For those who are unfamiliar with the 7M, here it is:

For decades the New Apostolic Reformation has been quietly striving to transform the U.S. into a theocracy via its ‘Reclaim The Seven Mountains Of Culture’ strategy.

Said strategy involves infiltrating and achieving dominance over seven spheres (or ‘mountains’) of societal influence: business, government, media, arts and entertainment, education, the family and religion.

This is the NAR’s promotional video. Note that their worldview is couched in absolute terms: ie ‘good’ (themselves) or ‘evil’ (everyone else):

YouTube – Reclaim 7 Mountains of Culture: http://bit.ly/j7LZln via @addthis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQtB-AF41p8

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The overall aim of Mr. Barton and his fellow theocrats is confirmed in this article written by a former insider:

I Was a Right-Wing Evangelical Pastor — Until I Saw the Light | | AlterNet: http://bit.ly/jnGW1c via @addthis
http://www.alternet.org/story/.....ght?page=1

“…I want you to know that the fundamentalist political movement is the beginning of a cultural revolution that will take our nation to a very dark place. You have to understand that this has been methodically planned and is being carried out with the utmost vigilance. In accordance with their worldview, my old friends do not in the least care about what you think. They are against democracy, and they are seeking to end the rule of the majority in our great country.

They truly believe that if you have not been “saved,” you are living under a curse and are incapable of knowing what is best and that because of this you should be ruled over. You should also know they do not believe that even centuries-old Christian communities (Catholics, Anglicans, Greek Orthodox, etc.) are “saved,” only those who think like they do.

You might be thinking that a minority fundamentalist group of zealots can’t really take over the direction of a society. Just look at Iran, or the countless other places where people have allowed this to happen. Are you all really going to sit back and watch this happen? They will begin to attack all sources of accurate information. Public radio was first, next will be museums and then science books. Just listen to them argue against the scientific facts about the peril our planet is facing, because it does not fit in with their ideas. They represent a clear and present danger to our union…”

I have a suspicion that if it weren’t for Israel’s military dominance and suppression by force of Palestinian rebellions, all the right-wing Christian Israel-supporters would not be so tolerant towards Israel. Instead, they’d probably be raving antisemites, insisting that “the Jews” control the media and killed “Jesus the saviour”.

Beautiful internal contradiction there. This Barton is a right muppet.

And when historians (including Christian Historians) challenge his claims and use those nasty things “facts”, he retreats, makes the corrections (because he has been caught spewing falsehoods), then he continues selling his poorly research drivel to school systems and the Religious Right who then try to force us to accept poor scholastic ability as valid.

There is no proof that any voters were intimidated on election day. Also if you were referring to the election in 2008, you might be interested to know that the justice department was under control of the Bush administration, as the Obama administration wasn’t sworn in until 20 Jan, 2009. Research. Do some.

Oh, and here’s one to another black group we list as a hate group, the Nation of Islam:
http://www.splcenter.org/get-i.....n-of-islam

And then there are the Nuwaubians:
http://www.splcenter.org/get-i.....n-of-moors

Thank you for endorsing my instinct, or analysis, about this complex matter. It is not always easy to discern given the maelstrom of polemics. But it is sure worth trying to be clear about, because it seems the future of our very society and culture is at stake. To wit, I saw a smart-sounding expert the other on Middle East affairs say on CNN (?) candidly, and with noticeable lament, that he used to think that the Middle East was far more given to paranoid tales and concocted stories than America. But he averred that in the last few years he feels that America now has pulled far ahead of even the Middle East in both the propensity and likelihood that such things will be believed. What a grim assessment. So, I think we have to make the collateral assessment that such a grim state of affairs could not have happened out of the blue. This is why I emphasized that the less egregious forms of this historical fantasy, often buried in “serious” books have been a crucial component of what has happened. And it speaks to why some intellectual trajectories happened at all, as in the case I mention with the Notre Dame prof, because they serve a wider purpose. Let me emphasize that I wholly endorse the very temperate view of the Souther Poverty Law Center that a principled distinction must be made between what some may feel to be retrograde beliefs, and hateful fantasy. I want to be crystal clear that many who engage in some historical misprision for a purpose, may not rise to the level of hateful fantasy at all. People have a right to go on believing what they want, and the day that anybody tries to stop them, I will be there protesting for their rights. But it is clear that many of them shade over a bit, and thus dip into the darker realm. Or they simply serve a useful purpose in providing cover for the development for the hateful fantasy.

In the specifically Catholic realm the questions become a bit harder to disentangle. Largely this has to do, ironically, with the fact that there has been somewhat more development intellectually in the Catholic realm than in other fields of religion. Of course the amount of development does not speak to quality, but few would deny the long history of the Catholic Church’s interest in pursuing these matters per se. Yet because of the ambitions therein, there is a strong tendency to imagine that a “Catholic view”, which after all has certain parameters of belief echoing in philosophical corollaries, serves everywhere So, it is often assumed that this view might serve just as well in fields OUTSIDE the fields essentially connected with the religion itself. This explains how the Notre Dame prof mentioned believes that his very Catholic view of unchanging verities is fine and dandy for a social science view like sociology. And the very fact that he has pulled it off till now is very useful for all sorts of folks. How different it would be if, that one of my former professors, who now teaches biblical studies at Notre Dame, would hold as I expect, the same view of unchanging verities. But clearly these matters and fields are not fungible! In biblical studies it is one thing to say that even though you are a master of historical/critical subtleties that you still believe in certain eternal verities. No one should ever question that right, even though they might disagree in the applicability historically. Simply because you are talking about the Bible which is wedded to belief inextricably. But it is simply a category- mistake to imagine that the same can obtain in sociology, of all things! Especially when the author is offering prescriptions for how society — which after all is all of us — should be ordered and thought of, by this essentially Catholic view. To do so then involves a contradiction of historical accuracy and, I dare say decency, such that it is dangerous to let it fly under the radar. And it is clear that university types are wary of being seen as a trouble maker by criticizing anybody even from other universities. Thus, the whole field has been ripe for a certain genteel propagandization. So, my point is, in the Catholic world the question is more vexed. But since reactionary Catholics, lamentably are deeply invested in political agitprop nowadays, it utterly necessary call out those bolstering it, even if they are not the ones directly involved in the agitation- propaganda.

By the way, the Right Wing Watch series “Fact Checking Barton” available at http://www.rightwingwatch.com is amazing.