Religious Right Watch

Armed Militas, The Antichrist, and Obama

That armed militias in the midwest were preparing for an actual battle with agents of the Antichrist is not a surprise. Fear mongering has become epidemic on the political right. Why now? Since the millennium comes at the end of the Tribulations, its approach is constantly expected, and not necessarily tied to any specific date. So warnings that Obama is either the Antichrist or in service to the Satanic plan to build a New World Order are taken seriously by some fundamentalist Christians.

Please read the rest of Chip Berlet's informative post via www.talk2action.org

Tribulation

A literal seven-year period that is the culmination End Times according to the beliefs of most Fundamentalist and Pentecostal Christians, and well as many Evangelicals and Charismatics. The Tribulation is and marked by wars, plagues, and cataclysms, as well as the emergence of the Antichrist, and finally the bodily return of Jesus Christ to defeat the Antichrist and his armies at the Battle of Armageddon and inaugurate his divine reign over a 1,000-year-long kingdom on Earth.

Belief in the Tribulation, during which it is prophecied many key events occur in Israel, has even affected American foreign policy through the influence of the Christian Right.

(see the Tribution as a chronological chart (4.5MB) as rendered by a Fundamentalist Christian family on their website)

usage. Generally "the Tribulation"

(see Frontline's "Apocalypse!" glossary)

Religious Right

A broad, varied collection of political movements of religious and social conservatives arising in the 1970's, and overwhelmingly American and Christian to the point of rendering the descriptions "Religious Right" and "Christian Right" effectively synonymous. (See: "Christian Right.") However, the Religious Right can be said to exist comparatively weakly in nations other than the United States, including Canada and the United Kingdom, and to include individuals and movements informed by Judaism, Islam, Mormonism, and other faith traditions besides Christianity. In the United States, it is closely associated with the Republican Party. The vast majority of members of the Christian Right insist that the United States was founded as a Christian nation. (see AU.org "Is America a 'Christian Nation'")

usage. Also "religious right"

"Proponents of using the term Religious Right argue that in addition to Christians, there are conservative Jews and Muslims active in a broad coalition. Opponents argue that Christians vastly outnumber Jews and Muslims in this coalition, and that using the term Religious Right masks this fact." (Wikipedia "religious right")

note. Not all religious conservatives are political conservatives; not all religious conservatives are members of the Religious Right.

(see the chart of sectors of the U.S. right, including the Religious Right, here)

Rapture

A future End Times event anticipated by many Evangelical Christians and Charismatics as well as the vast majority of Fundamentalist and Pentecostal Christians, it is the literal bodily ascension of Christians to rendezous with Jesus Christ. Most Christians who hold a belief in the Rapture see it as a signature event in relation to a seven-year period known as the Tribulation; however, among those Christians ascribing to a belief in the Tribulation, thoughts differ as to whether the Rapture occurs at the Tribulation's beginning, middle, or end.

(see ReligiousTolerance.org "The Rapture")

usage. Generally "the Rapture"

(see the Tribution, including the Rapture, as a chronological chart (4.5MB) as rendered by a Fundamentalist Christian family on their website)

(see Frontline's "Apocalypse!" glossary)

Pentecostalism

A conservative religious movement within evangelical Protestant Christianity traced back to the early 1900's in the United States and involving belief in a "baptism of the Holy Spirit" as a special blessing available to all Christians, but conclusively evidenced in the life of the Christian only through "speaking in tongues" (American Heritage Dictionary "gift of tongues"), also sometimes referred to by the Greek term glossolalia. Pentecostalism has a tradition of separatism resulting in numerous Pentecostal denominations and independent congregations. In general, it shares with Christian fundamentalism a strong affinity for biblical literalism.

(see TheocracyWatch.org "Pentecostals")

usage. Pentecostalism differs from the Charismatic movement. As terms, "Pentecostals" and "Charismatics" are not synonymous.

note. Pentecostalism is a global movement, and the estimations of the number of its adherents range from approximately 60,000,000 to approximately 120,000,000. The largest Protestant Christian congregation in the world is a Pentecostal church in Seoul, South Korea (see Yoido Full Gospel Church website).

encyclopedic entry. see V. Synan, "Pentecostalism," Elwell Evangelical Dictionary.

Fundamentalist Christianity

A diverse and inter-denominational (see Wikipedia "List of Christian denominations") conservative religious movement within Protestant Christianity, usually traced back to either 1878's Niagara Bible Conference or a series of pamphlets published in the the United States in the 1910's entitled collectively, The Fundamentals. Arguably, the primary tenant of fundamentalist Christianity is "the inerrancy Scripture"--that is, that The Holy Bible is divinely inspired and wholly and literally true in the plain sense of its words.

Some key tenants following from biblical inerrancy and held by the vast majority of Christian fundamentalists include:
*belief in the Bible as an accurate history (e.g. the story of The Flood & Noah's Ark is historic fact),
*rejection of modern biblical scholarship, that is, scholarship that includes examinations--drawing from textual criticism, archeology, and other disciplines--concerning the Bible's authorship,
*belief in the future bodily return of Jesus Christ ("the Second Coming") and the future bodily resurrection of all Christians,
*refusal to recognize various scientific theories, especially evolution, in favor of a form of biblical creationism,
*adherence to the principle of the subordination of the wife to the husband and women to men,
*belief in a literal Satan, hell, demons, heaven, and angels, and
*anticipation of a future "End Times" --though various schools of biblical interpretation concerning End Times exist in fundamentalist Christianity. (e.g. Dispensationalism)

Fundamentalist Christianity has a tradition of separatism and movements for doctrinal purity--resulting in numerous denominations and independent congregations--a noteworthy degree of cultural isolationism, and an apoliticism that has ebbed and flowed throughout fundamentalist Christianity's history. Until the later part of the twentieth century, fundamentalist Christians were found almost exclusively in the United States.

(see TheocracyWatch.org "Fundamentalists")

usage. Also "Christian fundamentalism," "Christian Fundamentalism," "Fundamentalist Christianity." Christian fundamentalism differs from evangelicalism and Pentecostalism, and as terms, no one of the three is synonymous with either of the other two.

historical note. From its beginnings in the 1970's, the Christian Right drew heavily from Christian fundamentalist ranks in the United States, and several fundamentalist Christian leaders were critical to the Christian Right's birth. Fundamentalist Christians had been largely politically inactive since the anti-fundamentalist backlash following the 1925 Scopes "monkey" trial's verdict (see Wikipedia Scopes trial) that upheld a ban on teaching evolution. But political activism was reawakened in the 1960's and 1970's, especially by the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling (see opinion Roe v. Wade) overturning all bans on abortion.

Fundamentalism

First applied as a term in the 1920's to conservative Protestant Christians in the United States wishing for a return to what they saw as the "fundamentals" of Protestant Christianity, (see Fundamentalist Christianity) the term popularly, and within the academic discipline of comparative religion, refers to movements primarily in Islam, Judiaism and Christianity that exist as "a kind of...rebellion against the secular hegemony of the modern world." ("Fundamentalism in the Modern World," Sojornors, March-April 2002, remark by Karen Armstrong.)

usage. "Sometimes Jews and Muslims, understandably, find it slightly offensive to have this Christian term foisted upon them, because they feel they have other objectives. It also suggests that fundamentalism is a kind of monolithic movement expressing the same kind of ideas and ideals[, which is incorrect]." (Ibid.)

Evangelical Christianity

A broad term for a complex, inter-denominational (see Wikipedia "List of Christian denominations"), global religious movement associated with Protestant Christianity and usually traced back to English minister, John Wesley (1703-1791), and that is generally marked by:

1. A preeminent emphasis on the religious conversion experience, often referred to as being "born again" or "saved," as necessary for salvation, i.e., eternal life, and

2. The conversion experience being defined as the individual's voluntary acceptance, either over time or at a particular moment, of Jesus Christ's death and bodily resurrection as the only effective mechanism by which eternal life after death is available to people; many evangelicals refer to this conversion experience with variations of the phrases, "accepting Jesus Christ into your heart as your personal Lord and Savior," or "committing your life to Christ;"

3. Belief in The Holy Bible as the primary and divinely-inspired spiritual and religious authority in life; and

4. Emphasis on a divine call that is revealed in The Holy Bible, and often referred to as "The Great Commission," to seek to evangelize other people; that is, to share one's beliefs either directly with other people, or indirectly by supporting missionary projects and evangelistic organizations, in the hope that others will convert to Christianity.

Evangelicals fall along a continuum of political and theological beliefs; but, they are far more likely to be conservative. E.g., among evangelicals in the U.S., according to research by the Barna Group, 66% saw themselves as “mostly conservative;" conversely, 0% saw themselves "liberal" (compared to 13% of all adults in the U.S.). Nonetheless, some evangelicals--including some conservative evangelicals--are committed to fighting for more traditionally progressive causes, including social justice and the elimination of poverty.

(see TheocracyWatch.org "Evangelicals")

usage. Also "Evangelicalism."

key distinctions. Evangelicalism is an older and broader movement than Fundamentalism, Pentecostalism, and the Charismatic movement, and should not be confused with them. (However, the vast majority of Fundamentalist Christians and Pentecostals, and most Charismatics, are also evangelicals.)

note. Evangelicalism is a generations-old global movement whose adherents easily number in the hundreds of millions spread throughout more than 100 nations.

historical note. Evangelicals have been involved in social and political movements both progressive and conservative--in the United States, Canada, Britain, Scandinavia, Germany, and elsewhere--with the most often mentioned examples being the abolition movement, temperance, and--in the U.S.--prohibition and the Christian Right.

U.S. Demographics. 39% of the adult Americans in 2000 described themselves as "evangelical," or approximately 109 million Americans (Barna Group).

"post-conservative evangelical theology." Some see a trend among a small number of evangelicals, mostly academics, away from strident theological conservatism. The trend, if it exists, lacks a clear formulation of belief, but Millard Erikson, Distinguished Professor of Theology at Western Seminary in Portland, lists characteristics of what he refers to as "post-conservative evangelical theology," which include but are not limited to:

1. Desire to engage in dialog with non-evangelical theologians, including liberal and [Roman Catholic] theologians.
2. Concern with theology's Eurocentrism.
3. Willingness to broadening of the sources used in theology beyond "propositional truths enshrined in doctrines" to include "Christian tradition, culture, and contemporary Christian experience."
4. Greater emphasis on Jesus' humanity (but without the rejection of his divinity).
5. Greater skepticism towards doctrinal and theological truth-claims, and rejection of triumphalism.

End Times

Generally, a term referring to a length of time--usually vaguely understood to mean less than a generation or, at the longest, a few generations--preceding the apocalypse. The term is encountered within various faiths, including within Islamic and Christian traditions. "End Times" has different connotations within the Christian traditions using the term. But, for many Evangelical, Fundamentalist, Charismatic, and Pentecostal Christians, the term is common, and is closely associated with the Tribulation--a seven-year period that is the culmination End Times and marked by wars, plagues, and cataclysms, as well as the emergence of the Antichrist, and finally the bodily return of Jesus Christ both to defeat the Antichrist and his armies at the Battle of Armageddon and inaugurate his divine reign over a 1,000-year-long kingdom on Earth. The term is less commonly encountered in mainline Protestantism and Roman Catholicism in which it has different connotations.

Belief in End Times, during which it is prophesied many key events occur in Israel, has affected American foreign policy through the influence of the Christian Right.

(see ReligiousTolerance.org "Eschatology, end times, and Millennialism")

(see the End Times as rendered on a chronological chart placed on the website maintained by a Fundamentalist Christian family here. Warning: large file)

(see Chip Berlet "End Times As a Growth Industry")

(see Frontline's "Apocalypse!" glossary)

Dominionism

A religio-political movement with pervasive influence in the Christian Right that stresses the need for Christians to exercise dominion--control--over both nature and human institutions. As it is chiefly an American phenomenon, Dominionism's manifestation in practical terms is seen in an array of efforts aimed at control of the political and governmental institutions and processes of the United States. Dominionism's adherents are typically conservative Protestants, including Fundamentalists and conservative evangelicals. As is the case with many (though not all) members of the Christian Right in general, 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.

see Dominionist Theology and Christian Reconstructionism)

usage. "dominionism" or "Dominionism"

(see Frederick Clarkson's, "The Rise of Dominionism: Remaking America as a Christian Nation")

Chip Berlet of Political Research Associates describes dominionism as

"a tendency among Protestant Christian evangelicals and fundamentalists 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."

(Note: Berlet credits author Sara Diamond as popularizing the term "dominionism")

(see Chip Berlet's four-part essay on dominionism, "The Christian Right, Dominionism, and Theocracy")

Frederick Clarkson in The Public Eye (Winter 2005), writes

"Dominionists celebrate Christian nationalism, in that they believe the the United States once was, and should once again be, a Christian nation. In this way, they deny the Enlightenment roots of American democracy."

(see ReligiousTolerance.org "Christian Reconstructionism, Dominion Theology, and Theonomy")

(see the chart of sectors of the U.S. rightwing, including Dominionists, here)