I'm not sure why but it seems that most religious folk, especially the Evangelists, are right leaning.
A Reverend was on TV this morning urging his followers to vote Republican in the upcoming US election and the general consensus seems to be that they will. As America has a very high proportion of those that believe in a creator, the church seems to speak to a large base but why has the Church grabbed Jesus as one of their own when the writings of the Bible seem to point that he represented the polar opposite of what the right believe?
With the help of a good friend with a wide knowledge of all things biblical, we have come to the conclusion that actually, if the son of God was knocking about today, he would be be on the left side of politics.
The most obvious example in the bible is the line: 'It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God' which clearly states the financial views of the creator.
His Leftist position is further enhanced by tales of Jesus running a Commune where 'There was no needy person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need'. He even told his followers: "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor".
Seems obvious enough to me, God doesn't much care for home ownership, what stocks and shares you possess or how big your pension is.
Without doubt Jesus was a hippy, the long hair, the beard and the sandals give that away and his anti-war slogan 'Do not murder, anyone who murders will be subject to judgement.' and his catchy 'Blessed are the peacemakers' show his unerring slant towards pacifism.
So we have the evidence that God is anti-war, anti-capitalist and strongly believes in the equal distribution of wealth.
Of course the left widely poo-poo the idea of God so we wouldn't want him anyway but just nice to know that the man the right revere with such passion was probably the Worlds first Socialist.
Amen Comrade.
12 comments:
here's the difference, Christianity is voluntary, socialism is not.
But there is a fundamental difference between "go, sell you possessions and give to the poor" and "I'm taking your possessions, selling them, and giving to the poor."
Plus, I think passages like these are not intended to be taken quite as literally as some would say. Obviously, if everyone went out tomorrow and tried to sell their possessions, they would all be worthless and they wouldn't be able to give anything to the poor, except their possessions I guess, which would make all the poor people rich right?
Also, I don't think the idea of a voluntary commune is anti-Capitalist or anti-free-market or anti-liberty or whatever. It's force that makes the difference.
looks like Cody beat me to the punch while I was typing my comment.
besides, socialism is only good thing when we are bailing out financial institutions. other than that, it's bad bad bad.
'only good thing'= only A good thing.
It cracks me up that Dubya's now being described as a "socialist" now that he's taken to nationalising stuff, in his vain, late attempt to avoid the moniker 'Worst Prez Eva'...
When what he is, of course, is a crony capitalist and a tool of his big business funders. While they wanted him to give them free rein over the markets, he was happy to do that. But now that they want him to bail them out, he's happy to do that.
Yes sir, no sir, do you want fries with that sir?
Onto the topic of this thread, there's a lot of Anglican vicars who are quite liberal/lefty in their outlook. In fact, my manager says he suspects the vicar of his own parish doesn't even believe in God :)
Lucy, there's only one thing worse than a deranged God-botherer and that's a deranged capitalist.
If someone is both then run for the hills!
Lucy, i do enjoy the way your mind works and how your posts can differ so greatly. Jesus, porn and Afghanistan in the space of 3 posts. Nobody can ever call you predictable.
America has one of the highest christian populations in the world. lets hope more of the american population could take on jesus' pacifist ideology and so influence their leaders to do the same. especially in the next decade.
the american right stands under a vague and sometimes twisted christian belief system. not to say this doesnt happen in other religions.
i think its more of a "birds of a feather" than "let's all follow jesus' example" following.
lucy, from what youve described, it sounds like jesus could have even been a red! thats some solid steel aka irony.
effay - It wasn't that long ago that the stories in the Bible were 'as it happened' but slowly over time they have changed to 'not actually how they happened but a metaphor for how it actually happened'. The relgio's view on how to read the bible has evolved as it gets debunked.
Very true Annie and i have seen the Bush is a Socialist things also Cheezy, funny stuff. He will be inviting castro round for a BBQ next.
I know lettersa2z, Jesus 'Che' Christ.
Lucy,
Actually the stories of the bible haven't changed. The interpretations have changed as we have gained new data. And, most interpretation change concerns Genesis. The most important parts (the words spoken by Jesus) haven't changed at all.
I see no conflict between Genesis and evolution, or Genesis and quantum physics.
Q
My take on it is that Christianity is about seeing the need to help others.
The conservative Chrisitians believe that there obligation is a passive one (the Phelps family excepted) - that you help people by allowing them to do what they will (so long as it isn't coming into our gd country!). Benign(?) neglect?
Post a Comment