Editing Francis Schaeffer (section)

== Legacy ==
{{Primary sources|section|date=August 2011}}
[[File:Dr. Francis Schaeffer, L'Abri Conference, Urbana, 1981 - 33063224984.jpg|thumb|Schaeffer in [[Urbana, Illinois]], 1981]]
The Francis A. Schaeffer Foundation in [[Gryon]], Switzerland is led by one of his daughters and sons-in-law as a small-scale alternative to the original L'Abri Fellowship International, which is still operating in nearby [[Ollon|Huemoz-sur-Ollon]] and other places in the world. [[Covenant Theological Seminary]] has established the Francis A. Schaeffer Institute directed by a former English L'Abri member, Jerram Barrs. The purpose of the school is to train Christians to demonstrate [[compassion]]ately and defend [[reason]]ably what they see as the claims of [[Jesus|Christ]] on all of life.<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.covenantseminary.edu/apologetics/fsi.asp | contribution = Our Purpose | title = FSI | publisher = Covenant seminary | access-date = August 26, 2006 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060901070521/http://www.covenantseminary.edu/apologetics/fsi.asp | archive-date = September 1, 2006 | df = mdy-all }}.</ref>

According to Michael Hamilton of ''[[Christianity Today]]'', "Perhaps no intellectual save [[C. S. Lewis]] affected the thinking of evangelicals more profoundly [than Francis Schaeffer]; perhaps no leader of the period save [[Billy Graham]] left a deeper stamp on the movement as a whole."<ref>{{cite magazine | last1=Hamilton | first1=Michael | title=The Dissatisfaction of Francis Schaeffer | url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1997/march3/7t322a.html | date=March 3, 1997 | magazine=[[Christianity Today]] | access-date=April 2, 2016}}</ref>

=== Institute of Church Leadership ===

In 1978, Schaeffer asked a group of Reformed Episcopal Clergy to research his thoughts and current trends, forming a church guild called "The Society of Reformed Philosophical Thinkers". This was merged in 1988 with "Into Thy Word Ministries", which was then transformed into "The Francis A. Schaeffer Institute of Church Leadership Development" in 1998. Its purpose is to strategize how to reach and train pastors and church leaders to focus on Christ centered principles. Its aim is to point the church back to "true-Truth" and "true spirituality". The foundation develops comprehensive curriculum for pastors, church planters and church leaders.{{Citation needed|date=August 2011}}

=== Seven Constituents Mandate ===
In 1975, along with fellow evangelists [[Bill Bright]] (founder of [[Campus Crusade for Christ]]) and [[Loren Cunningham]] (founder of [[Youth With A Mission|Youth With a Mission]]), Schaeffer was one of the founders of what would later be termed the [[Seven Mountain Mandate]]. The idea would later go on to be popularized by [[Bethel Church (Redding, California)|Bethel Church]] pastor [[Bill Johnson (pastor)|Bill Johnson]] and [[Lance Wallnau]], among others. The concept centers around Christians taking dominion of seven societal [[Sphere of influence|spheres of influence]]: "family, religion, education, media, art, economics, and government."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Silliman |first=Daniel |date=October 9, 2023 |title=Died: Loren Cunningham, Who Launched Millions on Short-Term Missions |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2023/october/loren-cunningham-ywam-death-youth-with-mission.html |access-date=August 9, 2024 |website=[[Christianity Today]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Hardy |first=Elle |date=March 19, 2020 |title=The 'modern apostles' who want to reshape America ahead of the end times |url=https://theoutline.com/post/8856/seven-mountain-mandate-trump-paula-white |access-date=August 9, 2024 |website=[[The Outline (website)|The Mountain]]}}</ref>

=== Political activism ===

Francis Schaeffer is credited with helping spark a return to political activism among Protestant evangelicals and fundamentalists in the late 1970s and early 1980s, especially in relation to the issue of [[abortion]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Jon |first1=Ronson |title=Things fell apart. Episode 1: 1000 dolls |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/m0011cpr |publisher=BBC |access-date=16 November 2021}}</ref>  In his memoir ''Crazy for God,'' Schaeffer's son Frank takes credit for pressing his father to take on the abortion issue, which Schaeffer initially considered "too political".{{sfn|Schaeffer|2007|p={{page needed|date=September 2021}}}} Schaeffer called for a challenge to what he saw as the increasing influence of secular humanism. Schaeffer's views were expressed in two works, his book entitled ''A Christian Manifesto'', as well as the book and film series, ''Whatever Happened to the Human Race?''.{{Citation needed|date=August 2011}}

=== ''A Christian Manifesto'' ===
Schaeffer's book ''A Christian Manifesto''<ref>{{Citation | first = Francis | last = Schaeffer | year = 1982 | title = A Christian Manifesto | edition = revised | publisher = Crossway | isbn = 0-89107-233-0}}.</ref> was published in 1981 and later delivered as a sermon in 1982.  It was intended as a Christian answer to ''[[The Communist Manifesto]]'' of 1848 and the ''[[Humanist Manifesto]]'' documents of 1933 and 1973. Schaeffer's diagnosis is that the decline of Western Civilization is due to society having become increasingly [[Religious pluralism|pluralistic]], resulting in a shift "away from a world view that was at least vaguely Christian in people's memory… toward something completely different."{{citation needed|date=March 2015}}  Schaeffer argues that there is a philosophical struggle between the people of God and the secular humanists.{{Synthesis inline|date= August 2011}}  

In the sermon version of the book, Schaeffer defines [[secular humanism]] as the worldview where "man is the measure of all things".{{citation needed|date= March 2015}}  He claims that critics of the [[Christian right]] miss the mark by confusing the "humanist religion" with humanitarianism, the humanities, or love of humans.  He describes the conflict with secular humanism as a battle in which "these two religions, Christianity and humanism, stand over against each other as totalities."{{citation needed|date=March 2015}} He writes that the decline of commitment to objective truth that he perceives in the various institutions of society is "not because of a conspiracy, but because the church has forsaken its duty to be the salt of the culture."<ref>{{Citation | last = Schaeffer | first = Francis | year = 1982 | publisher = People for life | url = http://www.peopleforlife.org/francis.html | title = A Christian Manifesto | access-date = June 24, 2005}}.</ref>

{{blockquote|A true Christian in [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]]'s Germany and in the occupied countries should have defied the false and counterfeit state and hidden his [[Jewish]] neighbors from the German [[Schutzstaffel|SS Troops]]. The government had abrogated its authority, and it had no right to make any demands.}}

He then suggests that similar tactics be used to stop abortion. But Schaeffer argues he is not talking about a theocracy:

{{blockquote |State officials must know that we are serious about stopping abortion…  ''First'', we must make definite that we are in no way talking about any kind of theocracy. Let me say that with great emphasis.  Witherspoon, Jefferson, the American Founders had no idea of a theocracy. That is made plain by the First Amendment, and we must continually emphasize the fact that we are not talking about some kind, or any kind, of a theocracy.<ref>Schaeffer, Francis, ''A Christian Manifesto,'' in ''The Collected Works…'' Volume 5, pp. 485–86.</ref>}}

[[Christian Reconstructionism|Christian Reconstructionists]] [[Gary North (economist)|Gary North]] and [[David Chilton]] were highly critical of ''A Christian Manifesto'' and Schaeffer.<ref>{{Citation | first1 = Gary | last1 = North | first2 = David | last2 = Chilton | contribution = Apologetics and Strategy | title = Tactics of Christian Resistance: A Symposium | editor-first = Gary | editor-last = North | place = Tyler, [[Texas|TX]] | publisher = Geneva Divinity School | year = 1983 | pages = 100–40}}.</ref> Their critical comments were prompted, they wrote, by the popularity of Schaeffer's book.{{Sfn | North | Chilton | 1983 | pp = 116–17}}  They suggested that Schaeffer supports pluralism because he sees the First Amendment as freedom of religion for all; and they themselves reject pluralism.{{Sfn | North | Chilton | 1983 | pp = 128–29}} Pointing out negative statements Schaeffer made about theocracy, North and Chilton then explain why they promote it.{{Sfn | North | Chilton | 1983 | pp = 121–22}} They extend their criticism of Schaeffer:

{{blockquote| The fact remains that ''Dr. Schaeffer's manifesto offers no prescriptions for a Christian society.'' We mention that merely in the interests of clarity, for we are not sure that anybody has noticed it up to now.  The same comment applies to ''all'' of Dr. Schaeffer's writings: he does not spell out the Christian alternative.{{Sfn | North | Chilton | 1983 | pp = 127–28}}}}

=== Influence on Christian conservatives ===
Christian conservative leaders such as [[Tim LaHaye]] have credited Schaeffer for influencing their theological arguments urging [[politics|political]] participation by evangelicals.<ref>Tim LaHaye, 1980, ''The Battle for the Mind'', Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell, p. 5.</ref>

Beginning in the 1990s, critics{{who|date=September 2023}} began exploring the intellectual and 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.{{Citation needed|date=August 2011}}

[[Sara Diamond (sociologist)|Sara Diamond]] and Frederick Clarkson<ref>Clarkson, Frederick (1994). [http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v08n1/chrisre2.html "Theocratic Dominionism Gains Influence"]. ''The Public Eye Magazine'' '''VIII''' (1 & 2).</ref> 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."<ref name=diamond>Diamond, Sara (1994). "Dominion Theology: The Truth About the Christian Right's Bid for Power", ''Z Magazine'' (column) February 1995. [http://www.publiceye.org/diamond/sd_domin.html Publiceye.org].</ref>
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 Save America|Operation Rescue]]. [[Randall Terry]] has credited Schaeffer as a major influence in his life.<ref name="diamond" />

Frederick Clarkson explains that this had practical applications:

: "Francis Schaeffer is widely credited with providing the impetus for Protestant evangelical political action against abortion. For example, Randall Terry, the founder of Operation Rescue, says: "You have to read Schaeffer's Christian Manifesto if you want to understand Operation Rescue." Schaeffer, a longtime leader in Rev. Carl McIntire's splinter denomination, the [[Bible Presbyterian Church]], was a reader of Reconstructionist literature but has been reluctant to acknowledge its influence. Indeed, Schaeffer and his followers specifically rejected the modern application of Old Testament law."<ref>Clarkson, Frederick. (1995). "Christian Reconstructionism: Theocratic Dominionism Gains Influence." In Chip Berlet (Ed.), ''Eyes Right! Challenging the Right Wing Backlash'' (pp. 59–80). Boston: South End Press. Revised and included in Clarkson, ''Eternal Hostility''. [http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v08n1/chrisre2.html Publiceye.org]</ref>

Analyses of Schaeffer as the major intellectual influence on [[Dominionism]] can be found in the works of authors such as Diamond<ref>Sara Diamond, 1995, ''Roads to Dominion: Right–Wing Movements and Political Power in the United States'', New York: Guilford, pp. 246-249.</ref> and [[Chip Berlet]].<ref>Chip Berlet and Matthew N. Lyons, 2000, ''Right–Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort'', New York: Guilford Press, pp. 212-213.</ref>  Other authors argue against a close connection with dominionism, for example [[Irving Hexham]] of the [[University of Calgary]], who maintains that Schaeffer's political position has been misconstrued as advocating the Dominionist views of [[R. J. Rushdoony]], who is a Christian Reconstructionist. Hexham indicates that Schaeffer's essential philosophy was derived from [[Herman Dooyeweerd]], not Rushdoony, and that [[Hans Rookmaaker]] introduced Schaeffer to his writings.<ref name=Hexham>Hexham, Irving, "The Evangelical Response to the New Age", in Perspectives on the New Age, edited by James R. Lewis & J. Gordon Melton, State University of New York Press, Albany, New York, 1992, pp. 152-163, and especially p. 322 Note 16.</ref> Dooyeweerd was a Dutch legal scholar and philosopher, following in the footsteps of [[Neo-Calvinism|Neo-Calvinist]] [[Abraham Kuyper]].

Congresswoman and [[Republican Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2012|2012 United States presidential candidate]] [[Michele Bachmann]] has cited Schaeffer's documentary series ''How Should We Then Live?'' as having a "profound influence" on her life and that of her husband Marcus.<ref>[[Ryan Lizza|Lizza, Ryan]], [http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/08/15/110815fa_fact_lizza?printable=true&currentPage=all "Leap of Faith: The making of a Republican front-runner"], ''New Yorker Magazine'', August 15, 2011.</ref>