CHRISTIAN RIGHT FOREFATHER R. J. RUSHDOONY

WAS A RACIST, SEXIST, BIGOT

[White racist patriarchy - title]

Rousas John Rushdoony (April 25, 1916 – February 8, 2001) was a Calvinist philosopher, historian, and theologian, and is widely credited as the father of Christian Reconstructionism, a movement that started in the early 1970's. He also was a tremendous influence on the core ideas of the religious right and the Christian home school movement. The basic ideal of Reconstructionism is that the bible should be the basis all aspects of life, be it the home or the government. Many of the influential leaders of the Christian Right today are byproducts of the ideas of R. J. Rushdoony; we're talking about people such as Jerry Falwell, Tim LaHaye, Howard Ahmanson, James Dobson, and D. James Kennedy (patheos). Yet many of these men today do not mention Rushdoony's name too frequently. This is because Rushdoony's views are racist and high controversial. The British Centre for Science Education even refers to him as “a man every bit as potentially murderous as Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot or anyone else you may want to name amongst the annals of evil.”

Yet Rushdoony's views were not a fringe ideology. For instance, two weeks after Reagan was elected, Newsweek referred to Rushdoony’s Chalcedon Foundation as the think tank of the religious right.


RUSHDOONY'S IDEOLOGY. CHRISTIAN DOMINIONISM.

Rushdoony's basic philosophy was that the Old Testament gave white men dominion over the Earth, animals, women and "heathen" nations. Theocracy is God's Will, democracy is apostasy and that only Christians should be able to vote.

In an article in The Public Eye, Michael J. McVicar states that Rushdoony's significant contribution to theology and philosophy was promoting a pre-Enlightenment, Medieval view of God, by de-emphasizing humanity's ability to reason, and seeing humans as creatures inexplicably bound to God's will. [1]. Yet Rushdoony didn't just want to take society back to the Middle Ages. He advocated putting in place laws from the Old Testament. This was detailed in his The Institutes of Biblical Law. Under such a system, the list of crimes carrying the death penalty would include homosexuality, adultery, incest, lying about one's virginity, witchcraft, idolatry and apostasy. He called for the end of secularism and promoted the forced institution of a Christian based society. These ideas all were highly influential in the formation of the Christian Reconstructionist movement that exists today. His work has been used by Dominion theology advocates who want a Christian theocracy in the United States.

But quite in contradiction to the bible, Rushdoony also called for a libertarian based economic system. Such ideas contradict the Old Testament's specific rulings about giving to charity and priests, as well as the blanket forgiveness of debt every fifty years. So Rushdoony called for harsh, biblical law in terms of social and criminal justice, but libertarian style freedoms for the wealthy. This way of thinking is still quite apparent in the Christian political right today. However, much of Rushdoony's controversial racist ideas have been hushed up, and most modern day conservative Christians would rather not mention Rushdoony's name.


RUSHDOONY QUOTES ON HIS IDEOLOGY

Highlight Racist Thing

"The matriarchal society is thus decadent and broken… matriarchal character of Negro life is due to the moral failure of Negro men, their failure …to provide authority. The same is true of American Indian tribes which are also matriarchal." [7]

"All men are NOT created equal before God." [6]

"The move from Africa to America was a vast increase of freedom for the Negro, materially and spiritually." [2]

"The University of Timbuktu never existed. The only thing that existed in Timbuktu was a small mud hut." [3]

"Some people are by nature slaves and will always be so." [4]

"The urge to dominion is God-given and is basic to the nature of man. An aspect of this dominion is property." [5]

"The false witness borne during World War II with respect to Germany (i.e., the death camps) is especially notable and revealing.. the number of Jews who died after deportation is approximately 1,200,000 … very many of these people died of epidemics." [3]

"An employer therefore has a property right to prefer whom he will, and he can prefer whom he will in terms of color, creed, race, or national origin." [8]

"Selective breeding in Christian countries has led to … the progressive elimination of defective persons." [8]

"A ‘Litany’ popular in these circles identifies ‘God’ with the city, with the ’spick, black nigger, bastard, Buddhahead, and kike,’ with ‘all men, this concept runs deeply through the so-called Civil Rights Revolution… But …no society has ever existed without class and caste lines." [8]


RUSHDOONY ON INTERRACIAL MARRIAGE

"The answer is, there is not a law against it, but there is basically a principle that militates against such marriages, so that you might say they are just barely legal, but in principle Scripture is opposed to them. Because the whole point of marriage is that the wife be a helpmeet to her husband, and the term “helpmeet” means in effect a mirror, an image, one who reflects him spiritually; that is, in terms of faith, in terms of a common background, in terms of a common purpose. Now, marriage between persons of very different races generally doesn’t fulfill that requirement, you see. So that it can be technically a marriage, but it isn’t one in which the wife can be a helpmeet. So that while it can legally qualify, theologically you could say there are factors which normally, in almost 99 cases out of 100, would militate against it." [9]


RUSHDOONY'S INFLUENCE ON THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT

While may members of the religious right are hesitant to mention Rushdoony's name, there is no doubt that his ideas had at least some influence on the broader movement.

Julie Ingersoll‘s new book, Building God’s Kingdom, is a meticulous account of the Reconstructionist movement’s history and its aims. Ingersoll interviewed Howard Phillips, the former Reagan Administration official, political operative, and later found of what is known as the Constitution Party. In this book, Howard Phillips says that he considers Rushdoony a close friend and mentor, “Together we testified in cases of the ‘IRS assault’ on Christian schools.”

Also, according to the author of With God on Our Side, William Martin, Jerry Falwell and D. James Kennedy endorsed Reconstructionist Books. Rushdoony appeared on Kennedy's television program and the 700 Club several times.

Rushdoony's Dominionist ideology spawned a formidable political movement where his ideas caught on in churches. Rushdoony, himself, was named to the first Council for National Policy, [10] which at the least indicates he was well known among the politically oriented leaders of the religious right. These leaders, from Tim LaHaye to Pat Robertson, held influential platforms from which they either proclaimed Rushdoony’s ideas, or ideas very similar to that of Rushdoony.

Kevin Phillips, a former Republican strategist, wrote the following in his book, American Theocracy. “Most Americans, having never heard of Christian Reconstructionism, likely assume it has only fringe status." [11] Yet Phillips argues that this assumption is not true. According to Phillips, Dominionism has trickled down to the pews through the radio and television,  the Assemblies of God, the Southern Baptist Convention, the Promise Keepers, the Christian Coalition and in the words of a leading proponent of Dominion theology, the doctrines have penetrated into the Protestant circles with people unaware of the source.

And while Pat Robertson didn't give Rushdoony much credit, he did write about the ideas of "Christian Dominion," using words that were very similar to Rushdoony's. In his best seller The Secret Kingdom, he wrote an entire chapter called “The Law of Dominion.” Robertson parallels Rushdoony's ideas by claiming things like God's people are to be the regents over the Earth, dominion over other beings originates in the bible, man was told to subdue and trample the earth, God gave man the power to govern and the right to subdue, God intended the world to be governed and subdued by the godly and that God demands his people to invest their capital. [12]

These ideas were also reflected in the writings of major Christian leaders such as Tim LaHaye. For more information, read the Yurica Report 2006.


RELATED WORLD FUTURE FUND SITES

Racist Roots of Religious Right     Racist Aspects of US Christianity     Jesus, Sex and Death in Modern America    Religious Problems in Modern America    Christian Totalitarianism


FOOT NOTES

[1] McVicar, Michael J. (Fall 2007). "The Libertarian Theocrats: The Long, Strange History of R.J. Rushdoony and Christian Reconstructionism". The Public Eye (Political Research Associates)

[2] Rushdoony. Politics of Guilt and Pity (1978). p. 19.

[3] Rushdoony. The Institutes of Biblical Law (1973).

[4] Rushdoony. The Institutes of Biblical Law (1973). p. 286.

[5] https://chalcedon.edu/topics/dominion/

[6] https://www.alternet.org/speakeasy/2011/04/07/biblical-slavery-for-non-christians-yes-suggests-website-of-mike-huckabees-favorite-historian-david-barton

[7] Rushdoony. The Institutes of Biblical Law (1973). p. 203.

[8] Rushdoony. The Foundations of Social Order (1968).

[9] The Law of Divorce (n.d.)

[10] The Council for National Policy (CNP) was founded in 1981 when Timothy LaHaye (author of the Left Behind series) became the organization's first president. LaHaye is credited with the idea of the organization. The CNP has been cloaked in secrecy since its inception. The organization holds three meetings each year to plan the strategy for implementing its agenda. The activists meet with their financial backers who put up the money to execute the agenda of the institution. The membership list and any speeches made to the members are kept in strict secrecy. White House officials have appeared before the group, including President Bush, but their remarks have been held in secrecy. The Yurica Report obtained a list of members from several years prior that reveal the heavy weights in the Christian and hard right dominionist movement. Here is a sample: Gary Bauer, Pat Boone, Grover Norquist, Dr. Gary North and R. J. Rushdoony, Lt. Col. Oliver North, Pat Robertson, James Robinson, Howard J. Ruff, Nelson Bunker Hunt, Howard Ahmanson, Jr., Phyllis Schlafly, Bob Jones, III, Jack Kemp, Alan Keyes, Dr. James Kennedy, Beverly LaHaye, Tim LaHaye, Marlin Maddoux, Peter Marshall, Jr., Dr. James Dobson, Jeffrey Coors, Joseph Coors, Bill Bright, Major General John K. Singlaub, Lt. General Gordon Sumner, Jerry Falwell, Father Charles Fiore, Alan Gottlieb, Lt. General Daniel O. Graham, Edwin Meese, Paul Weyrich, John W. Whitehead, Rev. Donald Wildmon, Pierre du Pont, Ann Drexel, Arnaud deBorchgrave, Richard DeVos, Terry Dolan, Sen. William Dannemeyer, Jesse Helms, etc.

[11] Kevin Phillips, American Theocracy, Viking, 2006. At page 243. See also Phillips essay, “Theocons and Theocrats,” at: https://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/TheoconsAndTheocrats.html

[12] The Secret Kingdom by Pat Robertson with Bob Slosser, Bantam Books, New York, 1984. At pages 198-201.