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Is the Term “Right-Wing Christian” an Oxymoron?

July 9th, 2012 | Posted by Rich in Blog | Featured - ()

by Rich Abete


In some states, Evangelical Christians comprise more than 50% of the Republican electorate. In addition, the Republican electorate is, in 2012, almost exclusively right-wing in ideology. It is therefore accurate to say that generally, right-wing Christians make up the majority of Republican voters. The question is, “Is the term or the notion of a right-wing Christian an oxymoron, either literally or essentially?” Put in another way, is saying the term right-wing Christian tantamount to saying something like “gay Nascar?” Alright, alright, give me a break! Of course there are gay folks who enjoy and even participate in that predominantly red-neck, macho sport, but you get my point, right? Would it have been more accessible to have said, “Straight Judy Garland fan”(for those still scratching their heads, Judy Garland is a gay icon — I don’t get that either)?  To clarify, my point is this: the words right-wing and Christian are often mistakenly juxtaposed, for few things are more poorly matched or antithetical.

To be clear, I do not pretend to be a biblical scholar or a theologian, but I am more than passively acquainted with those all important words in red. In addition, I am a politico-phile and on occasion have a more than pedestrian command of the English language. So let’s just say this: At least Ibelieve that I have an informed opinion on this rather touchy topic. You may agree or disagree… and you may have clarity of thought or be defensively deluded. That’s your business.

Let us review some facts (even though they will be dismissed by right-wingers as having a liberalbias). First, let’s see what an objective source says about the two terms we often hear together… mistakenly, in my opinion. According to Dictionary.com, “right-wing” means conservative, which in turn means: disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones and to limit change. As evidenced by their behavior of late (like the past 32 years, for instance), we can safely characterize right-wing as the latter definition. When considering Rick Santorum’s desire to restore the tradition of clubbing your woman and dragging her into your double-wide cave if she gets uppity or demands too many rights, this makes perfect sense. To further define right-wing in the context of today’s political environment, we might consider its antonym, liberal (a word, incidentally, that would nicely precede the word Christian,which means free from narrow prejudice and bigotry.  On the political continuum of communist to fascist, right-wing or conservative and liberal are indeed opposite each other.

According, again, to Dictionary.com, the word Christian means: of, pertaining to, or derived from Jesus Christ or his teachings.  Ah-ha! Therein lies the rub: Jesus’ teachings, including his words and actions, were incontrovertibly liberal. Sure, RWC’s will vehemently negate that fact, but I would argue that being a follower of Christ, one who is Christian in more than name, would likely entail the belief that the words in red do not lie.

Again, I am no authority on Jesus, but what I do know is that it takes but a brief moment of studying the New Testament to discover that Jesus taught and demonstrated love, tolerance, compassion, charity, truth, generosity… and free universal healthcare ;) . And he specifically engendered all these wonderful traits when addressing the least among us, or those in need. Furthermore, he made it crystal clear that paying one’s fair share of taxes is essential for civil society (…render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s…) and didn’t consider taxation a form of state-sponsored theft as do more and more on the far right. Considering these things, it only follows that utilizing tax revenue to administer to the sick, elderly and poor (the least among us) is the Christian thing to do.

Jesus also taught that is it is essential to welcome foreigners into your country and home, and treat them with the utmost respect, generosity and kindness. Consider the plethora of mean-spirited and draconian anti-immigration measures that have been proposed by Republican governors (again, a majority of whom are Christian) in the last few years. Jesus healed the sick and fed the poor, yet the Republicans have traditionally opposed Medicare and Food Stamp programs that do just that, and have proposed to slash funding for such in the recent House GOP budget. Jesus preached equality among men and women, yet the right-wing has historically sought to suppress the rights of all who are not white males, and has of late launched a soft war on women’s rights to reproductive healthcare. Jesus taught peace, yet most right-wing Christians are militaristic hawks. He warned against worldly riches, yet the GOP seems to put the pursuit of mammon above much else.  And the list goes on…

Here’s where RWC’s implore that they give to charity and give to their churches that in turn administer to the poor and needy. They insist that Jesus meant for individuals, families and churches alone to ameliorate the suffering of those in need. The problem with that sentiment is, Jesus made no such distinction. It would seem that achieving the objective is what is important, not necessarily the means. And while it is admirable, worthwhile and necessary for individuals, families and churches to perform such functions, there is infinitely more need than there is capability from such sources. The government is the only entity with the ability to adequately address the existing need in this country. If taxes are OK, then what’s wrong with helping folks in need with the proceeds? Answer: Nothing.

This is the point in the debate when RWC’s call all liberals baby killers. That, of course, is a non sequitir and a ridiculous assertion to boot….and clearly for another post!   

 

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Welcome!

May 30th, 2012 | Posted by Rich in Blog | Featured - ()

Dear new friends and friends of JWAD:

Welcome to JWNAR.org! It’s been a while in the transitioning, but we have finally morphed from JWAD.org into our current (and permanent!) incarnation. For a more detailed discussion of the reasons why we chose to rename ourselves Jesus was not a Republican, please see the last blog post dated 3/7/12. Suffice it to say herein, that we decided it would be better to declare that Jesus was not something he definitely was not, than to say he was something he very well couldn’t have been. Now that that’s clear ;) , we can move on.

As you can plainly see, our new site is similar to JWAD.org, with the exception of a few changes. Although not for a lack of ideal candidates, we have changed the weekly feature, Hypocrite of the Week (HOTW) to Hypocrite of the Month (HOTM). We just don’t have the man power to keep up with it weekly, and often fell short in the past. We’ll be sure to pack enough right-wing hypocrisy into each HOTM to last you the full month.

As for the Forum, we will again have a place for folks to express their opinions about a recent post, or about the issues of the day, whether they be age-old and tenacious “wedge” issues, or a current matter that has recently been in the news. We hope to have the Forum up and running in the coming weeks with a more accessible scope as described. Until then, you can voice your opinion after the blog posts, or on our facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jesus-was-not-a-Republican/311925502180080.

Aside from those changes, our features will remain as they were on JWAD. Our blog will remain active, providing new and usually original content 2-3 times weekly. Our JWNAR Store is up and running where you can purchase our latest t-shirt designs (and other items) to spread the word. Please continue to support us because that makes this site possible! And of course, we truly appreciate it.

To find other sites with a like vision, please visit our Friends page. It will become more densely populated as we go.

Well, thanks for waiting for us! We hope you visit us several times a week to see what we have going on that’s new and insightful or just straight up in their face (that would be the GOP’s face).  We will do our best to keep you interested and informed.

Thanks again for all of your previous and continuing support.

Respectfully,

 

JWNAR.org (Rich, Trevor and Chris)

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Jesus was not a Republican!

March 7th, 2012 | Posted by Rich in Blog | Featured - ()

Hi friends:

From the very beginning, when we were asked exactly what Jesus was a Democrat meant, the short answer was always, “Jesus was not a Republican.” In fact, instead of stating that “Jesus was a liberal,” we used the word “Democrat” in our name to specifically draw an antithetical contrast to the notion that Jesus was a Republican (i.e.,that He lived and demonstrated a right-wing ideology when he was alive).  For reasons unclear, we could not see what was in front of our collective faces. In retrospect, it is clear that we should have named our endeavor Jesus was not a Republican (JNR) and not JWAD. We would much rather state that Jesus wasn’t something he clearly wasn’t, than state that Jesus was something that can be endlessly debated. Of course, we firmly stand by our statement that Jesus was a staunch liberal, which is clearly demonstrated by His words and deeds as described in the New Testament. Now more than ever, with the Republicans lurching ever rightward on social issues, foreign policy and domestic policy (i.e., the war on women’s liberty, warmongering re: Iran, and the proposal to gut Medicare, respectively), we believe it is paramount that we should stand up and call the Right out for their hypocrisy. A large majority of them claim to be devout Christians, but their words and deeds are anything but characteristic of the example Jesus left for us in the Bible.

Before I get completely tangential and write a full thesis on our guiding philosophy which is well-documented throughout this site, let me get to the point of this post: We will be relaunching our website in the coming weeks at jesuswasnotarepublican.org.  We’ll let you know when. In the meantime, please visit us at our popular new facebook page at the following link: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jesus-was-not-a-Republican/311925502180080?sk=wall. We promise that the debate is lively and there is rarely a dull moment. We hope to see you there!

Thank you so much for supporting us and spreading the word.

Respectfully,

JWAD/JNR

 

 

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HOTW # 10: Rand Paul “Like Father, Like Son”

January 28th, 2012 | Posted by Rich in Blog | HOTW - ()

(by Rich Abete)

I’ve been reading lately that Ron Paul’s current Presidential bid might just be all about paving the way for his son, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) in 2016.  That is a truly frightening proposition. What makes the phrase President Rand Paul more disturbing than President Ron Paul is only one thing: plausibility. Unlike his father, Rand Paul is young, articulate, handsome, unburdened by a long record or racist newsletters, and, most importantly, not an overt wacko. In other words, he’s electable. As such, when a glaring example of Rand’s hypocrisy was reported on Monday, it became incumbent upon me to perform my civic duty and deem him our new Hypocrite of the Week (HOTW).   

They say, “The fruit doesn’t fall very far from the tree.”  Whether it be nature or nurture at work, the old adage typically has some validity. In the case of Senator Paul, he and his father, Presidential hopeful Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), can both be described as, among other things, arrant hypocrites (see HOTW#7: Deconstructing the Constructionist: Ron Paul http://jwad.org/2011/12/hotw_ron-paul/). As is the case with some libertarians, virtually all small government conservatives and all right-wing Christian leaders, “keeping the government out of your personal business” is just a hackneyed platitude that is tossed quickly out the window once your business gets really personal.

For instance, on Monday, Paul the Younger, a self-described libertarian, was detained when refusing to comply with a TSA pat-down, according to a Tweet by his father that read, “My son @SenRandPaul being detained by TSA for refusing full body pat-down after anomaly in body scanner in Nashville. More details coming.”  To be fair, the pat-downs are more than a little intrusive and Mr. Paul’s refusal to comply is perfectly congruent with his libertarian ideology that rejects government intrusion in personal business and infringements on civil liberties. What’s ironically disturbing in this case, is that Dr. Paul was en route to Washington to speak at a huge Right to Life rally, an anti-choice organization whose singular objective is to cause the ultimate intrusion into the personal lives of women and families.

Leading up to Dr. Paul’s successful Senate bid in 2010, many inconsistencies in his libertarian positions were identified that tainted his supposed ideological purity. For instance, while repeatedly decrying “government handouts” and “governmental intrusion in health care,” it was revealed that he had collected perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars from Medicaid and Medicare, programs he frequently derided.

More recently, in May of last year, Dr. Paul temporarily blocked the renewal of the The Patriot Act to add amendments that critics said weakened the law, but civil libertarians believed necessary to relieve some of the inherent infringements upon civil liberties contained in the law.  He said it was worth potentially putting the nation at risk to stop the government from “blatantly ignoring the Constitution.” But, later that day… when appearing on Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News, the good doctor proposed a far more breathtaking infringement on civil liberties and trampling of the First Amendment, that, to the point, blatantly ignored the Constitution.  Specifically, Dr. Paul said that individuals attending radical political speeches should be thrown in jail!  Here is the text from the interview:

DR. PAUL: I’m not for profiling people on the color of their skin, or on their religion, but I would take into account where they’ve been traveling and perhaps, you might have to indirectly take into account whether or not they’ve been going to radical political speeches by religious leaders. It wouldn’t be that they are Islamic. But if someone is attending speeches from someone who is promoting the violent overthrow of our government, that’s really an offense that we should be going after — they should be deported or put in prison.

What do you call it again when you preach one thing and practice another?  Oh yeah…Duh!

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Where Do Hate and Intolerance Lead?

October 25th, 2011 | Posted by Rich in Blog | Featured - ()

I was recently told a very interesting and ultimately troubling story. It seems that liberal Christians are actually being ostracized from their churches for being Democrats. Since when did voting Democratic become tantamount to committing a mortal sin? Apparently, it’s been going on for quite a while. In the story, a young woman in Florida (in a swing district no less) was made to feel so uncomfortable in her church for being a Democrat that she ultimately felt impressed upon to leave the congregation. Amazingly, she was led to believe, of all things, that she would one day certainly join the likes of Jimmy Carter and George Clooney (to name two, evidently) in spending eternity in Hell. I suppose I shouldn’t be so shocked. Those kind of Christians seem to be reading a different Bible altogether. I seem to remember Jesus preaching love and practicing tolerance. I also seem to remember that those who are persecuted for righteous causes go to Heaven, not Hell.

One might not be so shocked by such a practice in the Bible belt “red” states, where a right wing brand of Christianity is the norm and the politics are overwhelmingly conservative. But for this to occur in the swing state of Florida, in a county where there are almost as many Democrats registered as Republicans (150K vs. 170K respectively) is harder to swallow. It makes you wonder if the liberal Christians in the most hard-line of the red states are actually safe! (more…)

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