Thursday, February 2, 2012

Jesus made him do it




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Do you remember when they told us that if we voted for McCain it would be at least four more years of Jesus people in the White House making Jesus-y policy. Well, they were right?




President Barack Obama linked his economic policies to his Christian faith, saying on Thursday that meeting the nation's challenges requires strong values as much as smart policies.

Obama, making his third appearance as president at the National Prayer Breakfast, used his remarks to justify many of his actions, such as his call for the wealthy to pay more in taxes and his health care overhaul. He said they were not only economically sound but also rooted in his Christian values.

"When I talk about shared responsibility, it's because I genuinely believe that in a time when many folks are struggling and at a time when we have enormous deficits, it's hard for me to ask seniors on a fixed income or young people with student loans or middle-class families who can barely pay the bills to shoulder the burden alone," Obama said.

"But for me as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus' teaching that, for unto whom much is given, much shall be required," he said.



We may be going out on a limb but we're pretty confident that Christ wasn't talking about tax policy in that passage from Luke. Here's what Christ did say that was infinetely more applicable to not only taxes but public policy in general:

"Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's"


Our admittedly incomplete understanding of the Gospels leads us to believe that Christ wanted absolutely nothing to do with earthly matters, rather the condition of mankind's soul and his relationship with God through him.


Hey, let's look on the bright side: perhaps if a particular GOP man of faith gets into office, it won't be quite the slam dunk at these prayer breakfast pander-fests to pimp Christ the Saviour as justification to stick it to the American people. Just a thought.




Balls: the ability to cite Jesus as inspiration for legislation while enacting different legislation that prohibits a certain set of U.S. citizens from following the teachings of that same Jesus.

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