So many worries flit about my brain late at night like moths to a porch light. So many things I struggle at the cost of insomnia to understand.
Take, for instance, the 109th Congress. In the midst of a half trillion dollar war, in an age of stagnating wages and skyrocketing health care, fuel and housing costs, and in the face of exploding deficits and entitlements, in late spring the Republican-controlled Congress passed yet another multibillion dollar tax cut, nearly ninety percent of which will go to the richest fifteen percent of Americans.
As if this shocking fiscal indiscipline weren't enough to make anyone sleepless with confusion and worry for our children's future, these selfsame Republicans, a majority of whom have professed themselves "born-again" through Jesus, were brazen enough to once again enrich the rich while governing under the banner of "compassionate conservatism".
On November 7th, they paid the price for this and so many other sins.
Now I'm not out to question anyone's faith, or beat a dog when it's down, but would the same Jesus who put first those who society counted least and put last, and who proclaimed his ministry was to "bring good news to the poor", have rejoiced at the news of yet another tax cut for the wealthy paid for by borrowing and by budget cuts for our nation's growing poor?
Low-income Americans find themselves today in a more precarious position than at any time since the Great Depression. Nearly forty million Americans live in poverty every day. Many millions more are living in near-poverty, working hard, and often without benefits, doing all the things society tells them that they should to get ahead. And yet they're falling further behind, watching the American dream sail away.
Global poverty is one of the great moral issues of our times. Here at home, poverty cuts to the core of America's great promise: that anyone who works hard, and plays by the rules, can make a better life for themselves and for their families. For tens of millions of families in America today, the American dream is rapidly becoming the American pipe dream.
Republican leaders for a dozen years have led with the philosophy that the solution to poverty is to grow the economy out of the problem. And yet despite nearly two decades of generally robust economic growth poverty, especially severe poverty in single-parent families with children, has risen dramatically. The Census Bureau reported in August that the poverty level - pathetically defined as a family income less than $20,000 for a family of four - now stands at 12.6 percent.
Even now, in the 21st century, we do not even have to leave our country to find third-world poverty.
Republican leaders have long insinuated, and on occasion outright proclaimed, that the blame for poverty lies with the individual poor people themselves. Poor people are the authors of their own poverty. If you're poor, you must not be smart enough. You must not be willing to work hard enough. In the eyes of these Republican leaders, poverty is proof of bad character, and confirms a personal flaw.
Well, then, somebody had better report to the Surgeon General about the numbers of unintelligent, lazy, and flawed American men, women and children having reached epidemic proportions. No wonder our country is in so much trouble.
Now it's up to the Democrats to begin to do something about poverty in America.
Our nation's growing poverty rate is the best evidence of America not living up to its ideals. What we have in America today is an invisible and often silent poverty that most of us in this the richest nation the earth has ever known have chosen not to see or to talk about, let alone feel and take responsibility for. Poverty is always a human tragedy; poverty amidst such indifferent plenty is nothing less than a national crime.
And for followers of Jesus, our nation's growing poverty rate is evidence that his message has been subverted for contrary and ignoble ends by rich and powerful politicians who mouth pious words of faith but commit impious deeds of greed. But it must also be said that our growing poverty rate is no less evidence that millions of everyday well-off Americans simply care more about their personal and exclusive relationship with Jesus than about his admonitions to care for the people politics often neglects.
And who did Jesus speak for? The dispossessed, widows, orphans. The hungry, the homeless, the helpless. The least, the last, the lost. Jesus reminded his followers that as they have done to the least of these, they have done to him. Few plainer words have been spoken.
So, late at night, I wonder: How did the faith of Jesus come to be known as pro-rich and pro-business? What of the biblical imperatives for social justice and for uplifting the poor? How did compassion come to be reserved primarily for the rich and the unborn, with little or no interest in those who Jesus put first?
Todd Huffman is a pediatrician and writer living in Eugene, Oregon. He is a regular contributor to many newspapers and publications throughout the Pacific Northwest.
on the reason why poverty in this country is as it is.
...who did Jesus speak for? The dispossessed, widows, orphans. The hungry, the homeless, the helpless. The least, the last, the lost. Jesus reminded his followers that as they have done to the least of these, they have done to him. Few plainer words have been spoken.
And have any others tried harder to subvert, pervert, and dilute His message than the preachers who have millions of sheep bleating behind them? Part of the problem is the number of preachers who are more interested in the "fire and brimstone" sermons that fill seats on Sunday more than the real, true message of the Rabbi Christ.
They are so busy pushing a socially conservative agenda, they have all but forgotten the true message which the Rabbi Christ was sent to spread: love. Yes, where they should be speaking of Jesus' forgiveness for the fallen woman, they are speaking of Leviticus' "condemnation" of homosexuality, all the while ignoring many other proscriptions and death sentence-worthy infractions contained in the body of Leviticus. They are preaching for the lives of unborn cell masses, fetuses, and brain-dead, while ignoring the suffering of the sick, the poor, and the lives of us who are here, and fully viable human beings. Those controversial issues listed above are much more concrete and likely to add to the clinking in the collection plates than boring talk about feeding the poor or curing the sick.
Jesus' message of love and altruism is just too boring to fill the churches on Sunday. It lacks the dynamic and dramatic flair of hellfire and brimstone. For the same reason more people go to slasher movies than so-called "chick flicks" (demise, destruction, death), more people are interested in the scent of sulfur than the boring details about blessed are the poor in spirit.
And, the "sheep" are also not blameless. They are the ones who come in droves when they know they are in for yet another "fire and brimstone" sermon. They are the ones who fail to read beyond the places in the bible where their preachers stop preaching. They are the ones who feel it's their business to stick their nose into affairs not of their immediate concern.
All who have allowed the message of the Rabbit Christ to be perverted share equally in the blame for the condition of our world. From the preacher more concerned with the condition of collection plate than the condition of the soul, to the member of the flock more concerned with who his neighbor is screwing than whether his neighbor has enough to eat, all are responsible for the destruction of the message.
So, late at night, I wonder: How did the faith of Jesus come to be known as pro-rich and pro-business? What of the biblical imperatives for social justice and for uplifting the poor? How did compassion come to be reserved primarily for the rich and the unborn, with little or no interest in those who Jesus put first?
It became that way because the "corporocrats" know how easily lead mainstream christians are. You can look upon those last words as a condemnation and put down, or as a real truth; a pink elephant in the living room everyone pretends not to see.
Many who have read my stuff here know I don't hold that high of an opinion of mainstream christianity in this country. Be that as it may, my words cannot be so easily dismissed as the chewing of sour grapes by one who was effectively banished from free expression of the faith of my father for no better reason than I am condemned for who I am. To do so is to ignore a reality from someone who is divorced enough from the situation to see what it is you can't.
Mainstream christianity ignores the poor because it's easy to do. How often do you look out your car window with disdain at the dirty, smudged face of the homeless man holding up his sign? The poor are so marginalized, few people take real note of their existence. Put bluntly, they simply don't exist. As long as the value of a human being is judged by dollars and cents, those who have neither also have no value at all. Take it from one who has no value.
And where, oh, where do the gospels speak of letting the benefits trickle down? Try as I might to find that passage, in hopes of easing my insomnia, instead all I can find speaks something of camels, and needles.
Trickle down is spoken of nowhere in the bible, that's why you can't find it. The rich are spoken against many times, but you will never hear that in a fundamentalist sermon. Once again, it's boring in comparison to "fire and brimstone", and it flies in the faces of the corporocrats who pay the piper (preacher) to call their tune.
Fundamentalist...therein lies the problem. Those who claim to be as such simply aren't. What are the real fundamentals of the message of the Rabbi Christ?
Love your brother as yourself. That which you do to the least of my brothers, you do also to me. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of god. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Nowhere in that message are there any mentions of things such as homosexuality, abortion, political or social conservatism, or anything of that ilk. Yet all one need do is turn on the Christian Broadcasting Network, or any of a myriad of other channels on radio and TV, and that's the message of "christianity" you hear.
The "corporocrats" know what they are doing. They have a vested interest in a society chock full of unquestioning, mindless drones. If the way to that society is by way of twisting the words of the Rabbi Christ, what's it to them? They are no more christian than I. They can pervert the message of the Rabbi Christ all they want, and they feel no compunction about doing so. They know there are always preachers ready, willing, and able to suck up their string-laden donations. They know there is no shortage of willingly fleeced sheep waiting with baited breath for the next word to fall from the lying mouths of their preachers. It's all tied up in pretty little bows, and topped with cherries. Who could ask for a better pre-made group of bullshit swallowers?
The "corporocrats" have a ready made institution there at their disposal. They know that the preachers are twisted up enough inside to greedily gulp down their corporate money. They know those same preachers have churches filled to the brim with willingly blind mindless robots. They know that few, if any of those robotic "sheep" will ever dare to question the authority of the preacher, even when said preacher is caught with one hand in the meth jar, and the other on a hustler's penis.
I realize that my words may bring revulsion to many, and rebuke to myself, but such is life. Given the state of affairs, and given the wholesale ignoring of the plight of the poor both here and abroad, can my words be so easily dismissed as the rage-filled rants of someone who is on the outside looking in?
If so, may I remind all that at one time, I was a practicing Roman Catholic. Not only was I a "good catholic boy" (except that I wasn't a sexually abused altar boy), I was actually going to enter a semenary and become a priest. I have read the bible, and I have also studied world religions. Religion continues to be a fascination and part time hobby with me.
While I know that really doesn't mean much, it at least gives me a perspective on the subject. Judging from what I have seen in reference to what passes for christianity in America, I think I am pretty on target here.
Before you or anyone else here dismisses my words out of hand, I ask you to look at them objectively. Does what I have said make sense in reference to your questions, or am I simply slapping down christianity because of an open-ended question posed by you? If what I say makes sense, perhaps it is time for a rebirth of true adherance to the message of the Rabbi Christ. If what I say makes no sense, and proves me to be a christian basher, then you may respond in kind.
Either way, it makes no difference to me. The truth or fallicy of my words will be proven in the march of time. For myself, at least I know I have tried to make others see that which lies right in front of their noses. What people do with my message is up to them. They can accept it, or they can pervert it as they have perverted the message of the Rabbi Christ.
Just one more thing; a little food for thought. If the Rabbi Christ were alive today, do you think DUBYA and the Religious Reich would welcome him with open arms? Would it be more likely he'd suffer the same fate he suffered when he first showed up on the world's stage? Before you answer, remember what the Rabbi Christ was in his day: a religious rebel. His death was directly caused by his message of love, and precipitated by his throwing the money-changers out of the temple. He was a threat not only to the powerless but whiny Jewish theocracy, but the political might of Rome. Can you or anyone else say that someone who would go to a mega-church and fling the money out of the collection plates would create any less of a stink, or a call for his detention (at the very least)?
Blessed be!
Pappy
by
Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 860 comments)
on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 at 2:15:14 PM
I'm not religious. God knows I tried to be. That is, of course, if there is a "God." When asked politely about my religion, I usually say I am "spiritual." If I'm asked impolitely, I just say, "It's none of your f**king business."
The truth, though, is I am a follower of Jesus as I understand his message and philosophy - and let me tell you, in this so-called "Christian" society supposedly based on the teachings and the words of Jesus, learning about the message and philosophy of Jesus is not an easy thing.
I once made a deal with my (now ex) wife who was a professed "Christian." I agreed to attend church with her every Sunday for one year. If during that year, a Sunday sermon was actually about the words of Jesus Christ, that Sunday wouldn't count and my year of attendance would be extended by a week. However, if the Sunday sermon was on text or words attributed to Paul then my attendance would be shortened by a week. I finished my sentence in six months.
Jesus didn't speak of fire and brimstone. That was Paul. Jesus didn't speak of burning for sex out of wedlock. That was Paul. Jesus didn't organize religions and seek out rich men. That was Paul. And the list goes on and on. If "Christians" were really honest, they would call themselves "Paulians."
Seriously, the most striking thing I ever read that was attributed to Jesus is not even in the official bible. It is in the Gospel of Thomas. He quotes Jesus as saying, "Lift a rock and you will find me. Split a piece of wood and there I am." This is the man I follow. Not Paul, the failed tax collector who would have been the world's first TV evangelist if only there had been TV back in those days.
by
Edgar (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 4 comments)
on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 at 6:27:15 PM
You have exposed a divine truth! I have never been able to understand why the current crop of holy-rollers use the term, "Christian" to identify themselves when they use the Jewish Bible and the words of a reformed and celibate Roman homosexual to guide the behavior of everyone except themselves while ignoring the teachings of Jesus Christ.
By the way, so long as we cling to the current process of electing ony rich people who can dump a million dollars into their own campaign expenses, we can expect little or no understanding of "how the other half lives". They will tell us that they are only "ordinary people" and. bless their little hearts, they really believe it! If a no-good privileged flunky like themselves can inherit a fortune and make good, anybody should be able to do it. Tightly-controlled public financeing could bring people with a real understanding of the plight of the Middle- and Lower-Class economic strata into office and giove us real government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
by
Mary Pitt (65 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 177 comments)
on Wednesday, November 15, 2006 at 11:45:31 AM
3 comments
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