Dominionism— the Scary Bond Between Perry and Bachmann

Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry are far more than just two hard-right Christian candidates angling for the GOP presidential nomination—both have ties to a scary, theocratic movement called Dominionism, writes Michelle Goldberg at the Daily Beast. While many have pooh-poohed those worrying about a Christian sect bent on world rule as paranoid, Goldberg says that this presidential nomination cycle has brought "the most theocratic Republican field in American history." "It turns out we weren't paranoid enough," she writes.

"In many ways, Dominionism is more a political phenomenon than a theological one," writes Goldberg, as the movement is not confined to any one Christian denomination, but is broader, like how extremist, political Islam spans both Shiite and Sunni sects. Bachmann has cited prominent Dominionist thinkers, such as Francis Schaeffer and David Barton, and appeared in a documentary by Truth in Action Ministries, a group whose founder has said, "It is dominion we are after. Not just equal time ... World conquest.” Perry is even more in bed with religious extremists, Goldberg alleges, through his relationship with the New Apostolic Reformation, a Pentecostal variant of Dominionism. (More Dominionism stories.)