JESUS: NOT A REPUBLICAN
June 20, 2006
by: jovial_cynic
by: jovial_cynic
I can't avoid mixing my faith and politics in conversations these days; it seems like more and more, you can't really choose talk about one with it talking about the other. Religion has become inexorably intertwined with politics, such that party lines have become divided by religious issues. Or maybe religious issues have become divided by party lines... I'm not really sure yet which is affecting which.
I recently read an exerpt from a not-yet-published book by Randall Balmer titled, "Thy Kingdom Come: An Evangelical's Lament" (with the subheading, "How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America"), and it rang true for me in a way I wish I could have penned myself.
Balmer asserts that the religious right is responsible for this grotesque union between christianity and the republican party, bringing into focus the problems of this union.
He writes:
And what has the religious right done with its political influence? Judging by the platform and the policies of the Republican Party - and I'm aware of no way to disentangle the agenda of the Republican Party from the goals of the religious right - the purpose of all this grasping for power looks something like this: an expansion of tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, the continued prosecution of a war in the Middle East that enraged our longtime allies and would not meet even the barest of just-war criteria, and a rejiggering of Social Security, the effect of which, most observers agree, would be to fray the social-safety net for the poorest among us. Public education is very much imperiled by Republican policies, to the evident satisfaction of the religious right, and it seeks to replace science curricula with theology, thereby transforming students into catechumens.
America's grossly disproportionate consumption of energy continues unabated, prompting demands for oil exploration in environmentally sensitive areas. The Bush administration has jettisoned U.S. participation in the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, which called on Americans to make at least a token effort to combat global warming. Corporate interests are treated with the kind of reverence and deference once reserved for the deity.
Balmer also writes of the historical account of the rise of this current Christian/Republican culture, which is both fascinating and frightening. It paints a picture of a coming American theocracy, a mingling of the church, the republican party, and corporate America...
I don't like playing the end-of-the-world card, but I don't think that the prophecied global persecution of true believers is going to come from Muslims, the Chinese, aliens, the Roman Empire, or the internet. I think that an American theocracy would be a more likely candidate for the beast.
I recently read an exerpt from a not-yet-published book by Randall Balmer titled, "Thy Kingdom Come: An Evangelical's Lament" (with the subheading, "How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America"), and it rang true for me in a way I wish I could have penned myself.
Balmer asserts that the religious right is responsible for this grotesque union between christianity and the republican party, bringing into focus the problems of this union.
He writes:
And what has the religious right done with its political influence? Judging by the platform and the policies of the Republican Party - and I'm aware of no way to disentangle the agenda of the Republican Party from the goals of the religious right - the purpose of all this grasping for power looks something like this: an expansion of tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, the continued prosecution of a war in the Middle East that enraged our longtime allies and would not meet even the barest of just-war criteria, and a rejiggering of Social Security, the effect of which, most observers agree, would be to fray the social-safety net for the poorest among us. Public education is very much imperiled by Republican policies, to the evident satisfaction of the religious right, and it seeks to replace science curricula with theology, thereby transforming students into catechumens.
America's grossly disproportionate consumption of energy continues unabated, prompting demands for oil exploration in environmentally sensitive areas. The Bush administration has jettisoned U.S. participation in the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, which called on Americans to make at least a token effort to combat global warming. Corporate interests are treated with the kind of reverence and deference once reserved for the deity.
Balmer also writes of the historical account of the rise of this current Christian/Republican culture, which is both fascinating and frightening. It paints a picture of a coming American theocracy, a mingling of the church, the republican party, and corporate America...
I don't like playing the end-of-the-world card, but I don't think that the prophecied global persecution of true believers is going to come from Muslims, the Chinese, aliens, the Roman Empire, or the internet. I think that an American theocracy would be a more likely candidate for the beast.