A congregational reading of these words was part of my church’s worship service this morning:
Q. What does God forbid in the eighth commandment?
A. God forbids not only outright theft and robbery, punishable by law, but in God’s sight theft also includes all scheming and swindling in order to get our neighbor’s goods for ourselves, whether by force or means that appear legitimate, such as inaccurate measurements of weight, size, or volume; fraudulent merchandising; counterfeit money; excessive interest; or any other means forbidden by God. In addition, God forbids all greed and pointless squandering of his gifts.
Q. What does God require of you in this commandment?
A. That I do whatever I can for my neighbor’s good, that I treat others as I would like them to treat me, and that I work faithfully so that I may share with those in need.
See anything in there that you don’t agree with (aside perhaps from references to “God” and “commandments”)?
I take my personal motto on this site very seriously: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall catch hell from both sides.” Conservatives often hate on anybody who says anything good about liberals, but also vice versa. And religious people frequently condemn people who aren’t religious, and vice versa again. (How often? How frequently? Often enough to be noticeable. No hard numerical knowledge is implied.)
Now, hate is a normal human emotion, and hating people who are different is characteristic of all humans everywhere, throughout all time and in every place. But hate also tends to be destructive and counterproductive. That is why I like to quote Luke 6:32-36 to my Christian friends:
“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you hope to be repaid, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, so that they may be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to ungrateful and evil people. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
And before you reply with “Forget it! I will never show love for a MAGA conservative!”, consider that “love your enemy” is the driving force (whether motivated by “religion” or by “common sense”) that created the Geneva Convention for the humane treatment of captured enemy soldiers, and that prevents police officers from brutalizing people who often are really, really, bad people who may seem to “deserve” being brutalized.
Also, try to remember that a good, Progressive President should always see him- or herself as President of all Americans, not just those who voted the right way, and also that going out of one’s way to publicly express contempt for people who believe in an all-powerful Invisible Friend who gave the people a Holy Book of Rules is to express contempt not just for Fundamentalist Christians, but for all Muslims and Jews and liberal, Democratic-voting Christians as well. You may not like religious people, but if you really believe in “live and let live” for people who are not doing you any harm, then including a toleration for differing religious viewpoints might be something worth practicing. There is no need to bad-mouth people with whom you disagree (or with their beliefs), if they are not doing anything to harm you. Nor is there any call to mentally lump all religious people together into the same deplorable basket or shoebox.
MAGAs are already doing an excellent job of dividing up the United States into competing, hate-filled camps. Don’t help them out by fighting back with equal but opposite hate.