With their ironically named “Pledge to America: The New Republican Agenda,” the GOP continues to bang the gong that declares, “We are Christian mostly in name and not so much in action.”
While I certainly give them credit for wording much of their “new” pledge in a way that sounds...I don't know, nice?, the outcomes of what they are standing for strike me as particularly unChristian.
Their pledge is particularly focused on business, making it clear that the primary driver of the party is business, particularly big business, not Christian precepts. Business has one driving force – money, God has one driving force as well – love. You cannot serve God and money, you cannot serve two masters. They don't even seem to be ashamed of it either. The Director of their “Pledge to America” is a former lobbyist for AIG, Exxon and Pfizer – it should probably be named, “Pledge to Big Business.”
The pledge, in more than one place, makes it clear that they desire to get rid of the new health care law, replacing it with...well, it's really hard to say from information in the pledge document. It is clear that while they will repeal the act, they also must like it because they are keeping 7 of its key elements. As you might expect, their proposal also does not have any real indication of how to control health care spending or regulations designed to keep expenses affordable. Ultimately, it continues the pledge to big business and leaves the least of these (particularly the sick) to fin for themselves in a ocean of big business sharks (read health insurance companies, large medical corporations and the pharmaceutical industry). “... inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'” Matthew 25:40.
The GOP's pledge also states that it will be keeping the Bush tax cuts in place, including those for the wealthiest people in the US. It would seem that part of the solution to make this affordable in terms of the national debt is to also cancel all the unspent stimulus money. Basically, one focuses on the lifestyles of the rich, powerful and famous, and one focuses of the lifestyles of middle America. Jesus had some pretty condemning things to say about the rich and spent most of his time ministering with commoners.
The last piece of the pledge I'd like to address from a Christian point of view is the inexcusable absence of social justice issues. They are blatantly missing from the pledge. I realize this was done for political reasons...and that is exactly the problem. You do not get to imply that you are the party for Christians and not address the issue of social justice in your pledge for moving forward. If Jesus would have written the pledge, you best bet it would have been a recurring theme.
I do not mean to imply that the Democratic Part is by default the Christian party. They are not. While they do address issues of social justice more directly, they are a far cry from what a Christian party would look like. I am saying that claiming the Christian monicker for political gain and the manipulation of the every-day Christian is a game of falsehoods that both parties need to stop playing and those of us who claim to be Christians, much like Jesus confronted the Pharisees, need to step up consistently, confidently and boldly to say to our politicians, "stop making false claims in the name of God, stop taking God's name in vain."
While I certainly give them credit for wording much of their “new” pledge in a way that sounds...I don't know, nice?, the outcomes of what they are standing for strike me as particularly unChristian.
Their pledge is particularly focused on business, making it clear that the primary driver of the party is business, particularly big business, not Christian precepts. Business has one driving force – money, God has one driving force as well – love. You cannot serve God and money, you cannot serve two masters. They don't even seem to be ashamed of it either. The Director of their “Pledge to America” is a former lobbyist for AIG, Exxon and Pfizer – it should probably be named, “Pledge to Big Business.”
The pledge, in more than one place, makes it clear that they desire to get rid of the new health care law, replacing it with...well, it's really hard to say from information in the pledge document. It is clear that while they will repeal the act, they also must like it because they are keeping 7 of its key elements. As you might expect, their proposal also does not have any real indication of how to control health care spending or regulations designed to keep expenses affordable. Ultimately, it continues the pledge to big business and leaves the least of these (particularly the sick) to fin for themselves in a ocean of big business sharks (read health insurance companies, large medical corporations and the pharmaceutical industry). “... inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'” Matthew 25:40.
The GOP's pledge also states that it will be keeping the Bush tax cuts in place, including those for the wealthiest people in the US. It would seem that part of the solution to make this affordable in terms of the national debt is to also cancel all the unspent stimulus money. Basically, one focuses on the lifestyles of the rich, powerful and famous, and one focuses of the lifestyles of middle America. Jesus had some pretty condemning things to say about the rich and spent most of his time ministering with commoners.
The last piece of the pledge I'd like to address from a Christian point of view is the inexcusable absence of social justice issues. They are blatantly missing from the pledge. I realize this was done for political reasons...and that is exactly the problem. You do not get to imply that you are the party for Christians and not address the issue of social justice in your pledge for moving forward. If Jesus would have written the pledge, you best bet it would have been a recurring theme.
I do not mean to imply that the Democratic Part is by default the Christian party. They are not. While they do address issues of social justice more directly, they are a far cry from what a Christian party would look like. I am saying that claiming the Christian monicker for political gain and the manipulation of the every-day Christian is a game of falsehoods that both parties need to stop playing and those of us who claim to be Christians, much like Jesus confronted the Pharisees, need to step up consistently, confidently and boldly to say to our politicians, "stop making false claims in the name of God, stop taking God's name in vain."
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