“Perhaps we must admit, with Plato, that lies are useful to the people”
-Erasmus of
As bad as the ethical, sexual and financial scandals in the Republican party have been of late, the transgressions of religious figures have also been turning up right and left at an increasing rate. Whether it’s the molestation of children, misuse of church funds and contributions, or garden variety fornication, Christian leaders are at the vanguard. It shouldn’t be surprising given the feature of human nature that causes the guilty to hide behind and in the institutions of righteousness, and as the heavily theocratic Republican party has been in recent decades, the obsessive leader in matters related to condemnation, restriction and marginalization of homosexuals, it doesn’t surprise me that gaydar detectors beep so loudly when pointed to the right.
The Rev. Ted Haggard, who has just resigned from the presidency of the National Association of Evangelicals is another drop of slime, corruption and hypocrisy in the brimming collection bucket the Republicans consider to be their base. Haggard has the ear of the President and is said to report to Bush or his advisors every Monday; the rest of us have only a boot heel on our faces.
Is anyone really surprised at the credible allegations that Smiling Ted, the oral boy from
Nothing new about such things at all except the influence of such men in national politics and the allure they have for “values voters.” Values voters of course are people others might call hate voters or bigots, but that’s how Newspeak works and Haggard is a master of Newspeak. In response to a question of the lies told to justify the
“Listen, I think [we Christian believers] are responsible not to lie, but I don't think we're responsible to say everything we know.”
That’s values for you and I’m sure if you can read the Gospels in the original Greek, you’ll find where Jesus told you that the preservation of political power is more important than honesty and more important than saving the lives of others. I’m sure it’s in there somewhere.
5 comments:
have log cabin republicans taken over the whole party?
or just nambla?
The GOP has become a regular piñata of perversion, hasn't it? Who knows what creepy things will fall out next. . .
What really amazes me is that they still have support, that people still think it's about values and that the Democrats are the big spenders.
Want an invincible argument against "Intelligent design?"
trickster god?
The truly sickening part is the response of his congregation... why a lying, self-loathing homo like Haggard spews bigotry from the pulpit, the congregation eats it up. But now that he's on the other side of the fence, they talk of repentance, forgiveness and how his experience really "qualifies" him to talk about temptation and sin.
If all the scandals haven't convinced people that these people are charlatans I don't know what will.
I suspect that it would take the same kind of "evidence" as would be needed to cure schizophrenia - in other words, nothing will change them or convince them or rid them of the madness.
The only difference I see between this kind of religion and insanity is that this one gets a tax break and has an organization dedicated to its perpetuation.
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