The Black Informant

This is part 2 of the debate that I posted earlier. You have 2 ways to comment: obviously you can use the comment feature on this website, or you can just e-mail me if you think it is too long, and I will post it.

I will post the first part of my response tomorrow.

Whose Laws Are We Really Following, God’s or mans?

The overriding principle behind all of this philosophy is that these are man made laws that we are talking about enacting. These are not necessarily God’s laws. God’s Laws are in the Bible for Christians, the Koran for Muslims, the Old Testament for Jews, etc. We are talking about man’s laws now. It was man, who decided to separate church from state in the Constitution. Correct me if I am wrong, but I don’t believe the Bible says anything about separating Church and State. But, we keep trying to mix up the Constitution and the Bible and it is very difficult to combine the two, because the Bible can’t be amended. It is God’s word and it is not going to change. The only way the founding fathers could have effectively combined the Bible and the Constitution would have been for every word in the Constitution to have been biblically inspired and biblically consistent with doctrine. That was certainly not the case when the Constitution was written.

Let me give you an example? The Constitution stated that Black people were 2/3 of a human being. That wasn’t Jesus saying that. That was the framers of our beloved Constitution. That statement was not biblically inspired or consistent with the New Testament, but it was written because that is what the racist forefathers of our country felt about Blacks at the time. There are several other examples.

Some of the laws in the Constitution may have been Biblically sound and inspired, but many were not. And since the Bible can’t be amended or changed to adapt to the Constitution, the Constitution will have to be changed to fall in line with all of the Biblical tenants if we are to combine the two. I don’t see our government ever doing that because we love man’s rules too much. Incorporating the Bible to make our Constitution consistent with Christian principles would mean giving up some rights that Americans love. For example, it would preclude us declaring pre-emptive and unjust wars on countries because Christ taught us to love our enemies and pray for those who spitefully use us. Americans are too proud for that.

No, the constitution represents man’s rules first, and then it included some of the Biblical laws that were consistent with the agenda of the framers of the Constitution. I don’t believe that God will truly be satisfied with any form of compromised Christianity. Every word of the Constitution would have to be consistent with Christian Doctrine if our constitution is to be in line with the Word of God. So, we can’t easily combine those two and we need to stop the hypocrisy.

That leads me to a very interesting question that I would like to pose that I really don’t have the answer to. There are many Christian beliefs that I struggle mightily with, but that I adhere to because I honestly do believe that I am supposed to believe in them as a Christian. I went to a Catholic High School that taught us to take the Bible figuratively and that did make more logical sense to me. But, when I got saved in my 30’s I was taught to take the Bible literally and I now do. There are a few principles that I actually believe in my gut, but have a difficult time being faithful to. Such as, turning the other cheek, loving my enemies, and praying for those who spitefully use me, etc. Then there is one concept that is still hard for me to come to grip with in my gut, but I still try to adhere to because I believe that I am supposed to.

That concept is the belief that “the only way to get to the father is through ME.” To me, that means that that the only way to get to heaven is to believe in Jesus Christ. That is one of the precepts of Christianity. In effect, what I believe it does is to nullify the validity of all the other religions. If Jesus is saying that He is the “only” way, than that means to me that He believes that the other ways are the wrong “way.” The reason that is so hard for me to come to grips with is because in my gut I believe in religious freedom and I respect other people’s beliefs. I know Muslims that I believe are wonderful spiritual people. I know Jews that I believe are wonderful spiritual people. I am certain that there are wonderful and spiritual people of all religions. In my gut I believe that if Jesus, Moses, Muhammad, and the central figures of all the major religions were able to get together that they would be in harmony with one another. I believe they would all get along because I believe that love is at the core of all of the major religions.

That is what my gut tells me. But my Bible tells me that the only way to get through the Father is through Jesus Christ, period. With that being said, I am glad that I am a Christian because if it is true, and I believe it to be true because my Savior said it is true, I am in the right religion. Based on this backdrop the question that I pose to you is this: if our forefathers were Christians and our laws were supposedly based on Christian doctrine, how is it that the forefathers saw fit to go against God and Christ and establish a country that promotes “freedom of religion?”

Do the previous quotes from God and Jesus in the Bible support and encourage freedom of religion? Does the statement, “no man gets to the Father except through Me” support freedom of religion? I don’t think so. Was that not done in direct contradiction to the commandment that said, “Thou shalt have no other Gods before Me?” This is in my opinion the fundamental reason why the Constitution can never be completely in line with Christian doctrine. One of the Constitutions’ most valued precepts, freedom of religion, appears to be in direct contradiction to one of the most crucial teachings of scripture. What is your take on that?

Personally, I believe in freedom of religion. But in my view, it is the fundamental belief in the freedom of religion that makes it unfair for our government to impose Christian laws on non-Christian people. By our country having true religious freedom, we are bound to respect other people’s religions and we put ourselves in a position where it is unfair to enforce any laws that are based solely in Christian doctrine such as, prayer in schools, bans on abortions, etc. This is a perfect lead into my next section.

The Unites States of Christians

Also, at the end of the day we are not the Unites States of Christians. This is the United States of America and we are talking about enacting laws to govern ALL Americans. All Americans are not Christians and don’t believe in Christian values. These beliefs on abortion and gay marriages, etc. are based on Christian Beliefs and values and the only way that it would be fair to enact a ban on abortion and a ban on gay marriages would be if All American citizens were Christians. But there are Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, atheists, agnostics, etc. etc. that make up the American Electorate. How can it possibly be fair to enact Christian laws on non-Christians?

As I said in the previous section, our forefathers instituting a fundamental ideology that included freedom of religion is what has in effect, tied the hands our government with regards to many laws that may actually be good for the country as a whole.

What About the Rest of the Christian Values?

Lastly, at the end of the day it is irresponsible for the conservative religious right republicans to even attempt to believe that they have Christian morality only on their side. As I said, they can attempt to make the case that they are on the right side of the abortion and gay marriage debate, but hopefully I have successfully poked holes in that view in earlier paragraphs. At the end of the day if they want to play the Christian card they have to play with the whole deck. They can’t pull two Christian cards out of the deck and think that is the end of the hand. Even if they do have the Big and Little Joker in their hand, if they don’t have any more trumps to go with them they still lose the game. The Spades and Bid Whist players will like that one. My point is that there are many other Christian values that the conservatives have either obliterated or ignored.

Examples of Conservative Religious Hypocrisy

How about thou shalt not kill? How about love your neighbor as yourself? How about turn the other cheek? Those are also principles that Jesus Christ taught. The conservatives apparently don’t have a problem killing Muslims though. To me, the life of an innocent Iraqi child is just as valuable as an unborn Christian baby. Isn’t the life of an American soldier as valuable as the life of an unborn child? The soldiers were once babies as well and to their parents, they will always be their babies no matter how many years they may or may not see. Look at some of these examples of what I believe is religious hypocrisy:

Desert Storm

Do we really believe that Jesus Christ would have supported us invading Iraq January 17, 1991? The Conservatives may try to justify that Jesus would have supported killing thousands of innocent Iraqi women and children if they believed the lie that we were doing it to save the innocent Kuwaiti people. But, who really believed that was our motive? If helping the Kuwaiti people was our motive, than how come we haven’t heard anything about the Kuwaiti people since the war ended on February 28, 1991′? We haven’t heard a peep about the Kuwaiti people because it wasn’t them that we went there to protect. It was their oil. We couldn’t allow Sadaam Hussein to control 2/3 of the worlds oil supply, plain and simple. Which is what would have happened if we had allowed him to invade and conquer Kuwait. It would have crippled our precious economy. I understand that. But, why couldn’t our government just be honest with us about why we went in the first place?

Unfortunately, most Americans care more about how much we would pay for a gallon of gas than we do about any Kuwaiti citizen. Had the government been honest about why we went, it would have gotten support from the people because at the end of the day Americans care about the all mighty dollar bill. Cash rules everything around us. It just sounds so much better to tell the world that we are going to save innocent people though. It makes us look like we are the compassionate and loving country that serves the role as our brothers’ keeper. It is not always the truth, but it sounds so good. I wonder how the Kuwaiti people are doing now, since we supposedly cared so much about them?

Conservative Republicans may believe that Jesus would have supported the destruction of a sovereign nation that never attacked us and that we had been partnering with for 10 years prior to the attack if we really believed that Sadaam was this evil, murdering dictator that was responsible for killing his own people indiscriminately. He may in fact have been all that and then some. But if so, how can we justify the fact that we supported this “so-called” mad man for 8 years in the Iran/Iraq war with arms, ships, tanks, ammunition, protozoa and fungi to create chemical weapons, etc, etc.? We didn’t mind the fact that he was a murderer when he was helping us defeat the same Ayatollah Khomeni that had held our hostages for 444 days from 79′ to 81.’ How come we never heard about how vicious Sadaam was before 1991 if he was so dangerous to world security?

Had any of you ever even heard of Sadaam Hussein before 1991? I know that I hadn’t. He gassed the Kurds with chemical weapons that we supplied him with back in 1988. How come there was no outcry of how vicious he was in 1988 when he first did it? Did any of you hear anything about Sadaam gassing the Kurds in 1988? We didn’t hear about the gassing of the Kurds until we needed a reason to attack at Desert Storm 3 years later.

Apparently it took us 3 years to have a problem with him using chemical weapons on the Kurds (who by the way have been in conflict with the Iraqi government for decades).

They tell us that he gassed his own people as if they were Iraqi citizens that his government had not had tremendous conflict with for decades. I guess for our hypocritical government, it was okay to gas the Iranians who he was at war with. I mean we did send him the chemical agents to make the gas in the first place. But, when he used them on the Kurds who he was also in conflict with, he is now gassing his own people…. Boy, we sure do know how to craft a story to fit our purposes don’t we. I am sure Jesus was looking down on us with so much pride.

The real truth is that we didn’t care about Sadaam gassing Iranians, Kurds, or anyone else for that matter. When he was about to affect our energy interests in Kuwait then all of a sudden he was so vicious and dangerous. We didn’t think he was dangerous when he was selling oil to us for cheap prices all throughout the 80’s. We were well aware (let me take that back…Our government was well aware) that he had ordered the execution of some of his countrymen via a videotape way back in 1979 when he first came to power.

Our beloved Christian politicians were aware of that videotape. All you have to do is run a google search to find out all of this information. But, Reagan must not have minded those executions when he was supporting him in the Iran/Iraq War. What hypocrites these so called Christian Conservatives are. Oh, and by the way…don’t forget that while our conservative Christian president Reagan was involved in “down low” arms dealing with the dreaded Sadaam, he was also selling arms to Iran on the down low too. Remember the Iran/Contra Hearings and Oliver North? Our government was playing both sides of the fence throughout 6 years of the 8-year war until an Iranian military officer finally exposed us. We were dealing arms to the same Ayatollah that had kept our hostages only 5 years prior. Boy, I bet Jesus was thrilled about that.

The Attack on 9/11

We have all been led to believe that America was an innocent victim in the attacks on 9/11, and there is no question that each and every American that lost their lives was innocent. But, was America really innocent? Why were we put in harms way in the first place? Is it logical that any country would attack the only superpower left on earth with the most powerful military that this world has ever known if they weren’t provoked? If somebody maliciously attempted to destroy my home, I would certainly be interested in finding out what his or her motive was, wouldn’t you? Does the motive that our government gave to us make sense to you? Does it make sense that we were attacked merely because other countries envy us and hate the way that we live? That is why our government said we were attacked. What is it the people in other countries do when they envy the way we live? Don’t most of them get a passport, hop on a plane and come to America to search for a piece of the American Dream? Or do they decide to bomb us?

It never made sense to me that we were attacked for no reason. When I went searching for reasons, I found answers. Let me share some of them. How do you think the entire Muslim world felt about what we did to the Iraqis at Desert Storm? Do you think they viewed our attack as the Christian thing to do? If so, how do you think that makes Christianity look to the rest of the world? Don’t forget that we are talking about a religion that believes in and “eye for and eye.” Are we really that surprised that we got attacked on 9/11? I for one was not. I was saddened and horrified by it. But, I was also saddened when we struck the first blow in 1991 during Desert Storm. I expected that there would be some form of retaliation. That is what happens when you bully people. Sooner or later they decide to get revenge.

The entire Arab World knew what our motive was for invading Iraq and those countries that did not like Sadaam were supportive, while many others were vehemently opposed to the invasion. The retaliation could have come from any one of these Middle Eastern countries that opposed the invasion. But, revenge was the order of the day. I believe that is exactly what Osama Bin Laden enacted, revenge. He took revenge for what he perceived to be an attack on Islam. When you listen to him talk, he tells us why he did what he did. No Muslim wants to see American military bases in their country and particularly not on their Holy Grounds. How would we have felt if Russia would have won the cold war and had military bases all over America?

Our government put us in that vulnerable position by lying to us about their real motive. Had we been told the truth from the beginning we would have been on alert for a possible retaliation. Do you think the drug dealer that attacks a rival doesn’t understand that he will need to bulk up security because retaliation will come in some form or another? Of course he does. Don’t you think we as Americans would have been able to defend ourselves better if we had known the truth and had the opportunity to at least put our guards up? At the very least, even if we couldn’t stop it we wouldn’t have felt so victimized and vulnerable.

We would have understood that our countries actions, which benefited our economy tremendously, also left us susceptible to retribution and we may not have been so bloodthirsty for revenge. We would have realized that there was a potential downside to the invasion. We would have understood that the revenge was being taken on us, and to

some extent, we were now even. Even gangsters know that when the scores have been settled, they are back to square one with their enemies and can breathe a little easier because both parties feel vindicated for at least the time being.

We remain vulnerable to this day because of our greed, our lies, and our actions, contrary to what our president tells us. He can make everyone else out to be the bad guy, but we have blood on our hands and we threw the first punch. We are reaping what we have sown. I wonder what Jesus thought about that.

The War for Iraqi Freedom

The same conservative religious republican hypocrisy can be said about the “War for Iraqi Freedom” that is going on as we speak. Do we really believe that we are there simply to free the Iraqi people and give them democracy? Who said they wanted democracy? Did they ask for it? If they wanted it so bad, why aren’t they thanking our troops everyday for rescuing them? In America, when blacks were being segregated against, lynched, murdered, etc., our brothers and sisters stood up and fought for our freedom. If the Iraqis believed that Democracy was so great and their lives were so terrible, why didn’t they fight for their own freedom like others have done all throughout history when they have been oppressed?

Don’t forget, this is an Islamic country that believes in an “eye for an eye.” They believe in Holy Wars. They call them Islamic Jihad’s. This is the same country and the same religion where they have no problem strapping a bomb to their back and walking into a restaurant to kill hundreds of people. They believe they are martyrs for doing this and will be going to meet Allah because of their heroics.

Are we naive enough to believe that if the majority of them felt as though they were so depraved by Sadaam Hussein that “somebody” wouldn’t have been willing to strap on a bomb and find a way to get into Baghdad? They don’t seem to have a problem fighting and killing thousands of American soldiers and other innocent civilians on a daily basis for their beliefs. But, I guess they really did need the benevolent America to come in and “bless them with democracy.” Please.

Let’s take a quick look at the realities: First, there was the obvious factor of Iraq’s vast oil reserves (the second largest in the world) and while one does not have to accept the argument that the war was fought exclusively for oil, it is stretching common sense to the limit to believe that, for a nation which appears to view cheap oil as an entitlement rather than a privilege, that the oil reserves were not factored into the policy debate over Iraq at some level.

The least convincing of the official explanations (lies) was the much-repeated claim that Saddam’s regime constituted a “clear and present danger” to the US and was a “threat to world peace”. Are we naïve enough to buy the argument that we went to war with Iraq to keep the world safe from the Dangerous Sadaam Hussein and his lethal arsenal? We all know better than that now, don’t we? No WMD’s. No ability to produce any weapons for that matter. There never were. The sanctions were working.

The contention that a country which had been labouring under crippling economic sanctions for twelve years and which had a decimated military capability–one unable to put a single plane into the skies during hostilities and whose capital city would fall in less than three weeks–posed a genuine security threat to the most technically advanced military power in history is too absurd to merit serious discussion.

At the end of the day, we went to the Iraqi war for a variety of reasons that would take me much too much time to get into right now. The piece would be another 10 pages long, but far more informed political strategists than my self have compiled all of the information that you need if you want to know the truth about Iraq.

If you are interested in the real story as to why we went there please click on this link www.informationclearinghouse.info and prepare to have your eyes opened and your mind blown. Click on these 3 links: “The president’s real goal in Iraq: The official story on Iraq has never made sense. ” Next go to “Bush Planned Iraq ‘Regime Change’ Before Becoming President: ‘This is a blueprint for US world domination.’

Lastly and most importantly, make sure to this website, “The Project for the New American Century. In it, you will be exposed to the long-term global strategies of our so-called Conservative Christian Republican Administration. After reading it, please tell me how these people can call themselves Christians with a straight face.

These are not left wing extremists groups that have an ax to grind against America. As a matter of fact, I say that the last link is the most important because it takes you directly to the website of which Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheyney, Jeb Bush, Woofowitz, etc. are members of. That website has letters that have been written as far back as 1997 explaining exactly what the plans of the neo conservatives have been for our foreign policy. In that website, you will find a letter from the “Project” sent to President Clinton in 1998, expressing the dire need for a regime change in Iraq. They asked Clinton to declare war on Iraq in 98’ to go and remove Sadaam from power. It is not surprising that Bush was so intent on finding a link between Sadaam and Osama after the 9/11 attacks because he desperately wanted a reason to declare take Sadaam out, for a variety of reasons. With, revenge for the attempted assassination of his father, the opportunity to secure our oil interests, and our opportunity to appease our allies in Israel not being the only ones.

The saddest part of all of the war though was the support that the American public gave for it. I believe that we did so because we were lied to about 9/11 and we perceived ourselves as innocent victims. I believe that had we been exposed to America’s true agenda in Desert Storm, we would have expected some sort of retaliation from the Arab world because we would have realized that we were the instigators. But, even with that being said, I was still disappointed that the so-called Christians of the world were so bloodthirsty for revenge, when our Savior is so much against it. We have the audacity to talk so negatively about the Islamic religion, but look at us. Look how many of us wanted revenge?

I can understand Muslims wanting and taking revenge when they feel as though they have been wronged. Their religion teaches peace first, but if someone attacks you, you have the God given right to attack back. They are supposed to be the ones who believe in an eye for an eye, not us. But, all I heard my Conservative Christian President and Liberal Christian Challenger say during the debates was, “We are going to hunt down the terrorists and KILL THEM.” Pretty Christian of them, huh? We as American people aren’t any better though, we voted for both of them and we supported the war and continue to support the war. We must have missed Bible study on the day Jesus preached, “turn the other cheek” and “love your enemies.”

Biblical Hypocrisy with regards to War

The Republican Christian Conservatives must remember that we are Christians, which means we follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. We believe in and serve God, but the reason that we are called Christians is because our beliefs were developed during the 3 years of Christ’s ministry and “after” Christ died. Earthly time is divided between B.C and A.D. That is how important Jesus Christ was to this world. He was so important that time stood still, ended, and began again. The reason that is important to remember is because too many Christians want to jump back and forth from the Old Testament to the New Testament when it fits their war arguments. Yes, there were wars in the Old Testament. Obviously, at some point God was not totally against war. We need to remember that, but that was a different time. It was before Christ came to the world.

The fact of the matter is that there were no Christians in the Old Testament. So will the conservatives Christians please stop running back to the Old Testament to talk to us about God not being against war? It is crucial for us as Christians to study the entire Bible. What I have been taught is that the OT represents the Law and the Prophecy, while the New Testament represents the fulfillment of prophecy and the model for Christian behavior. Please correct me if I am wrong. The Christian philosophy was developed during the three years of Jesus’ ministry and after his death, not before. Although we need to concentrate on following the entire Bible, as Christians I believe that we need to particularly focus our present behavior on Jesus’ ministry and A.D., not B.C. because “there was no Christianity in B.C.” Hence, the term B.C. Which means Before Christ.

I believe that we need to move into the New Testament and understand the new way that God was operating and why He sent His son to us. He sent his Son to us with a different message of Love, not War. He sent a message of peace and acceptance, not hate and strife. Although the Old and New Testament do not contradict each other, there are certain concepts that evolved and war was one of them. I believe we need to use the lessons of war from the OT to learn from the past, but we need to follow the example of Jesus in the NT when it comes to dealing with war in the present. The message was very different in the New Testament regarding war and violence and Jesus represents the new way of doing things. Our present day actions are supposed to be based on what Jesus preached and how Jesus lived his life, period and end of story.

If there is one Christian Conservative Republican who can stand up and defend the actions of our country based on what Jesus Christ preached, let him or her please stand up and attempt do so. In doing so though, you must be able to refute the points that I have raised in this document and use the New Testament as your source of justification.

Bottom Line

Not everybody in the world loves American hypocrisy…. I mean American Democracy. They don’t all love capitalism. Some people see the fact that within capitalism there is an inherent need to capitalize off of the ignorance and pain of other people while the rich get richer. Remember what Jesus said about how difficult it was for a rich man to get into heaven and why?

Death Penalty Hypocrisy

The hypocritical conservatives seem to care so much about innocent babies being killed, but they have no problem with the death penalty. Personally, I have no problem with the death penalty either, but what does our Savior say about killing? God told Moses, “Thou shalt not kill”, period. He did not say Thou shalt not kill, unless…. Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord. What about that Christians? Jesus teaches to love your enemies. It is a tough lesson, I would agree. But, nonetheless that is what Christians are supposed to do. Not kill.

The critics of this will say that we have the right to kill in self-defense and I do agree. But, when we have criminals behind bars for the rest of their lives, they no longer present a clear and imminent threat to anyone; therefore the death penalty is purely punitive by nature. The death penalty debate is another one of those issues that I told you I struggle with before. My gut tells me that the death penalty is fair and just, and it may in fact be. But, according to our Savior, it is wrong to kill.

There is a scripture that was sent to me that attempted to contradict that statement. It was Luke 22:36 which says, “But now, he that hath a purse let him take it, and likewise his scrip; and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.” That scripture clearly states that at that point in time, Jesus felt the need for his followers to be prepared to use their swords.

I like that scripture because for me it justifies the right to have a sword and I would even go so far as to say that we could use that scripture to justify the right to bear arms. But, does that scripture give us the right to attack, be violent, or punitive? I don’t believe so. Let’s look at the context of the scripture. Back in Luke 22:35 Jesus says, “When I sent you without a purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye anything?” At that previous point in time Jesus was saying that they had no need for those things, including a sword. What was the difference in the two points in time? At the previous point, Jesus knew that he would be with them, so they had nothing to fear and no need for a weapon to defend themselves.

At the latter point Jesus knew that He was about to leave them to be crucified and they wouldn’t be under His protection. He knew that people would come after his disciples just as they were coming for him. This was at the same time the he said that Peter would disown him. The difference was that Jesus knew what would happen to them and He would not be there to protect them. So, my interpretation is that He was granting them the right to protect themselves. I see no way that scripture can be used to justify violence, pre-emptive attacks, or punitive actions. Do you?

Assault Weapon Hypocrisy

How would Jesus feel about Conservative Christians banning abortion, but refusing to ban assault rifles? I would like to find some conservatives to justify that one. I don’t personally have a problem if someone wants to keep a gun in their house to protect themselves. Luke 22:36 does justify that position.

But, I can’t possibly see why we need access to AK47’s, 9mm semiautomatics and Uzi’s. These are military style weapons and they don’t need to be in the hands of civilians. But, the conservatives don’t seem to have a problem when the gun manufacturers with the deep pockets control the decisions of their elected officials. What religious hypocrites.

Making a Mockery of Jesus’ main message

Not only killing and supporting assault weapons though, what about the major thing that Jesus preaches from day one, helping the poor! Helping your neighbor. That is one of the main things that Jesus talked about. Loving people. He went to the poor and helped them. He healed the sick and shut out. He spent time ministering to prostitutes and sinners. He didn’t look down his nose at them. His whole ministry was devoted to helping people in need. He never said, “Leave the needy to help themselves!” He never said, “I got mine so let them get there’s.” That is in essence what the so-called conservative Christian republicans are saying when they try to cut all of the social programs created by the New Deal and the Civil Rights era. They believe that the poor need to fend for themselves, as if the legacy of 300 plus years of slavery, oppression, segregation, and racism played no part in the plight of many of the poor.

How about just caring about people and not having a personal agenda to benefit from? Isn’t that what Christ teaches all throughout the NT? Be selfless. Love your neighbor as yourself. Don’t do anything for selfish reasons. These are the concepts that Christ taught that the Conservatives have discarded. These represent the rest of the cards in the deck that I referred to earlier.

Hypocrisy in Other Countries

Our government told us that we went to Kuwait to help the people and we went to Iraq to “liberate” the people (funny how the conservatives like the term “liberate”, which is derived from “liberal” when it fits their purposes. But, they try to equate the term liberal with the Devil when applying it to Democrats). But, why do we only seem to be willing to liberate people that live in oil rich countries? We weren’t interested in “liberating” the Haitians that were trying to sail over here on rickety boats several years ago. We sent our coast guard out into the Atlantic Ocean to force them to go back to Haiti. They were in the middle of shark-infested waters trying to escape to freedom and be “liberated” by America. To me, they were showing that they truly wanted our American democracy, not like the Iraqis. These people were willing to risk their lives for their liberation. Why didn’t we liberate them if we cared so much about people? What would Jesus have done? I bet you if they had some oil in Haiti it would have been a different story. I wonder what became of those Haitians…

What about the African massacre in Rwanda in the last decade? This is why I say neither Democrats nor Republicans have a lock on Christian morality. Clinton was president when that was going on. If you read his book he says that getting involved with Rwanda was one of the things about his presidency that he would do over if he could. He would have sent troops to Rwanda to stop the bloodshed. I give him credit for at least being man enough to admit he made a mistake. I guess Bush would accuse him of flip-flopping too, huh? But, the fact of the matter is he didn’t send troops either. Do you think if they had found diamonds in Rwanda like that have in Johannesburg, South Africa we may have gone over there on a liberation mission? I believe so.

What about right now? You heard Colin Powell go on TV a couple of months ago to speak about the atrocities and slaughter in the Sudan, right? Why don’t we go over there and liberate those people? Do you think our Christian Conservative Republican decision makers ever will? I doubt it. You may notice that Colin Powell resigned recently citing tension and conflicts with the Bush Administration over the years and all of the battles that he had lost with Cheyney, Rusmsfeld, and Bush over their foreign policy. What do you think about that? If you want to know what the source of the tensions and battles were between Powell, Cheney, Bush, and Rumsfeld, all you have to do is click on the Links that I gave you earlier. Just make sure to be sitting down when you open them and make sure you don’t have a full stomach.

Maybe Colin wanted to do something to actually help some people in need just because it was the right thing to do. Crazy thought, huh? Anyway, don’t hold your breath on the Sudan thing. It’s not going to happen unless we find some oil or some diamonds, trust me. I wonder if that policy makes our Lord and Savior proud?

Hypocrisy at Home

Why would we think that our government would really care about people in other countries needing help? We don’t care about the suffering going on in our inner cities right here. They don’t care about Head Start Programs anymore. They want to repeal affirmative action programs after only 30 years, when America benefited for 300 years from the legacy and financial benefits of the slave trade and Jim Crow. They want to tie all the money up into defense spending, and tax cuts for the wealthy, when it was Jesus who said it would be easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than to reach the Kingdom of God. I didn’t say that, Christ said that.

He said it not because it was impossible to be wealthy and care about the poor and needy, but He knew how improbable it was for people to be selfless with their wealth and care about others. Look at the wealthy today. In the richest country in the world, to have the poverty that we have is a sin. But, I guess the rich must have that third yacht and those two summer homes. The 5 Mercedes Benz in the driveway is just too hard to pass up. “Let them get their own the way I got mine.” Yeah, that is a real Christian approach.

I guess it is un-Christian like to want to have Healthcare for every American, to have loopholes closed that allow jobs to be outsourced overseas, to have social security be there in the future for the people to survive on when they are old, to have decent schools where kids can get an education, to attempt to put a dent in poverty, to continue to provide opportunities to minorities in an economy that can still be racist and sexist, etc. etc.

In Summation

These are moral issues as well that the Conservative Christian Republicans constantly overlook. These are also cards in the deck of Christian Morality. Poverty is a moral issue. Homelessness is a moral issue. Healthcare is a moral issue. Employment is a moral issue. Creating a deficit so deep that the country will be locked into it for decades is a moral issue. Civil Rights are a moral issue. Affirmative Action is a moral issue. Minority set asides are a moral issue. These are all moral issues that Jesus has a position on. On these positions, the Conservative Republicans are on the wrong side of the argument and God is not pleased.

Your thoughts and comments are greatly appreciated.

God Bless,

Mike