Climate change is
the result of global warming. But the
Koch Brothers, and other 1%ers who basically make their big bucks from fossil
fuels, and the politicians they buy, don’t want that to become an integral part
of the thinking of us regular folks.
They spend a whole whale of a lot of money undercutting public education
and denigrating science because if people believed in the validity of the
scientific process they would then understand what global warming is all about. And it isn’t healthy.
For many years,
when by myself or with a very few really close friends, I would comment
occasionally that what the radical right in its shift toward totalitarianism had
done was turn Hitler in for Jesus. What
I meant by that is the totalitarianists learned not to rely on making a human
being their ultimate banner carrier.
They needed someone about whom a book had already been written, and an
organization had already been formed to support that person. What better stratagem than to infiltrate the
Christian fundamentalist movement. After
all, Jesus had already died, a book had been written about him, the Bible, and
the fundamentalist movement was in place.
Fundamentalism is only about 100 years old. It began in the early 1900’s by two itinerant
preachers who were disturbed by what they perceived to be a modern danger to
the ‘fundamentals’ of Christianity.
Their fundamentals proclaimed the inerrancy of the Bible, and the
literal interpretation of everything in the New Testament, as well as the
Hebrew Bible. Take Senator Paul Broun
from Georgia, for example, who is a medical doctor, who believes in the
absolute inerrancy of the Bible, and believes that evolution, embryology, and
climate change come “from the pit of Hell”.
There is no theological history in fundamentalism for examining the
Bible, its origins, alternative understandings of its claims, or even simply,
where did the Bible come from? As a
result, anyone, anywhere can manipulate the Bible, and the fundamentalist
adherents to it in any manner they chose.
And, hoo, boy, did they manipulate!!
Somehow “trickle
down” economics, unions, women’s rights, the rights of minorities, homophobia,
etc., all became part of their religious beliefs. Hours are spent studying the Bible to find
obscure passages that can prove their point.
For example, there is an obscure passage (and I have spent 0 hours
trying to find it) that apparently says if you don’t work, you don’t eat, so
therefore it’s OK to cut poor people’s food stamps, unemployment benefits,
health care, et al, because as Senator Rand Paul says, it does a disservice to
keep people on unemployment benefits past 26 weeks because then they don’t go
out and look for work. He has never
explained the magic of “26 weeks”, but that is another issue. Many progressive thinkers were outraged at
this, both those who affirm a religious belief and those who do not. Much money was given to this and that
progressive organization to get ‘the word out’ that these fundamentalists had
the absolute right to believe whatever they wished, but they did not have the
right to endeavor to make their beliefs the law of the land for everyone. And I include in this some of the Catholic
Bishops who are freaking out over birth control in the Affordable Care Act. If the Bishops don’t believe in birth
control, they don’t have to use it, but they shouldn’t try to make everyone
else conform to their beliefs. Tea Party
Republican Governors who are making every effort to suppress the votes of
groups of people who would vote them out of office for attempting to take over
our democratic form of government and make it into a theocracy are really hazardous
to our political health.
And then, what
happens? A grey-haired man, all dressed
in white instead of ermine and red velvet, with black shoes instead of red
slippers, arrives on the scene and starts talking about those things that the majority
of people hold dear in their hearts, whether members of his Church or not. Bill (who has no overt religious faith) and I
were talking about this earlier in the day after after watching the morning
news that this is the power of Francis.
He has the qualifications to speak to what the majority of people know
is right and good. And by speaking to a
world-wide audience he is arousing the sleeping giant of mercy and compassion
which the trickle down capitalists have mocked for so long.
Since the Rand
Paul’s, Ken Langone’s (founder of Home Depot who is threatening to cut off
donations to repair St. Pat’s Cathedral in New York if the Pope doesn’t get off
of his “feed the poor” kick), and other’s of the same ilk are so fond of
quoting the Bible, I give them this quotation from the King James Version,
Matthew 18:6, “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones who believe in
me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and
that he were drowned in the depth of the sea”.
Jesus cared so much about protecting the children, this statement also appears in the Gospel of Luke. Therefore, one could rightly assume this was extremely important not only to Jesus, but also to his followers.
It seems to me
that cutting off food, shelter, income, and thus a home and clothing, from the
parents of children, and thus offending the children, is a major offense to the
Jesus these people say they believe in.
So, anyone got a handy millstone?
Yea, Pope Francis. Stay safe!
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