Fundie Dominionism

by rebel8 3 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  rebel8

  Dominionism and Anthropocentrism: I think those 2 words sum up much of what I hate about the world.

  I've been thinking of this a lot lately, with politicians ignoring separation of church and state, and just abusing the Earth and animals out of some sense of entitlement.

  Then I saw Lady Lee's thread, "The Marital Due", and I realized dubbish thinking extends dominionism to women's bodies as well. Their bodies are the property of the husbands, to do with what they wish, with no regard for anyone else's needs or wants.

  When you think about it, dubs are some of the most extreme proponents of these concepts. Don't bother with conservation; Jehoopla and his staff of avian janitors will clean it up.

  Anthropocentrism A longstanding usage of dominionism among social scientists and legal scholars describes a Biblical argument in favor of anthropocentrism, a favoring of the rights and interests of humans in relation to environmentalism and/or animal rights. [1][2]

  Manifest Destiny is the historical belief that the United States is destined and divinely ordained by God [1] to expand across the North American continent, from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean.

  Dominionism Although dominionism is used in several distinct ways, the origin of most usage can be traced back to a specific passage in the King James Version of the Bible: "And God blessed [Adam and Eve] and God said unto them, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." -Genesis1:28 (KJV)

  Dominion Theology is a grouping of theological systems with the common belief that society should be governed exclusively by the law of God as codified in the Bible, to the exclusion of secular law. The two main streams of Dominion Theology are Christian Reconstructionism and Kingdom now theology. Though these two differ greatly in their general theological orientation (the first is strongly Reformed and Neo-Calvinistic, the second is Charismatic), they share a postmillenial vision in which the kingdom of God will be established on Earth through political and (in some cases) even military means.
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  villabolo

  Thank you Rebel8 for bringing up the subject. Dominionism is the most dangerous version of fundamentalist Christianity. Regular fundamentalist have a pie in the sky view of their religion and at one time tended to shy away from politics or getting involved deeply in society.

  Now we have dominionism and the difference between them and regular fundamentalists is like the difference between regular cocaine and crack cocaine. They're not going to be raptured up away from this evil world. They're going to stay on this miserable earth so they better make the best of it and that means converting it to a full blown theocracy so they could hand it over to Christ.

  A perfect example of a dominionist theocracy can be found in Margaret Atwoods book The Handmaids Tale available also as a video. Very good read.
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  rebel8

  Thanks--good illustration.

  Dominionists are aggressive about using/abusing things/animals/maybe people. Others who believe it's ok may not be as aggressive about it. It's as if this particular brand of belief endorses active aggression.

  I will check out that book!
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  Narkissos

  I came across advocates of "dominion theology" (of the neo-Calvinistic kind) a couple of times. Needless to say in France they are (were) only a handful. Otoh I found some resemblance with the traditionalist, far-right (monarchist or neo-fascist) wing of French Catholicism which is a little more visible (more than usual these days, thanks to the pope).

  JWs with their political "neutrality" and end-time expectations (which are, so far, entirely passive, as they depend on God's action not theirs) are an entirely different kind imo. Both belief systems integrate a violent perspective, but "don't act because God will" cannot be equated with "act because God wants you to".