JABbering Stooge

I received this in my e-mail inbox today (along with the gallons of spam that have been coming to me via my alumni account). It’s from Episcopal pastor Tom Ehrich, via his personal website, On A Journey. Unfortunately, you have to subscribe to get his weekly columns, but I thought this one was good enough to post the whole thing below the fold. I’ll highlight the parts I especially liked in bold.

Thanks to a judge in Iowa, Christmas came early for our politicians.

The county judge struck down a state law banning same-sex marriage. Politicians rushed into that breach, condemning the judge’s action or distancing themselves from it, hoping to please the so-called “religious right,” and hoping to find an issue - any issue - that would divert attention from a disastrous war, a dangerously weakening economy, government invasions of privacy, corruption in high places, and human rights abuses.

I suppose politicians can’t help themselves. They aren’t statesmen, they don’t have any vision for the nation larger than staying in office, they don’t accept accountability.

But we the people shouldn’t be so easily gulled. Yes, we have opinions on same-sex marriage and the other moral issues that politicians hope will divert our attention. Our opinions differ widely, and many of us have strong reasons drawn from our faith and our Scripture for thinking as we do.

But when we look at the issues that command our attention as citizens and shape our future as a nation, we need serious men and women to be paying serious attention to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” to the Bill of Rights, to the rule of law, to balance of power, to the democratic ideals of fairness and equity, to economic vitality, to public education, to truth and justice, and to national security in its fullest meaning.

Our politicians give us slogans and scapegoats, and they hope our fears will overwhelm our common sense. But we don’t have to buy that malarkey.

If we blunder our way into a war with Iran, or send another cadre of brave soldiers to die in Iraq and Afghanistan, or watch houses sit unsold and personal debt skyrocket, or sit helplessly with endangered paychecks and uninsured medical needs while the super-wealthy get super-wealthier, it won’t be because two women did or didn’t get married in Iowa.

If our politicians won’t lead the way into sanity of public discourse, perhaps we religious folks should.

Cascading scandals in war profiteering, for example, have nothing to do with what we wish Jesus had said about sexuality. They have much to do with what he did say about wealth and its capacity to corrupt.

Rapidly widening disparities between the rich and everyone else don’t bother politicians seeking their handouts, but, if we take Scripture seriously, they do offend the God whose Son told the wealthy to give away their wealth.

Immigration policies are a complex matter on which reasonable people can disagree. But when white-skinned immigrants enter freely while dark-skinned immigrants are subject to middle-of-the-night raids, Christians need to remember whose side Jesus took when he welcomed outcasts to his table.

When political leaders demand secrecy and break the law at will, Christians need to remember that Jesus refused to operate in secret.

When politicians excuse injustice for the few as necessary for the welfare of the many, Christians need to remember that Jesus spent most of his ministry teaching, healing and loving the few, especially the few whom the many loathed.

When politicians declare that survival of the nation justifies torture and unholy alliances, Christians need to remember that Jesus said to “forgive your enemies” and to seek “peace.”

If we are going to cast our votes with faith in mind, let’s not buy the self-serving pieties of impious politicians. Let’s look at the actual Messiah who proclaimed a Gospel of forgiveness and mercy and who died at the hands of power-seekers.

If the Jesus of the Bible were alive today, righties would denounce him as a Satanic ‘Murka-hating dirty fucking hippie, and have him shot on sight.

Now, this is the kind of Christian I can respect. Not the holier-than-thou shitheads praying standing in the street, that they may be seen of men.