WHAT R. J. RUSHDOONY THOUGHT OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY
HIS SON MARK TELLS US VIA THE CHALCEDON REPORT:
The Gospel of Salvation & the Obedience of Faith
Mark Rushdoony
If I can be so bold as to suggest there was a blessing from the Obama years, it would be to note that the assertion my Father was the godfather of the “religious right” did seem to fade away. You see, once they had power, the left viewed the opposition as irrelevant and largely ignored them. (That is a constant difference between the left and the right in the U.S. When the left is in power, it ignores the right and forces the agenda. When the “conservatives” are in power, they seek bi-partisan consensus.)
I knew it would reappear after the Republicans embarrassed the Democrats last November. The old rhetoric was bound to re-surface. The left would accuse the right of trying to establish a theocratic state. Of course, the sinister mastermind of the plan is always held to be my father, R. J. Rushdoony.
In reality, my father was disgusted with American politics, right as well as left. He quit voting for the Republican presidential candidate long before I did. When Gerald Ford lost to Jimmy Carter in 1976, he only briefly noted it in his journal:
Listened briefly to election returns and apparent defeat of Gerald Ford. I detest Carter, but am not unhappy at Ford’s defeat. Any man who has so little contact with reality as to say Poland is a free country is as dangerous as Carter.
My father’s only political interest was in reclaiming power from the political arena and returning it to the spheres of family, church, and the free enterprises of individuals. His political involvement was to fight statism, not use it as a mechanism of Christian action.
Too much thought in theonomy centers around what the state would look like and do in a Christian social order. That makes theonomy an academic subject when it should be a very practical one when God’s Law is brought to bear on our family, businesses, and church life. A theocratic order cannot be imposed by state action and that is not what my father suggested, advocated, or taught.Theonomy means “God’s law” and can only come about when it is embraced by a repentant people. The gospel of salvation must be followed by the obedience of faith. Faith must be followed by faithfulness. Our message is that of the old hymn, “Trust and Obey.”
