A former writer for the New York Times, Christopher Hedges, wrote a book titled American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America.
        In a recent commentary about the book, Don Feder, an orthodox Jew, said, Hedges’ screed is the latest in a long, long, line of hysterical tracts denouncing what the secular left calls the Religious Right. The past year alone has seen such saliva-specked exposes of alleged Christian extremism as:
    *Religion Gone Bad: Hidden Dangers of the Christian Right by Mel White
    *Why the Christian Right Is Wrong by Robin Meyers
    *The Left Hand of God: Taking Back Our Country from the Religious Right by Michael Lerner
     *Theocons: Secular America Under Siege by Damon Linker
    *American Theocracy by Kevin Phillips
    *The Baptizing of America: The Religious Right’s Plan for the Rest of Us by James Rudin
    *Piety and Politics: The Right Wing Assault on Religious Freedom by the Reverend Barry Lynn and
    *Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism by Michelle Goldberg….

A THEOCRACY?
        Modern secularists often accuse the religious Right of calling for a theocracy in America. Despite these claims, I am not advocating a theocracy. I am only trying to restore the truth that Christianity is, and always has been, a fundamental component in the marketplace of ideas.
        Throughout history, there has been only one theocracy, and that was the state of Israel in the time of the Old Testament. God alone ruled then. There was no legislature. The Sanhedrin was simply a supreme court. There was but one lawgiver. That system of law stopped with the destruction of Israel, ending the only theocracy in history. I would not have America reinstitute the Old Testament civil and legal systems to replace our governmental legislation. Those laws are merely a guide to the kinds of laws that civil governments should form today. I do believe that the laws of every nation should be in harmony, not with the civil laws of the Old Testament, but at least with the moral laws of the Ten Commandments.
        Jesus lived under that theocracy, but His death and the subsequent dispersal of Israel brought an end to it. By His Spirit working through the early church, it is very clear that He did not mean to perpetuate the theocratic system throughout the whole world. Even at the first council at Jerusalem, they said, "We had a system of laws that we ourselves could not bear, and now we should not try to impose this on the Gentile world" (see Acts 15:10). I believe the church has been acting in accordance with Christ, as He revealed His will through His Spirit to the early church....
         None of this is to negate the need for Christian involvement in the public arena.  Jesus said we are to "render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s" (Luke 20:25). Furthermore, we are called to be salt and light, which has political implications. Furthermore, we know that in the American experience, our founders recognized our rights came from God, and they said as such in the Declaration of Independence....

If you want to learn more about How Would Jesus Vote? or order a copy, click here.

Click here to try a previous quiz.