Economics from the Religious Right

Introduction
This page compares the teachings of an influential Christian textbook, America's Providential History by Mark Beliles and Stephen McDowell, with the Texas 2004 Republican Party Platform and Bush Administration policies. It suggests a relationship between the "dominion mandate" as described in the textbook, and Bush's economic, social, and environmental programs.

Dominion Mandate
Genesis 26 says,

"Let them [man] have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

America's Providential History asserts that it is "God's plan" for "Bible believing Christians" to take dominion over government.

"God … shapes history to prepare people so that they may fulfill their destiny and accomplish God's purposes in the earth," (53)

"When God brings Noah through the flood to a new earth, He re-establishes the Dominion Mandate but now delegates to man the responsibility for governing other men..."(19)

God's purpose is for the United States, as "the first truly Christian nation" (184), to complete a chain of events that will "make disciples of all nations." The book quotes the Biblical commentator, Matthew Henry

"…do your utmost to make the nations Christian nations." This" according to Beliles and McDowell, "is God's plan for the nations." (3)

The Puritans are prime representatives of this "spirit of dominion," Beliles and McDowell explain.

"They recognized the scriptural mandates requiring Godly rule, and zealously set out to establish that in all aspects of society." (84)

America's Providential History offers Biblical rationale for Bush administration policies while the Texas Republican Party Platform, 2002, spells out the details. Starve the federal government, transfer its social and educational functions to churches. The end result is what the Texas 2002 GOP Platform declares is a "Christian" nation.

Christian Economics According to the Religious Right
A. Starve the Federal Government through Tax Cuts
Tax cuts are one of Bush's signature issues. Most taxes are unbiblical according to Beliles and McDowell in their chapter on Christian Economics. Income tax is "idolatry," property tax is "theft" and inheritance taxes are simply not allowed in the Bible. The book mentions two kind of taxes that are mentioned in the Bible: a poll tax (called a flat tax today) - which is uniform, and tithing (voluntarily paying 10% of your income to your Church.) (214-215)

As reported in the Washington Post, August 4, 2004, J. Dennis Hastert, (R-Ill.) the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives published a book that suggests abolishing the Internal Revenue Service and replacing the current tax system with either a flat tax, a national sales tax or a value-added tax. Are Hastert's taxes meeting the criteria of Biblical taxes? Curiously, they are all taxes that would favor the wealthy and burden the poor.

The New York Times,, August 13, 2004, reported on a study by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office that concludes the President's tax cuts "heavily favor the wealthy." The Washington Post reported on that same study that the tax cuts "hurt the middle class."

The Texas Republican Party platform spells out which taxes to cut. It calls for abolishing the IRS and eliminating "income tax, inheritance tax, gift tax, capital gains, corporate income tax, payroll tax and property tax." Social Security tax will gradually be phased out for a system of private pensions.

The rest is here: Theocracy Watch