slugshooter Posted November 13, 2004 Report Share Posted November 13, 2004 LEONARD PITTS JR. AT-LARGE Where's the morality in Bush's policy? I have to thank Jimmy Carter for saving my sanity. Granted, his was not a presidency one looks back to with fondness. Gas lines stretched forever, Iran took our people hostage, and there was disco, besides. But Carter's ex-presidency has been a model of that unofficial institution. He has built homes for the poor, mediated wars, helped feed the hungry in Africa, fought disease in Latin America. In so doing, Carter, a deacon of Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., has obeyed a directive that Jesus issued one of his disciples. Do you love me? He asked Simon Peter. Peter said Yes. Feed my sheep, said Jesus. Remembering Carter's example, his very public embrace of that command, is what has gotten me through the last week without a facial tic. Or to put it another way: If one more person tells me that ''morality'' guided their decision to vote for President Bush, my head's going to pop like a balloon. Beg your pardon, but one is hard pressed to find much evidence of morality in Bush's ineptly prosecuted war, his erosion of civil rights, and the loss of international credibility that his policies have caused. Unless, of course, one has been quaking in one's boots at the prospect of same-sex couples making a commitment that straight couples have avoided like SARS. In that case, the vote probably reflects one's morality just fine. More's the pity. No political tactician am I, but I think Democrats made a fundamental mistake when the Christian right rose as a political force: They watched it happen, ceded God to the GOP without resistance, without so much as a beg your pardon. Democrats, fearful of unsettling the secular West and Northeast, only shrugged as the Almighty was packed up and shipped South, where He is to this day routinely trotted out to endorse various would-be governors, senators and school-board members. Small wonder faith has come to seem inextricable from voting the straight Republican ticket. And if you are, as I am, a Christian who remembers what Jesus told Simon Peter, it is galling to see Him reduced to a GOP shill, wrapped in a flag and used as a prop to advance a conservative agenda -- which, by the way, stands the Bible on its head. After all, the Book says that Jesus consorted with lepers and prostitutes. It says He talked with women -- which was beneath a man of His time and place -- and washed the feet of his followers. And it tells us He said things that seemed to make no logical sense: If someone takes your shirt, let him have your cloak as well. If someone hits you on the right cheek, offer him the left. Love your enemies. This was crazy talk. There was nothing conservative about this man. So I look at the success that conservatives on the so-called Christian right have had in claiming Him as their exclusive property, and I wonder, where in the heck is the Christian left? Where are the people who preach -- and live -- the biblical values of inclusion, service, humility and sacrifice, and why haven't they coalesced into an alternative political force? Instead of a movement like that, we have an old peanut farmer building houses for the poor. You wish there were more. You wish there were Christian people shouting from the rooftops that these other people, with their small minds and niggardly spirits, do not represent all of us. And that the faith exemplified by the politics of exclusion is not the faith that the rest of us celebrate, not the faith that lifts us and settles us and makes us whole. But nobody's shouting these things. It occurs to me that maybe they're all too busy building houses for poor people. And that maybe I should be as well. God bless you, Jimmy Carter, wherever you are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin R10 man Posted November 14, 2004 Report Share Posted November 14, 2004 Re: One of the best columns I have ever read. I think your balloon just POPPED Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckee Posted November 14, 2004 Report Share Posted November 14, 2004 Re: One of the best columns I have ever read. If that is the best column you've ever read, then maybe you should read more. I'm not going to waste too much of my time on this post except to say that the author is insinuating here that Jesus, is all for prostitution, sexual deviation and sexual immorality, and also thinks we should embrace that thinking as sound Christian thinking . The author is also insinuating that she thinks Christians should basically be doormats. She has used scripture in the same way she is accusing others of doing and endorsing a former president with it also. The only truth in this writing is the quotes themselves, and it's a real shame that the author doesn't understand it and has used it to push her lukewarm, fence-sitting agenda. I'm also surprised the author even wrote this artical, if they actually believe their own interpretations of scripture, they would have remained silent. I can't believe this is the best article you've ever read...that astounds me. [ QUOTE ] 2 Timothy 4-2-4 2Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction. 3For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. [/ QUOTE ] good example of itching ears right there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dg Posted November 14, 2004 Report Share Posted November 14, 2004 Re: One of the best columns I have ever read. buckee, What do you expect from someone who in the last month has probably 85+% posts in the political forum and hardly any posts about hunting, and this is hunting season? He's bored with life or has none! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldksnarc Posted November 14, 2004 Report Share Posted November 14, 2004 Re: One of the best columns I have ever read. As I recall, it wasn't the Republican candidate campaigning from the pulpit at three or four different churches each Sunday and trying to wrap himself in the Bible to represent himself as a Christian with strong Christian beliefs. I'd rather see a Christian wrapping himself in a flag than a hypocrite wrapping himself in the Bible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulldawg Posted November 15, 2004 Report Share Posted November 15, 2004 Re: One of the best columns I have ever read. I read this guys article, and it just sounded the same as many of his articles before that. Blaming alot of his problems on Bush. He just seems to me to be another black man who thinks we owe him from things that happened to his ancestors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParrotHead Posted November 15, 2004 Report Share Posted November 15, 2004 Re: One of the best columns I have ever read. I’m sorry, but is this the same leftist God fearing group that supports the seperation of Church and State? Is it the same leftist group that supported the removal of anything that God said from the walls of buildings and supports the removal of his name from even our money? Is this that same group that has proclaimed in this article to be the “Christian Left that preach -- and live -- the biblical values of inclusion, service, humility and sacrifice”? Ever think that it may have been the views of the left that turned the Christian Left into Christian Right? Same old rethoric, we lost and here’s who’s to blame for it…… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stinger-Hunter Posted November 18, 2004 Report Share Posted November 18, 2004 Re: One of the best columns I have ever read. I have dedicated my life to educating myself in politics. I watch the news at least 4 hours per day. Jimmy Carter has already been designated as the worst president in American History. The hostages were released from Iran on what day? Ronald Reagan's Inauguration Day. Why do you think that is? I hate liberals and if I could get away with it... I'll leave it at that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nut Posted November 19, 2004 Report Share Posted November 19, 2004 Re: One of the best columns I have ever read. [ QUOTE ] I hate liberals and if I could get away with it... I'll leave it at that. [/ QUOTE ] Man that is sad to see people feel that way about fellow Americans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted November 19, 2004 Report Share Posted November 19, 2004 Re: One of the best columns I have ever read. Think the writer of this is very poorly informed. No doubt he is entitled his opinion as we all are, but personally I think he is way out there. Sure Carter is a humanitarian and has done a lot of good for many people, but he was one of if not the worst President ever in our history. A question comes to my mind in this is that really of what he does is it really him doing it and with his own resources? I dont think so, that said he gets a lot of credit for what he may not have as much to do with as people might think. In my opinion some people are disillusioned in a sense of what he has accomplished. This is kind of related in a way, I heard reports of charitable contributions made by President Bush last year when the democrats were slamming him about his income and the tax cuts. He gave away a pretty big chunk of his income to charities. Funny thing he gave considerably more to charities than Kerry who by the way had a considerably larger income as it turned out. I would be willing to bet that after Bush serves his next 4 years he will not just fade away. He may not be the humanitarian as Carter is recognized as, but bet he will continue to serve his country and in a positive way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carbonhunter Posted November 24, 2004 Report Share Posted November 24, 2004 Re: One of the best columns I have ever read. [ QUOTE ] I have dedicated my life to educating myself in politics. I watch the news at least 4 hours per day. Jimmy Carter has already been designated as the worst president in American History. The hostages were released from Iran on what day? Ronald Reagan's Inauguration Day. Why do you think that is? I hate liberals and if I could get away with it... I'll leave it at that. [/ QUOTE ] you would do what......man you are a big tough guy....make statments like that from behind a computer screen. a statment like that shows how ignorant some people are. Id love to have you finish that line but i guess your just so tough that you will have to leave it at that, Ive read three of your posts on here all they say are i hate libs. its as bad as being an anarchist, im glad you've dedicated your life to learning politics....sounds like you wasted alot of time in that persuit. Jimmy carter may have been a crappy president but he also was a great stewerd to the outdoors....so what would you do to him if ya could get away with it??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slugshooter Posted November 25, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 25, 2004 Re: One of the best columns I have ever read. [ QUOTE ] I hate liberals and if I could get away with it... I'll leave it at that. [/ QUOTE ] I'll happily give you directions to my house so you can try and get away with whatever it is you feel you need to do to eradicate us evil liberals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted November 26, 2004 Report Share Posted November 26, 2004 Re: One of the best columns I have ever read. [ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] I hate liberals and if I could get away with it... I'll leave it at that. [/ QUOTE ] I'll happily give you directions to my house so you can try and get away with whatever it is you feel you need to do to eradicate us evil liberals. [/ QUOTE ] You tough guys crack me up. Really think it would be rather boring in here if everyone agreed on everything. Dont see eye to eye with liberals thoughts, but that certainly does not make for hatred for a person based on what or how they think . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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