Honey, I Stoned the Kids!
The right question may be: just how close is he to Rick Scarborough? Scarborough describes himself as a "Christocrat," but as a Reconstructionist, he's further Right than anyone can imagine.
Andrew Sullivan, premier jouranlist and commentator of The Atlantic has this to say about Scarborough's type of fundamentalism:
Once you have dedicated your life to fundamentalist religion, once you have insisted that nothing - let alone politics - can be independent of absolute Biblical judgment, documents like the Constitution are indeed secondary. They have to be amended to be brought into line with the authoritative truth. Nothing can interfere with that authority - nothing.
Want to see Scarborough in action? Want to see people applauding a very dangerous ideology? See the video below - if you dare!
Let's go over the list of what Reconstructionists consider worthy of the death penalty:
Murder - kidnapping - disrespect to parents - sorcery - withcraft - Sabbath breaking - negligent homicide - bestiality - homosexuality - breaking the Sabbath - sacrificing to other gods, especially Molech and Baal, adultery, marrying your wife's mother, comtempt of court, false witness to a capital crime and unchastity.
Now, let's clarify some of these, shall we? "Disrespect to parents" would mean that James Dean would have been killed in the first part of Rebel Without a Cause - where's the angst in that? "Sabbath breaking" could be doing even minor tasks such as "gathering twigs." Does this mean that if you want to build a fire on a cold Sunday you're sh*t out of luck? "Prostitution" is a stoner only if you're the priest's daughter. That means that the girl on the corner doesn't need to be killed, even in a drive-by stoning. Blasphemy is wide open - ANYTHING goes, so better check the list for the state you're in (I hear Texas is fairly liberal, as #%*@%#$ states go) "Unchastity" is ok unless your engaged to be married. So no flirting with the waiter at your wedding no matter what the groom smells like!
Should we be afraid of Reconstructionists? Extreme right-wing crackpots have their uses to those who don't publicly acknowledge prejudice. They divert attention from the ones who are subversive - and "charming." They also open the doors for forms of neofascism. Religious historian Karen Armstrong thinks Reconstructionism can lead to totalitarianism: "There is no room for any other view or policy, no democratic tolerance for rival parties, no individual freedom," (Armstrong, Battle for God, pp. 361-362). The term "Christofascists" is often linked with the movement.
Four days ago, Mike Huckabee made a particularly strident comment about revamping the Constitution. Some people look upon him as a "the guy next door" with a set of moral values.
He's also perceived as "charming."
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