Bachmann, Perry, Palin Overdrive -- Part Two: Michele Bachmann's religious hubris - "Lord, you are the one who chooses us, we don't choose you"

By Kathleen

When politicians such as Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Sarah Palin mention that they would like to restore all that is "good and strong and free" about America they mean that they want to push American society backwards to a point in time nearly four hundred years ago. To a time when one man could be elected Governor twelve times and merely questioning his views was considered a crime that would result in banishment and the shunning of the offender by the community. That man was John Winthrop, a zealous Puritan, who along with several members of his family, made the long journey on the ship Arbella to New England where he was to dominate society with his theocratic views for almost twenty years.

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica Winthrop was "a man suspicious of new ideas and influences and convinced that God favoured his community above all others." It is easy reading this short description to recognise Winthrop's influence on the political ideas that Bachmann, Perry and Palin espouse, especially the idea that America is an exceptional nation favoured by God. That they are the chosen ones, the elected. Bachmann definitely holds to the idea that she has been chosen by God rather than her choosing God.

This audio of Bachmann praying for the ten-fold expansion of the You Can Run, But You Cannot Hide Ministry run by Bradlee Dean, a controversial "minister" who appears to hate gays, President Obama, Muslims and Democrats in equal measure reveals Bachmanns disconnection from reality (you have to listen to this prayer and Michele Bachmann's voice in order to believe it):

At the 1.50 minute mark you can listen as Bachmann thanks God that he is the one that chooses -- that we do not choose God, instead he chooses us. This grandiose idea of somehow being specially chosen also allows such believers to think that they are already "saved" and thereby free from the notion of accountability.

Frank Schaeffer jnr describes in a recent interview with Democracy Now's Amy Goodman that Bachmann and other politicians who share her views were influenced to enter politics by the writings and work of his father, Francis Schaeffer snr. Francis Schaeffer snr was an influential and charismatic evangelist who has been described as the "catalyst who inspired the evangelicals' re-entry into American politics in the 70's" and who believed that secular humanism was the greatest evil that modern day society faces. Schaeffer snr was also instrumental in persuading other evangelicals to join the Catholic Church in its cause against abortion.

Here is a promotion clip describing how Francis Schaeffer snr and others confronted what they saw as the threat of a secular America in which all values were up for grabs leading to the moral decay of society:

Watch the full episode. See more FRONTLINE.

Schaeffer jnr sets out to explain that

Bachmann doesn't just come from the far right of evangelical politics. She comes from a fringe even of the fringe which is the reconstructionist, dominionist movement that honestly in the best of all worlds as far as they are concerned would replace American Democracy with a theocracy on a Christian level that would mirror something like modern day Iran after it fell to the Ayatollah Khomeini.

Schaeffer jnr further reveals that in his opinion Bachmann's answer regarding the issue of submission to her husband was a

planned, well rehearsed lie......which she is allowed to get away with to insinuate herself into mainstream American politics as a radical anti feminist coming from the far right fringe of even the evangelical movement. For purposes of the election and maybe moving forward to getting the nomination from the republican party then she has to tell these well rehearsed lies to somehow soft peddle this extreme background that she comes from.

As I previously mentioned Bachmann already believes that God has chosen her and that her sins are forgiven. The only little voices that Bachmann has to listen to inside her head are those that she believes are from God. How does she know that they are from God? Well, God has chosen her so they must be. And if God whispers to Bachmann that it is OK to lie because it is for his glory then who is she to argue, after all she is God's tool.

Bachmann, Perry, Palin, all of them are willing to misrepresent their true agenda in order to take back America from the secularists that they think are responsible for the myriad of problems that they believe America presently faces. Schaeffer jnr explains that they hate America as it is now:

They wrap themselves in the flag, but they hate America as it is. The America that embraces gay people, is multicultural, is a homogenous society that seeks to incorporate all races and ethnic creeds into its culture. The America that they love is the quote "Christian America" that they keep harping back to....People like Rick Perry, Michelle Bachmann, Sarah Palin, George W Bush etc all want to "take us back." But it is an America that never really existed and certainly doesn't now....... It is that basic lack of patriotism that does not like the laws of the country so tells people to revolt. This flirtation with secessionism that people like Rick Perry and Sarah Palin's husband have played with........these sort of violent overtures saying that we would know what to do with the chairman of the feds in Texas...treat him rough kind of stuff. You know this is the language of people who are unpatriotic, essentially hate their country and want to defund the US government completely and in the best of all worlds would literally overthrow our system of government.

Bachmann, Perry, Palin do not want to maintain the present system which excludes church from state. They want to replace government with church authority. They want God to be the supreme leader of the USA. They believe themselves to be divinely guided and they want you to believe that they are divinely guided too. That is why Bachmann leads prayer groups in Congress. Why Palin has a "prayer shield" which rallies her followers to rally round and defend her because she has been called by God and should not be criticised. Why Perry prays for rain and has private meetings with his prayer advisor and conducts a prayer rally the weekend before he announces that he is officially entering the race as the GOP nominee for the 2012 Presidential election.

Bachmann, Perry, Palin --- they are all opportunists and if they do not see an opportunity you can be sure that they will make one.

You can find a list of Frank Schaeffer's books here.

I have also read good reports on the series God in America which explores "the 400 year history of the intersection of religion and public life in America." I haven't watched all of the six episodes yet but feel that I can recommend it. You can watch the full episodes online here.

Bachmann, Perry, Palin Part 3 will follow soon.

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BONUS:

Michele Bachmann tries very hard to live up to her reputation to be the "batshit crazy politician." This time it doesn't concern the subject of religion, but her (non-existent) knowledge about global politics. She proved beautifully in a radio interview on August 18, 2011 that she apparently hasn't memorized yet that the Soviet Union doesn't exist any more, and said, as first reported by Raw Story:

“But what people recognize is that there’s a fear that the United States is in an unstoppable decline. They see the rise of China, the rise of India, the rise of the Soviet Union and our loss militarily going forward. And especially with this very bad debt ceiling bill, what we have done is given a favor to President Obama and the first thing he’ll whack is five hundred billion out of the military defense at a time when we’re fighting three wars. People recognize that.”

Patrick didn't hesitate to create a youtube-clip which documents these remarks:

What will come next...?

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