Some people object to saddling the Christian Right with the label 'theocratic,' arguing that they don't really want to impose a full-fledged theocracy. There are, however, degrees of theocratic states. It's possible for a state to be more or less theocratic just as it is more or less democratic. A state may be imperfectly democratic; another may be imperfectly theocratic.

Americans United reports:

Dobson argues that government and society must not tolerate laws that offend his evangelical Christian brand of religion. “A life in keeping with God’s design and instruction brings the greatest possible fulfillment, while any deviation from His design invites disaster,” Dobson writes in Marriage Under Fire. “This is why the Bible warns against all harmful forms of sexual behavior, including premarital sex, adultery, prostitution, incest, bestiality and pedophilia.”

Dobson believes that “the homosexual activist movement and related entities” are the forces working to undermine God’s plans. “The institution of marriage and the Christian church,” he insists, “are all that stand in the way of the movement’s achievement of every coveted aspiration.”

A perfect theocracy might have a priest as the leader and I’m not sure that such a state has ever existed. The fact that Dobson’s vision of America falls short of putting a priest in command doesn’t mean it isn’t theocratic at all, however. Theocratic is the best description for a state where the validity of laws is evaluated against someone’s interpretation of God’s will and one group’s religious scripture.

James Dobson is one of the most powerful religious figures in the nation. If we define “mainstream” as being well within the boundaries of common attitudes and beliefs, then Dobson is about as mainstream as a religious figure can get in America. This means that it is “mainstream” to believe that America should be ruled in a theocratic manner, where laws are based or judged on how well they conform to the religious scriptures of one group.

 

Read More:

• Religious Right
• Religious Right News
• Christian Privilege
• Christian Supremacy