Reply #47: Seems Schaeffer is a product of a lot of conditioning. His father: [View All]

[chill_wind]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Schaeffer

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Influence on the Christian Right

Christian Right leaders such as Tim LaHaye have credited Schaeffer for influencing their theological arguments urging political participation by evangelicals.<16> Randall Terry, the founder of Operation Rescue, also acknowledged the influence of Schaeffer.

Beginning in the 1990s, critics began exploring the intellectual/ideological connection between Schaeffer’s political activism and writings of the early 1980s to contemporary religious-political trends in the Christian Right, sometimes grouped under the name Dominionism, with mixed conclusions.

Sara Diamond and Frederick Clarkson<17> have written articles tracing the activism of numerous key figures in the Christian Right to the influence of Francis Schaeffer. According to Diamond: "The idea of taking dominion over secular society gained widespread currency with the 1981 publication of...Schaeffer's book A Christian Manifesto. The book sold 290,000 copies in its first year, and it remains one of the movement's most frequently cited texts."<18> Diamond summarizes the book and its importance to the Christian Right:

In A Christian Manifesto, Schaeffer's argument is simple. The United States began as a nation rooted in Biblical principles. But as society became more pluralistic, with each new wave of immigrants, proponents of a new philosophy of secular humanism gradually came to dominate debate on policy issues. Since humanists place human progress, not God, at the center of their considerations, they pushed American culture in all manner of ungodly directions, the most visible results of which included legalized abortion and the secularization of the public schools.

At the end of -- A Christian Manifesto, Schaeffer calls for Christians to use civil disobedience to restore Biblical morality, which explains Schaeffer's popularity with groups like Operation Rescue. Randall Terry has credited Schaeffer as a major influence in his life.<18>

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Schaeffer

Perhaps he hasn't escaped it all completely. The extremist worldview. Perhaps he has--he's written a book about his part of his life in it.

Here's a review from someone who knew him and the family:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/bc/2008/marapr/1.32.html?start=2