Julie Ingersoll writes at Religion Dispatches about a recent Christianity Today profile of the Ahmansons, husband and wife philanthropists who have helped shape policy and religious outreach in the U.S.:

The Ahmansons supplied crucial early support to Rushdoony’s writing, his early efforts in the creationist movement, and to the establishment of his Chalcedon Foundation (which Rushdoony’s son Mark now runs). In 2004 Max Blumenthal traced the Ahmansons’ contributions and argued that they were key financial backers in the effort to bring about theocracy as envisioned by Rushdoony. In the Christianity Today piece, though, Roberta Ahmanson is quoted as saying “I never was (a theocrat), and I don’t know if Howard ever was either. I’m afraid to say this, but also, what would be so bad about it?”