Friday, April 08, 2005
THE CHURH'S MESS OF POTTAGE
We all remember the biblical story of Esau. He came home from a hunting trip so hungry he sold his entire inheritance to his kid brother for a bowl of stew. You would think that Evangelical Christians would be familiar enough with this story to heed it's lessons. However, if you would think that, you would be wrong. The predominant church in America has sold it's soul. Cheap! For a very thin bowl of gruel indeed.
The church has formed an unholy political alliance with the secular far right. They have forged this alliance on the basis of two issues; abortion and gay rights.
I am reminded of the old Red Skelton joke, "they say marriage is made in heaven, but that's not where this one came from!" With any rational analysis of this marriage it is immediately apparent that parties involved are badly mismatched. After all, the church worships a man who taught us to love our neighbors above ourselves. Treat others the way you would wish to be treated. Judge not, lest you be judged. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. Blessed are the poor. That of faith, hope and charity, the greatest is charity. The man who said "suffer the little children to come to me".
Contrast this with the secular right. Invading a foreign country, killing thousands of its citizens, is an act of self love only if you are a masochist. Most people would not have torture done unto us, so doing it to others should be out of the question, but not for these folks. Jesus believed in worrying about your own life and leaving others to worry about theirs. These people believe it is their right and duty to not only dictate how we should live, but to act as judge, jury and executioner. Jesus believed in community, in watching out for each others needs. These people believe in individual greed and survival of the most ruthless. Jesus said it would be easier for a camel to crawl through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. Far from being charitable, these folks have cut aid to the impoverished, cut medical services for poor children, and cut funding to poor schools systems.
So what does each party get in this marriage of convenience? It's certainly a good deal for secular right. They get millions of easily malleable voters to support their agenda of control and greed. People for whom the truth is whatever they desire it to be. People who have been indoctrinated their whole lives with the belief that with enough faith, any fiction becomes fact, and any fact fiction. People who believe that creation science is something other than an oxymoron. Not based on any empirical evidence. Just on faith that it is true. People who can be made to passionately believe that it is their best interest to work against their best interests.
So what does the church get? A few bucks per capita, and the resources of Madison Ave. in their fight against abortions and queers. Not that this is really any sacrifice for their benefactors. These are people who can afford to fly their daughter to the finest Swiss clinic if an abortion is deemed desirable. People who can afford to provide their same sex partners with the benefits most of us rely on the government for.
So in the end, the church is kinda like the girl who runs off to the big city to seek her fortune. In a few weeks, she is so desperate and broke, she trades her favors for the #1 at McDonald's, rather than hold out for more traditional hundred bucks. It appears that the church has settled for a Big Mac, medium fries, and a Coke!
The church has formed an unholy political alliance with the secular far right. They have forged this alliance on the basis of two issues; abortion and gay rights.
I am reminded of the old Red Skelton joke, "they say marriage is made in heaven, but that's not where this one came from!" With any rational analysis of this marriage it is immediately apparent that parties involved are badly mismatched. After all, the church worships a man who taught us to love our neighbors above ourselves. Treat others the way you would wish to be treated. Judge not, lest you be judged. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. Blessed are the poor. That of faith, hope and charity, the greatest is charity. The man who said "suffer the little children to come to me".
Contrast this with the secular right. Invading a foreign country, killing thousands of its citizens, is an act of self love only if you are a masochist. Most people would not have torture done unto us, so doing it to others should be out of the question, but not for these folks. Jesus believed in worrying about your own life and leaving others to worry about theirs. These people believe it is their right and duty to not only dictate how we should live, but to act as judge, jury and executioner. Jesus believed in community, in watching out for each others needs. These people believe in individual greed and survival of the most ruthless. Jesus said it would be easier for a camel to crawl through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. Far from being charitable, these folks have cut aid to the impoverished, cut medical services for poor children, and cut funding to poor schools systems.
So what does each party get in this marriage of convenience? It's certainly a good deal for secular right. They get millions of easily malleable voters to support their agenda of control and greed. People for whom the truth is whatever they desire it to be. People who have been indoctrinated their whole lives with the belief that with enough faith, any fiction becomes fact, and any fact fiction. People who believe that creation science is something other than an oxymoron. Not based on any empirical evidence. Just on faith that it is true. People who can be made to passionately believe that it is their best interest to work against their best interests.
So what does the church get? A few bucks per capita, and the resources of Madison Ave. in their fight against abortions and queers. Not that this is really any sacrifice for their benefactors. These are people who can afford to fly their daughter to the finest Swiss clinic if an abortion is deemed desirable. People who can afford to provide their same sex partners with the benefits most of us rely on the government for.
So in the end, the church is kinda like the girl who runs off to the big city to seek her fortune. In a few weeks, she is so desperate and broke, she trades her favors for the #1 at McDonald's, rather than hold out for more traditional hundred bucks. It appears that the church has settled for a Big Mac, medium fries, and a Coke!
