The Law of Christianism

Have you ever heard of Regent University? It was founded by Pat Robertson, and their slogan might creep you out a little: Christian Leadership to Change the World This becomes even scarier when the law school there - founded in 1986 (that's right, 21 years ago) and ranked in a tie for dead-last 136th in US News and World Report - has put several alumni in important positions in the Bush administration. A good article on this is here. Monica Goodling, who is Alberto Gonzales' senior counsel and Justice Department liaison to the White House, is also a graduate. She has created quite a stir recently, getting herself embroiled in all sorts of government scandals and issues. The Slate teases her as they review her shoddy governmental service history: ...Goodling no longer seems to know what the truth is. She must also be increasingly unclear about who her superiors are. This didn't used to be a problem for Goodling, now on indefinite leave from the DoJ. Everything was once very certain: Her boss's truth was always the same as God's truth. Her boss was always either God or one of His staffers. Building on the well-known fundamental Christianist leaning of the Bush Administration, and the legal support for it provided by Regent University, the Dean of Regent's Law School wants students to reflect on: ...the critical role the Christian faith should play in our legal system. Yikes. The Slate finishes their article with this paragraph: ...the real concern here is that Goodling and her ilk somehow began to conflate God's work with the president's. Probably not a lesson she learned in law school. The dream of Regent and its counterparts, like Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, is to redress perceived wrongs to Christians, to reclaim the public square, and reassert Christian political authority. And while that may have been a part of the Bush/Rove plan, it was, in the end, only a small part. Their real zeal was for earthly power. Christopher Hayes also writes an interesting piece in the American Prospect, where he says: It just might be that what students are taught at a place like Regent, or even Calvin and Wheaton, is to live out a Christ-centered existence in all facets of their lives. But what they learn is to become Republicans. QFT.