Assessment of Reconstructionism by evangelical Christians:Ralph Reed, the executive director of the conservative public policy group the Christian Coalition, has criticized Reconstructionism as "an authoritarian ideology that threatens the most basic civil liberties of a free and democratic society." John Beardsley of the Beardsley Ministry, a counter-cult group, comments: "... the Puritans were the direct forerunners of today's Kingdom/ Dominion / Reconstructionist heresy. The Puritans believed that they were carrying to America true Christianity as decreed by God, especially as written in the Old Testament. They believed too that they were on a divine mission to America, a place specially appointed by God to be the 'New Israel,' a theocratic 'city upon a hill.' The Puritans viewed themselves as God's special people, replacing national Israel, and that the American Indians were the 'new Canaanites'."Lewis Loftin writes: "To be a Nazi is an attitude that doesn't always involve revering Hitler. Anyone who promotes genocide, slavery, anti-Semitism, racism, and just out-right terror to obtain a political goal is a Nazi in my book. Christian Reconstructionism is Nazism in every important way. Reconstructionism is only two things, power and hate. It is evil cloaked in religion." 2 ![]() Sponsored link:![]() Interface with other fundamentalist Christian groups:Dominionism differs from other, more common, forms of fundamentalism in a number of key areas. Dominionists:
Dominionism thought is finding considerable support among Pentecostal and Charismatic denominations and churches. According to the Public Eye Magazine: "Gary North claims that 'the ideas of the Reconstructionists have penetrated into Protestant circles that for the most part are unaware of the original source of the theological ideas that are beginning to transform them.' North describes the 'three major legs of the Reconstructionist movement [as] the Presbyterian oriented educators, the Baptist school headmasters and pastors, and the charismatic telecommunications system'." 3 Additional resources:
Books:
References used:The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
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Religious Tolerance
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