The Dominionist Machine Comes to Italy via 1994's ECT
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/30/christian-right-summit-in-verona-draws-massive-protest
This article grabbed my attention because the World Congress
of Families (WCF) is run by Allan Carlson. I've heard him interviewed on more
than one occasion.
He appeared not long ago on Issues Etc. offering praise for
Viktor Orban. While I can understand what is motivating Orban, I don't think I
can offer him praise or compliment , let alone work with his party as Carlson's
WCF is wont to do.
He's also intrigued me on more than one occasion because he's
one of the few leaders within the larger Evangelical movement that seems
willing to openly question Classical Liberalism and seems to embrace some kind
of Communitarian ideal.
I've written about some of this at the following link.
Carlson wasn't mentioned by name but I certainly had him in mind.
His Communitarian outlook is really the basis behind his
discussion on Issues Etc. that I wrote about in 2017. While he and I aren't
even operating on the same planet and while I would disagree with his larger
cultural strategy there are some refreshing aspects to what he's saying.
This Guardian article intrigued me because before now I took
Lega and its leader Salvini to be somewhat hostile to American-style Evangelicalism.
But clearly this is no longer the case.
Of course what's bringing them together are common social
issues. While I doubt Carlson would be overly enthused about the 1994 Evangelicals
and Catholics Together (ECT) agreement, this type of action is one of its
fruits. Sure, Carlson's WCF isn't directly
collaborating with the Roman hierarchy but in this case they don't have to. The
relationship is informal and is operating through proxies. But again it
wouldn't have been really possible or even conceivable apart from the new ethos
generated by ECT.
The fact that the meeting was largely ignored by the
Five-Star Movement (M5S), part of the coalition government with the League is
no surprise. It's issues like these that demonstrate the wide divergence in
their views of society and law. And you can be sure their enemies will exploit
this and seek to drive a wedge within the coalition.
Sadly as the previous day's edition of the Guardian reported,
there are some darker aspects to the movement. You can't directly blame the WCF
for attacks on sodomites but given the climate at present, the more radical and
extreme elements of the Right are going to co-opt these movements.
And of course outlets like The Guardian will surely make as
much hay as they can out of it.
But what strikes me is that the American Christian Right and
its Dominionism continue to spread around the world. Evangelicalism thinks its
scoring many victories but I predict it will all blow up in their face and
within a generation the Church (broadly speaking) will be at its nadir in terms
of cultural influence and the faithful will be suffering open persecution.
Their 'victories' are not glorifying Christ. They've confused the Gospel with
gain, with power and when these chickens come home to roost their hen-house is
going to burn.
But not for righteousness sake, but for plots, for evildoing,
for meddling in the affairs of others, for entangling themselves in the affairs
of the world and for losing their way and distracting the Church from its true
mission.
Future generations of Biblically minded Christians will curse
these days and the host of false teachers who led the Church down these dark
and bloody paths.
Salvini's latest gambit has failed. Once again I'm struck by how often the Verona conference keeps coming up... and how Salvini is being constantly and consistently praised by the American Christian Right.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.politico.eu/article/italys-center-left-set-to-fend-off-salvinis-far-right-advance-in-regional-vote/