Let me start by pointing out the obvious. Quoting yourself is not an academic virtue. It means literally nothing. Hyatt does this all the time. He has written books on his pet subjects, butchering US History, Dominionism, and butchering the bible to allow female pastors. Then he pretends to write academic articles, but his sources are himself! At least this time, he sort of cites someone else before referring to his own book. Yet, who is Benjamin Hart? Just another radical right-wing zealot, which you can tell from his defaming of the ACLU. So, it is of little surprise or value, that Hart magically agrees with the dominionist position of Hyatt. The codification in our governing documents however ensures a separation of church state, not a white Christian theocracy as Hyatt always dreams of.
"Understanding this historical context gives understanding to the first clause of the First Amendment, which reads, "Congress shall make no law concerning the establishment of religion nor hindering the free exercise thereof." This was not an embrace of secularism; this was a rejection of the use of governmental force in matters of conscience and faith. The First Amendment was written to keep the government out of the church, not the other way around. This becomes even more obvious when we consider that the day after ratifying this amendment, those same founders proclaimed a National Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving. America was Christian in its origins, but not by political, legislative action or judicial decree. America was Christian in its origins because the nonconforming, Dissenting Protestants stood strong for individual and religious liberty by rejecting the Constantinian concept of a politicized church and insisting on a free church that changes hearts and minds by the preaching of the gospel." - Eddie Hyatt
Bzzt. Thanks for playing Eddie. It is laughable for someone like Eddie Hyatt, a rabid dominionist, to say that he rejects a politicized church. Of course, he does not. He demands a politicized church! It is conducted under the guise of culture wars but Eddie is in the business of picking winners and losers. To the dominionist, there is one political party that must be voted for, always. I was listening to a radio program from Dr. Brown this morning and a caller was pontificating that when he stands before Jesus, he will answer for who he voted for, based on what policies they were advocating for. This is the end result of the false theology of dominionism and the radical NAR. If you honestly think this then you have lost all biblical perspective. If you think Jesus cares one whit about who you voted for then you need to shut off Fox news and leave whatever church is feeding you this nonsense. There is no more righteousness in the Republican Party than in the Democratic Party. People like Greg Locke and Mario Murillo are false teachers leading people to a false Jesus. When Jesus walked the earth, He was completely apolitical. Do not confuse His involvement with the false teachers of His day as political involvement. It was not. Jesus did nothing to even alleviate the oppression Rome was visiting upon His people. His kingdom is NOT of this world.
I will give you a historical example of the sheer lunacy of this theology. In the late 1990's we had the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, and all the same false teachers were lining up to decry the moral bankruptcy of Bill Clinton. All we heard was character counts. The three big politico-religious icons driving this narrative at the time were Newt Gingrich, Bob Livingston and Dennis Hastert. Gingrich was the Speaker of the House and Hastert was the lead prosecutor of the Clinton impeachment. These three could be heard rallying the church against the moral turpitude of the time. And rally did the church. Fast forward ten years and we now know that at that exact time when they were lecturing us on morals, Gingrich as having an affair on his wife with a women half his age, whom he would leave his wife for. Livingston had so many affairs he was forced to resign and Dennis Hastert was a serial child molester of little boys for decades. So, if you think Jesus is going to give you an attaboy for voting for these three, or anyone else for that matter, you simply are reinventing God to suit your own carnal desires. The caller to Dr. Brown was advocating for Trump, the least moral man to ever run for president. He is facing 91 counts across four indictments, not including the fraud case in NY and the conviction for sexual assault. He openly bragged about grabbing women by their genitalia and is married three times, divorced twice and committed infidelity on all of them. The last time, with a porno star. Before you get twisted, this is not an endorsement of the other or any side. It is highlighting the biblical stupidity it takes to adopt the dominionist position.
So, no one is making the argument that freedom of religion was somehow embracing secularism but this absurd talking point dominionists have about it not being meant to keep the church out of government is quite silly and shows how disconnected from reality Hyatt and his ilk are. Sure, you could point to some zealots like John Adams but on the flip side you could point to people vehemently opposed to even state sanctioned days of prayer, such as James Madison. Thomas Jefferson likewise would not have been on Eddie Hyatt's side here and Jefferson embodies why Eddie remains so wildly off. Jefferson was a deist who literally rewrote the bible to remove any reference to the deity of Christ as well as all of His miracles. C'mon. Were there a lot of Christians in the time America was being birthed? Of course. It was the dominant religion of the time, albeit in different factions. But there were plenty of deists like Jefferson and a few atheists sprinkled in for good measure. These folks were not the Pilgrims or the Puritans. Their beef was not religious but rather economic. To claim they wanted the church to run the government is asinine.
"America was Christian in its origins because a Great Awakening (1726-70) had turned the masses to faith in Jesus Christ and impacted every Founding Father, as I document in my book, "1726: The Year that Defined America." This is why John Marshall, America's second Supreme Court chief justice, who served in that capacity for 34 years, from 1801 to 1835, could say,
"No person, I believe, questions the importance of religion in the happiness of man, even during his existence in this world. The American population is entirely Christian, and with us Christianity and religion are identified. It would be strange, indeed, if with such a people, our institutions did not presuppose Christianity, and did not refer to it, and exhibit relations with it" (Hyatt, 169). The Christianity of America's founding generation was organic, rising up from the people who influenced every area of American life. Yes, it is of utmost importance that Christians are socially and politically active and take seriously their responsibility to vote." - Eddie Hyatt
The utmost importance to whom? God? Hardly. One could argue that if God seriously is going to judge a wrong vote as sin, that abstaining from voting would be the best choice since every election is a choice between two sinners, neither of which is saved. Before you get confused about the false concept of "voting for policies" remember that most of what politicians run on never comes to pass. They lie to get elected. Further remember that the NAR will point to one or two wedge issues as being the only thing that matters to God but that is horribly wrong as well. Further impoverishing poor people is probably held in great contempt by God, who spent most of the bible speaking about taking care of the least in society and not give tax breaks for corporations and millionaires. We can play these semantical political games all day but at the end you have to liars asking for your vote so do not be confused. Jesus is not going to be reviewing your voting record. As for John Marshall, Eddie loves to cherry pick individual men in history who may have been particularly religious and extrapolate that person out to everyone. We have been through this before. John Adams? Zealous. Thomas Jefferson? Did not believe in the deity of Jesus Christ.
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