“The people of Canada have become so liberal and hedonistic that the public ethic in the country immediately could not be reversed,” Weyrich says in an email analysis to allies.
“It will take time. But with leadership it well may be possible to change the public ethic.”
Paul Weyrich is a political operative in the US who runs the Free Congress Foundation. Weyrich worked on the 1964 Barry Goldwater campaign:
One of the strategists who worked on his campaign, Paul Weyrich, joined with others to broaden the base of the Republican Party. They looked to the huge membership of fundamentalist, Pentecostal, and charismatic churches. Weyrich articulated the goal of dominionism in 1980. He told a group of evangelical leaders:
We are talking about Christianizing America. We are talking about simply spreading the gospel in a political context.
Paul Weyrich is a dominionist. From his Free Congress Foundation stategy paper 2001.
Our movement will be entirely destructive, and entirely constructive. We will not try to reform the existing institutions. We only intend to weaken them, and eventually destroy them.
He is the one who coined the phrase Moral Majority. From the Toronto Star:
Although no one would confirm yesterday’s writings, Weyrich has acknowledged the validity of the pre-election email asking U.S. conservatives to ignore questions from “liberal” Canadian journalists who were trying to link Harper to those who back U.S. President George W. Bush.
A history of some of policies and organizational links of Weyrich’s group.
From information from Media Transparency
Wiki entry
Right Wing Watch
Paul Weyrich’s Training Manual - copy and analysis
Weyrich believes the new Canadian government should pack Canadian courts with conservatives. Canadians that think this sounds reasonable might want to take time to read some of the links above and question whether they want the culture warriors like Paul Weyrich influencing Canadian believers or voters. Let’s keep dominionists and their agenda out in the open when they voice opinion on Canada. More beliefs:
Published 2 years, 5 months ago1) Falsehoods are not only acceptable, they are a necessity. The corollary is: The masses will accept any lie if it is spoken with vigor, energy and dedication.
2) It is necessary to be cast under the cloak of “goodness” whereas all opponents and their ideas must be cast as “evil.”
3) Complete destruction of every opponent must be accomplished through unrelenting personal attacks.
4) The creation of the appearance of overwhelming power and brutality is necessary in order to destroy the will of opponents to launch opposition of any kind.
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Our old friend “dominionism” is back in town.
Weyrich’s part of that theocon block in the US, but I don’t know if he fits the theological definition of dominionist, at least not from what I’ve seen of him over the years.
Is your equation US-style religious conservative (e.g. James Dobson, Sam Brownback)=dominionist? That seems to be where you’re headed.
As far as how that plays out in Canada, peace; there are enough Peter McKay-type centrists in the Conservative Party to keep your “dominionists” in check, even if the Tories get a majority.
I agree the definition of dominionism should not be stretched to the breaking point.
Mark, I acknowledge the number of people that believe this way in Canada aren’t substantial, but we have them and it’s best people that believe this be out in the open.
People believe The Conservatives (currently) are God’s party.
Who taught them that?
Ask Australians about Family First or New Zealanders about Destiny. This belief and movement is abberant and expected.
James Dobson has done a great deal for the family. He didn’t know when to stop. I don’t know what Dobson is other than a corporation and conservative that has deviated from what he was best at. The Family Research Council - it’s a sham, a dangerous one that may tickle the right ears, and it is sad that Dobson thought he get what ever it is he wants by implementing it.
I work at distinguishing between believing conservatives and the Dobsons, Robertstons et al. If I err, may it be on the side of caution and in the character of Jesus Christ.
Dominionism: Protestant Christian evangelicals and fundamentalists belief that encourages them to not only be active political participants in civic society, but also seek to dominate the political process as part of a mandate from God.
This highly politicized concept of dominionism is based on the Bible’s text in Genesis 1:26:
“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” (King James Version).
“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’” NIC
Christians read this text and conclude that God has appointed them stewards and caretakers of Earth. Some people think that Christians alone are Biblically mandated to occupy all secular institutions until Christ returns.
a) it’s about power
b) it’s about politics
c) it’s about spiritual immaturity, need and lack of discernment
A definition from Scott Isebrand:
Dominionism: A religio-political movement with pervasive influence in the Christian Right that stresses the need for Christians to exercise dominion–control–over both the natural world and human institutions. As it is chiefly an American phenomenon, dominionism’s practical manifestation is in promoting the ideal of or actively working towards gaining control of political and governmental institutions and processes in the United States. Dominionism’s adherents are typicaly conservative Protestants, including conservative evangelicals and Fundamentalists. As is the case with many though not all members of the Christian Right, most people ascribing to and influenced by dominionism insist that the United States was founded as a Christian nation, (see AU.org “Is America a ‘Christian Nation’”) therefore they see their efforts as a Christian reclamation of American society.
ref: Theocracy Watch
I find associating Paul Weyrich with Dominionism laughable, and I am saying that as a personal friend.
Dominionism: Protestant Christian evangelicals and fundamentalists belief that encourages them to not only be active political participants in civic society, but also seek to dominate the political process as part of a mandate from God.
Paul Weyrich is NOT a Protestant, nor is he an evangelical. He’s more or less Eastern Orthodox. He’s for the restoration of Christian culture in public life, not for any Church controlling the levers of politics. Perhaps the Socialists in the Canadian Liberal Party, the NDP and Bloc Quebecois ought to separate their secularist convictions from their politics for the sake of fairness. LOL
He is every bit as skeptical of a religious institution’s ability to govern as the next person. Weyrich finds it personally offensive that his enemies associate him with Reconstructionism because he considers it heretical from a theological standpoint.
All he is saying is that Christian beliefs have a place in the public square and that secularist fanatics need to learn a little tolerance themselves. Freedom of thought and freedom of speech matter to secularists as long as they like what they are hearing.
Anyone ever hear of the French Revolution. My ancestor lost his head because he wasn’t secular enough. LOL. Tolerance in action, gotta love it.
Nothing like theologically ignorant bigots to twist the truth.
Okay Mr. Weyrich has no difficulty aligning with dominionists.
The CNP was founded in 1981 with Tim LaHaye as the first president and his allies in the New Right salon that created the Moral Majority in 1979–Billings, McAteer, Falwell, Weyrich, Phillips, and Viguerie–joined this new group.
The Moral Majority was cooked up by a coalition of Christian Right activists and ultraconservative political strategists who planned to take over the Republican Party. In 1979 Christian Right activist Robert Billings of the National Christian Action Council invited a popular televangelist, Jerry Falwell, along with Ed McAteer of the Religious Roundtable to a meeting with ultraconservative political strategists. The strategists were direct-mail wizard Richard Viguerie; Paul Weyrich (an agent of Joseph Coors, Weyrich helped create the Heritage Foundation in 1973, and later founded the Free Congress Foundation)
While your friend may not have shared some of his friends beliefs listed above, he is an active associate. His bio over at the CNP website. http://www.seekgod.ca/cnp.w.htm#pweyrich
Bio for Mr. Weyrich - Arlington Group http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/weyrich/041203