Only You Can Prevent Bad Government
United we Stand
by Melissa V.
9/13/2001
I've recently been told by people posting on a "news" site that Christians are supposed to judge each other. I had no idea. I thought their Jesus reserved judgment for Himself. But apparently not. Seems it's to be done by everyone, based on how well others follow the rules in the Bible. That, they say, is how they know that homosexual Christians aren't really Christians.
Who would have guessed? But hey, it's their religion, not mine, so I have to take their word for it.
But if you're supposed to decide if someone is actually Christian by how well they follow those rules, shouldn't that be applied to all Christians? It doesn't seem fair to apply it to one group, and not to another.
So I wonder; are the Conservative Christians currently running this country really Christians?
If they are, they ought to at least keep the Ten Commandments, right? Now those Commandments are numbered differently by Jews, Lutherans, other Protestants, and Catholics. But these Conservatives are Protestants, so I'll use their numbering.
Let's see.
One: "I am your God, you shall have no others before me." This is what we're trying to figure out, so we'll come back to it last.
Two: "Do not worship idols." It's my understanding this means that people are not supposed to worship things. That they should not be materialistic. Uh-oh. These people are about as materialistic as they come. They all have huge homes and tons of stuff. Pat Robertson even has a private air strip! In fact, they appear to find stuff more important than people. They fail.
Three: "Do not take the Lord's name in vain." Some say this mean be careful when invoking his name, some say it means not to cuss. Well, Bush cusses. He even cusses on the air. And they often say "The Lord says.." and finish with some self-serving misquote. I think they fail here, too.
Four: "Remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy." This used to mean not to work on Saturday, but that was changed to Sunday. I don't know how they spend their Sundays. It's my own personal belief that everyone's private life is just that - private. I extend that same courtesy to public figures. So we'll skip this one.
Five: "Honor your Father and Mother." Since we are talking about governing the country, I'm going to read this as honoring the Fathers and Mothers of our Country, and following in their footsteps.
Our Founding Fathers were not Conservative, or even Liberal. They were Revolutionaries! They pushed the idea of civil rights farther than it had ever been pushed in the modern era. They invented the concept of common people being in charge of their own destiny, and then put together a nation to accomplish this.
A little homework shows that they weren't Christians at all; they were Deists. (I'm not saying that; they did.) They believed strongly in separation of Church and State, because, as Thomas Jefferson put it, "History ... furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. ... In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own. It is error alone that needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself."
Or, as James Madison said, "During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution."
But Pat Robertson said, "The Constitution of the United States ... is a marvelous document for self-government by the Christian people. But the minute you turn the document into the hands of non-Christian people and atheistic people they can use it to destroy the very foundation of our society."
What? But the Constitution is not a Christian document, was not written by Christians, and was never meant to apply only to Christians.
Now George W. Bush is trying to send our tax dollars to "faith based organizations" that have the right to discriminate against anyone for any reason or no reason at all.
The current government is busily trying to turn this county into a Theocracy, against every single principle of our Founding Fathers.
They fail this one completely.
Six: "Thou shalt not kill." Bush fails here! He has signed more death warrants than any other governor in recent history, and given every sign of glee as he does so. In fact, several of these men seem to think that killing their enemies is perfectly OK. Once again, they fail.
Seven: "Thou shalt not commit adultery." Once more, private life is private. But remember, Jesus said people who were divorced and remarried were committing adultery. (Matthew 5:32) So if any of these guys have been divorced and remarried, they are guilty of this, too.
Eight: "Thou shalt not steal." Hmmm. Does stealing an election count? Does stealing the rights of the people? Stealing their liberty? Ah well.
How about taking money donated to spread Christianity, and using it to increase your personal fortune? Like Pat Robertson did when he took donations to the Christian Broadcasting Network to build up the Family Channel, sold the Family Channel to himself and his son for nearly nothing, and then turned around and went public with it, making millions in the process? And then selling the Family Channel to Rupert Murdoch for more millions, vastly increasing his own fortune? Not to mention the American Benefits Plus/Kalo Vita scam, where he literally took the life savings of old people by convincing them that his scheme had Biblical backing?
And make no mistake. This man is behind the Christian Coalition, and the Christian Coalition is behind the current administration.
What about Bush arranging for valuable property he wanted for the Texas Rangers to be condemned, and then making taxpayers pay for the new stadium built on the stolen land? And then selling the franchise for millions, and never paying the taxpayers back, essentially putting their money into his own pocket (and raising their taxes in order to do so.) Does that count?
They fail again.
Nine: "Thou shalt not bear false witness." I believe that means "don't lie." Wow! Have they ever failed here!
Besides lying about our Founding Fathers...
Bush has lied repeatedly (even under oath) about his DWI, about his involvement with the SCI funeral company, about being AWOL from the Texas Air Guard, and on and on and on. In fact, he lies about anything that might embarrass him, and defends that lying on the grounds that he doesn't want to send a "mixed message."
Ashcroft lied repeatedly during his Senate confirmation hearings. For example, he said he'd always followed court orders to desegregate St. Louis schools. But the record shows that US District Court Judge William Hungate had to threaten him with contempt in 1981 because of "continual delay and failure to comply" with those orders. (Ashcroft once boasted that he'd done "everything in [his] power" to fight the desegregation, and advised doubters to ask Judge Hungate.) And then he had the nerve to say he was a foe of discrimination!
He kept denying that he'd done things the record clearly showed that he had done, and even had the gall to say that he wouldn't let his deep set prejudices affect his legal decisions. I don't believe him; but perhaps we'll just have to wait and see about that particular lie. I hope the body count isn't too high.
Norton lied about being anti-environmental, even though her record shows she clearly is. While serving as Colorado's Attorney General, she arranged for polluters to avoid environmental fines using a "self-auditing" procedure. She was chided by the Supreme Court for her extreme views in defense of corporate polluters. She has even said, "we might even go so far as to recognize a homesteading right to pollute or make noise in an area." And that's not anti-environmental? She lies!
They all lie, whenever it looks like the truth will be inconvenient. Once again, they fail.
Ten: "Thou shalt not covet." They clearly covet a lot. They have made themselves wealthy beyond the dreams of avarice through their lying, cheating, and stealing all because they covet so many things. Mostly, they covet power. They fail.
Back to One. Seven "fail" and two "skip." But if you habitually fail even one rule you aren't Christian, or homosexuals would make it. They fail here, too.
Which leads me to the conclusion that these "Christian Conservatives" aren't Christian at all!
Then why do they say they are?
I think it's because more than half the people in this county are at least nominally Christian. And by claiming that label, they can manipulate all those good people into following an agenda that leads to only one thing. More wealth and power for them.
More pain and suffering for everyone else.
I say we call them on it, and don't let them keep doing this to us!