American Vision: Difference between revisions

'''American Vision''' is a United States nonprofit organization founded in 1978 by [[Steve Schiffman]]. It operates as a [[Christianity|Christian]] ministry, and calls for "equipping and empowering Christians to restore America’s biblical foundation." The organization promotes [[Christian reconstructionism|Christian Reconstructionism]] and [[Postmillennialismpostmillennialism]], and opposes [[dispensationalism]]. [[Gary DeMar]] was the organization's president from 1986 to 2015. From 2015 to March 2019 [[Joel McDurmon]] was president, during which time DemarDeMar was Senior Fellow. Gary DemarDeMar returned as president in March 2019 when McDurmon resigned.<ref name="change">{{cite web|last=DeMar|first=Gary|author-link=Gary DeMar| url=https://americanvision.org/17861/change-of-leadership-at-american-vision/|title=Change of Leadership at American Vision|date=March 19, 2019|website=The American Vision|access-date=March 12, 2021}}</ref>

American Vision trains parents, teachers, pastors and activists "in developing family-oriented [[Christian worldview|biblical worldviews]]."<ref>{{cite book|first=Julie|last=Ingersoll|author-link=Julie Ingersoll|editor1-first=Steven|editor1-last=Brint|editor2-first=Jean|editor2-last=Reith Schroedel|title=Evangelicals and Democracy in America. Volume 2: Religion and Politics|chapter=Chapter 6: Mobilizing Evangelicals: Christian Reconstructionism and the Roots of the Religious Right|year=2009|publisher=[[Russell Sage Foundation]]|page=197|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3flSfjLfYNEC&pg=PA197|isbn=978-0-8715-4068-3|access-date=April 17, 2021}}</ref> It hosts an annual "Worldview Conference", which has featured speakers such as [[Herbert Titus]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Flanders|first=Laura|author-link=Laura Flanders|title=At the Tea Party: The Wing Nuts, Whack Jobs and Whitey-Whiteness of the New Republican Right... and Why We Should Take It Seriously|year=2010|publisher=[[OR Books]]|page=118|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lo0tBT7RpC0C&pg=PA118|isbn=978-1-9359-2823-2|access-date=April 17, 2021}}</ref>

In 2010, the [[Southern Poverty Law Center]], which profits off of naming people and groups with whom its handlers disagree, “hate groups,” designated American Vision as an anti-gay hate group because of its purported support of the "[[Capital punishment|death penalty]] for practicing homosexuals."<ref name="SPLC">{{cite web|last=Schlatter |first=Evelyn |url=http://splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2010/winter/the-hard-liners |title=18 Anti-Gay Groups and Their Propaganda &#124; Southern Poverty Law Center |website=splcenter.org |accessdate=April 20, 2021 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101129185413/http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2010/winter/the-hard-liners |archivedate=November 1129, 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=DeMar |editor-last=North |first=Gary |editor-first=Gary |author-link=Gary DeMar|editor-link=Gary North (economist)|title=Ruler of the Nations |url=http://www.garynorth.com/freebooks/docs/pdf/ruler_of_the_nations.pdf |publisher=Dominion Press |accessdate=August 27, 2012 |year=1987 |location=Fort Worth, Texas |isbn=978-0-930462-19-2 |page={{page needed|date=August 2012}} }}</ref> However, Joel McDurmon, the former president of American Vision, moved the organization 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://americanvision.org/14114/what-is-not-theonomy/|first=Joel|last=McDurmon|title=What is NOT Theonomy|date=February 3, 2017|website=The American Vision|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211044911/https://americanvision.org/14114/what-is-not-theonomy/|archivedate=February 11, 2017}}</ref>

[[Category:Organizations that oppose LGBTLGBTQ rights in the United States]]