@Big Al @Big Al

The best of articles on Dominionism in the White House and elsewhere started disappearing, at least hiding from my searches, some years ago, or had the term altered to Calvanism or the like in various articles remaining. And the top article showing on this search page is at TOP...

But it's essentially a psychopathic corporate-funded, corporate/wealth-worshipping ideology that teaches that the wealthiest are beloved of God and that the wealthiest have the right to do whatever they want to the less/not wealthy, no matter how cruel. And deception is their gospel.

This is enough for a hint to stay well clear of any of their ilk. This lot almost makes me believe in devils...

Might want to read this in full at source, start picking out politically influential names - including Betsy DeVos, 'helping' the children of the Disposable Poors rid themselves of enforced public schooling... they like to indoctrinate toddlers into submission to their insanity.

(Emphasis mine)

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2007/8/23/142836/277

Dominionism's parallel economy: Corporate sponsors

Thu Aug 23, 2007 at 02:28:36 PM EST
Today, I begin covering a series here that I've been covering on DailyKos--namely, what may be one of the first attempts to fully plumb the dominionist "parallel economy".

The first installment on DailyKos was in large part a repeat of my post on "Shepherd's Guides" and similar "Christian yellow pages" type directories; here on Talk to Action, we'll begin the series with discussion of the four companies that are most solidly linked with dominionism in the workplace--Amway/Quixtar, Chick-Fil-A, Hobby Lobby, and US Plastics.

As you will see, a surprising amount of money actually gets funneled to dominionist groups by these four companies--and readers of Talk to Action may wish to consider where their money goes when making their shopping decisions.

Much has been made of dominionist corporate sponsorship by neoconservative groups like the Scaife and Coors foundations--there are some major dominionist corporate sponsors that are themselves dominionists and major players in the "parallel economy", though.

Amway aka Quixtar

AmWay--it's a dominionist funding group, it's a major recruitment front for dominionist churches, it's a coercive group in and of itself, it's all of the above!

Minor snark aside, AmWay is probably the one of the biggest funders of dominionism, and does a fair amount of promotion of dominionism (among its worst offenses).

AmWay--or more properly, its "Amway Business Motivational Organisations" used in "downlines" of the company--is frequently cited as a prototypical example of a "coercive business group"--that is, a business organisation that operates much like a coercive religious group. Multiple "exit counselors" and researchers into coercive groups have expressed grave concern regarding Amway BMO's and particular downlines. Steven Hassan, a professional "exit counselor" who operates the Freedom of Mind Institute, has listed the Amway BMOs as coercive groups according to the BITE model of "abusiveness" of groups; other groups that have expressed concern include FACTnet, Cult Awareness Information Centre, and Rick Ross Institute. (It is not an exaggeration to state that the only groups more universally considered abusive are Scientology and the Moonies.) In fact, at least one major "danger sign" already exists--a specific org called amquix.info exists re AmWay's history of abuse, and a very good book called Merchants of Deception exists detailing both the abuse and the extensive promotion of dominionism within AmWay.

And believe you me, Amway promotes dominionism like it was going out of style.

Many AmWay downlines--in particular the Dexter Yager downline--are known to promote specific types of dominion theology popular in neopentecostal circles, in particular within the Assemblies of God. This should probably not be shocking; quite a lot of Diamonds in AmWay are known to be members of the Assemblies of God and/or the Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship International. Notable Assemblies Diamond-level AmWay members include John Ashcroft and Doug Wead, both of whom have had very close links with George W. Bush; Wead in particular largely coached Bush in regards to "learning to speak dominionist-ese" and largely introduced Bush to dominionist leaders. (Of particular note, Ashcroft is very influential in Assemblies of God circles; his father is founder of Chi Alpha, an Assemblies "fraternity front" targeting college-age students.)

Multiple persons who have left AmWay have reported heavy pressure to convert to dominionist and specifically neopentecostal forms of faith in Business Motivational Organisations; in other words, there is a very strong possibility that AmWay may in and of itself be used as a front to recruit people into dominionist churches. Likewise, there is considerable evidence that AmWay in large part may be promoted as a type of "MLM affinity fraud" within Assemblies of God churches in particular--hence the two groups are essentially acting as "co-recruiters", the Assemblies recruiting from AmWay downlines and AmWay recruiting from Assemblies churches. (It is of note that AmWay is often promoted by FGBMFI members as a "Christian Business Opportunity" to audiences in dominionist churches and is very, very actively promoted as part of the "parallel economy"--specifically as a "Christian alternative" to Proctor and Gamble, as noted below.) It is of particular note that often Diamonds linked with neopentecostal dominionist groups are quite high up in the hierarchies of both church and AmWay (for example, Diamonds who are deacons or even assistant ministers in churches).

In addition, AmWay motivational seminars (in particular, within the Dexter Yager downline) have promoted specific deceptive methods of recruitment into religious groups--specifically, a tactic known as "servant evangelism", "stealth evangelism", or "bait and switch evangelism". The concept in general involves striking up a business relationship, false friendship, etc. for the explicit purpose of gaining enough trust to begin religious hard-sells to the target person--with the explicit knowledge that the target will be unaware until it is too late that the entire purpose of the relationship was to gain a convert.

One of the big bits of dominion theology AmWay has promoted is the concept known alternately as "Name It And Claim It", "Blab It And Grab It", "Confess and Possess", or "Prosperity Gospel". ("Prosperity Gospel" is actually based on a variation of dominion theology that teaches that Satan "stole dominion" over the world upon the fall of Adam and Christ was tortured (or, in some versions, wrestled the devil) for three days in Hell; it is also explicitly taught that the Saved or Elect are "God's Army" (or "Joel's Army") and that they are literally on a mission from God to "reclaim dominion" over all things physical and spiritual. "Prosperity Gospel" is essentially a subset that teaches that one must "name and claim" what one desires to "claim dominion" over it and seize it.) In particular, AmWay motivational seminars have been known to promote the works of specific authors well known in the "Prosperity Gospel" and "Word-Faith" circuits (including E. W. Kenyon, Robert Schuller, Norman Vincent Peale and Don Gossett) and have been known to quote Bible verses out of context (a practice known as "scripture twisting") in identical manner to "Prosperity Gospel" churches.

AmWay is also known to promote concepts relating to neopentecostal concepts of "deliverance ministry" and in particular concepts relating to "Serpent Seed" theology--the concept that all humans are either literal sons of God or literal sons of Satan (persons refusing to buy from AmWay are described as the latter and as being used as "tools of Satan" to oppress AmWay salespersons). ...

Their god is Meritocracy. Son of Mammon...

https://www.thedailybeast.com/betsy-devos-trumps-education-pick-could-ma...

Urgent
Betsy DeVos, Trump’s Education Pick, Could Make Life Hell for LGBT Youth
Senators must ask if a socially conservative crusader intends to protect gay and transgender students. Lives are at stake.

Jay Michaelson
01.17.17 9:45 AM ET

As billionaire philanthropist Betsy DeVos heads into her confirmation hearings to run the Department of Education, most questions will likely be about her support for school vouchers, charter schools, and other alternatives to the public school system.

But there is an urgent need to ask DeVos another set of questions: What would she do to protect the most vulnerable students, particularly LGBT students, from harassment and violence? Would her department make matters even worse for them?

Same-sex marriage may grab the headlines, but education policy at all levels of government often has more of an effect on the daily lives of LGBT people, because despite all the progress in recent years, queer kids are still being bullied, and still attempting suicide at four times the rate of straight kids.

DeVos’s stance on LGBT rights is not known—she has declined to comment ahead of the confirmation hearings—but there are, to put it mildly, reasons for concern.

The DeVos family has been the primary funder of some of the most anti-LGBT organizations in the country, to the tune of more than $200 million. Her father-in-law, Richard DeVos, was one of the first mega-funders of the Christian right in the 1970s, and his foundation is now a fixture at The Gathering, the Woodstock of Christian right funders, and a major funder of Focus on the Family. The DeVos Center for Religion and Society at the Heritage Foundation has promoted a quasi-theocratic worldview. And Betsy DeVos’s father, Edgar Prince, was a founder of the Family Research Council. ...

The Bush 2 gang is back with a vengeance, Dominionism and all - although this has not yet been as immediately apparent as this would have been under Family member, Hillary Clinton.

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2007/12/17/34033/248

The Question Hillary Clinton Won't Answer
Frederick Clarkson

...One of the competitors is a shadowy, religious right group known as "The Family". Targets for recruitment include both Republicans and Democrats. A few years ago journalist Jeff Sharlet went undercover to learn about the machinations of this secretive network -- and his findings were published in Harpers magazine: Jesus plus nothing: Undercover among America's secret theocrats.

In a follow-up article last fall in Mother Jones, Sharlet and Kathryn Joyce detailed the involvement of Senator Hillary Clinton in this group. She refused to talk with them about it.

Here are excerpts from the Harpers article:

the Family's only publicized gathering is the National Prayer Breakfast, which it established in 1953 and which, with congressional sponsorship, it continues to organize every February in Washington, D.C. Each year 3,000 dignitaries, representing scores of nations, pay $425 each to attend. Steadfastly ecumenical, too bland most years to merit much press, the breakfast is regarded by the Family as merely a tool in a larger purpose: to recruit the powerful attendees into smaller, more frequent prayer meetings, where they can "meet Jesus man to man."

The group plays a behind the scenes role, in facilitating relationships between world leaders:

During the 1960s the Family forged relationships between the U.S. government and some of the most anti-Communist (and dictatorial) elements within Africa's postcolonial leadership. The Brazilian dictator General Costa e Silva, with Family support, was overseeing regular fellowship groups for Latin American leaders, while, in Indonesia, General Suharto (whose tally of several hundred thousand "Communists" killed marks him as one of the century's most murderous dictators) was presiding over a group of fifty Indonesian legislators. During the Reagan Administration the Family helped build friendships between the U.S. government and men such as Salvadoran general Carlos Eugenios Vides Casanova, convicted by a Florida jury of the torture of thousands, and Honduran general Gustavo Alvarez Martinez, himself an evangelical minister, who was linked to both the CIA and death squads before his own demise. "We work with power where we can," the Family's leader, Doug Coe, says, "build new power where we can't."

At the 1990 National Prayer Breakfast, George H.W. Bush praised Doug Coe for what he described as "quiet diplomacy, I wouldn't say secret diplomacy," as an "ambassador of faith."

Suffice to say, there is much, much more in this ground-breaking article that will more than raise eyebrows -- and go a long way to helping to illuminate some dark corners of why things are the way they are Inside the Beltway. ...

Also links to:

(Emphasis mine)

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2007/09/hillarys-prayer-hillary-clin...

Hillary’s Prayer: Hillary Clinton’s Religion and Politics
For 15 years, Hillary Clinton has been part of a secretive religious group that seeks to bring Jesus back to Capitol Hill. Is she triangulating—or living her faith?

Jeff Sharlet and Kathryn JoyceSep. 1, 2007

...Through all of her years in Washington, Clinton has been an active participant in conservative Bible study and prayer circles that are part of a secretive Capitol Hill group known as the Fellowship. Her collaborations with right-wingers such as Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and former Senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) grow in part from that connection. “A lot of evangelicals would see that as just cynical exploitation,” says the Reverend Rob Schenck, a former leader of the militant anti-abortion group Operation Rescue who now ministers to decision makers in Washington. “I don’t….there is a real good that is infected in people when they are around Jesus talk, and open Bibles, and prayer.”

Clinton’s faith is grounded in the Methodist beliefs she grew up with in Park Ridge, Illinois, a conservative Chicago suburb where she was active in her church’s altar guild, Sunday school, and youth group. It was there, in 1961, that she met the Reverend Don Jones, a 30-year-old youth pastor; Jones, a friend of Clinton’s to this day, told us he knows “more about Hillary Clinton’s faith than anybody outside her family.” ...

...Under Jones’ mentorship, Clinton learned about Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Tillich—thinkers whom liberals consider their own, but whom young Hillary Rodham encountered as theological conservatives. The Niebuhr she studied was a cold warrior, dismissive of the progressive politics of his earlier writing. “He’d thought that once we were unionized, the kingdom of God would be ushered in,” Jones explains. “But the effect of those two world wars and the violence that they produced shook his faith in liberal theology. He came to believe that the achievement of justice meant a clear understanding of the limitations of the human condition.” Tillich, whose sermon on grace Clinton turned to during the Lewinsky scandal, today enjoys a following among conservatives for revising the social gospel—the notion that Christians are to improve humanity’s lot here on earth by fighting poverty, inequality, and exploitation—to emphasize individual redemption instead of activism.

Niebuhr and Tillich’s combination of aggressiveness in foreign affairs and limited domestic ambition naturally led Clinton toward the gop. She was a Goldwater Girl who, under the tutelage of her high school history teacher Paul Carlson (whom Jones describes as “to the right of the John Birchers”), attended biweekly anticommunist meetings and later served as president of Wellesley’s Young Republicans chapter. Out of step with the era’s radicalism, Clinton wrote Jones from college, lamenting that her fellow students didn’t believe that one could be “a mind conservative and a heart liberal.” To Jones, this question indicated that Clinton shared Niebuhr’s notion of Christians needing to have “a dark enough view of life that they can be realistic about what’s possible.” ...

...Clinton’s prayer group was part of the Fellowship (or “the Family”), a network of sex-segregated cells of political, business, and military leaders dedicated to “spiritual war” on behalf of Christ, many of them recruited at the Fellowship’s only public event, the annual National Prayer Breakfast. (Aside from the breakfast, the group has “made a fetish of being invisible,” former Republican Senator William Armstrong has said.) The Fellowship believes that the elite win power by the will of God, who uses them for his purposes. Its mission is to help the powerful understand their role in God’s plan.

Clinton declined our requests for an interview about her faith, but in Living History, she describes her first encounter with Fellowship leader Doug Coe at a 1993 lunch with her prayer cell at the Cedars, the Fellowship’s majestic estate on the Potomac. ...

...When Time put together a list of the nation’s 25 most powerful evangelicals in 2005, the heading for Coe’s entry was “The Stealth Persuader.” “You know what I think of when I think of Doug Coe?” the Reverend Schenck (a Coe admirer) asked us. “I think literally of the guy in the smoky back room that you can’t even see his face. He sits in the corner, and you see the cigar, and you see the flame, and you hear his voice—but you never see his face. He’s that shadowy figure.”

Coe has been an intimate of every president since Ford, but he rarely imposes on chief executives, who see him as a slightly mystical but apolitical figure. Rather, Coe uses his access to the Oval Office as currency with lesser leaders. “If Doug Coe can get you some face time with the President of the United States,” one official told the author of a Princeton study of the National Prayer Breakfast last year, “then you will take his call and seek his friendship. That’s power.” ...

...Coe’s friends include former Attorney General John Ashcroft, Reaganite Edwin Meese III, and ultraconservative Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.). ...

...According to the Fellowship’s archives, the spirit has in the past led its members in Congress to increase U.S. support for the Duvalier regime in Haiti and the Park dictatorship in South Korea. The Fellowship’s God-led men have also included General Suharto of Indonesia; Honduran general and death squad organizer Gustavo Alvarez Martinez; a Deutsche Bank official disgraced by financial ties to Hitler; and dictator Siad Barre of Somalia, plus a list of other generals and dictators. Clinton, says Schenck, has become a regular visitor to Coe’s Arlington, Virginia, headquarters, a former convent where Coe provides members of Congress with sex-segregated housing and spiritual guidance. ...

This is a very tactful article, which doesn't emphasize, in the manner of exposes I can no longer find, the fact that The Family is Dominionist and believes that God sends wealth and power to the chosen few who are entitled to be ruthless about stealing these from others so that they can exert power freely over those with less of these evidences of God's blessings and permission for their exercise of tyranny.

Yeah, I know, right out of the Christian description of their Devil and his temptations, isn't it?

Thanks to such as these, evil has what is now instead termed a 'right wing' bias - instead of using the modern term, as an obvious pathology.

Edited both to add a missed comma and add that actual Conservatives would never have recognized the destructive ideology termed 'right wing' in America nowadays as Conservatism - which seeks to conserve.

#3.1.2.1.2.1 things Whitehead is and has been saying about the police state and corruption of government in this country. I think you're discounting a voice that can be used and is helpful. Where we end up after taking down the government should be up to the people, not Whitehead himself. That would be the point, power to the people instead of who is controlling our government. If he can help us get there, I'm not seeing the problem at this point.