Go and Do Likewise
I am a Christian and I try to live by the examples I learned at church and read in The Bible. I grew up in a very Catholic family with nuns, a deacon and a priest. I never had a bad experience at church and I pray with my daughter every night but I don’t go to church anymore. I greatly respect individual Catholic churches but I can’t get over the Catholic leadership’s response (or lack thereof) to the abuse scandals over the years and I am greatly disturbed by their recent political stances. I don’t talk much about my faith because it’s very personal to me and because I’m not concerned about what other people think about my beliefs. I am by no means perfect; I fall far short of Jesus’ example. I’m saying this now so that so that if you choose to continue reading you know where I’m coming from.
Trying to live by the rules given in The Bible is a very admirable thing to do and I understand why Christians vote Republican, I really do. Abortion isn’t an easy subject for anyone. That said, despite all its bluster and proclamations, today’s GOP is a very un-Christian organization. They are fighting against the rights of women, homosexuals, minorities, immigrants and the poor. The party is demonizing President Obama for saying that to be a healthy country, everyone has to have healthcare. Seriously, Republicans are literally fighting for your right to be sick while fighting against women’s rights to make their own healthcare choices. They are challenging the Voting Rights Act. They’re making laws that compel brown people to prove they are Americans whenever they meet a police officer. They fight all aid to the poor and keep giving themselves tax breaks. Some of them want to do away with the Department of Education, which would be devastating to poor and middle-class Americans. Recently Rick Santorum even called President Obama a snob because he wants to make it easier for everyone to go to college. They seem to have forgotten that they claim to follow a man that made friends with sinners.
Personally, after twenty years of weekly Sunday service I came away thinking one part of The Bible was the most important:
"Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."
Why do I focus on this quote? BECAUSE JESUS TOLD ME TOO!!! And I want to mention something else about that before I go on. Jesus followed His commandment with the parable of the Good Samaritan. Most people know the general story but in it Jesus chose a Samaritan because they were generally disliked by the Jews and Jesus wanted his Jewish audience to know that if this “unholy” person followed this commandment he would be favored by God above the two religious men that walked around the man in need. The parable ends:
"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."
Republican voters, I know you are worried about morality and abortion most of all but would Jesus have you address these problems by attacking women’s right to control their own healthcare? Jesus was a light on the path, not a whip driving a mule. I don’t know what the answer is; I know you aren’t all going to read this and become Democrats. The press calls you “value voters” because you vote with your heart and your faith. But I have to ask:
Are these really your values?