Nazis don't have the right to put up a sign next to the Holocaust Museum in Washington. We would never accept the Japanese putting up a site next to Pearl Harbor. There's no reason for us to accept a mosque next to the World Trade Center.--Newt Gingrich, Aug. 16, 2010, FOX News' FOX & Friends
Although I find the tsunami of distorted and inflammatory remarks by Gingrich and his tribe to be despicable toxic sludge in the ocean of world rhetoric, I can dismiss them knowing their ulterior motives.
When I read opinion polls of my brothers and sisters in America, my soul sickness turns to mourning.
Sixty-eight percent say that immigration policy should emphasize stricter enforcement rather than integrating illegal immigrants into U.S. society.
Forty-eight percent believe that the United States should end the practice of granting citizenship to U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants.
Seventy percent of voters say that the Muslim group has the right to build a mosque and cultural center near Ground Zero, but 63 percent say that it is wrong to do so.
This snapshot into our nation's psyche comes from a Quinnipiac University survey of 1,905 registered voters nationwide, carried out between Aug. 31 and Sept. 7.
What ails me to the bone and marrow is that most of my fellow citizens polled would wear a Jesus cross proudly beneath their flag lapel pin. They boisterously call for our return to being a "Christian nation."
I am the son of a fundamentalist Christian preacher. I was weaned on the Word of the Lord. I was also indoctrinated with multitudes of narrow viewpoints. Yet, I kept reading, praying and taking to heart the precepts of Jesus.
Even though I am a Universalist now, I am more committed than ever to being a disciple of Jesus.
His teachings continually nurture and challenge my conscience: "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."
We live in the wealthiest, most privileged nation on the planet. One would think that out of our abundance a spirit of generosity would erupt and roll like an ever-flowing stream. On the contrary, if these polls have any validity, it appears that we have become a country of fearful, shriveled, stingy, mean people.
I'm not advocating that we establish no boundaries or demonstrate no backbone. I am making an appeal that we nudge a bit closer to a couplet of Rabbi Jesus' sayings that manifest true freedom:
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be given to you. For with the same measure you measure it will be measured back to you.
many other countries, including their economic policies. It was and probably still is often
rather disastrous influence that contributes to the poverty and misery of really a whole lot of
people.
Simply leaving others alone would likely be a blessing for them, giving them the chance to
improve their situations.
Forty-eight percent believe that the United States should end the practice of granting citizenship to U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants."
It's a matter of fairness to many people. Americans as a whole are not against immigration, they are against allowing *some* people to jump ahead of the queue and then encouraging such behaviour to the detriment of people who are respecting US law.
Good show on this article - if all the people who claim to follow Jesus would actually start doing just that - we would live in a much kinder and gentler society.
No question. We've allowed ourselves to become a shadow of what we could be, a cardboard cutout of slogans and faux patriotism. We've forgotten, to the benefit of the ruling class, that being an American takes courage and work and principle and vigilance. We've really lost our way, and there isn't a single politician, beholden to global money, who wants to or will help us find it. There's more to the U.S. than corporate values like profit and market share. We need to rediscover the spirit of America and we have to do it in spite of the most vigorous resistance from our supposed leaders.
Worse, I think Christ would be disappointed in the awful mess so many make of his teachings.
He fed everyone.
He healed the sick.
He never checked them for pedigree, or "worthiness".
And yet some of the meanest spirited things I read, come from those who claim to love Him, and follow his lead.
you say you are a follower of jesus but like most you cherry pick what aspects of the teachings of jesus you want to choose to follow.
it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven was not false teachings.
few in the world have any idea why this teaching is very advanced spiritual teachings.
one with spiritual awareness cares little about wealth or richs or power.
but in a capitalist society with a capitalist paradigm this statement by jesus is not taken seriously.
even the christians have made up a story about a camel going through the eye of a needle in a city. etc.
by camel it appears he meant what was called thick rope in his time.
in a capitalist system profits over people becomes materialism and that wealth controls a nation then that nation loses its middle class then the rapid decline to third world status then a peoples revolution.
americans have a huge love affair with capitalism even while it takes them to third world status.
that is the power of paradigm paralysis.
It is artificial scarcity and the terror it creates even when such abundance is around.
If people were able to feel secure with all the wealth that we have, we would be more charitable (I don't say "Christian" as I am not one, nor do I think they have a monopoly on humanity). But instead, even with all this wealth around we are always insecure, always worried that we have no one to count on but ourselves.
It's the destruction of community that turns the principles of humanism into principles of greed. We become a society of desperate scavengers, unaware of how much we have to share.
As our nation walks away from the Christian roots our Founding Fathers, we are seeing all the consequences.
Government is neutral in such matters, as articulated by the First Amendment. Faith is a private matter and cannot be legislated upon the populace: that would be theocratic and would therefore undermine the freedom to live one's life by one's own choosing. All religions are equal in a secular society (hence why the United States is the most diverse).
To re-phrase: As our nation walks away from the wonders of science and instead embraces superstitious nonsense in the form of monotheistic scripture, we are seeing all the consequences.
As to the second, I'm with Dave24 and Weirdwriter, I do not want government telling me what to believe, and as Dave24 states, this country was not founded as a Christian nation. It's a nice story, but not factual.
Please don't use your loving God to justify punishment that you (a human being I suppose) deem necessary.
Do you think being gay is a sin? Do you think supporting stem cell research is a sin? Do you think cheering for a preemptive war is a sin? Do you think touching a football (made of pig skin), eating shellfish, or masturbation is a sin?
Gal 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
God cannot give an ok to sin because He would be approving evil. It can't and it won't happen. There is a price that is paid for sin.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Jesus paid our sin debt for us. All that we are asked to do is believe in him.
Dude, as a black guy I already knew that.
That being said, the only thing Christians offer the United States is a collective conscience, influenced by the teaching of Christ. Other consciences influence our elects as well. For that matter, even among bible believers, the ways that we handle and govern all kinds of matters differ between us. Even the way we discipline our children. The volunteer work we do, the way we handle our finances, and who we chose as friends and entertainment.
Why would our influence be one unifed collection of beliefs?
But for all of that, it is not accurate to conclude that Americans are selfish, mean, and inhospital. I believe you know it. We are still among the first and the best in offering humanitarian aid to suffering nations. Even nations who hate us. Our helping hands have been bitten times and times again. We have taken in peoples from every single nation on earth. Even our enemies. Remember Cuba, Vietnam and Nicaragua?
As a nation, we have outspent every socialistic nation on earth, in regards to international charity. If the poor of the earth want to escape misery, why haven't they escaped to Cuba, or China, or Russia? Why do you think they come to us?
Tell that to the founding fathers---most of whom were religious and Christians at that!