Saturday, February 12, 2011

The Un-Christian Conduct of "Family Values" Republicans and Their Falsely Pious Supporters

I have noted before the glaring disconnect between the actions of conservative Christians and their whore like representatives in Congress who wear their religion on their sleeve and then go about pushing legislation that is diametrically opposed to the Gospel message of love of neighbor and charitable works. Rather than care for the poor, the sick and homeless, these self-congratulatory "Christians" and their minions in Congress who disingenuously gush about family values focus solely on hoarding wealth for themselves and seek to disband and/or defund programs that do precisely what the Gospels says followers of Christ should do in terms of caring for the less fortunate. Jim Wallis has a post on Huffington Post that looks at the toxic nature of the falsely pious and examines the manner in which they have turned the Gospel message totally upside down in the course of the political agenda. Here are highlights:
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House Republicans announced a plan yesterday to cut $43 billion in domestic spending and international aid, while increasing spending for military and defense by another $8 billion. This proposal comes just months after billions of dollars were added to the deficit with an extension of tax cuts to the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans. House Republicans . . . . targeted things like education, the environment, food safety, law enforcement, infrastructure, and transportation -- programs that benefit or protect most Americans. They also proposed cutting funding for programs that benefit the most vulnerable members of our society, such as nutrition programs for our poorest women and children.
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Under the proposed budget cuts, deficit reduction will not come from the super-rich; it will come from the rest of us. And the poorer you are, the more vulnerable you become, and the more you will pay for the burdens of deficit reduction.
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It used to be very popular for Christians to ask, "What Would Jesus Do?" They even wore bracelets with the initials "WWJD." . . . . the moral test of any society is how it treats its poorest and most vulnerable citizens. And that is exactly what the Bible says, over and over again.
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I believe that vaccines that save children's lives; bed nets that protect them from malaria; and food that keeps their families from starving are more important to Jesus than tax cuts for the rich; bigger subsidies for corporations; and more weapons in a world already filled with conflict.
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Taking the cutting knife to programs that benefit low-income people, while refusing to scrutinize the much larger blank checks we keep giving to defense contractors and corporate executives, is hypocritical and cruel. I'll go even further and say that such a twisted moral calculus for the nation's fiscal policy is simply not fair, and not right. It is not only bad economics, but also bad religion.
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Wallis is correct - the GOP/Christianist version of religion IS bad religion. Indeed, it is a moral blight on society and is driven by greed and heartlessness, not true Christian values. Yet our main stream news media lacks the balls to call these folks out for their hypocrisy.

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