Tea Parties and Red Coats

Dressed in the garb of the Minute Man angry citizens march on Town Hall meetings, but they wear the wrong uniform. They should be sporting the Red Coats of the British Army. They stand as sentries of the old guard; ready to relive the Boston Massacre, brandishing weapons against their fellow citizens. Nothing could be more offensive to the American ideal than to retain power under the force of arms.

One of the things I hold dear about America is our dislike of bullies, of those who would assert their will on those less powerful. The Founders called it the “tyranny of the majority”. The popularity of an idea does not give it moral authority.

All citizens of this great nation deserve access to affordable quality health care. Health care that is not dependent on your employer’s bottom line. Health care that is undeniable if you or a family member contracts a catastrophic illness. Many of today’s insurance policies ration care through annual and life time limits on benefits.

The CEO’s and major stockholders of insurance companies are no different from any other Yankee-Slicker on Wall Street. Health care should be a non-profit business. It is immoral to amass riches upon the sickness and misery of others.

Many on the conservative right claim to be Christian men and women, wrapped in the flag with a cross in one hand and carrying Mr. Colt’s great equalizer in the other. They despise liberals and moderates as godless heathens bent on destroying the founding principles of America. They are ignorant of both their politics and their theology. Conceived in the womb of The Enlightenment, nurtured on the milk of classic liberalism, America burst forth from the pangs of revolution. Liberalism, not conservatism, gave us our freedom.

As for the theology, allow me to relate a story from the founder of Christianity. Luke’s Gospel tells the story of The Good Samaritan, prefaced by a lawyer asking Jesus about the requirements for inheriting eternal life, which we know as “The Great Commandment”. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself”. Jesus affirms that the lawyer has answered correctly, but the lawyer is not satisfied, so he asks “And who is my neighbor”?

Jesus then tells the story. A traveler is robbed, beaten, and left naked and half-dead on the side of the road. A Priest passes by but ignores the man. A Levite does likewise, both spiritual leaders in the community. A Samaritan, hated and despised by the Jews, sees the victim and had compassion on him. He tended his wounds, placed him on his own beast, and continued on the journey towards Jericho where he found a roadside inn and continued to nurse the man. The next morning the Samaritan went to the innkeeper, paid him for tending to the wounded fellow, and instructed the innkeeper to provide for him and if he spent more than he had provided, the Samaritan would repay him on his return trip.

Jesus then asked, “…which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among thieves?” The lawyer answered that the one who showed mercy was the neighbor. Jesus said, “Go and do likewise”.

It is time for progressives, liberals, and moderates, to go and do likewise. Let the angry right pass by on the other side of the health care debate. Let them leave their neighbor bloodied and bruised in the ditch. Let their indifference for their fellow citizens expose the moral depravity of their soul. We must not let them define the debate with lies and fear mongering. We cannot allow them to intimidate with assault rifles and Hitler posters.

Those who oppose health care reform will never be ready to embrace change. Change is the fear they cannot face, the fear that drives them to bring weapons to Town Hall meetings, the fear that labels all things progressive as “socialist” and the fear that would demonize their friends and neighbors if they held a contrary opinion.

Now is the time for Americans to love their neighbors as they love themselves. Now is the time for health care for every citizen of this great nation. No American should ever again file bankruptcy due to medical bills. Parents should never again have to wonder how they would pay for treatment for a catastrophic illness for their child. No senior citizen should ever again have to decide between food and medicine. As Dr. King said, “if not now, when?”

Ye Cannot Serve Two Masters

The Conflict Between the Religious Right and the Teachings of Jesus

Many on the religious right believe the Republican Party is God’s party, and the Democratic Party represents the agenda of Beelzebub and his earthly minions. How is it that the followers of Jesus, can in His name, stand in opposition of so many of the tenets He commanded His disciples to obey?

Republican politics has usurped much of the Christian church. The question today is this. Who will win the war for the heart and soul of the church, the conservative republican rightwing sect, or those who want to follow the teachings of Jesus?

A recent article by Adelle Banks, found on the web at beliefnet.com, reports that two dozen conservative Christian organizations are uniting to bring pressure to bear on politics through a new group called Freedom Federation. They oppose abortion, gay rights, and pornography while supporting religious freedom, smaller government, and the right to own firearms (Banks 2009).

Barrett Duke, vice president for public policy and research for the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, wrote in the Baptist Press on July 10, of his group’s opposition to the Affordable Health Choices Act, simply because it contains a public option, in other words government health care. Duke’s fear is that the public option is an “immediate and long-term threat to pro-life values”. Whether or not we approve of abortion, it is the law of the land, and not likely to change anytime soon. Furthermore, a study published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior documented that young women who have attended religious schools have abortions at a higher rate than their public school counter parts (Adamczyk, 2009). Duke and his cohorts at the Southern Baptist Convention might do better to address their concerns to their followers before trying to impose their belief system on the rest of America.

Perhaps the problem lies in the fact that many evangelicals do not know or simply do not understand the ethics of Jesus. Erin Roach, writing for the Baptist Press on June 1, reported that many professing Christians suffer from spiritual immaturity. Roach cites a Barna Group survey that detailed some interesting facts about many evangelicals. Barna reported that most Christians believe following the doctrines of the Bible indicates spiritual maturity, but when asked to identify specifically what that meant they were unable to articulate their position. Additionally, when Barna asked 600 pastors participating in the study to list biblical references to spiritual maturity, only two percent, that is 12 out of 600, cited Galatians 5:22, which cites love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness, as fruits of the spirit.

The Associated Press reported last month that the Hartford Institute for Religion Research surveyed approximately 25,000 people who attend “megachurches”, those Protestant churches whose weekly attendance is 2,000 or more. The report found that ninety-eight percent of those polled considered themselves committed followers of Jesus. Sixty-two percent purported to experiencing significant spiritual growth within the past year. Yet, nearly forty-five percent never volunteer to help their fellow humans, and as many as thirty-two percent give no money towards the needs of the ministry.

A rereading of the Gospels might be in order for the evangelical right, an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus warns, “No servant can serve two masters; for he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon” (Luke 16:13 NKJV). The religious right should stop serving the mammon of political power, and get back to the Gospel commands of feeding the poor, clothing the naked, comforting the sick, taking in the stranger, and visiting the prisoner, else on the great day of judgment they may hear the haunting words of Jesus, “I tell you I do not know you, …. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity” (Luke 13:27 NKJV).

For those who say America cannot afford to practice a social gospel, and take care of “the least of these” with dignity and respect, I remind them again of the words of Jesus, “For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more” (Luke 12: 48 NKJV). For those who say we are a Christian nation, it is time to put that belief into action.