Given Mike Huckabee’s support for historical revisionist David Barton, it is important that Americans understand exactly what it is they’re getting when they consider a vote for Huckabee or any other conservative attaching his or her name to Barton. Barton is not simply a right-wing nutjob (though he is that too) but he is, as Right Wing Watch points out, “a Seven Mountains Dominionist who believes that every – every – element of our government and society ought to be structured in accordance with the Bible so that those who hold a ‘secular viewpoint cannot survive.’”
David Barton is proposing a Taliban-like regime in control of the United States, as you will see below. Why is this so bad? Most people know the Taliban took over Afghanistan and ran it into the ground. Perhaps not as many have thought about what a Taliban-like regime would mean for America and for Americans. Let’s take a look at Peter Bergen’s description of Kabul under the Taliban. This could be your town:
Kabul under the Taliban was simultaneously quiet, grim, and boring. Black-turbaned vigilantes roamed its streets like wraiths dispensing their ferocious brand of “Islamic” justice. Curfew started at 9 P.M. and by 8 P.M. the streets were deserted except for the young Taliban soldiers in turbans who stood at every traffic circle, carefully checking passing vehicles. Some wore kohl, a black eyeliner that gave them a look both feline and foreboding. The Taliban had banned pretty much any form of diversion and entertainment and had presided over the total collapse of the economy. A doctor earned only six dollars a month. Government ministries worked without computers, their offices unheated in the brutal Kabul winter. There were no banks and the treasury of the country consisted of a box from which the Taliban leader Mullah Omar distributed wads of cash; the Taliban had pulled Afghanistan back into the Middle Ages (The Longest War, 2011: 174-75).
Clearly this was a place in which those who hold “a secular viewpoint cannot survive.”
According to Right Wing Watch, “Seven Mountains dominionism seeks to place Christians in control over the seven forces that shape and control our culture.” Or, as David Barton puts it, “Anything the Bible talks about should not be considered secular.” Obviously, that’s pretty much everything.
As you can see from the description of Kabul above this is truly frightening stuff and it’s no longer an extreme fringe point of view with people like Glenn Beck and Mike Huckabee endorsing it. This is a man, remember, who was listed by Time magazine as one of the nation’s 25 most influential evangelicals. Right Wing Watch explains the dominionist motive:
The reason for this, as Lance Wallnau, the leading advocate for Seven Mountains theology, explained is that Jesus “doesn’t come back until He’s accomplished the dominion of nations.” And the way “dominion of nations” is accomplished is by having Christians gain control of these “seven mountains” in order to install a “virtual theocracy” overseen by “true apostles” who will fight Satan and his Antichrist agenda.
In case you’re wondering, these are the seven mountains:
(1) Business;
(2) Government;
(3) Media;
(4) Arts and Entertainment;
(5) Education;
(6) Family; and
(7) Religion.
Kyle, at Right Wing Watch, has put together a video clip of the low points of David Barton’s plan for an American theocracy:
Remember the other day when I talked about Huckabee’s belief that all Americans should be forced at gun point to listen to Barton’s broadcasts? Conservatives protest that Huckabee clearly meant this figuratively but I think that’s a dangerous assumption to make. Here is Barton on his radio program a few days ago:
Barton: There’s five areas that you have to be able to influence and control if you are going to take a culture and that’s media, business, government, education, and pulpit.
Now, for twenty years as it turns out – I wasn’t even aware of this – way back, Bill Bright from Campus Crusade, when he was still alive, Loren Cunningham, Youth With a Mission, these guys got together back at the same time and really felt like there were seven areas that had to be taken for a culture and these are the seven that they gave: family, religion, education, media, entertainment, business and government. Now we’ve grouped some of those together and throw some together, but they said those are the seven areas you have to have and if you can have those seven areas, you can shape and control whatever takes place in nations, continents, and even the world.
Green: So it’s the same idea, saying “look, every single area of the culture you need to be involved in.”
Barton: That’s right. Christians got to get involved. And there’s a Scripture they used that came out of Isiah 2:2 and it says “Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains,” so this is now called the Seven Mountain Prophecy, there’s a book out by that name.
It says the Lord’s house is going to be established on top of the mountains and these are the seven mountains. If you’re going to establish God’s kingdom, you’ve got to have these seven mountains and again that’s family, religion, education, media, entertainment, business and government.
Now that’s what we believed all along is you got to get involved in this stuff. Jesus said “you occupy ’til I come.” We don’t care when he comes, that’s up to him. What we’re supposed to do is take the culture in the meantime and you got to get involved in these seven areas.
Not only that; it will be a world in which biblical slavery comes back to life. Yes, Barton is a proponent of “biblical” slavery. Who would be slaves? Those who could not pay their debts, thieves….and of course, Pagans, the class known as “permanent slaves” – slaves simply because of who they are. We’ve heard that before and the biblical justifications for it in the Old South when it was applied to blacks. And of course, we can’t forget his ties to both white-supremacists and anti-Semites. Jewish voters: are you paying attention?
This is the dominionist plan for America’s future, an America that looks frighteningly like Afghanistan under the Taliban, a land where the Constitution is dead, and where the only people who have any rights are the dominionists themselves, where slavery exists and where every facet of your life is overseen by extreme right wing fanatics with guns. You won’t even own your own sperm or your own uterus. The only thing missing will be turbans.
So when Mike Huckabee says he wants Americans forced to listen to Barton at gunpoint…take him at his word, America.





Realist
Apr. 8th, 2011 at 8:00 am
How come these “good Christians” never quote Jesus when they spout their crap? Everything these fascists say comes from the Old Testament and nothing from the New, so one has to wonder just what role Jesus plays in their minds. Based on Barton’s blathering above, he’s become a conquering enslaver who arrives right after his moronic minions have already done all the dirty work.
That’s not the Jesus I was taught.
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gsb
Apr. 8th, 2011 at 10:14 am
Do I ever agree with you. what ever happened to him in their teachings?
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Hrafnkell Haraldsson
Apr. 8th, 2011 at 10:27 am
Ironic that it is Christians who have taken Christ out of Christianity, isn’t it?
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Mark Bousquet
Apr. 8th, 2011 at 11:58 am
They worship their religion and the Old Testament more than they worship God. It is fascist idolatry, plan and simple.
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Jay Jordan Hawke
Apr. 8th, 2011 at 8:06 am
Yea, I think David Barton is clearly a loon, and it says something about the state of the Republican party that Mike Huckabee so overwhelming endorses him. I wrote a blog entry yesterday about the interview Jon Stewart just had with Huckabee. Huckabee spends a good portion of the time discussing and reiterating his endorsement of Barton’s ideas. He is helping to give Barton’s ideas an even wider audience, while not pointing out that Barton’s normal audience is the occasional white supremacist and neo-Nazi group.
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Hrafnkell Haraldsson
Apr. 8th, 2011 at 8:18 am
I think it’s a shame that John Stewart (commendable job though he did) left out the issue of biblical slavery. I’d like to have seen Huckabee put on the spot where that is concerned (it is the subject of tomorrow’s article by yours truly). I do think Barton has a greater audience than that: in 2005 Time named him one of the 25 most influential evangelicals. And he has not only Huckabee, but Michele Bachmann in his pocket, giving his ideas even greater currency. We have to stop thinking about Christian dominionism being a fringe movement.
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Sherry
Apr. 9th, 2011 at 7:26 am
You said: We have to stop thinking about Christian dominionism being a fringe movement.
Me: Yes! And get the word out about these folks. I used to try in the forums I visited, but that was over 8 years ago. I will try again. However, the forums I visit are not as active as they used to be. People are not paying attention. How do we get them to pay attention?
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Reynardine
Apr. 8th, 2011 at 8:30 am
I followed your slavery link, and ruined my desire for breakfast. I honestly think I’d rather have watched a decomp autopsy and then been confronted with a plate of rice.
Always, I have tried to understand what people with differing viewpoints are saying, but this passage in Wallbuilders gave me the same jangling headache I had while trying to read Mein Kampf. It is neither the syntax nor the insanity; I had plenty of exposure to that while working nut. Rather, if this kind of thing could be Geigered, surely a deadly radiation would be detected, regardless of whether those exposed to it were willing or even knowing exposees. This sounds superstitious, but metaphysics is simply physics we don’t understand.
This is Evil.
There was once a physical Land of Seven Mountains, which, though desolate today, remained green long after the rest of the Sahara dried. This was the Tibesti massif in Libya, and it has a number of times served as a refugium for people as well as beasts. It, or a legend of it, is all that was meant by the reference.
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 8th, 2011 at 8:36 am
In reading the description of the Afghanistan lifestyle, you only need to be reminded that any Christian controlled government must use force in the same way that the Taliban does. The roving band of Afghanistan men would be seen here as well. And as far as I’m concerned this simply goes back to the people who were trying to get secret militia’s run by the governors as an equivalent to Afghanistan. When you have a group of Dominists in charge. There is no single religion except for the one they express. In fact, it is my feeling that almost all religious categories such as Catholicism, Methodist, and others would be abolished. You do not have a choice in the manner in which you believe but you believe in the manner that the state provides for you.
These are very scary people. And the people of America who run around waving the flag and saying no sharia law are simply hiding the fact that they want to instill their own sharia law.
the unfortunate part is we live in a gameplaying political system. If someone runs against Huckabee. They will not mention the fact that Huckabee wants religion to take over this country. We lose
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Anne
Apr. 8th, 2011 at 9:06 am
What’s equally scary are the people who think that because they are white, conservative, religious, and non-union (or even one of these things) they would be exempted from the effects of this kind of regime. They are enablers, because they keep voting for people like these in the mistaken belief that only the “others” would be jammed.
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 8th, 2011 at 9:11 am
I agree. It’s the same as people voting against unions without understanding that getting rid of unions will affect their own wages and benefits no matter who they work for. People don’t seem to understand that even like the Republican Party, once you let people like the seven mountains get into power the people who put them there are no longer needed
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gsb
Apr. 8th, 2011 at 10:21 am
Shiva:
it is my understanding that all religions regardless of the denomination would be worthy only of slavery or death, if you should happen to stay in your religion.
Only dominionists would be worthy of any form of occupation. all others would be classified as slaves, thus, not worthy.
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 8th, 2011 at 10:23 am
Well I think thats what I said
” In fact, it is my feeling that almost all religious categories such as Catholicism, Methodist, and others would be abolished. “
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john r
Apr. 8th, 2011 at 9:11 am
well they have thier army… Blackwater, remember they were in New Orleans..
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Realist
Apr. 8th, 2011 at 10:10 am
You are correct. One has to wonder why they were allowed to purchase military aircraft if not for the suppression of civil unrest in the streets of America while our military is firmly embedded in the task securing new foreign colonies for American corporations.
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Reynardine
Apr. 8th, 2011 at 12:07 pm
Let us be clear: who purchased aircraft, what kind, and fitted out to do what?
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Patti Haynes
Apr. 8th, 2011 at 8:20 pm
Just yesterday I heard about a rider to the Budget bill having to do with doing away with looking for large purchases of guns and ammunition. I knew automatically something was up, but didn’t know what it was. Well, now I know, don’t I? Thanks so much for the edification! Scary!!
I grew up in the South where religion was a fact of life, however, this Christofascism bears no resemblance to any religion, living or dead, that I am aware of.
I am not a religious person , but I do know right from wrong and I know these people are very dangerous.
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Hrafnkell Haraldsson
Apr. 9th, 2011 at 7:16 am
It would be a strange species of Christianity that lacks Jesus, and this seems to lack Jesus. They can call it what they want, but their values are completely out of touch with those of the Christians I grew up with and with those I know today. And of course, you can’t get more anti-Constitution than these Christofascists.
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Rmuse
Apr. 8th, 2011 at 12:05 pm
Swear to dog Hraf, this article scares me senseless. I think you inhabit my mind sometimes, but you’ve read my deepest fears about Christofacists (LOVE this term) taking over America. They are so close. When they are in control, the Taliban will look tame in comparison. You aptly stated they will come after us first, and I mean us pagans, liberals, and thinking human beings. Great article. But next time you write about my dreams, let me no so I don’t have to experience my nightmare while I’m awake. :-)
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Reynardine
Apr. 8th, 2011 at 12:09 pm
Don’t eat cheese before you go to bed. It makes it worse.
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Hrafnkell Haraldsson
Apr. 8th, 2011 at 12:47 pm
Sound advice, Reynardine. I personally like a light fresh fruit snack after supper :)
I’m as scared as you are, Muse. That ideas like this are no longer fringe but mainstream. And where is the vaunted liberal media elite to excoriate these people and their teachings? Just to warn you, tomorrow I’m focusing on the slavery issue.
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Realist
Apr. 8th, 2011 at 1:08 pm
@Hrafnkell Haraldsson on April 8, 2011 at 8:18 am
Ever since Stewart and Colbert staged their rally in Washington, I’ve noticed that Stewart tends to pull his punches with Republicans. In fact, ever since he raked Jim Cramer over the coals, he doesn’t seem to have the same focus about exposing evil as he once did. I really want to see that earlier Stewart return ASAP. He’s really needed right now!
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Hrafnkell Haraldsson
Apr. 8th, 2011 at 7:30 pm
Interesting…I wonder why that is. His debate with Huckabee was good but yes, he did pull his punches and I can’t believe he’s not informed enough to have brought these issues up. But then I’ve noticed liberals/progressives are far more likely to “play nice” and pull punches – like Obama and Biden during the debates in ’08. Whoever debates Huckabee (should he run) needs to bring this stuff up, but I am beginning to wonder if anyone has the testicular fortitude to do so.
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 8th, 2011 at 7:35 pm
None of the stuff that has been done by the GOP in the last 2 years will be brought up. Its like prosecuting Bush, that was in the past. And who wins that debate?
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Realist
Apr. 8th, 2011 at 1:19 pm
@Reynardine on April 8, 2011 at 12:07 pm
Ask and ye shall receive:
http://tenpercent.wordpress.com/2007/08/28/blackwater-buying-ground-attack-aircraft/
Blackwater Buying Ground Attack Aircraft
28 August, 2007 — RickB
Security company Blackwater U.S.A. is buying Super Tucano light combat aircraft from the Brazilian manufacturer Embraer. These five ton, single engine, single seat aircraft are built for pilot training, but also perform quite well for counter-insurgency work. Brazil. The Super Tucano is basically a prop driven trainer that is equipped for combat missions. The aircraft can carry up to 1.5 tons of weapons, including 12.7mm machine-guns, bombs and missiles. The aircraft cruises at about 500 kilometers an hour and can stay in the air for about 6.5 hours per sortie. One of the options is a FLIR (infrared radar that produces a photo realistic video image in any weather) and a fire control system for bombing. Colombia is using the Super Tucanos for counter-insurgency work… The bubble canopy provides excellent visibility. This, coupled with its slow speed (versus jets), makes it an excellent ground attack aircraft. Blackwater already has a force of armed helicopters in Iraq, and apparently wants something a little faster, and more heavily armed, to fulfill its security contracts overseas.
Originally sourced from a BusinessWeek article “no longer on the site” (http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9120LG81.htm). I wonder why?
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Reynardine
Apr. 8th, 2011 at 2:14 pm
I went through your link. They’ve been using them abroad, of course. The… yeah, I have to say Christofascists, in this instance… have aided Gbagbo, a “Christian” fighting “evil Mooslins”. Whether they’ve been aiding Ghaddafi is less clear – he’s one of those “Mooslins” – but it’s established that sociopaths and psychopaths recognize other sociopaths and psychopaths and go out of their way to protect them, even when there’s nothing in it for them… and here, there may be plenty in it for them. Whether they have brought these weapons on shore is another matter, but it would be easy to get them through our ports uninspected, even wiyhout corruption. Blackwater is a member of the Council for National Policy, a shadow totalitarian/theocratic state ready to take over the minute the lawful one is weakened, infiltrated, or delegitimized enough.
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Reynardine
Apr. 8th, 2011 at 4:03 pm
I think about this: if Rupert Murdoch is their Goebbels and Newt Gingrich is their Goering… who is their Hitler?
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Shiva (Moderator)
Apr. 8th, 2011 at 4:36 pm
David Koch
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Realist
Apr. 9th, 2011 at 7:35 am
The American Leader has yet to be revealed to us. He will be no one we have yet seen, for the plan can’t work if we know him too soon.
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Reynardine
Apr. 8th, 2011 at 5:29 pm
I suspect the Kochs are more like their Krupp and their Thyssen.
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Tidux
Apr. 9th, 2011 at 12:01 pm
Jewish voters never *stopped* caring about this stuff.
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Zoloft & Thensome
Apr. 9th, 2011 at 2:59 pm
For anyone who yearns for a petit definition on dominionism as well David Barton’s intentions:
In a politico-religious context, dominionism (also called subjectionism) is the tendency among some conservative politically-active Christians, especially in the United States, to seek influence or control over secular civil government through political action. The goal is either a nation governed by Christians, or a nation governed by a conservative Christian understanding of biblical law. The use and application of this terminology is a matter of controversy.
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