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Posted: 28 Oct 2008 07:34 PM CDT
I've argued a few times in the past with religious conservative friends of mine that Jesus was a liberal and if he were alive today he'd be denounced by the likes of Limbaugh, Hannity, and O'Reilly as some radically delusional hippie. As someone who grew up in a church-going home and who spent a number of his adult years on a spiritual journey searching desperately for answers that only led to more questions, I can say with almost absolute certainty that Jesus Christ would be appalled by the McCain/Palin ticket and the hateful ignorance some of their supporters espouse and that they as candidates have done nothing to stem, and probably even enflamed. And for the record, the founding fathers of this country, the same guys that the far right loves to invoke in support of their wrong-headed policies for advancing what they interpret to be "freedom," would be bashed as liberal by the same guys mentioned above. They were courthouse storming, flag-burning, protest march loving liberal revolutionaries, but that's something for another day...on to matters of Jesus.A reader named Ted emailed me a blog post from a conservative Christian blogger earlier today that was such a very, very refreshing read, and something that echoes some of the things I've been saying about the hypocrisy of people who claim that they strive to live a Christ-like life, but vote for a political party whose platform is almost completely diametrically opposed to everything that Jesus supposedly stood for. An excerpt...
I am an evangelical Christian with a record of voting in line with the Republican Party. This year, however, I am casting my vote for Barack Obama. My support for Obama stands on its own, and has been well documented throughout this blog. But why would an evangelical Christian vote for a Democrat? The answer is as much a reflection of what Obama stands for as it is what the GOP does not.
Last week I received an email from Dr. James Dobson - whose internet ministry I subscribe to - imploring me to "vote my values," meaning to vote for the candidate whose "pro-life" and pro traditional marriage rhetoric carried Dr. Dobson's stamp of approval. My immediate thought was: Why should I vote two of my values to the exclusion of all others? In that question lies the problem of the Christian allegiance to the Republican Party.
Christians have a ministerial calling to provide aid and comfort to those in our society who are poor and oppressed. These persons also represent our values. And yet the benevolent (and otherwise "small government") Republican party, which has decided that it's the Federal government's duty to protect the life of unborn children, wants to leave those children out in the cold when they need healthcare. For the uber-Christian GOP has determined that though unborn children have a right to life, children who are born to economically depressed parents (who are, by the way, disproportionately represented in the statistics of those seeking abortions) do not have the right to life-sustaining healthcare. John McCain's policies, while making insurance more - and perhaps cripplingly - expensive for working class Americans, do nothing to ensure that the 47 million uninsured Americans have access to insurance and that all children have a right to insurance.
Likewise, the "compassionate conservatives" who want us to "vote our values" use the power they achieve because of those votes to call for tax policies that place a disproportionate burden on struggling Americans (including the Christians who blindly voted their values) while the wealthiest citizens reap disproportionate tax benefits (talk about engendering class warfare). How can the Republican party care about addressing poverty when it's tax policies actually create poverty? And how can the Republican Party care about its Christian base when it's economic and health policies actually harm us and the people we're called to minister to? The notion that we ought to elect a party that robs us of our health and wealth while blaspheming the name of God just because that party waxes rhetorically about the sanctity of life is beyond insulting.
But the poster-child for the Republican assault on intelligence is the once honorable John McCain's running mate, who, by the way is also an affront to Christians. While professing Christianity, Sarah Palin has shown a penchant for lying whenever she opens her mouth. Whether she's making up the story that the Alaska legislature fully exonerated her of abuse-of-power charges, proclaiming that Obama is an anti-American terrorist sympathizer, calling Obama a socialist (and now, a communist) who will raise all our taxes and "redistribute wealth", or reveling in the hatred and rage she incites at her rallies, Palin has proven herself to be a lying, vengeful, slanderous hypocrite who uses Christianity as a resume booster.
(Obama's) are values Christians can vote for. Obama's platform calls for providing realistic educational, economic and healthcare opportunities for the poor, for the socially disadvantaged and for the economically distressed workers in our society. Obama's vision - the veracity of his belief in which is borne out by his record - is for a country where Christians can fellowship with Muslims, where white Americans can break bread with black Americans, where "liberals" can find common ground with "conservatives". Obama's pledge is to restore America as a beacon of light for the world. This platform represents a more holistic cross-section of Christian values; for while Christians will not (and should not) agree with every stance taken by another social or religious group, our ministry is to the world and, thus, our political focus should be on electing leaders who not only advocate a broad swath of our values - thereby exhibiting our values to the world - but also effectuate restorative policies that will help those most in need. The time has come to do away with politics that pander to one of our values while employing rhetoric that spawns division and hatred and policies that do the most harm. The time has come for change. This is Barack Obama's time.
Read the entire post here...
The Conservative Christian Case for Obama http://cajunboyinthecity.blogspot.com
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Comments: 19
odds are pretty good he would vote for Obama.
Example A:
My ex husband has remarried another woman. Okay fine that is good I never liked him anyway so I wish her the best of luck. They have been married for a while now and right before they did get married this woman started to stalk me. Apparently she was having issues with the age gap between herself and my ex husband. Not my problem, but she decided to make it my problem by calling me incessantly and showing up at my house wanting to know if we were getting back together. I told her no that was divorce is for. There is no reconcillation especially in my book. After she seemed to get that through her head she then proceeded to dictate to him when, how, and where he could see his own son. At the time I was single and felt it was his obligation to help me out with baby sitting when he could. To get to my point one day he was watching our son at my apartment. I came home from work and she shows up at my house and gets into an argument with him. I shut the door wanting no part of it. Then there is a knock at my door. He tries to come in with her trailing after. I told her I have to let him in here because of his son but you I don't. I was so sick of that woman. Then she proceeds to yell and scream at me incesstantly how she I'm a fat b----- and she is going to kill me.
Now this woman during our forced conversations had said to me incessantly how she was a Christian and it states in the Bible that a husband was to put his wife above all else and yada yada yada. I didn't wish to aruge that point but the law says you have to take care of your kid so I told her to shove that one up where you know it doesn't shine anymore. As far as her threatening to kill me I put a restraining order on her.
Now I ask you how can someone who claims to be a christian act that way. Its a status symbol that is all. People who go off spouting that rhetoric think they are going to be just fine as long as they preach the talk but not walk the walk. I wish there were more individuals like this one that you have shared here with us.
Isn't judging Christians by your story a bit like judging Obama by his relationships of Wright or Ayers etc etc? If not how is it different. Seems like is it just another example of liberal hiypocracy gone awry again!
You are right if Jesus were to come back today, he would be thrown out of more churches than he would be welcomed in, and the likes of Ol' Rush, well there is a special place in Hell for those types of people.
Jesus would drop McCain and Palin both for their wicked ways. I do think Jesus would scold Obama and Biden for allowing themselves to be brought down to the nasty side of the campaign. Obama claimed he was going to take the high road, but McCain drew him into the mire for a bit of mud slinging.
Jesus was hardly a liberal. UNless you are using a different set of deffinitions of the terms liberal and conservative.
Excellent Post
He would vote for Obama. Jesus was the original liberal tree huggin hippie.
There are any number of wonderful Christian folks. You just can't hear them over all the rage and fear of the religious right.
Jesus would not even vote.
He would say that the only person we need to follow is God. And, he would most definately tell people to stop worshiping Obama. We are supposed to worship only one God, and follow the doctrine of only one God.
Your characterization of Christ indicates that you must not know him.
Wonder just why some must insist that just because an Obama voter exhibits love, respect and appreciation to our candidate we are accused of 'worshipping' him while they are the one's bringing religion into the equasion by insisting their candidate is more Godly or more favored by God?