This article was co-authored by Phil Zuckerman, a professor of sociology at Pitzer College in Claremont, CA and Dan Cady, an assistant professor of history at California State University, Fresno. He publishes on the history of the American West, music, and religion. Since Huffington Post didn’t pay them for this, I hope they won’t mind if I post it here in full, it’s quite a good read and so eloquently put.

What is addressed here should be examined in every church in America:

The results from a recent poll published by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life reveal what social scientists have known for a long time: White Evangelical Christians are the group least likely to support politicians or policies that reflect the actual teachings of Jesus. It is perhaps one of the strangest, most dumb-founding ironies in contemporary American culture. Evangelical Christians, who most fiercely proclaim to have a personal relationship with Christ, who most confidently declare their belief that the Bible is the inerrant word of God, who go to church on a regular basis, pray daily, listen to Christian music, and place God and His Only Begotten Son at the center of their lives, are simultaneously the very people most likely to reject his teachings and despise his radical message.

Jesus unambiguously preached mercy and forgiveness. These are supposed to be cardinal virtues of the Christian faith. And yet Evangelicals are the most supportive of the death penalty, draconian sentencing, punitive punishment over rehabilitation, and the governmental use of torture. Jesus exhorted humans to be loving, peaceful, and non-violent. And yet Evangelicals are the group of Americans most supportive of easy-access weaponry, little-to-no regulation of handgun and semi-automatic gun ownership, not to mention the violent military invasion of various countries around the world. Jesus was very clear that the pursuit of wealth was inimical to the Kingdom of God, that the rich are to be condemned, and that to be a follower of Him means to give one’s money to the poor. And yet Evangelicals are the most supportive of corporate greed and capitalistic excess, and they are the most opposed to institutional help for the nation’s poor—especially poor children. They hate anything that smacks of “socialism,” even though that is essentially what their Savior preached. They despise food stamp programs, subsidies for schools, hospitals, job training—anything that might dare to help out those in need. Even though helping out those in need was exactly what Jesus urged humans to do. In short, Evangelicals are that segment of America which is the most pro-militaristic, pro-gun, and pro-corporate, while simultaneously claiming to be most ardent lovers of the Prince of Peace.

What’s the deal?

Before attempting an answer, allow a quick clarification. Evangelicals don’t exactly hate Jesus—as we’ve provocatively asserted in the title of this piece. They do love him dearly. But not because of what he tried to teach humanity. Rather, Evangelicals love Jesus for what he does for them. Through his magical grace, and by shedding his precious blood, Jesus saves Evangelicals from everlasting torture in hell, and guarantees them a premium, luxury villa in heaven. For this, and this only, they love him. They can’t stop thanking him. And yet, as for Jesus himself—his core values of peace, his core teachings of social justice, his core commandments of goodwill—most Evangelicals seem to have nothing but disdain.

And this is nothing new. At the end of World War I, the more rabid, and often less educated Evangelicals decried the influence of the Social Gospel amongst liberal churches. According to these self-proclaimed torch-bearers of a religion born in the Middle East, progressive church-goers had been infected by foreign ideas such as German Rationalism, Soviet-style Communism, and, of course, atheistic Darwinism. In the 1950s, the anti-Social Gospel message piggybacked the rhetoric of anti-communism, which slashed and burned its way through the Old South and onward through the Sunbelt, turning liberal churches into vacant lots along the way. It was here that the spirit and the body collided, leaving us with a prototypical Christian nationalist, hell-bent on prosperity. Charity was thus rebranded as collectivism and self-denial gave way to the gospel of accumulation. Church-to-church, sermon-to-sermon, evangelical preachers grew less comfortable with the fish and loaves Jesus who lived on earth, and more committed to the angry Jesus of the future. By the 1990s, this divine Terminator gained “most-favored Jesus status” among America’s mega churches; and with that, even the mention of the former “social justice” Messiah drove the socially conscious from their larger, meaner flock.

In addition to such historical developments, there may very well simply be an underlying, all-too-human social-psychological process at root, one that probably plays itself out among all religious individuals: they see in their religion what they want to see, and deny or despise the rest. That is, religion is one big Rorschach test. People look at the content of their religious tradition—its teachings, its creeds, its prophet’s proclamations—and they basically pick and choose what suits their own secular outlook. They see in their faith what they want to see as they live their daily lives, and simultaneously ignore the rest. And as is the case for most White Evangelical Christians, what they are ignoring is actually the very heart and soul of Jesus’s message—a message that emphasizes sharing, not greed. Peace-making, not war-mongering. Love, not violence.

Of course, conservative Americans have every right to support corporate greed, militarism, gun possession, and the death penalty, and to oppose welfare, food stamps, health care for those in need, etc.—it is just strange and contradictory when they claim these positions as somehow “Christian.” They aren’t.

just yesterday at work i had the pleasure of interacting with one of the most spiteful customers i have ever met. she was foaming at the mouth because she couldn’t remember what she had come in for, and was livid mad that we couldn’t figure out what she needed. in her highly unreasonable way, she verbally berated all of my employees who attempted to help her. luckily, i happened to find what she needed, and i was granted a smarmy “thank you” in return, as if i had wasted every second of her time.

upon reaching the checkout, my cashier recognized her as a leader of the adult bible study at her church, and she immediately transformed into a friendly, bubbly Christian woman. She thanked me warmly as she exited.

it was one of the strangest things i’ve ever seen.

The next morsel of irony is that the very evangelicals who supported the hard right (because it shares their core value$) have thus contributed to the Great Defunding of the American Middle Class (their base), and the transformation of Flyover Country into a wasteland dotted with meth labs. If you could eat irony, we’d be in fat city.

It’s easy: Evangelicals prefer the Old Testament.

With all its smitings, conquests, massacres, blood feuds, black-and-white moral principles that are actually just tribal laws, and gory sacrifices to placate an unknown and unknowable stern Father-figure who can blow stuff up just by looking at it, it’s no contest. 

All that Jesus-by-association stuff only arises because both Old and New Testaments come bound in the same book, and it’s wicked to destroy or deface a Holy Book (they seem to be OK with burning other printed matter, though…).

I’ve rarely seen that expressed to well before.

I’ve sometimes wondered whether evangelicals ever actually READ the New Testament. With Jesus telling the rich man to donate all of his goods to the poor, forgiving the adulteress and telling the parable of the Samaritan by the side of the road (ignored by all the pious who wanted to remain pure), it seems to me the opposite of what the evangelicals often (but not always) teach. What’s funny is that, if you look closely, Jesus’ main opposition come from the religious of the day, and his few mentions of hell are almost always directly at the religious of the day.

Fun fact, the word antichrist was originally used to mean someone within the Church (I use the term in the broadest possible sense) who preached a message diametrically against that of the original church. Just bringing that out there.

Thanks for bringing this up, I keep feeling embarrased about being a Christian because of these clowns. Honestly, most of the reason I’m staying Christian is to fight them from the inside.

“Brian says:
It’s easy: Evangelicals prefer the Old Testament.”

Yes and no.
Next time you corner Christian about the whole ‘Islam is a violent religion, the Koran condones violence!!!’- canard VS. you saying there is just as much sanctioned violence in the bible and watch how quick they say ‘Oh well that’s the OLD testament, Jesus made a new covenant with God, that nullified the old one and preached peace, blah blah blah. ‘
And then watch them flip testaments again when someone tries to remove the Ten Commandments (the old covenant) from a public square or justify why God hates fags (again old testament) etc etc…
The whole bible is just one big buffet table for them.

Evangelicals do prefer the Old Testament, and it goes hand in hand with what Lewis Black said about it: “The God of the Old Testament was a real
prick.” Truth is, the real message of Christ is so radical in terms of its proposed execution (no pun intended)that anyone who followed it to the letter in today’s world would more than likely experience a fate similar to Christ’s.

You’re talking about the same people who believe in talking snakes, right? And you’re expecting them to be rational? Ain’t gonna happen.

“Em says:
What’s funny is that, if you look closely, Jesus’ main opposition come from the religious of the day..”

Or even more succinctly, opposition from the intolerant, infallible, controlling, dominant religion of his day. Sound familiar?

“Jesus’ main opposition come from the religious of the day, and his few mentions of hell are almost always directly at the religious of the day.”

The idea/concept of Satan actually springs from these very arguments.  ‘Ha-satan’ was the old generic Hebrew word for ‘adversary’ and was a word that EVERYONE back in that day loved to fling around. While it’s way to long to explain here, eventually that word (and the idea of Hell with it) gave birth to the concept of Satan, as a literal person/being. It’s like the word ‘enemy’ becoming a bad guy named ‘Enemy’.

I could never get past the fact that evangelicals believe in Witchcraft. “Witchcraft” really? it’s two thousand fucking eleven and you are afraid that a warlock is going to put a fucking curse on you? You believe that evil behavior is caused by demon possession? What fucking century are you in?

“puggapugga says:
I could never get past the fact that evangelicals believe in Witchcraft. “Witchcraft” really?”

Ah let em. It makes it that much easier to sort the real politicians from the kooks.COUGHCOUGHCHRISTINEODONNELLCOUGHCOUGHCOUGH

@D

Similarly, my understanding that the ‘real’ anti-Christ was Nero Caesar because he would put statues of himself inside and outside Jewish and Christian temples.. Plus there’s the whole violence against Christians thing.

They called him ‘the beast’ and labeled him 666 so they could write about him without getting found out… and, ya know, fed to lions, crucified, or whatnot

Being from Europe this is nothing new. Conservatives in the US blame “European style socialisme” while in reality the vast majority of the social laws in Eurpe were brought to light under the rule of Christian Democracts. Apperantly here the Christians actual read and understood the teaching of JC.

But of course, you cannot say that out load so it is the “socialists” that did it.

OK seriously. What gives? As I write this 13 comments and not one right-wing/teabag/fundie/whatever.

Whenever I comment on a religious thread here at DM, that maybe Jesus was kind of a socialist, someone jumps on me and tells me that Jesus instructs the righteous to give to the poor from their own money, so we shouldn’t rely on the government to help the poor. Uh-huh.

But he never says that government shouldn’t give to the poor in the form of social services and welfare, right? The Jesus that’s described in the New Testament would be pretty down with that. Not that we really can make the comparison. We are talking about the Roman Empire.

Besides, correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t the Romans give free bread to the lower classes? I think Jesus would have been OK with that.

This might shed some light on what the OP wrote:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jesus/interviews/green.html

The Pew Foundation has conducted studies, and they separate out black Protestants from white evangelicals. Why is there such a division between the two?

Be cathloic

Yes the problem with Chhristianity is non-Christlike folks using the name of Jesus in vain.

OK so why can’t jesus be a Socialist? Well it’s not possible because Marx and Engels 1st order of business was to purge the common people of any belief in God. and Socialism is the 1st step in the conversion process to make government God. BTW,AntiChrist means Instead of Christ. get it,government is God instead of Jesus .

As a member of the Right Wing Evangelicals, let me ask why have I been on over a dozen short term missions to build hospitals in third world countries?  Why do we serve meals to homeless and needy every week?  Why do we have free GED classes in our home?  Why do we intentionally take low paying jobs in the local public schools to help our youth?  My answer is because I believe Jesus wants me to follow Him, not the mainstream.  This article is a misrepresentation of the majority of us.

@bouttime

Perhaps you would like to read up on the early Anabaptists, who were crushed when they tried to reform feudal society into a christian commune.

They were over 300 years before Marx. If you think that christianity can’t be socialist because Marx was an atheist, you don’t understand that socialism had its roots in christianity. Marx was trying to make it into a coherent philosophy, but socialism existed long before Marx.

The christianity that we have today is the capitalist corporate version, that has had all the socialist tendencies beaten out of it. Love thy brother is replaced with get rich or die trying.

How do I learn more about socialism having roots in Christianity?

Sun says:
How do I learn more about socialism having roots in Christianity?...................

You can’t because it doesn’t .They are mutually exclusive

Hey question mark ?  “The christianity that we have today is the capitalist corporate version, that has had all the socialist tendencies beaten out of it. Love thy brother is replaced with get rich or die trying.” 

So let’s examine the other side as well,your defending what   ??????

I’ve been thinking about the liberal view of the Federal Government,I think they regard it as a wise and benevolent parent that will protect them from all manner of evil doers and acts of nature.

I contrast this with the Christian/conservative view which regards it as an entity corrupted by money from its employees and clients and is anything but wise or benevolent.

When the liberal argues about the current situation in Wisconsin, he claims that Christian/conservatives “hate” the working man. When the conservative argues about it, he points to massive and unsustainable pensions and healthcare benefits passed out by corrupt politicians to get union votes, support and dollars.

The reality is that the Democrats have given away the store to employees who literally can’t be fired. The enormity of paying teachers over $100,000 a year to sit in a room doing nothing is just one of the thousands of abuses scattered all over the country.

Government employees aren’t the working man. They play by entirely different rules. They are fascists and sometimes socialist,Both forms of government is anti-Christian .In the productive economy, if one fails at one’s tasks, getting fired is a probability. If the company is run in an unsustainable fashion, it will go bankrupt.

Government, on the other hand, isn’t compelled to be efficient, turn a profit or even produce positive results. The teachers are claiming a halo for themselves, totally neglecting the fact that they’ve ruined what was once the top educational system in the world. Their stupid theories have allowed them to graduate students who are illiterate.

Conservatives, from whom most of the tax dollars are collected, aren’t anti-worker. They just object to their money being squandered on folks whose goal in life is to do as little work for as few years as possible while collecting the fattest pensions and benefits that they can extort or bribe out of complicit and corrupt politicians.

And that holds true for welfare cheats, Medicare fraud, greedy politicians and workers who, when the rest of the country is suffering, demand that taxpayers give them more.All of these failed policies are due to the failed world views of Socialists,Marxists,and Fascists that vote for Liberals in order to plunder the labor of the working men and women. Thou shouldn’t steal seems to apply here.

bountimen: Read what ? had to say about this. Christianity and socialism aren’t mutually exclusive. Your ugly, bastardized and, dare I say, blasphemous version of Christianity is the problem here. You know, the one with roots in Puritanism, where the accumulation of wealth was tied into faith. At least at one time most Christians did what Chuck above does but the current crop of fundamentalists are more concerned with guns, money and other people’s sex lives.

A recent article by a prominent Muslim a while back stating that if American Muslims want to be treated differently than their extremist brethren they must be willing to openly condemn their actions? Now look at the public reaction to Rep. King’s committee hearings into the radicalization of U.S. Muslims.
To me it’s obvious that what those protesting want is to be able to straddle the fence while griping about persecution rather than admit that members of their community are using their religion as an excuse for murder and expecting
their silence as a shield.
Sorry all you PC folks but it isn’t about religion no matter how many times they try to make it so
and all your accusations of racism and/or Islamophobia won’t prevent an open examination of the reality.And the reality is the refusal of some Amercan Muslims to denounce the radical extremists among them And harboring them while proclaiming loyalty to the United States.

So Mark ?I’m really at a loss to figure out how “the rich” have sunk me, or anyone else. Are you asserting that the rich have systematically gone around stealing pennies from the poor, until they became rich? Obviously, not everyone can be “rich”, and a country that has no rich people is what is commonly referred to as a third-world basket case. Finally, since your basic plan to achieve a socialist nirvana state is to fund it by taxing the snot out of rich people, how do you intend to pay for it once you’ve eliminated them?

In any event, it is the desire and real potential to become wealthy that made the United States the “richest” nation in the history of the planet. Not necessarily the result of only those who succeeded, mind you, but the result of the motivation provided by the prospect of getting rich. The rich want to get richer, the middle class want to get rich, the poor want to get out of poverty and become the middle class. Many people have gone all the way from the bottom to the top - Oprah, for example. The simple truth is the way to self improvement is improving yourself, not tearing others down. Your theories about economic advancement through reducing the wealth of others is perplexing to me.How is your hate of Christianity having any positive effects? Your skewed version of history is terribly missing facts.The original settlers in Plymouth Rock and Jamestown tried Socialism and it failed.It’s never worked and never will . Those are facts.

Hey Mark about your last post.If you disagree, try arguing with facts or more telling arguments instead of accusing Christians of all sorts of silly stuff.
Well, I tried to look up the facts on the first assertion you made bove. I searched the internet using Google. I could not find any reference to support the claim you make. Perhaps it’s just one of your many strongly worded opinions. Noted.
So since what you have posted has very little basis in fact,is there any reason I should care about your opinion?

Bouttime: Not sure what point you’re referring to but if you mean the link between Puritanism you can start with Weber’s “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” and go from there.

@bentheredunit,bountiful

I am not defending Christianity or Socialism- I just am saying that they both have roots in an ideology of taking care of your fellow man, which is in contrast to the capitalist view of money being the motive force.

You sound like many on the right- everyone is a welfare cheat, has a cushy union job, or is somehow milking the system (except you, of course). This is capitalist Malthusian paranoia- constant fear that someone is getting money you aren’t.

By contrast, the actual teachings of Christ were about not caring about money, and giving it away to the poor. The rich had no place in the kingdom of heaven.

The Socialist ideal is one of making sure that no one goes hungry or cold.

Both of these are noble aspirations. There are plenty of bad Christians and Socialists in the world (probably most of them). “Chuck” in the comments above seems like a Christian that is trying.

The conservative movement in this country is both an anti-socialist and anti-christian movement.

Jesus never mentioned abortion, but he talked about taking care of the poor all the time. When was the last time you heard a conservative politician talking about the poor? Have you EVER heard a conservative politician talking about helping the poor? The conservative movement in this country is Christian in name only, its true religion is capitalism, pure and simple.

P.S.-“Conservatives, from whom most of the tax dollars are collected”-There is the biggest lie yet. The majority of taxes are from blue states, the majority of spending is in red states. Look it up.

Mark de Montréal says:
Bouttime:” Not sure what point you’re referring to but if you mean the link between Puritanism you can start with Weber’s “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” and go from there.”

  NO that’s your assertion ,you need to prove. I stated the 1st refugees from England tried Socialism and it failed. It always does .You class warfare types are realing advocating theft of other peoples property.
If you disagree, try arguing with facts or more telling arguments instead of accusing Christians of all sorts of silly stuff.Well, I tried to look up the facts on the first assertion you made bove. I searched the internet using Google. I could not find any reference to support the claim you make. Perhaps it’s just one of your many strongly worded opinions. Noted.
So since what you have posted has very little basis in fact,is there any reason I should care about your opinion?

Mark de Montréal says:
” Not sure what point you’re referring to but if you mean the link between Puritanism you can start with Weber’s “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” and go from there.”

  NO that’s your assertion ,you need to prove to support your attack on Christians . I stated that the 1st refugees from England tried Socialism and it failed. It always does .You class warfare types are really are advocating theft of other peoples property.
If you disagree, try arguing with facts or more factbased arguments instead of accusing Christians of all sorts of silly stuff.Your post made no reference to support the claim I made. Perhaps it’s just one of your many biased opinions that won’t allow information into your sphere . So since what you have posted has very little basis in fact,is there any reason I should care about your opinion?

Bentheredunit says:
A recent article by a prominent Muslim a while back stating that if American Muslims want to be treated differently than their extremist brethren they must be willing to openly condemn their actions? Now look at the public reaction to Rep. King’s committee hearings into the radicalization of U.S. Muslims.
To me it’s obvious that what those protesting want is to be able to straddle the fence while griping about persecution rather than admit that members of their community are using their religion as an excuse for murder and expecting
their silence as a shield.
Sorry all you PC folks but it isn’t about religion no matter how many times they try to make it so
and all your accusations of racism and/or Islamophobia won’t prevent an open examination of the reality.And the reality is the refusal of some Amercan Muslims to denounce the radical extremists among them And harboring them while proclaiming loyalty to the United States.

So Mark ?I’m really at a loss to figure out how “the rich” have sunk me, or anyone else. Are you asserting that the rich have systematically gone around stealing pennies from the poor, until they became rich? Obviously, not everyone can be “rich”, and a country that has no rich people is what is commonly referred to as a third-world basket case. Finally, since your basic plan to achieve a socialist nirvana state is to fund it by taxing the snot out of rich people, how do you intend to pay for it once you’ve eliminated them?

In any event, it is the desire and real potential to become wealthy that made the United States the “richest” nation in the history of the planet. Not necessarily the result of only those who succeeded, mind you, but the result of the motivation provided by the prospect of getting rich. The rich want to get richer, the middle class want to get rich, the poor want to get out of poverty and become the middle class. Many people have gone all the way from the bottom to the top - Oprah, for example. The simple truth is the way to self improvement is improving yourself, not tearing others down. Your theories about economic advancement through reducing the wealth of others is perplexing to me.How is your hate of Christianity having any positive effects? Your skewed version of history is terribly missing facts.The original settlers in Plymouth Rock and Jamestown tried Socialism and it failed.It’s never worked and never will . Those are facts.

Yes, we all appreciate those, uh, “facts” courtesy of the Future of Freedom Foundation. I think your style of posting, the cut and paste ranting and your relying on fringe theories pretty much sums everything up here.

Mark you wrote that Jesus was’nt against abortion. How in your alleged mind can you be that rtediculous to regurgitate such nonsense. He believed the scriptures didn’t he? What do the scriptures say concerning shedding of innocent blood?

Bountiman wrote this in an earlier post…....

“NO that’s your assertion ,you need to prove to support your attack on Christians . I stated that the 1st refugees from England tried Socialism and it failed. It always does .You class warfare types are really are advocating theft of other peoples property.If you disagree, try arguing with facts or more factbased arguments instead of accusing Christians of all sorts of silly stuff.Your post made no reference to support the claim I made. Perhaps it’s just one of your many biased opinions that won’t allow information into your sphere . So since what you have posted has very little basis in fact,is there any reason I should care about your opinion?”
  I wish Mark would address the issue before him about the failures of “socialism”  .It could be very interesting.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/buster/portland/911-calls

After breaking into an Oregon residence last night, Timothy Chapek, 24, barricaded himself in a bathroom after the owner unexpectedly arrived home. Chapek, you see, was worried that Hilary Mackenzie might be armed (or that her barking German Shepherds could prove problematic).

So he called 911 seeking help. “I just broke into a house and the owner came home,” Chapek told a police operator. “You broke into a house?” the surprised operator responded. “I think she’s got guns,” Chapek added.

Simultaneously, Mackenzie called police to report that there was an intruder in her Portland home (she told an operator that Chapek had reported he was taking a shower). The pair’s dueling 911 calls can be listened to here:http://www.thesmokinggun.com/buster/portland/911-calls

http://www.prisonplanet.com/climategate-mann-ordered-wahl-to-delete-emails.html
Climategate was the liberals true colors shining thru .

@Markiswrongagain

Read. I did not say Jesus was not against abortion. I said he never mentioned it, as it was not an issue in his day.

Now read the second part of the statement. He constantly talked about taking care of the poor, something that is never discussed by conservative politicians. He was 100% clear that the rich could not enter heaven, and that it was his followers responsibility to take care of the poor. Where are the conservative leaders who practice this?

@bentheredunit

There are no actual historians who believe Jamestown or Plymouth Rock were examples of socialism. This was a theory put forward by Glen Beck. Because Glen Beck said it does not make it a fact.

Whatta ya mean ,when you say whatta ya mean ? You said it ,so you need to defend it .

“There are no actual historians who believe Jamestown or Plymouth Rock were examples of socialism.”  Because it failed right? Then it wa nipped in the bud. Nip it!

Food for thought.  Having a family of evangelicals leads me to believe a lot of what these authors say make sense.

@ Antone

Having a family of Globalwarming advocates leads me to believe they’re Socialist koolaid drinkers .

Lots of generalities, here.  If I can address some. . .Jesus was not against wealth, as some think.  He actually had money (Judas held the money, he was the treasurer).  the reason he told the rich ruler to give all he had to the poor was because Jesus knew the rich man was “ruled” by his money.  Jesus knew where his heart was.  Evangelicals are not opposed to welfare and the likes BUT are against those who take advantage of the system.  A lot of Christians have no problem helping the poor in other countries as those countries actually are grateful for the help, not standing with their hands out expecting it.  Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of problems with today’s Christians but lets not throw the baby out with the bath water.  And to say that Christians only love Jesus because they get a free ride to heaven is a bit over the top.  some may but that’s not fair to most Christians.

What a hatchet job of sophistry that article is!  One thing Christ never was, was a SOCIALIST!  The BIG LIE in the article is the unstated assumption that people should give to the poor through GOVERNMENT.  Christ advocated charity and care for the poor on an INDIVIDUAL basis.  We are to perform personal acts of voluntary service, and this is the way it MUST BE, otherwise, folks just assume they “gave at the office” through their tax dollars.  Unfortunately, we can’t trust government (an organization who’s best functions should be limited to national defense and keeping the peace) to take care of the poor w/o gross corruption.  It is my experience that Liberals are VERY GENEROUS… WITH OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY… and they use if for funding abortions, political favors, other forms of corruption etc.  Before LIBERALS try to assume the mantle of the love of Christ… they need to check out that commandment that says… THOU SHALT NOT COVET.  If they really want to help the poor - they should volunteer THEIR time and resources with a non-profit, non-government organization that does just that - not someone else’s.

And there we go. Curtis was the one I was waiting for. Took you long enough.

Way to go Curtis .You nailed it on the head . A great man once said “It’s not that my liberal friends are ignorant,it’s just they know so much that isn’t so”

The more I see nonsense like this, the more I am convinced that we need more people going to Bible schools and interacting with evangelicals.  As an evangelical, but black, I can tell you that most of Zuckerman’s article is straw man illogic and Biblical ignorance.  Cady and Zukerman do NOT know the Bible, they have no theological training (I do, working on my third degree, my second in theology), and they don’t know the Jesus of the Bible. 

I get so tired of people trying to make Jesus out to be the liberal socialist that always agrees with their ideology.  They should try reading the Bible’s view of Jesus and realize what His main mission was, which was not “social justice” or even “peace” in the sense meant by most liberals.  Jesus mainly came to bridge the gape of sin that made humans and God enemies (Romans 5:1,10).  He came as the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world, not to promote modern liberal ideology (John 1:29). I’m not surprised that in all his diatribe, Zukerman did not quote ONE Scripture to support his claims. 

So before writing inaccurate and flawed claims about Jesus and the people who follow Him, people need to do some basic homework and get their facts straight.  But like most people with an agenda, facts and truth are expendable for the cause.

I too noticed that the author/butcher failed to use any scriptural authority to at least try and make a semi-valid point.thanks for you post Arthur you have said it better than Ii could.

Um, just so everyone knows it, almost all of the second half of these comments are the *same guy* using a variety of names.

He also appropriated “?” from another poster.

Dude must have an awful lot of time on his hands to wage a one-man flame war with no one paying any attention to him.

I just had to respond in more depth to the nonsense article by Zuckerman.  So I created a website article on the topic. 

http://www.gospelanswers1.com/TheGospel.php

oh, ya, they remember forgiving the adulteress… They just like to choose who to forgive - Newt yes. random liberal - no.

Ok, I love the fact that the people who write these articles probably haven’t ever picked up a Bible and truly studied it.  Nor do they even bother following Christ themselves.  Unless you are faithfully living for Christ you can’t talk for or against Him.

The Kingdom of God is thus:

21 learned elders were brought into a house.  In the house there were 3 rooms.  7 went to each separate room.

In the first room when the light was turned on, it was green.  They were amazed.  They studied the green bulb, they discussed the green bulb, they prayed over the green bulb and then declared “God is Green”.

In the second room when the light was turned on, it was blue.  They were amazed.  They studied the blue bulb, they discussed the green bulb, they prayed over the blue bulb and then declared “God is Blue”.

In the third room when the light was turned on, it was red.  They were amazed.  They studied the red bulb, they discussed the red bulb, they prayed over the red bulb and then declared “God is Red”.

Then, they entered the hall of the house and each declared God is their own color.  They argued, they fought, they hated and then they killed, in the name of their color.

And they all made the same mistake.  They mistook the color of the blub for the source.

Stephen McConnell:

The problem with the whole idea that the kingdom of God is like 21 elders going into 3 rooms with different color bulbs is that it fallaciously assumes a) that these guys are so stupid that they don’t know that electricity powers bulbs, and b) it’s entirely unbiblical.

Lets not forget that all those who are arguing for Jesus believe the following. That a cosmic 2000 year old zombie who artificially impregnated his own mother with himself and who if you use your powers of telepathy ask him to be your master and then consecrate the relationship by ritually partaking in cannibalism and vampire rites, you will be forgiven from the arbitrary laws he made up in the first place all so you can be forgiven for a women made from a rib and all male DNA who gave a piece of magic fruit to a golem.
People who believe in such nonsense deserve derision and to be laughed at.
Just as we would laugh at someone who believed in a jolly elf living at the north pole and who has magic flying reindeer who is past the age of 8 years old.
Jesus is Santa for adults.  Be good and you get a reward. If you are bad you get coal or go to hell.
Despite that people who supposedly love Jesus word rarely follow or even know it. Ask a Evangelical what canon they follow and they will look at you with a blank stare.  They actually think there is only one bible.  They do not even know they read from the readers digest version. What evangelicals love is not Jesus. It is wealth power and forcing other people to believe the idiocy from above.  They are Americas Taliban but just more insidious.

Zuckerman’s post only makes sense if you’re completely ignorant of Christianity.

http://www.discerningcitizen.org/religion/no-evangelicals-dont-hate-jesus-a-response-to-zuckerman-and-cady-at-the-huffington-post/

Well-  I know Jesus.  We always hang out together.  He was just saying last week what assholes current day evangelicals and conservatives are acting like they know him and sucking up to him.  He made it clear that he IS a liberal and a socialist.

He specifically said that republicans who promote corporate greed and want to deny basic needs to the poor, disenfranchised and middle class should all rot in hell.

That’s the gods honest truth!!