Science fiction critic Alexei Panshin wrote that everyone should have a crackpot theory they adhere to, just so they have something interesting to talk about.
But Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly member Lance Roberts has taken Panshin’s suggestion way too far.
Roberts admires and quotes – at length – the writings of Rousas John Rushdoony. He regularly posts quotations from Rushdoony’s foundation, the Chalcedon Foundation.
And the late Rev. Rushdoony – he died in 2001 – was a piece of work, even by WC’s cynical standards. Here’s a sampling of Rushdoony’s views.
Revisions to Criminal Law.
Rushdoony supported the reinstatement of the the Old Testaement law’s penal sanctions. Under such a system, the list of crimes which carried a death sentence would include homosexuality, adultery, incest, lying about one’s virginity, bestiality, witchcraft, idolatry or apostasy, public blasphemy, false prophesying, kidnapping, rape, and bearing false witness in a capital case. Rushdoony told Bill Moyers in 1988, “The Bible identifies 15 crimes against the family worthy of the death penalty. Abortion is treason against the family and deserves the death penalty. Adultery is treason to the family; adulterers should be put to death. Homosexuality is treason to the family, and it too, is worthy of death.” (R.J. Rushdoony, to Bill Moyers on television. From a PBS Home Video: God and Politics: On Earth as it is in Heaven, 1988.)
Imposition of Theocracy.
Rushdoony wrote, wrote that “the heresy of democracy has since then worked havoc in church and state … Christianity and democracy are inevitably enemies.” He elsewhere said that “Christianity is completely and radically anti-democratic; it is committed to spiritual aristocracy,” and characterized democracy as “the great love of the failures and cowards of life.”
The Enviornment.
The creation mandate was precisely the requirement that man subdue the earth and exercise dominion over it. There is not one word of Scripture to indicate or imply that this mandate ever was revoked. There is every word of Scripture to declare that this mandate must and shall be fulfilled. Those who attempt to break it shall themselves be broken. (Rushdoony, The Institutes of Biblical Law, 1973, p.14)
Tolerance.
In the name of toleration, the believer is asked to associate on a common level of total acceptance with the atheist, the pervert, the criminal, and the adherents of other religions as though no differences existed.” (The Institutes of Biblical Law page 294.)
The Family.
in the Chalcedon Report issue 252 (1986) – “The divorce problem will be solved in a society under God’s law because any spouse guilty of capital crimes (adultery, homosexuality, Sabbath desecration, etc.) would be swiftly executed, thus freeing the other part to remarry…. Parents would be required to bring their incorrigible children before the judge and, if convicted, have them stoned to death.” Note: Rushdoony was himself divorced.
Racism.
Rushdoony defended southern slavery as an improvement over African-American’s treatment in Africa. And he intended to reimpose slavery here. Rushdoony’s belief that slavery should be re-introduced as an alternative to prison sentences is well known. “Punishment for non-capital crimes generally involves whipping or restitution in the form of indentured servitude or slavery. Prisons would likely be only temporary holding tanks while prisoners were awaiting sentencing.
WC could go on a long time outlining Rushnoody’s plans for a racist, slave-owning, Holocaust-denying theocracy. Rushnoody and his followers are the antithesis of everything that America represents. The Constitution that folks like Assembly member Roberts swore to uphold is utterly opposed to Rushnoody and his ideas.
If all of this religious bigotry seems eerily familiar, try substituting “Ayatollah” for “Rushdoony” and you’ll see more than a passing resemblance. The religions are nearly interchangeable; almost irrelevant. What’s apparent is the willingness to inflict their religious world view on everyone, and kill any who disagree as heretics, blasphemers and idolaters.
WC won’t presume to speak for anyone else, but it’s not what he is looking for in a Borough Assembly member.
Wickersham's Conscience 
Any politician who supports such “thought” as Rushdooney, should be immediately relieved of his office and barred from ever having any political position every again. Let’s add Ayn Rand to the list as well.
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Do you happen to know if lying about one’s virginity is punishable by death only when committed by women? Or is it an equal opportunity crime?
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Thanks for posting this. It cannot be emphasized heavily enough that Rushdoony and Chalcedon are completely at odds with our constitutional form of government, and that Chalcedon explicitly works toward abolishing it. Chalcedon opposes free speech and free exercise of religion, bedrocks of American freedom, and believes every element of life should, by law, be subservient to the church.
Roberts cannot simultaneously support our Constitution and this organization. It can only be one or the other, and judging from his relentless promotion of Chalcedon, it’s safe to say which side he falls on.
It should also be noted that Craig Medred of the Alaska Dispatch interviewed Roberts and noted that, “Chalcedon advocates an American theocracy.”
Medred quoted Chalcedon’s own writings: “In a theocracy … God and His law rule. The state ceases to be the over-lord and ruler of man. God’s tax, the tithe, is used by godly men to create schools, hospitals, welfare agencies, counsellors, and more. It provides, as it did in Scripture, for music and more.”
Medred then wrote, “Roberts said he is familiar with all of this and indicated no concerns with Rushdoonian philosophy. ”
Medred then quizzed Roberts on Rushdoony’s flagrant Holocaust denial (Rushdoony insisted deaths ran in the hundreds of thousands, with disease a primary cause, and he also insisted that holding Nazi Germany responsible for millions of deaths was “false witness”). Medred wrote “Roberts said, if Rushdoony argued only a fraction of that many people died in Adolph Hitler’s death camps, the possibility should be considered.”
Roberts stated that Rushdoony was “an extremely accurate historian” and that his claim of a severely reduced numbers of deaths “bears looking into.”
With this response, Roberts is in the best light defending Holocaust denial and demonstrating a personal openness to its possibility, and at worst embracing it. He certainly isn’t calling it into question on any level.
Lance Roberts is lined up with Holocaust deniers who advocate doing away with our form of government. Why is this man allowed to hold public office?
http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/20130418/alaska-gop-official-defends-fondness-biblical-law-advocate-rushdoony
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