The Seven Mountains Movement

 The evangelical Seven Mountains movement is the most troubling political movement that you never knew existed.   The movement has a stated goal of dominating society by creating a modern far-right Christian theocracy.  

The Seven Mountains are the major spheres of influence within society.  Far-right Christian activists hope to reshape our entire society according to their ideology by placing “change agents” in positions of authority in each of the Seven Mountains.   The theory, as stated on a Seven Mountains website, is “He who controls the mountains, controls society.”  The Seven Mountains are:

• Arts & Entertainment
• Business
• Education
• Family
• Government
• Media
• Religion

The Seven Mountains movement has already been successful in many areas, including American government, national cable news, talk radio and other media, state and local boards of education, popular music, venture capital and others. 

Religion in politics is especially problematic, because religious adherents presume the absolute authority of God.  The Christian far-right concedes no power or authority to their political opponents.  This is diametrically opposed to American ideas of representative democracy, the secular authority of the government, and the separation of church and state. 

The movement conforms well with other elements of the far-right, particularly in its authoritarian orientation.  Since the election of Donald Trump, the language used in the movement is aggressive, nationalistic and fascistic, full of dehumanizing denunciations of “the enemy”.  The movement is only one subculture in right-wing conservatism, but it has taken on some of the aggression and violent rhetoric of other right-wing subcultures, such as the NRA.  An example of the rhetoric can be heard in a video of a collective prayer recitation in a recent evangelical meeting in Georgia.  This rally was organized by Flashpoint, a program on the 24/7 religious cable television Victory Channel.  A commitment to the Seven Mountains is found in their opening prayer, here:  https://twitter.com/NickKnudsenUS/status/1547259907275075584

Here are a few declarations (among many) from the Flashpoint religious rally referenced above.

• “We have been given legal power from heaven and now exercise our authority.
• “Because of our covenant with God, we are equipped and delegated by Him to destroy every attempted advance of the enemy.
• “We decree that our judicial system will issue rulings that are biblical and constitutional.
• “We decree that we take back and permanently control positions of influence and leadership in each of the Seven Mountains.
• “We decree that evil carries no power, authority or rights in our land nor over our people.”

These claims are disturbing, because they assert undemocratic authority, and violently threaten those with opposing views.  When is a political opponent an enemy?  Who decides if a political opponent is evil?  It appears that if the Religious Right is in charge, they will deny rights and democratic powers to their political opponents, which means the end of American democracy. 

In a similar vein, we can hear Kelly Tshibaka, candidate in Alaska for U.S. Senate, call for Christian participation and influence in government, beginning with her declaration that “God created government.”  https://twitter.com/RightWingWatch/status/1546899147466342400

I started writing this post over a decade ago, during the 2008 presidential campaign, when Sarah Palin was blessed in a church ceremony as a change agent for the movement.  I didn’t finish the post at that time, nor when I revisited the topic in 2016.  Since then, we’ve seen the denial of Barrack Obama’s Supreme Court nomination of Merrick Garland, the presidency of Donald Trump, and the ascension of three conservative Supreme Court justices nominated by Donald Trump.  We’ve also seen the election of hard-right Republican governors in many states, Republican-majority state legislatures, and pro-Republican gerrymandering of both federal and state legislative districts.  Many of these political changes were championed by or driven by the Christian far-right. 

The increasingly conservative Supreme Court has handed down decisions enabling greater influence of money in politics (Citizens’ United), the ability of employers to impose religious views on employees (Hobby Lobby), and the Dobbs decision overturning the general right to abortion in the United States.  There has been increasing proliferation of military-grade weapons in private hands, increases in hate crimes for reasons of religion or ethnicity, and confrontation and threats to liberal elected officials at every level of government. 

The Christian far-right has made inroads on the other mountains, as well as government.  The Christian right has worked to control school boards and obtain government funding for private schools, dominate the radio entertainment dial, dominate news sources through Fox News, OAN, NewsMax and others, control business holdings through conservative ownership, etc. 

The process of Christian far-right infiltration into politics has been going on for several decades.  Megachurch pastors have been spouting political rhetoric from the pulpit for just as long.  Television programs such as Pat Robertson’s “700 Club”, with a decidedly political bent, have long been drawing faithful viewers.  I saw the process by which religious conservatives took over Republican caucuses and school boards in the 1980s, in Texas.  In a precinct Republican caucus, the church group arrived en masse, outnumbering the neighborhood gathering.  They quickly elected their own officers, and voted to approve their own platform, without debate.  In retrospect, I don’t think there was any validation that this group actually lived in the precinct.  It was my first (and last) Republican caucus.  In the following school board election, the church put up a slate on a religious education platform.  They lost.  In the subsequent election, the same group of candidates appeared, but ran under a low-property tax platform and won.  Then they proceeded to implement their religious platform.

The Seven Mountains movement is large enough and old enough to have various divisions.  Despite the nationalism, it is a global movement.  It was an African pastor who blessed Sarah Palin as a change agent in a 2008 church ceremony in Wasilla, Alaska.  Divisions within the movement are based on theological or strategic differences. There are factions termed Dominionists and Anti-Dominionists, which differ on the degree of societal domination to be achieved (to the best of my understanding), and perhaps on the biblical justification for that domination. 

Conclusion

I am concerned about living in a biblically oriented, theocratic society with institutions based on beliefs and values I do not share.  Those beliefs include obsolete, biblical notions of morality, such as denial of LBTGQ+ rights and repressive roles for women in society.  The Christian Right also promotes biblical injunctions that don’t exist, but are asserted by religious authorities, such as a prohibition on abortion.  If these biblical injunctions are codified in American law, what is to stop the enactment of other, clearly stated biblical injunctions?   Deuteronomy 13 contains an edict to commit genocide against believers in other religions.   Deuteronomy 20 allows the enslavement and “use” of women and children captured in war.   Numbers 5 requires a women suspected of infidelity by her husband to undergo a ritual poisoning.  In 1^st Timothy 2, we are instructed that a woman may never hold authority over a man.  These are just a few random examples of biblical nonsense out of a spectrum of biblical injunctions that might become law in a Seven Mountains society. 

The entire notion of far-right religious domination of society raises questions, real and rhetorical, about where this ideology might lead.  What religious coercion would be implemented in a Seven Mountains society?  Already, according to the Hobby Lobby Supreme Court decision, employers are allowed to decide whether or not an employee may receive birth control as an insurance benefit.  What further powers could be given to employers to restrict the religious freedom of employees?  The Supreme Court also recently ruled that a football coach can publicly coerce students into joining in public prayer.  What further religious indoctrination will be permitted in the public schools?  What religious indoctrination will be broadcast through entertainment channels, and conversely, what entertainment will be banned?  What consumer choices will be allowed and disallowed in a Seven Mountains society?  The Christian far-right claims victimhood in religious freedom, while doing everything it can to restrict the religious (or anti-religious) freedoms of other individuals.

I am a firm atheist.  I regard Christianity and all other religions as superstitious nonsense. I believe that events in the world show that God is either unreasonable, unjust, capricious and a poor communicator with humankind, or that God does not exist.  I choose to not believe in an unreasonable, unjust and capricious God; it is more reasonable to conclude that God does not exist.  Further, traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs and scripture are problematic for modern society in many ways.  If you are interested, you may read blog posts about my thoughts on the topic, here: https://sensibledisbelief.blogspot.com/.

On a major street corner in suburban Anchorage, Alaska, a landowner displays a large billboard reading: “God, Guns and Trump”.  Based on my religious upbringing, the connection between God and Guns isn’t readily obvious.  The connection between God and Trump is even more tenuous.  But the connection here lies in authoritarianism.  The Religious Right wants to establish unilateral Christian control over society, regardless of democratic norms, diversity of beliefs, or other opinions.  The Trump/MAGA political faction wants to establish an authoritarian dictatorship regardless of the outcome of elections.  And guns – thanks to the proliferation of military-grade weapons since 2014 – are the means of accomplishing those ends, through intimidation or possibly through violent paramilitary militias.  The last point is better left for another post. 

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References
Flashpoint, Victory Channel collective prayer invocation, Georgia.
Transcript given below, after references.
https://twitter.com/NickKnudsenUS/status/1547259907275075584

Examples of Seven Mountains rhetoric

• http://livingjourney.wordpress.com/2007/12/10/dominionism-the-seven-mountains/
• http://kingthunder.wordpress.com/2007/09/05/7-mountains/
• http://ncmworld.com/welcome-to-new-covenant-ministries/seven-mountains-web
• http://www.sevenmountains.org/
• http://www.reclaim7mountains.com/

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Mountain_Mandate

Seven Mountain Dominionist and Anti-Dominionist Dispute

• http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/dominionism-and-religious-right-merger-complete
• http://lefthemispheres.blogspot.com/http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/david-barton-advocates-seven-mountains-dominionism2011/06/theocracy-watch-seven-mountains.html
• http://fanaticforjesus.blogspot.com/2011/08/seven-mountains-of-christian-industial.html
• http://galatiansfour.blogspot.com/2010/09/mustard-tree-desires-world-power.html

 Sarah Palin and Seven Mountains

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xges7mFi6iY
• http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/11/01/648975/-Palin-Movement-Urges-Godly-To-Plunder-Wealth-of-Godless#
• http://godsownparty.com/blog/2009/12/palin-spews-7-mountains-mandate-rhetoric-reclaiming-america-for-god/  [Broken link, may be available through Internet archive.]

Halton Lecture: Faith and Politics, The Rise of the Religious Right and Its Impact on American Domestic and Foreign Policy, David Halton, Larkin-Stuart Lectures, University of Toronto, March 8-9, 2007.[Note: this link is no longer active.  It is likely that the lecture can be found through the Internet Wayback Machine or other Internet archive.]
http://www.trinity.utoronto.ca/News_Events/News/halton.htm

Ted Cruz  
Ted Cruz’s father Rafael gives speech designating Ted as biblical king.   Wealth is transferred from the wicked to the priests/ quid-pro-quo for the priests and the kings.    Reference and complete text of 7 mountains blessing of Sarah Palin.
[This link is also no longer active, but may be found with an Internet archive.]
http://www.alternet.org/speakeasy/brucewilson/ted-cruzs-father-suggested-his-son-anointed-bring-about-end-time-transfer

Kelly Tshibaka, leading candidate for U.S. Senate in Alaska, on video as presented by Right Wing Watch on Twitter, July 12, 2022.  Transcript given below, after references.
https://twitter.com/RightWingWatch/status/1546899147466342400

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Transcripts

Flashpoint Collective Invocation
Transcript of collective prayer invocation, at Georgia religious rally by Flashpoint, of the Victory Channel.   https://twitter.com/NickKnudsenUS/status/1547259907275075584

“Watchman Decree
As a Patriot of faith, I attest my allegiance first and foremost to the kingdom of God and the Great Commission.  Secondly, I agree to be a watchman over our nation concerning its people and their rights to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness --
Whereas:
we, the Church, are God’s governing Body on the earth
we have been given legal power from heaven and now exercise our authority
we are God’s ambassadors and spokespeople over the earth
through the power of God, we are the world influencers
because of our covenant with God, we are equipped and delegated by Him to destroy every attempted advance of the enemy.
We make our declarations:
1.  We decree that America’s executive branch of government will honor God and defend the Constitution.
2.  We decree that our legislative branch (Congress) will write only laws that are righteous and constitutional.
3.  We decree that our judicial system will issue rulings that are biblical and constitutional.
4.  We declare that we stand against wokeness, the occult and every evil attempt against our nation.
5.  We declare that we now take back our God-given freedoms, according to the Constitution.
6.  We declare that we take back influence at the local level in our communities.
7.  We decree that we take back and permanently control positions of influence and leadership in each of the *Seven Mountains.
8.  We decree that the blood of Jesus covers and protects our nation.  It protects and separates us for God.
9.  We declare that our nation is energy independent.
10.  We declare that America is strong spiritually, financially, militarily and technologically.
11.  We decree that evil carries no power, authority or rights in our land nor over our people.
12.  We decree that we operate in unity, going beyond denominational lines in order to accomplish the purposes of God for our nation.
13.  And we decree that AMERICA SHALL BE SAVED!
We know this country was founded on Judeo-Christian principles.
We know the truth; therefore, we stand for truth and will NEVER be deceived!
We will NEVER stop fighting!
We will NEVER, EVER, EVER give up or give in!
We WILL take our country back.
We will honor THE ONE TRUE GOD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob!
AMERICA SHALL BE SAVED!”

Kelly Tshibaka
https://twitter.com/RightWingWatch/status/1546899147466342400

Kelly Tshibaka, leading candidate for U.S. Senate in Alaska, on video as presented by Right Wing Watch on Twitter, July 12, 2022.  Transcript:

“God created government.  So, I got sent to the Harvest Field of Government.  And again, it’s a Christmas verse, but Isaiah 9:6, ‘Unto us a child is born; unto us a son is given.’  And, what?  ‘The government will rest on his shoulders.’   Well, guys, again, where is God today?  Is he in Jerusalem?  In a temple?  Where are his shoulders?  [singing] Head, shoulders, knees and… [trails off]   His shoulders are your shoulders.  So if the government rests on his shoulders, and we are not in government, helping government, influencing government – if we abdicate government and politics, are we living out Genesis 1 and Isaiah 9?  No.  So we’ve got to put this into practice.”

The Problem with Governing Least

 A few months ago, Alaska Gubernatorial candidate Bill Walker & his running mate Heidi Drygas penned an op-ed critical of Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy’s handling of the pandemic.  In his retweet of the op-ed, Walker highlighted one phrase: “The best government is that which governs least,” before qualifying and contradicting that sentiment.

Perhaps Walker’s statement is a bit of conservative virtue-signaling, or perhaps he really believes what he says.  But Governor Dunleavy and Anchorage Mayor Bronson are doing exactly what is demanded by the “least government” paradigm by doing nothing about the pandemic.

“Governing least” produces disastrous outcomes for patients, the economy, our healthcare system and its workers.  Walker sees the problem, but doesn’t recognize that their failure is rooted in conservative ideology. 

When people believe that government is a bad thing, or when people distrust the government, it harms the foundation of our society.  There’s a spectrum of anti-government attitudes and actions out there, from tax-cheats and anti-maskers to QAnon believers and AR15 hoarders.  It’s a growing problem, and it gets worse every time a conservative politician casts the government as the boogeyman. 

The origin of the phrase “The best government is that which governs least” is tainted.  The idea came not from Thomas Jefferson, but from an 1837 anti-government screed by political columnist John O’Sullivan.  O’Sullivan’s article reminds me of the Unabomber’s manifesto.  In the same article, O’Sullivan wrote, “A strong and active democratic government, in the common sense of the term, is an evil, differing only in degree and mode of operation, and not in nature, from a strong despotism.”  Also, “relief from the tumult of moral and physical confusion [democracy] is to be found only under the shelter of an energetic armed despotism.”  And, “Legislation has been the fruitful parent of nine-tenths of all the evil, moral and physical, by which mankind has been afflicted since the creation of the world, and by which human nature has been self-degraded, fettered, and oppressed.”  O’Sullivan was a proponent of slavery and a supporter of the Confederacy, and coined the term “manifest destiny” to describe the subjugation of Native peoples.  We should not take our guiding political principle from a document which prefers armed despotism to democracy, and regards legislation as a moral and physical evil.  A link to O’Sullivan’s entire article is given below.

Our nation was founded on the principle that government is good. The Constitution gives our government a broad mandate to promote the general welfare, from which we benefit in many ways, as follows.

•    A justice system which protects liberties.
•    Education for all through grade 12.
•    Medicare and Social Security to enable the elderly and disabled to live with dignity.
•    Regulation of businesses to protect consumers and the environment.
•    Regulation of the finance system for stable economic growth.
•    Programs to advance education, health and opportunity for those in need.
•    Protection for communities, jobs and the economy in the event of unexpected catastrophes.
•    Lands set aside to protect nature for future generations and for its own sake.
•    Scientific research for national progress.
•    Funding for public infrastructure projects.

We benefit from these programs because we are all connected in our society and economy, and we all prosper or decline together. A healthy, prosperous and literate society benefits everyone.

Small government is one of the cornerstones of conservative ideology. In the forty years since Reagan, conservatives have had a single-minded goal of shrinking government, without any proof that small government is a good idea.  In my opinion, the most damaging thing that happened to the United States since WWII was when Reagan convinced Americans that government was the problem, not the solution. The endpoint of shrinking government is anarchy.  Without government regulation, the free market allows companies to produce unsafe products, defraud consumers, pollute the air and water, and otherwise externalize business costs to the public.

Well-regulated free enterprise with private ownership of business is clearly the most efficient economic system. It works because price signals in a free market provide the best solution to allocating capital and labor for the best use.  But free enterprise is not the solution to every problem in society, and free enterprise fails badly when the price signals or flexible markets aren't working.  The economic role of government Is to intervene in those circumstances.

For every anecdotal example of the government wasting money, there are multiple examples of private businesses wasting money.  Private enterprise is at least the equal of government in wasting money due to poor planning, risk, error and negligence, which ultimately harms society.  Consider the banking practices which led to the 2008 financial crisis, the Exxon Valdez and BP Gulf of Mexico oil spills, Shell’s failed $7B Chukchi exploration program, New Coke, Microsoft Zune, Ford’s Edsel, the Enron collapse, or VW’s emissions scandal.  Do not think that these losses only affected the owners of those companies; we all suffer from business failures. If you were not impacted by the 2008 financial crisis, raise your hand.

Conservatives also trot out tired and inaccurate comparisons to failed foreign governments in their crusade against big government, crying “Socialism! Look at Venezuela! Look at the Soviet Union!”  But the key problems in these countries have nothing to do with social spending.  Venezuela and the Soviet Union failed because of authoritarianism, cults of loyalty to political leaders, single-party rule, cronyism, repression of the free press, secret police, loss of personal freedoms and state ownership of capital. Scary conservative rhetoric about socialism has no basis in fact. It’s nonsense.

It’s time for conservatives to recognize that the unbounded ambition of “least government” is wrong. When people believe that government is a bad thing, or when people distrust the government, it harms the foundation of our society.  Let’s begin a rational discussion about the proper function of government, without nastiness and without sabotaging the wheels of our democracy.  I would suggest adopting the adage “The government is best which governs responsibly, for the benefit of people and nature and with the consent of the governed.”  We’ll all be healthier, wealthier, and happier for it.

References:

Standing in solidarity with our medical community and calling for leadership, Bill Walker and Heidi Drygas, October 9, 2021.
https://www.adn.com/opinions/2021/10/09/standing-in-solidarity-with-our-medical-community-and-calling-for-leadership/

Who first said, ‘The best government is that which governs least’? Not Thoreau, Eugene Volokh, Sept 6, 2017.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/09/06/who-first-said-the-best-government-is-that-which-governs-least-not-thoreau/

The entire screed by John O'Sullivan can be found here:
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435022455489&seq=23