This is my review of the book ‘Christian Nation’
The premise behind the book is that in the year 2008 John McCain gets elected to high office as the President of the United States. This of course would have made, the Tea Party favorite and Dominionist Christian, Sarah Palin the Vice President. At the very beginning of the book McCain takes a flight over to Russia to do some international diplomacy. While he is there he dies of a heart attack and in steps Sarah Palin as the Commander-in-Chief.
1984 much?
The beginning of this Orwellian story revolves around a man who is working in a library. His job is to sort the books and ensure which ones are appropriate for the ‘Christian literature’. The year is the late 2030′s and America is now a fully ‘Christian’ nation. The Constitution has been altered to fit with a Biblical worldview of Dominionist Christians. The main character is working in the public library in NYC and thinking to himself how it wasn’t always that way. After some time he begins relaying the story of how America transitioned from a Constitutional Democracy to a Theocratic Biblical Society.
He begins to put the thoughts onto paper (a crime because it doesn’t reflect the pure Christian heritage of the United States).
How the terrorists won
Sarah Palin was only the tip of the iceberg for how the United States became a Theocratic government in this alternate future. After her ascension to power with the death of McCain she begins to enact Christian law after Christian law. The framework in which the author lays this out is very plausible and believable, not only from an entertainment standpoint but a legal one as well. Using historical precedent from actual bills, speeches, and literature that have been proposed by elected representatives he lays out the hidden threat that exists underneath the Democratic Society we have built. Here are just a few scary(real life) examples:
- After the 2004 election 42 out of 100 Senators were entirely supportive of the Christian right agenda (receiving a 100% rating from the Christian Coalition)
- Tom Coburn (R) called for the death penalty of all abortion doctors
- Jim DeMint (R) called for banning gays and unmarried pregnant women from teaching at school
- by 2004 the official platform of the Texas Republican Party stated:
…the practice of sodomy tears at the fabric of society, contributes to the breakdown of the family unit, and leads to the spread of dangerous, communicable diseases. Homosexual behavior is contrary to the fundamental, unchanging truths that have been ordained by God, recognized by our country’s founders, and shared by the majority of Texans.
- 20% of Oklahoman children are homeschooled and only exposed to a Christian Fundamentalist doctrine
So back in storyland… In the year 2009 The Palin Administration proposes a joint resolution for Congress to declare America a “Christian Nation”. As a resolution it wouldn’t be legally binding and therefore could not be held up for review by the Supreme Court – comparing it much to adding “God” to the currency in 1863, adding “God” to postage stamps in 1912, or adding “Under God” to the pledge in the 1950′s. Clearly, this is a stretch from the Democratic dominated congress that we had in 2009 for it to have actually passed. But let’s not for a moment think that this is in any way indicative of a future where “it couldn’t happen here”.
I’m not going to give you details of the entire book so I’ll skim over some important wavetops. Eventually, Sarah Palin decides to lower the Homeland Security operations and intelligence because she believes God will protect the United States. This ends a few years later (after her reelection) in a devastating terrorist attack on American soil once again, opening the gates for a bigger police state and further instillment of a Theocratic doctrine becoming the superceding law of the land. It doesn’t quite get there yet.
Let me back up for a moment…
So all of this sounds ludicrous, right? Well first let me refer you to a recent blogpost of mine that was actually featured as an Editor’s Pick on Patheos. In it I detail the close relationship between these Dominionist Christians, the attempts at taking over the US Military, the infiltration of US Congress, and their hopes for taking over the Judicial and Executive Branches. Now, I’m going to go even further into it. And for those of you who think I’m a conspiracy theorist I challenge you to do the research. Because the results will scare you. This is the only reason I became an activist–to stop people like this. Otherwise I’d just be a teacher.
Here are some people to keep in mind that hold an important role in the book – but they are also current-day adversaries of mine…
Read more at Patheos
Categories: Political commentary, Politics, Religion
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World News Forum 
I apologize for the radical edit, storyartist. Our friend genvana has the same problem: when she comes across an article that is so incredibly interesting, as is this one here, there is a natural tendency to want to republish the entire thing. But that, of course, is a copyright violation and infringes upon the author’s rights. I truly hated the edit job on this one. More certainly could be excerpted from the original article under the Fair Use principles, but I wouldn’t know where to start.
But anyone whose interest is captured by the opening paragraphs can find the rest of this fascinating piece by Paul Loebe at Patheos.
Outstanding post, story. Thanks.
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Storyartist; What an amazing article. Excellent job and I will need to read it several times. Thank you for helping me understand the history of the ‘Christian Nation’. This helped me understand why even different faiths seem to talk past each other.
A few nights ago, I made a comment on WNF about a similar topic. I do not understand how any faith could be against the separation of the church and the state. . So many faiths including the newer religions tend to rewrite history and have been busy teaching their supporters their revised version..
Recently, I was talking to a Baptist who has his own church. He said that the Separation between the Church and State was not part of our Constitution or the Amendments. He said it was a liberal deception and was not what our Founding Fathers had in mind.. The longer he talked, the more confused I got. We were clearly talking a different language. I do not understand how any faith could be against the separation of the church and the state. I grew up in the Catholic faith. The church I attended valued the separation for the benefits it gave both our nation and other faiths. I honestly did not understand his view of our nation. My fear, if he really believes what he is saying, this nation is in trouble. We have too many faiths that have insane views which have very little to do with faith or religion.
p.s. konigludwig is correct. I am guilty as charged. ♥ ♥ When I find an exceptional – well written article (like this article), I have a hard time deciding what to remove.
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