Hypocrites! Or worse.

[richardf8]

The right-wingers are supposed to be all for bringing our nation to heel under God's Law by banning Gay Marriage, keeping our teens ignorant of birth control, and otherwise micromanaging other people's lives because they are all such righteous people, right?

So, how can they pass this Bankruptcy bill in light of this:

Deuteronomy 15
1 At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. 2 And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the LORD's release.

No, no, don't tell me!

It's because the only reason to ever invoke religion is to whip people up into voting for politicians whose primary goals are lining their pockets at the expense of those people's best interests. So now, when Joe Six-Pack, who works in a non-union factory and has no health-insurance gets put out of work when a faulty machine eats his hand, and racks up a large hospital bill to mend it, he has no hope of release.

If a politician is talking about God, the only reason he's doing it is to cloud Joe's judgement so they can hoover his paychecks and line the pockets of their contributors. And if the entire Whitehouse and both Chambers of congress were to be tiled floor-to-ceiling with Ten Commandments plaques, they would not cease to take the Lord's name in vain in this manner, perverting it for the sake of their ambition and their greed.

Comments

[makovette.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah.

Mako

[bluerain.livejournal.com]

Religion is for politicians what it is for a lot of other people--a way of spiritualizing one's own agenda/prejudices/hysteria.

[richardf8]

For a good discussion of why that works, and works on such a visceral level, go to the B&N, snag Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief off the shelf, grab a Latte, and look at the first couple of chapters. It managers a very good discussion of the effects of worship and mystical experience both neurologicaly and endocrinologically.

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

They would probably just say that it's old testament, or that since most home loans are 30-years that Deut doesn't apply anyways...

[richardf8]

They might . . . but they would run into some problems.
Whereas the dietary laws are specifically repealed in the Christian Scriptures, the tendency in Jesus' teachings is to extend teachings like this one, rather than to curtail them.

I use proofs from the Jewish Scripture because I'm sick of conservative Christians pulling some bizarre thing out of Jewish scripture to justify their hatred/prejudice/cruelty whatever, and then seeing liberal Christians cite the Christian Scriptures to counter it. That paradigm recapitulates the ancient Anti-Judaic lie that Judaism is a cruel and merciless religion. Thus I use the Christian scriptures only to counter specifically Christian hypocrisy. It all works out well, since Jesus spends lots of time citin Leviticus and Deuteronomy anyway.

[childings.livejournal.com]

Yeah, feminists tend to do that as well. They idolize Jesus for being so female-friendly (which he was... most of the first apostles were women) and for basically being rebelling against "harsh" Jewish law.

*nodnod* interesting points!

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

Just wanted to underscore (since you asked what they might say), that sometimes people will argue for the sake of arguing, till the cows come home, especially in religion and politics... and this combines both, unleashing endless possibilities ;P *peep*

[lordrunningclam.livejournal.com]

I am shocked, SHOCKED, to think that politicians might not be completely straigtforward regarding their motives.

That said, while there has always been a large measure of hypocracy in American politics, these guys have entered a whole new stratosphere. They've turned naked greed into a religious tenet.

[deckardcanine.livejournal.com]

I've heard that greed became a religion around 1980, became unfashionable for public display in a few years, and has since come back into vogue.

[kesil.livejournal.com]

Browsed the journal a bit after the really illuminating comments you made in seraphimsigrist's journal...fascinating perspectives! Mind if I add you?

[richardf8]

Bya ll means, go for it!