaloo so many times that I’ve lost count (search for dominionist or Dominionism in the side bar). But for those who need it, the Post provides a very brief referesher:
Even as mainline Protestant and evangelical denominations continue an overall decline in numbers in a changing America, nondenominational congregations have surged from being virtually nonexistent in the 1980s to accounting for roughly 1 in 10 Americans in 2020, according to long-term academic surveys of religious affiliation. Church leaders tend to attribute the growth to the power of an uncompromised Christianity. Experts seeking a more historical understanding point to a relatively recent development called the New Apostolic Reformation, or NAR.
A California-based theologian coined the phrase in the 1990s to describe what he said he had seen as a missionary in Latin America — vast church growth, miracles, and modern-day prophets and apostles endowed with special powers to fight demonic forces. He and others promoted new church models using sociological principles to attract members. They also began advancing a set of beliefs called dominionism, which holds that God commands Christians to assert authority over the “seven mountains” of life — family, religion, education, economy, arts, media and government — after which time Jesus Christ will return and God will reign for eternity.
And make His Own the overseers, naturally. All fueled by the prosperity gospel.
Someone must have a Venn diagram of how Christian reconstructionism, dominionism, and Christian nationalism intersect, but I can’t find one just now. Bill Berkowitz mentions another NAR faction that has abandoned the politics of the right and moved to the Pacific Northwest to await societal collapse and the emergence of a new Christian order they will build. Underlying it all is the belief that Christians should rule, and all others shall bow to Jesus (and to them).
Christianity Today describes Christian nationalism thusly:
Christian nationalism is the belief that the American nation is defined by Christianity, and that the government should take active steps to keep it that way. Popularly, Christian nationalists assert that America is and must remain a “Christian nation”—not merely as an observation about American history, but as a prescriptive program for what America must continue to be in the future. Scholars like Samuel Huntington have made a similar argument: that America is defined by its “Anglo-Protestant” past and that we will lose our identity and our freedom if we do not preserve our cultural inheritance.
Christian nationalists do not reject the First Amendment and do not advocate for theocracy, but they do believe that Christianity should enjoy a privileged position in the public square. The term “Christian nationalism,” is relatively new, and its advocates generally do not use it of themselves, but it accurately describes American nationalists who believe American identity is inextricable from Christianity.
As for not advocating a theocracy, Christianity Today might have to explain that part to the theocrats themselves.
They expect not to govern but to rule … in God’s name. That last is about the only thing differentiating them from leading Republicans.