American Vision

American Vision is a United States nonprofit organization founded in 1978 by Steve Schiffman. It operates as a Christian ministry, and calls for "equipping and empowering Christians to restore America’s biblical foundation." The organization promotes Christian Reconstructionism and Postmillennialism, and opposes dispensationalism. Gary DeMar was the organization's president from 1986 to 2015. From 2015 to March of 2019 Joel McDurmon was president, during which time Demar was Senior Fellow. Gary Demar returned as president in March of 2019 when McDurmon resigned.[4]

Not to be confused with Vision America.
American Vision
Motto"Exercising Servanthood Dominion"[1]
Founded1978 (1978)
FounderSteve Schiffman
TypeNonprofit 501(c)(3)
58-1374143 (EIN)
Location
  • 3150-A Florence Road
    Suite 2
    Powder Springs, GA 30127
Members
5
Key people
Gary DeMar, President[2]
Revenue
$1,315,150 (2010)[3]
Employees
12
Websiteamericanvision.org

Activities

American Vision publishes books "primarily for use in Christian schools and for home schoolers."[5] The group is active in the creation science movement.

American Vision trains parents, teachers, pastors and activists "in developing family-oriented biblical worldviews."[6] It hosts an annual "Worldview Conference", which has featured speakers such as Herbert Titus.[7]

Beliefs

American Vision is opposed to abortion.[8] The group maintains that the First Amendment's demand that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" means that Congress may not establish a state religion. The group maintains that the First Amendment does not prohibit members of Congress from making laws that are in submission to the Bible. DeMar has said that not all homosexuals would be executed under a "reconstructed government" but that he did believe that the occasional execution of "sodomites" would serve society well because "the law that requires the death penalty for homosexual acts effectively drives the perversion of homosexuality underground, back into the closet"[9][10]

DeMar also wrote a "long-term goal" should be "the execution of abortionists and parents who hire them".[9][10][11] Islam is another enemy; in August 2010 he said that "the long-term goal of Islam is the abolition of our constitutional freedoms."[10][12]

In 2010, the Southern Poverty Law Center designated American Vision as an anti-gay hate group because of its purported support of the "death penalty for practicing homosexuals."[10][13][14] However, in 2016, American Vision, under Joel McDurmon's leadership, moved away from this position, stating that "Biblical law has transferred First Table punishments from earthly civil governments to the throne of heaven", and that right now only the moral principles are still binding.[15]

See also

References
  1. Hanna, Judith Lynne (2012). Naked Truth: Strip Clubs, Democracy, and a Christian Right. University of Texas Press. p. 31. ISBN 9780292735767.
  2. "Change of Leadership at American Vision". The American Vision. 19 March 2019.
  3. "Nonprofit Report for American Vision". GuideStar. Retrieved October 2, 2012.
  4. "Change of Leadership at American Vision". The American Vision. 19 March 2019.
  5. Apple, Michael W. (2001). Educating the "Right" Way: Markets, Standards, God, and Inequality. Routledge. p. 260.
  6. Evangelicals and Democracy in America. Volume 2: Religion and Politics. Russell Sage Foundation. 2009. p. 197. ISBN 9780871540683.
  7. Flanders, Laura (2010). At the Tea Party: The Wing Nuts, Whack Jobs and Whitey-Whiteness of the New Republican Right... and Why We Should Take It Seriously. OR Books. p. 118. ISBN 9781935928232.
  8. DeMar, Gary. "A Modern Crime from the Bible". American Vision Blog. Retrieved February 4, 2012.
  9. "Pa. congressman skips radical right meeting after AU complaint. (People & Events).(Joseph R. Pitts)(Americans United for Separation of Church and State)". Church and State. December 1, 2002. In his 1987 book, Ruler of the Nations, DeMar advocated executing gay people, abortion providers and women who obtain abortions. "The law that requires the death penalty for homosexual acts effectually drives the perversion of homosexuality back into the closet," he wrote. A few pages later, DeMar added, "The long term goal [is] the execution of abortionists and parents who hire them. If we argue that abortion is murder, then we must call for the death penalty."
  10. Schlatter, Evelyn. "18 Anti-Gay Groups and Their Propaganda | Southern Poverty Law Center". Splcenter.org. Archived from the original on 2010-11-29. Retrieved 2011-09-19.
  11. Hawker, Katherine (September 29, 2006). "Healing, feeding and loving, not nationalism". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. St. Louis, MO. In the name of Jesus, American Vision's leader, Gary DeMar , writes that another "long-term goal" should be " the execution of abortionists and parents who hire them."
  12. DeMar, Gary. "The Left is Now Interested in 'Constitutional Freedoms'". American Vision. Retrieved August 30, 2012. The long-term goal of Islam is the abolition of our constitutional freedoms since the majority of them are an affront to the fundamental tenets of Islam.
  13. DeMar, Gary (1987). North, Gary (ed.). Ruler of the Nations (PDF). Fort Worth, Texas: Dominion Press. p. . ISBN 978-0-930462-19-2. Retrieved August 27, 2012.
  14. Waddington, Lynda (November 23, 2010). "Groups that Helped Oust Iowa Judges Earn 'Hate Group' Designation; SPLC Adds American Family Association, Family Research Council to List". Iowa Independent. Archived from the original on December 2, 2010. Retrieved November 25, 2010.
  15. "What is NOT Theonomy". The American Vision. 3 February 2017.
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