October 27, 2004
"YOU DO":
Kerry's religious references (Jeff Jacoby, 10/27/04, Jewish World Review)
Voters will have to judge for themselves whether Kerry's newly prominent religiosity is genuine or merely a facade adopted for political purposes. Those political purposes are certainly compelling - according to an August poll by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, 85 percent of Americans say religion is important in their lives and 72 percent say it is important to them that a president have strong religious beliefs.But there is something wrong, it seems to me, with Kerry's glib equation of higher public spending and more lavish government programs with fulfilling one's religious obligations. He cited Matthew 25:40 - ''Whatever you do to the least of these, you do unto me'' - and interpreted it to mean that ''the ethical test of a good society is how it treats its most vulnerable members.'' That would be a reasonable understanding if Kerry had meant that each of us individually is called upon to reach out to those in need.
But Kerry immediately turned Jesus' admonition into little more than a call for expanding the welfare state and increasing government regulation. ''That's why we have to raise the minimum wage, ensure equal pay, and finish the job of welfare reform,'' he said. He quoted an earlier verse in Matthew (''I was hungry and you fed me; thirsty and you gave me a drink'') and read it to mean that America must ''take action now to cut the cost of energy so that already overburdened seniors in the colder parts of our country can afford heat in the winter.''
I'm not an expert on Christian thought, but it seems unlikely to me that Jesus was taking a position on minimum wage laws or energy conservation when he called on his followers to do more for ''the least of these.''
It seems pretty clear He meant the Faith Based Initiative. Posted by Orrin Judd at October 27, 2004 9:57 AM
I'm not an expert on Christian thought, but it seems unlikely to me that Jesus was taking a position on minimum wage laws or energy conservation when he called on his followers to do more for ''the least of these.''
Jesus has an energy policy?
Posted by: pchuck at October 27, 2004 10:21 AMAccording to that great Catholic theologian, John Forbes Kerry, Jesus has specific positions on energy, environmental policy, health care delivery models, and marginal tax rates, but He is an agnostic on abortion.
Posted by: Mike Morley at October 27, 2004 12:30 PMGood one, Mike!
Posted by: jd watson at October 27, 2004 1:07 PMStrange, I never read anywhere in the NT where Jesus advocated diversion of roman taxes to support the good works of the Church or Christians. Then again, perhaps my memory is hazy after 5 decades of life. Care to cite the verses in the NT which tell the Church exactly HOW to collect and disburse tax monies, the proscribed rates, as well as any legal guidelines? (HINT: They'll look and sound like God's commands to Israel in the Torah, only an Apostle will be saying them.)
Posted by: Ptah at October 27, 2004 1:12 PMMike - Jesus has a plan on each of these issues, but he's not prepared to release the details at this time.
Ptah - Jesus resisted paying Roman taxes, and when pressed by the authorities, got a fish to cough up the tax. Why would he want to receive stolen goods?
Posted by: pj at October 27, 2004 1:35 PMpj, Christ believed in paying taxes. See Mark 12:17.
Posted by: Bart at October 27, 2004 2:19 PMNot exactly, Bart. Note Mark 12:13 - the authorities came to entrap him, believing that he had taught against paying taxes to Caesar, and trying to force him either to repeat that in front of the police (a crime) or to deny himself in front of his disciples. And Jesus's answer in Mark 12:17 cleverly avoids the trap by begging the critical question: What are the things that are Caesar's, and what are the things that are God's? Keep in mind that some of Jesus's followers were Zealots, and the Zealot motto was "Tribute to none but God." They thought paying taxes to the Romans was a kind of theft of what rightfully belonged to God and should be used to serve God.
We can't know at this remove exactly what Jesus's position was on Roman taxes, but his hostility to the Romans seems clear from, e.g., his refusal to touch Roman coins, his refusal to personally pay Roman taxes, his support for the killing of a herd of Roman swine, and, not least, the fact that he was executed by crucifixion -- the punishment for subversion of Rome -- and that the high priest Caiaphas's support for his crucifixion was based on the belief that Jesus would lead a bloody rebellion against Rome (cf John 18:14).
Posted by: pj at October 27, 2004 3:05 PMpj, obviously the fish was a war-mongering capitalist Republican in the top 1% of Roman taxpayers. He could afford to pay the tax. And if he had a Kerry administration in Rome, he would have been guaranteed to pay until he bled.
It is amazing to me that liberals like Kerry don't mind our social support pograms acting like Jesus, they just don't want any individual citizen walking, talking, or acting like him. They have no compunction in using your tax dollars to show mercy to the weak, as long as they get to specify how much you have to fork over and on what program it is socially acceptable to support with your money. They've replaced the old saying "Charity begins at home" with "Your survival begins with government". Don't let the poodle fool you, he's really a cur.
Posted by: dougrc at October 27, 2004 4:39 PM