Christian Right Fighting Theocracy
Evangelical Christians are leading an international campaign against theocracy, the very system of government we are accused of trying to implement right here in America.
It is becoming more and more apparent that journalists are doing less and less to conceal their disdain for conservative Christians, especially those who have felt God’s calling to go into public service.
I have chronicled the mockerythat the media has made of every politician who expresses God’s call in their life to seek elected office.
Whether it’s Governor Rick Perry calling for prayer for our nation,Congresswoman Bachmann discussing her “calling” to run for elected office, or Governor Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith, it is now acceptable for many in the media to ridicule the religious beliefs of one particular group of Americans - conservatives.
The new insinuation is that conservative Christians are engaged in aconcerted effort to establish a theocracy here in America. Under the guise of so-called ‘Christian Dominionism,’ our alleged goal is, “replacing American law with the strictures of the Old Testament.”
Nothing could be further from the truth.
As I have explained before, Christians who seek to participate in the political process do so not as an attempt to install some type of theocratic rule, but to ensure that the government fulfils its God-ordained role in society to promote justice, provide security, and protect the God-given freedoms of its people.
Evangelical conservatives are fighting for freedom and basic human rights around the world. Our main adversaries are often theocratic governments.
Christians, like Youcef Nadarkhani, a pastor in Iran sentenced to death by the Islamic Republic for his faith, are on the front line of the global fight for religious freedom. On September 25, a court in Iran is set to decide whether he is a convert from Islam to Christianity. If the court finds that Youcef is an apostate, he can be executed.
Pastor Nadarkhani’s Iranian lawyer Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, a Muslim,has been sentenced to 9 years in prison and banned from practicing law by the Iranian government, essentially for representing individuals such as Pastor Nadarkhani.
The ACLJ is working with Mr. Dadkhah, a well-known human rights attorney who founded the Defenders of Human Rights Center along with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi.
A conservative Christian legal organization and a Muslim human rights attorney are battling theocracy together. This isn’t new for the ACLJ. In Pakistan, our office works with brave attorneys, some of whom are Muslim, willing to defend persecuted Christians.
Ultimately, we believe that man is fallen, and as such, man-established theocratic rule can lead to the same abuses as any dictatorial regime. It is why James Madison penned the immortal words:
If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.
Limited government and free will are the guiding political principles of the social conservative movement, especially the “Teavangelicals.”
We are the opponent of big government and enemy of theocracy.
Please pray for Youcef Nadarkhani and his attorney Mohammad Ali Dadkhah.
