Like you, dear reader, I've seen more and more hateful people stepping forward and being applauded for their hatred. I've watched in disgust as they say the most horrific things and espoused the most perverted "values" while being cheered on my millions. I'm sick of it. So sick of it I can barely stand to read the news of the day. There are lots of people claiming to be Christian, but precious few who actually deserve the name.
You can't claim to be Christian unless you are trying to be Christ-like. Clearly, the hatred being spewed like so much vomit from the putrescent recesses of the Republican party's maw has no resemblance to anything Christ taught. Yet, they keep hiding behind the cloak of "religion" and their "beliefs" which they only seem to claim when they've really screwed up (often by screwing women they aren't married to and men they won't admit to knowing) and they know the whole "redemption" thing will play well with voters, or when it's time to whip up the base for another election cycle.
A number of pastors and ministers have come out against the vitriolic bile Republicans are saying, and their adherents are regurgitating. Most of the pastors and ministers who are actually trying to be Christ-like have made comments that such hatred is not in the bible. Some have said, "This is not something MY Jesus taught." Both are correct, both are necessary, and both serve as powerful reminders that not all religious people are violent hooligans planning new ways to oppress other people. However, they do not go far enough.
There have been Facebook memes that are short versions of what I want to expound upon here. You know the ones that say, "If you ignore this starving homeless person, you are not Christian." There are multiple variations out there, and all of them have a valid point. However, if you are ever in the unenviable position of having a discussion with, or being yelled at by one of these fundamentalists, having something to say can be difficult often because "'Murica" or "the bible says so."
My suggestion is to tell them to read their own book, the bible. Mostly, their response will be, "I know what the bible says, I go to church!" Their spittle-flecked faces as they foam with righteous indignation may be a bit daunting, but I assure you, asking them to open their bible and read specific passages, either on their own, or right there with you may force their Neanderthal brains to think. Maybe not. But it doesn't hurt to try a new way to reach people who might otherwise be lost. That's right folks; you can beat them at their own game! Failing that, at least you could take the bible they are ignoring away from them.
I present to you: What the bible really says regarding the poor:
Should you help the poor? Most of these evangelical right wingers will recount how God helps those who help themselves. Sometimes they may quote bible verses about laziness and sloth. While they are taking them out of context and applying them selectively, you can have them consider scripture that has zero ambiguity, or as close as you can get with religious texts.
Old Testament
Leviticus 25:35 English Standard Version (ESV)
“If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you."
Deuteronomy 15:7-11 English Standard Version (ESV)
“If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, 8 but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. 9 Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye look grudgingly[a] on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and you be guilty of sin. 10 You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. 11 For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’"
Psalm 82:4 English Standard Version (ESV)
"Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
For the next passages, you may remind them that Proverbs was written by King Soloman, considered to be the wisest of all of the Israelite kings.
Proverbs 14:21 English Standard Version (ESV)
"Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner, but blessed is he who is generous to the poor."
Proverbs 14:31 English Standard Version (ESV)
"Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him."
Proverbs 19:17 English Standard Version (ESV)
"Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed."
Proverbs 22:9 English Standard Version (ESV)
"Whoever has a bountiful[a] eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor."
Proverbs 28:27 English Standard Version (ESV)
"Whoever gives to the poor will not want, but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse."
Isaiah 58:10 English Standard Version (ESV)
"if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday."
Jeremiah 22:3 English Standard Version (ESV)
"Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place."
New Testament
Matthew 5:42 English Standard Version (ESV)
"Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you."
Matthew 6:2-4 English Standard Version (ESV)
“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you."
Matthew 19:24 English Standard Version (ESV)
"Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
Luke 6:20-21 English Standard Version (ESV)
(These verses are part of what is called The Beatitudes)
"And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said:
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.
“Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh."
Luke 12:33-34 English Standard Version (ESV)
"Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
Acts 20:35 English Standard Version (ESV)
"In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
1 John 3:17-18 English Standard Version (ESV)
"But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth."
There are many other horrible things the pseudo Chrstians say that have no basis in Christ's teaching, but that would make this one article even longer. However, I'll leave you with a couple good ones.
How to treat others:
Proverbs 14:21 English Standard Version (ESV)
"Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner, but blessed is he who is generous to the poor."
Matthew 5:43-47 English Standard Version (ESV)
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers,[i] what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?”
In short, tell them to stick it in their self-righteous pipe and smoke it.