All Eyes On Alabama: The Outcome Will Decide if Christianity is Bankrupt ... Green Rules apply
The marriage of religion and politics, long in the making, has possibly corrupted beyond redemption the most visible faces of Christianity. Effectively Christianity is bankrupt.
I suspect the church needs to go back underground again, back to the catacombs.
According to the latest news report, The President of the United States has, on his Twitter account, fully endorsed credibly accused pedophile and sexual predator Roy Moore for the next Senator from the state of Alabama. The election is December 12.
Now, this endorsement alone is no surprise. With all the charges against Trump for his own sexually-predatory behavior (and do please read this piece by Billy Bush in the New York Times), any admission by him that Moore is morally unacceptable for high office would make Trump vulnerable as well. He can’t do that.
Christian leaders support Moore
But what about Christian leaders, those who stand firmly on the side of biblical truth and morality? Here’s what Franklin Graham told a reporter at the Charlotte Observer:
Q. Some pundits lately have criticized you and other conservative Christian leaders for giving a pass to Roy Moore and Donald Trump for unChristian behavior. They say it’s no different from when feminists stood up for Bill Clinton because they liked his policies and his politics.
A. First of all, whoever is without sin, let them throw the first stone. We have seen a number of Democrats that, all of a sudden, this boomerang has come back and hit them. Nobody is perfect. No one. And I’m more interested in who a person is today than what they were 40 years ago. I don’t want somebody to judge me today for who I was 40 years ago. But we need to look at Roy Moore and make the decision: Where is he today? And do we believe what he stands for? You have to take his side of the story, too. (He later added, “That doesn’t mean someone’s past is irrelevant. But I believe that we are all on a journey through life and hopefully all of us learn from the mistakes in our past.”)
Q. You believe the women who have come forward?
A. I don’t know. I don’t know these women. All I know is he’s been (in) public service all of these years – 40 years – and a month before the election these women (have come forward). And I talked to Roy Moore, I asked him. He said ‘I don’t even know them.’ So, I don’t know.
Could it be that Franklin Graham is hiding his own past sexually predatory behavior?
And then we have James Dobson, of Focus on the Family Fame. According to the Roy Moore campaign site, Dobson has fully endorsed Moore.
I’ve known Judge Moore for over 25 years and I know him to be a man of proven character and integrity. I often ask God to raise up men and women of faith who will govern the nation with biblical wisdom. I believe Judge Moore to be such a man for this time.
Does Dobson have a history of sexual indiscretions he needs to keep buried?
A deeper reason Christianity is bankrupt
Or is there something deeper here than Franklin, Dobson and many others have tapped into?
Now, don’t get me wrong, Many, many Christian leaders (and a few GOP politicians who are now probably regretting it) have come out strongly against Moore. They say, “I believe the women.” Nice of them, I suppose. But polls suggest the majority of this heavily churched (Alabama has the highest rate of church attendance in the US) state do not “believe the women” and will vote Moore into office.
However, in effect, this election is less a referendum on whether a Republican gets to keep the Senate seat than it is on the reputation of Christianity as a credible and viable religion. At this point, I’m going to say “it is no longer viable.”
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Anyone who supports Roy Moore forfeits the right to claim to follow Christ.
Never mind Moore, how people who claim to be Christians can support ANY Republican is pretty hard to understand. Christian values are Democratic values, while the Republicans are the epitome of the moneychangers Jesus threw out of the temple.
Yes.
Still... it's one thing to ignore Christ's teachings about the evils of wealth, and a whole different level to ignore His teachings about care for children.
Correct!
And here's a little known fact-- Jesus himself (PBUH) was actually a registered Democrat (although the Democratic Party was quite small in that land in those times, never-the-less he had the courage to register Democrat). Peace Be Upon Him!
Yup-- God supports the Democrats (and believe me folks, I can tell you that that's something the mainstream media is too afraid to report on-- its unbelievable!!!)
It's much like how some can praise the confederacy, fly the confederate flag, set up statues to the confederacy to honor it and practically worship their confederate ancestors while still claiming to be Americans. It's as if the fact the confederacy attacked the legitimate US government and treasonously wrote their own constitution all to protect their vile slave trade is completely lost on them. And strangely enough, most are the same conservative Republicans who also call themselves Christians.
For way too many people, the only issues that seem to matter to those who proclaim extremely high degrees of religiosity and faith are the individual's positions on abortion and LBGT-Q rights. If, for any reason, the candidate is for a woman's right to choose, or expresses the opinion that ALL human beings deserve exactly the same rights, that candidate is not fit for office. Those positions now "trump" any other positions. It does not appear to make a difference if the person is an abuser of children, or a sexual harasser or sexual assaulter. It makes no difference if the person has no respect for the rule of law or for the sanctity of the family. The two issues of abortion and LGBT-Q aberration are paramount.
Unfortunately, this is exactly the opposite of every true religious belief. There are too many citations in the Penteuch, the New Testament, and the Q'uran that speak to the love of your fellow man and the belief that only God has the ability to judge an individual on issues that belong to God. The famous statement "......render unto Caesar, that which is Caesar's; render unto God, that which is God's" should be the guiding statement for all religions. Vote according to man's laws, pray according to God's. If we were to do that, people like Judge Roy Moore would hold no chance of becoming a national disgrace on the Senate floor.
It's a pity that there are no visible "follower-of-Christ Christian" (as opposed to "politically fixated Christian") leaders. I'd guess that there are many real Christians, the ones for whom "love one another" is more important than abortion politics... and that these people are disgusted by churches' endorsement of Roy Moore. The Christian movement in America is ripe for a new Reformation.
So, as one who dislikes religion, I should want Moore to win?
Is this like wanting a football team I don't like to win one game, so my team gets a higher playoff seed?
Not than I can affect either outcome
I don't know how you draw that interpretation from the article.
''However, in effect, this election is less a referendum on whether a Republican gets to keep the Senate seat than it is on the reputation of Christianity as a credible and viable religion. At this point, I’m going to say “it is no longer viable.”
I draw that interpretation from above part of article, and if Moore wins it discredits Christianity so even though I don't like him should I want him to win just to make religion look bad?
Also given my negative opinion of Congress should I want Moore to win, just so he can be annoying and embarrassment?
Moore will not make religion look bad. That is something 'it' can do for itself quite nicely.
Tough choices. Good luck.
nothing I can do but watch
If you dislike the GOP you should hope that Moore wins.
The Alabama election has nothing to do with and will not determine as to whether christianity is bankrupt. The coffers of the mega-churches are full. It is the souls that inhabit them that are bankrupt.
And the Banks are made of marble-- with a guard at every door!
And the vaulas are filled with Silver, that the miners sweated for!
The conservative-corporate-lobby coalition is misusing religion as a marketing tool. An entire book has been written with the details, One Nation Under God by Kevin Kruse. A convo with the author is here.
What this means in practice is that for the decades they have been doing this, they have cherry-picked the parts of the Bible they agree with, have read into the book things not there, and their idea of Christianity has little to do with anything in the New Testament.