Gov. Greg Abbott: America deteriorating because Christians aren’t voting

[TexasTowelie]

Source: Dallas Morning News

Gov. Greg Abbott said in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network this week that America will continue to deteriorate if Christians and their pastors don’t get to the polls and vote.

“Religious liberty from the Bible and the issues that Christians believe in have become hostile in the mainstream politics, and there is one key reason for it,” Abbott told the Network’s chief political correspondent David Brody. “And that’s because the people who attend these congregations or pastor these congregations do not turn out and vote and we are dealing with the consequences by the failure of Christians to go vote.”

Abbott spoke on Monday to a group of pastors gathered in Austin for a two-day political training seminar hosted by the American Renewal Project. Brody was also a speaker at the event, and other media outlets were excluded. GOP presidential candidate and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee also addressed the group, whose aim to get pastors to run for political office.

On its web site, the Texas Renewal Project reports that more than 13,000 pastors have attended the group’s training events since 2005. Founder David Lane told the New York Times in March that his goal was to get 1,000 pastors to run for public office.

Read more: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2015/08/gov-greg-abbott-america-deteriorating-because-christians-arent-voting.html/

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Cross-posted in the Texas Group.

[jtuck004]

1. Just in case you missed it - they are teaching them to get in your face, teaching them to promote

conflict. Will let the country burn down to get their way.

Be ready.

[hobbit709]

2. so he's saying all these theocracy based laws passed in so many states are done by atheists?

JuanitaJean is right "Greg Abbott is Rick Perry without the intelligence or charm"

[n2doc]

3. I think he would be in for a surprise

1. Most Americans are Christian
2. Most Americans don't vote (28% voter turnout in Texas in 2014)
3. Vast Majority of Hispanics are Christian
4. The people not voting are more liberal than those that did vote last time
5. Therefore, more Christians voting= more liberal voters

I say Bring it on, indicted one!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

14. "3. Vast Majority of Hispanics are Christian"

Not according to idiots like Abbott.

They would say a majority of Hispanics are Catholic which they don't consider to be "Christian".

[TexasTowelie]

17. FYI, minor correction:

Former AG and current governor Greg Abbott has not been indicted. However, the former governor (Perry) and the current AG (Paxton) have.

[n2doc]

21. Sorry, can't keep my criminals straight!

One can only hope Abbott will join that list, though.

[Fred Sanders]

4. If it isn't a criminal offence to convert religious beliefs into public policy it should be.

At least there should be separation of religion and public policy in the Constitution somewhere......

[MosheFeingold]

6. Hate to break it to you

But a huge amount of the fundamental laws of the USA are based on the Torah.

From obvious moral things like "don't murder" and "what is murder" (e.g., not self-defense) to random things like Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

[Fred Sanders]

9. That was hilarious. I think most fundamental laws are based on common sense. Who needs a Torah to not kill?

[MosheFeingold]

11. Lots of people

Who need the Torah to forgive debts on a 7 year schedule? I probably do.

But my point is simply historical: most laws in the Western world originated with the Torah, in some way.

One could argue that moral laws could be the same without such benefit naturally (the "Natural Law" argument) certainly. Other counties arrived at similar points without the Torah.

But the historical fact is that most of US law came from England and the founders of the USA (and the drafters of English law) all studied their Bibles thoroughly and copied the concepts down and turned them into civil laws.

Heck, Thomas Jefferson made a Bible with all the theology removed just for this purpose.

It's just a fact that Western Civilization as we know it is a combination of Judeo-Christian ethics, combined with Roman structure of a republic, blended with a base of Greek democracy.

I am not disagreeing that Abbot is an ass.

[Humanist_Activist]

24. The issue is that the Torah wasn't original, much of the laws present date back to the Code...

of Hammurabi, at the very least, along with sources among several different Middle Eastern cultures.

In addition, most of English common law and practice comes from the Danelaw, which were pagan northmen.

[MosheFeingold]

35. Distinction without a difference

Your post is basically, "no, our law came from these other religion beliefs."

Well, I disagree on that, but it doesn't matter what religion they came from in this context.

The original thesis was "If it isn't a criminal offence to convert religious beliefs into public policy it should be."

A better way to respond might be "yes, our law came from religious beliefs, but I think the origin were these different religions."

[RiverNoord]

25. Um.... Almost everything you claim is untrue.

First, the so-called 'Jefferson Bible' (Actually titled The Philosophy of Jesus of Nazareth, being Extracted from the Account of His Life and Doctrines Given by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; Being an Abridgement of the New Testament for the Use of the Indians, Unembarrased [uncomplicated] with Matters of Fact or Faith beyond the Level of their Comprehensions had no Torah content. It was strictly a cut and paste (and later, a bit of embellishment) of the four 'Gospels.' That's it. I've read the full final published version.

Second, very little of the so-called 'Common Law' of England originated with the Torah or the Bible. The primary origin of English common law has its roots in feudalism, a method of monarchic government that has purely medieval origins. Most of the system of land 'ownership' in English common law (I say 'ownership' because no one technically 'owns' land - people have 'interests' in land, such as 'fee simple,' 'fee tail,' life estate,' 'remainder,' and a vast range of other, often very strange, interests, designed to facilitate hereditary feudalism) was invented well before there were any English versions of the Bible. The core of English common law is property rights based on these concepts. For hundreds of years, serfs could be casually killed by their lords and it was in no way considered 'murder.' Only killing a peer or a major servant of a peer could get you into that trouble.

The Catholic Church certainly had considerable influence on the development of English common law, but very little of it had anything to do with the Torah. The Catholic church was in many respects the co-government of England for hundreds of years, held a great deal of interests in land, and defended its power vigorously against many kings. Since it used the Latin Bible, virtually no one could actually read it, and much of the Church's power rested on that fact.

Bankruptcy in England was purely involuntary and a crime until around the mid-1800s. A bankrupt person basically became a slave of his creditors. There was no 'every seven years = sabbatical year, ...' etc., and no period of forgiveness whatsoever. American bankruptcy law evolved separately from the English common law after 1789 when the Constitution put the power of 'uniform bankruptcy laws' in the hands of the Congress, and it wasn't until the mid-1800s in the US when voluntary bankruptcy existed.

There is virtually nothing in American common law, other than the rulings of English 'ecclesiastic courts,' first Catholic and later Church of England (and the vast bulk of their rulings had nothing to do with the Torah or the Bible), that is drawn from the Torah.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

36. Some people, apparently.

I hear this a lot from religious people - if God didn't tell us not to kill, we'd be killing people left and right.

Right!

[Midnight Writer]

28. Our fundamental laws are based on social cohesion

I don't dispute that religious doctrines such as that in the Torah are influential.

However, every society in the world has laws and taboos concerning murder, theft, property rights, family obligations and debt, even those with no Judeo-Christian tradition.

These are fundamental absolutes to any functioning society, be it the USA or North Korea.

You may want to consider the "laws" of the Torah that are not illegal in the USA, such as coveting, eating shellfish or pork, honoring parents, craven images, adultery, speaking the Lord's name in vain, and countless others.

Again, I don't mean to downplay the role of Judeo-Christian influence on our laws, but I think if you are saying "fundamental", there is a deeper ethic at work. That is, the most basic laws are what are minimally required for a society to be viable.

[freshwest]

29. Americans left the Year of Jubilee out of or laws, too bad. n/t

[mrmpa]

5. America has begun to deteriorate because..........

the extremists among christians vote, are elected to office, enact laws contrary to the Constitution, etc.

[Arugula Latte]

7. Then why are there so many fucking Republicans in power pandering to religious lunatics?

[asjr]

10. Probably because they want TOTAL power and they are not quite there yet.

[Arugula Latte]

12. It's an interesting demographics race for them.

On the one hand, the Quiverfull-type nutbags like the Duggars are breeding as fast as they can pop new little fundies out. On the other hand, the more religious generations born before WWII are dying out and the younger people are starting to reject their ridiculous religious mythology en masse.

[lordsummerisle]

8. Any church

whose pastor is running for political office should have their tax-exempt status revoked.

[The Jungle 1]

13. Pay taxes or shut up.

If churches are going to involve themselves in politics then they need to pay taxes. Time to change the law.

While we are at it can we get the football teams to pay taxes?

[Deadbeat Republicans]

16. ^^^This

[flygal]

26. Yes! On both of those!

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

15. So to review:

Liberal questioning rightwing foreign policy and advocating for social safety net domestically = "Why do you hate Amurica so much?"

Conservative referring to country as sin-infested cesspool deserving the wrath of God = "A great Amurican"

Hatriot logic for you.

[deathrind]

18. At what point does...

The tax exempt status of a church get revoked for its political actions?

[freshwest]

30. Never. Nor will tax subsidies or exemptions from taxes. Because they have a special exemption from

The First Amendment. They can do whatever they want. Churches have outlasted every government in the world and are always in the background effecting it.

[jwirr]

19. Sorry gov I think it is just the opposite - it is because the so called

Christian haters are voting.

[Judi Lynn]

31. I agree with you. Racists, chicken hawks, biggest "Christians" in the world. n/t

[mike_c]

20. "“Religious liberty from the Bible and the issues that Christians believe in have become hostile...

...in the mainstream politics, and there is one key reason for it,”

What does that even mean? Seriously. Parse that sentence fragment. Huh?

[jwirr]

33. Hey, finally someone is admitting that the interpretation of the Bible has

been changed in the 20th Century - prosperity gospel appeared with jerry falwell and has been hostile ever since. They changed to message from a salvation message to a "me, me, me" message.

[roamer65]

22. Man, it just keeps getting worse for Texans.

First Bu$h, then Gov. Goodhair and now this sick fuck.

[wolfie001]

23. Hypocritical wingnut!

His life depended on the Social Security Administration. He got his, fuck everyone else! He's a stupid, RW bastard.

[czarjak]

27. Ask Carl Toti....

Trinity Church, Lubbock, Tx.

[Lytex]

32. Politics From the Pulpit is Contrary to the Teachings of Jesus

When our Lord said, "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that our God's," he wasn't just talking about taxes. As our Founding Fathers knew, religion and politics must be separate. The embrace of religion by the GOP has degraded both the church and the politicians who use their supposed piety for political gain. That hypocrisy is why so many are leaving the church, particularly the young. They see nothing Christ like in the attitude of those who disparage the poor, deny healthcare to the sick, ignore the abandonment of abused, neglected and hungry children, punish LBGTs and people of color, and wage war for profit. Governor Abbott should be ashamed that as a man who calls himself a Christian, his state has the greatest number of people suffering without basic healthcare in the nation. Texas ranks 43 in child well-being. What is Christian about neglecting the "least among us?" This sham of fake righteousness has reached its zenith. The American people aren't buying it anymore.

[jwirr]

34. Exactly. We think the R party has been over taken by the teabaggers!

Long before that happened the rw religions took over religion with the prosperity gospel.