Today's primary voting in New Hampshire made me so home sick that I had to call people that I know back in Manchester to find out what the atmosphere was like and what the conventional wisdom was in the voting taking place that could cause the demise of a candidacy or two in this, the most important election in our life times.
One friend that I spoke with said something that compelled me to write and ask the same question, due to the insertion of religion into the Presidential race by some of the candidates. Knowing full well how cheesy it sounds, none the less, the question my friend was asking herself today as she walks into Parker Varney school in Manchester to cast her ballot was a simple as some of the candidates would try and have us believe: Who would Jesus vote for?
Would Jesus go behind the curtain in a polling place, and make his mark beside the name of a person who openly advocates for war? A never ending war? Or would Jesus instead vote for the one that speaks openly about the need to stop the wars of madness, or the one who would stop the terrorizing of our nation's poor and middle class?
Would he vote for someone who was clearly in the pocket of corporate interests? Or would he show his contempt for the money changers by choosing one who has no such debts to be paid back once elected?
If there was a place on the ballot where one could choose between the false prophets who hide behind a thinly disguised attempt at the distortion of all that Jesus said or did, and those who try to walk in his shoes as best as the political arena allows, what choice do you suppose that Jesus would make?
Just because a candidate stands at a podium and speaks platitudes to the teachings of Christ, does not mean that he or she actually believes the words that come out of their mouths. Speaking platitudes and playing the part of the pious does not make one a Christian, it makes the speaker a hypocrite, who plays on the public's religious leanings in order to score political points.
Would Jesus jokingly call for the United States to "Bomb bomb bomb, Bomb bomb Iran"? Would Jesus demand the paying of what amounts to an unfair taxation of those who can not afford it in the form of a mandated health care system, that treats people as though they were automobiles? Would Jesus stand shoulder to shoulder with the working men and women, and those who have the least of all of us, or would he stand on the side of the room where the rich power brokers break their bread?
If we truly try to understand what Jesus meant when he spoke of rendering unto Ceaser what is Ceaser's and to God what is God's, we need look no further than our own Constitution, that decries the integration of church and state. Which would mean to me and to a lot of other people that are voting not only today, but in the weeks and months to come, that those who try to use the Jesus card, the politics of fear, and the warped interpretations of the Bible, are finished, and should just pack it up and go home now.
Because Jesus probably weeps when he looks down and sees the killing in His name, the trodden down being forced to beg for food in the richest nation in the history of man, and the sodomites co-opting a movement of peace, love ,beauty, and harmony, all in the name of further lining their own and their corporate buddies' pockets.
So go ahead. Ask yourself that question. Would Jesus vote for the person who only lip syncs the words that He spoke, or the person who actually tries to live by those same words? Would Jesus even bother voting at all? And if He did, who would Jesus vote for? Batmanchester
One friend that I spoke with said something that compelled me to write and ask the same question, due to the insertion of religion into the Presidential race by some of the candidates. Knowing full well how cheesy it sounds, none the less, the question my friend was asking herself today as she walks into Parker Varney school in Manchester to cast her ballot was a simple as some of the candidates would try and have us believe: Who would Jesus vote for?
Would Jesus go behind the curtain in a polling place, and make his mark beside the name of a person who openly advocates for war? A never ending war? Or would Jesus instead vote for the one that speaks openly about the need to stop the wars of madness, or the one who would stop the terrorizing of our nation's poor and middle class?
Would he vote for someone who was clearly in the pocket of corporate interests? Or would he show his contempt for the money changers by choosing one who has no such debts to be paid back once elected?
If there was a place on the ballot where one could choose between the false prophets who hide behind a thinly disguised attempt at the distortion of all that Jesus said or did, and those who try to walk in his shoes as best as the political arena allows, what choice do you suppose that Jesus would make?
Just because a candidate stands at a podium and speaks platitudes to the teachings of Christ, does not mean that he or she actually believes the words that come out of their mouths. Speaking platitudes and playing the part of the pious does not make one a Christian, it makes the speaker a hypocrite, who plays on the public's religious leanings in order to score political points.
Would Jesus jokingly call for the United States to "Bomb bomb bomb, Bomb bomb Iran"? Would Jesus demand the paying of what amounts to an unfair taxation of those who can not afford it in the form of a mandated health care system, that treats people as though they were automobiles? Would Jesus stand shoulder to shoulder with the working men and women, and those who have the least of all of us, or would he stand on the side of the room where the rich power brokers break their bread?
If we truly try to understand what Jesus meant when he spoke of rendering unto Ceaser what is Ceaser's and to God what is God's, we need look no further than our own Constitution, that decries the integration of church and state. Which would mean to me and to a lot of other people that are voting not only today, but in the weeks and months to come, that those who try to use the Jesus card, the politics of fear, and the warped interpretations of the Bible, are finished, and should just pack it up and go home now.
Because Jesus probably weeps when he looks down and sees the killing in His name, the trodden down being forced to beg for food in the richest nation in the history of man, and the sodomites co-opting a movement of peace, love ,beauty, and harmony, all in the name of further lining their own and their corporate buddies' pockets.
So go ahead. Ask yourself that question. Would Jesus vote for the person who only lip syncs the words that He spoke, or the person who actually tries to live by those same words? Would Jesus even bother voting at all? And if He did, who would Jesus vote for? Batmanchester
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