Democrats are people of faith; Republicans, religious radicals

[Sapphire Blue]

One needs only to look at the two parties to see the difference, to look both at those that represent the parties, and those who belong to the parties.

Looking at the Christian faith, the difference is obvious.

Look at just one example… two of our presidents… Jimmy Carter & george w bush. Carter lives his faith, lives the message of Jesus Christ; bush scorns the message of Christ while claiming Christ to be his favorite philosopher.

Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.”

Jimmy Carter, with Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin, signed the Camp David Accords in 1978. Carter founded the Carter Center (http://www.cartercenter.org) in 1982. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.



The same year that Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize, bush, lying to the nation & to the world, set the horrors of the Iraq invasion & occupation into motion, thousands dead as a result, and the death toll continues. For the ‘Christian’ Right Wing, the Ten Commandments are part of the Old Testament that you live by… included in those Commandments are “Thou Shall not kill” and “Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor”. You & your leader have violated those Commandments w/your Iraq War.



Jesus advocated on behalf of the poor, just as Democrats do. Democrats attempted to stop the budget cuts. What do Republicans, the party of greed & corruption, do? Again, slap Jesus in the face as they continue to be responsible for the increasing poverty in our nation, taking from the poor & giving to the rich; then they take more from the poor; they inflict untold suffering on millions of our brothers & sisters. They slap Jesus in the face, yet call themselves Christian? How can that be? How can anyone not see through this hypocrisy enacted for political gain of the greedy?


http://www.nccp.org/pub_cpt05b.html

People of faith.

I have presented a bit of the Christian view above; being a Christian, this is the religious faith with which I am familiar. Other religious faiths are just as valid. Non-religious faiths are just as valid. Faith in conscience, faith in love, faith in brother/sisterhood, faith in community, faith in humanity. The actions of the Democratic Party, leaders & members, espouse each of these faiths. The actions of the Republican Party, leaders & members, scorn each of these faiths.

Perhaps it is time that the Democrat Party rightfully claims the title of ‘the Party of Faith, the Party of People of Faith.’

[JeffR]

1. Really torn on this

And BTW I agree with your post right down the line. Where I have a problem is with the idea that Democrats wearing their faith on their sleeve will translate into broader appeal. I'm still very suspicious of the whole "values voter" thing, and can't help but think the GOP was just spoon-feeding it to the MSM.

Democrats can appeal to reason and common sense, and also to morality and ethics. I can't decide about anything more overtly Christian than that.

Shortly after the 2004 election, we were watching something on CNN where Nancy Pelosi made some strained remark about faith and values. It sounded so forced it was painful. She and other Democrats just tend to look like panderers when they get into this sort of topic.

But as I say, I'm undecided about all this and I think you raise some good points.
:patriot:

[Sapphire Blue]

4. Please reread this...

Non-religious faiths are just as valid. Faith in conscience, faith in love, faith in brother/sisterhood, faith in community, faith in humanity. The actions of the Democratic Party, leaders & members, espouse each of these faiths. The actions of the Republican Party, leaders & members, scorn each of these faiths.

I started the post speaking about the Christian faith, as this has been the deceptive magnet the RW has used to capture so many voters... then went on to speak of all faiths, religious & otherwise. If we look back at Martin Luther King, he included those faiths, religious & otherwise, in his message. I would suggest that we follow a message such as his.

If you saw the Democrats in the House speaking against & condemning the budget cuts, they didn't look like panderers, they were outstandingly inspirational & sincere.

[JeffR]

6. Got that

Wasn't expressing myself well. The pandering aspect has to do with statements made in media appearances, which have often sounded scripted and overly calibrated.

In terms of policy, what you're advocating is good.

In terms of campaigning and selling the Democratic brand to sceptical voters, the Democrats have to be much more coherent on this. If they can't be, they're best advised to stay away from it.

[godhatesrepublicans]

5. It doesn't have to be an either/or proposition.

In my humble opinion, the Dems need a 2-pronged attach to win back the voting majority.

On the one hand, they need a secular-style appeal to the enlightened self interest of the blue collar voters, sort of a callback to the FDR days of the Great Depression. Think tanks like these guys http://www.americanprogress.org do a good job of framing this argument.

AND... they need to go after the religious, values-voters who have been duped into thinking that the Republicans are on their side when they clearly aren't. http://www.sojo.net and Jim Wallis are making some headway in this arena. I'm trying to make a dent myself in that direction with my preaching in various outlets.

The mistake the Dems have made IMHO was to focus exclusively on the former, which they also screwed up by being too much in favor of big business at the expense of the working classes. They have abandoned their religious potential with the notable and successful exception of Bill Clinton.

(I stand by my long held contention that Al Gore did himself more harm than good by picking the Republican-Lite Lieberman as a running mate, though. By making that idiotic choice, he may as well have picked Pat Robertson for all the good it did him in showing the diffence between the two parties that year.)

[godhatesrepublicans]

2. Republicans aren't just religious radicals, they're evil pure and simple.

John Wycliffe, William Tyndale and Martin Luther challenged the Church in their day for being the exact opposite of what Christ demanded, and started a Reformation.

I think it's well past time for people to confront the modern Republican/"Christian" alliance and call them the spawn of Satan they are. For alleged "Christians" to argue in favor of torture for example is blasphemy pure and simple.

I refer you to my website for more justification for calling these tools of the Devil out.

http://www.godhatesrepublicans.org

[Sapphire Blue]

7. May I refer you to...

"Ye have heard that it hath been said, `Thou shalt love thy neighbor... and hate thine enemy.'

But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you, that ye may be the children of your Father who is in Heaven. For He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

For if ye love them that love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same?

And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? Do not even the publicans so?

Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in Heaven is perfect.

- Matthew 5: 43-48


godhatesrepublicans, w/all due respect, I personally wouldn't presume to state who God does or doesn't hate or call them "the spawn of Satan"... sounds too much like a radical fundamentalist position for me, too much like a basis for a 'holy war'; I do stand strongly against the repub party, their philosophy & their actions (& it seems that we are in agreement on that)... & so struggle w/the above verses.

[godhatesrepublicans]

11. I’m going to have to disagree with you there.

I’m going to have to disagree with you there.

First of all, one has to consider Christ’s message in its entirety. Yes, He did say to love your neighbors, and to forgive those who sin against you seventy times seven times. And that is important.

He also came to rebuke those who claimed to be doing God’s Will, but weren’t. I refer you to http://www.godhatesrepublicans.org/featured/article2.html for a full discussion of this, but here’s a summary.

The Son of God spent more of his time rebuking
those who claimed to be God’s representatives on
Earth than he did speaking on any other subject.

For example Christ reprimanded disbelievers a total
of 11 times. That’s not a lot of time spent going after
“pagans” is it?

So how many times did Christ challenge those who
claimed to be faithful to him? Thirty! He was far
harder on his believers than those who didn’t accept
him as the Son of God!

So Christ was a lot harder on his followers than he
was on disbelievers. It makes me think Christ was
more interested in getting people to improve
themselves instead of focusing on the sins of
others. Hey, wait, he was!

How about how much time Christ spent rebuking
religious leaders for being untrue to God’s will?
Almost 80 times!

A while back I realized Jesus would probably challenge the
leaders of our society. He’d target the group that
controls all three branches of our Federal
Government. He’d go after the President and all his
appointees. He’d speak out against the group that
fills 222 seats in the House of Representatives and
55 in the Senate, and fills five out of nine seats in
the Supreme Court.

Jesus would preach about the group that controls
the Governor’s mansions in 28 states, and which is
funded by the largest corporations in the business
world and supported in the pulpit by the majority of
churches in this country.

He’d preach against James Dobson for telling his
followers to “focus on the Family” instead of
focusing on humanity. He’d rebuke Tim LaHaye for
writing how the world should go to Hell instead of on
how to live as if the World were Heaven. He’d tell
Jerry Falwell that suggesting we “kill them all in the
Lord’s name” isn’t what he meant when He said
“Love your enemies.”

He’d certainly have a LOT to say about the group
that dares commonly refer to itself as “God’s Own
Party.”

I feel that Jesus would join me in declaring that GOD
HATES REPUBLICANS! God is Love, but I think the
Bible is pretty clear on how The Lord feels about
false prophets who do evil and speak evil and claim
to do His will.

Check out http://www.godhatesrepublicans.org for more details and proofs.

[Sapphire Blue]

13. You make some very good points, most of which I agree with.

I'm just trying to say that I can't speak for God.

[AndyA]

3. Republicans/religious right

All I see from them is condemn, condemn, condemn.

Don't buy a Ford product, because they support Gay magazines. Don't watch "Will & Grace." Don't watch "The Book of Daniel."

If they are truly the party of faith, where do they get off condemning others?

The Bible is quite clear: you accept, love, help. All men are created EQUAL.

You do not condemn. You do not judge others. "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

Why do people fall for this? The message is about as anti-God and anti-Christian as you can get. People need to start questioning their "religious leaders" :eyes: because the message that's being served is not the one people of faith should be following.

Beware a wolf in sheep's clothing...

[The Whiskey Priest]

8. For sometimes I have been wondering why

those who follow christ are not following the red text in the bible....all old bibles had the sayings of christ printed in red. If you are going to follow Christ, then you need to pay attention to what he said, not some old Jewish law, Christ never judged, spoke of love and understanding, commissioned each of us to look after those less fortunate than we, and above all said that his coming fulfilled the law. How much better the world would be if you each judged our actions and lives and encouraged others to do the same.

[Sapphire Blue]

10. Those who follow Christ ARE following the red test in the Bible.

Those calling themselves 'Christian', are not always following Christ... as evidenced by their actions.

[omega minimo]

9. Democrats question authority, Republicans blindly follow

and Republicans tolerate the blatant hypocrisy of their leaders

[godhatesrepublicans]

12. so we need to turn our strength against their weakness.

My dream if ever I have enough cash is to fund a NATIONAL ENQUIRER style tabloid weekly that'd focus a laser like beam of investigative journalism on every sleazy thing the Repubs do, and put it in every supermarket checkout in the nation. Anyone have a few million dollars to invest in a crazy scheme that might work?