We probably won't hear about this movement in the mainstream press, nor will we hear that other Christians are concerned about it. If it gets discussed, it will be elided with "Christianity" in general, more uninformed Christians will assume this shit is what their religion really teaches, and more secular Americans will see in this more proof that religion per se, rather than manipulative religion, is the problem.
Those sounding the alarm about Joel's Army are not secular foes of the Christian Right, few of whom are even aware of the movement or how widespread it's become in the past decade. Instead, Joel's Army critics are mostly conservative Christians, either neo-Pentecostals who left the movement in disgust or evangelical Christians who fear that Joel's Army preachers are stealing their flocks, even sending spies to infiltrate their own congregations and sway their young people to heresy. And they say the movement is becoming frightening.
Joel's Army believers are hard-core Christian dominionists, meaning they believe that America, along with the rest of the world, should be governed by conservative Christians and a conservative Christian interpretation of biblical law. There is no room in their doctrine for democracy or pluralism. |
Read the whole article to see just how scary this stuff is.
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