The Book of Cletis wrote a very compelling post on the disconnect between the Christian right and their support of such supply-side economic policies that reek of the “let them eat cake” mentality. How on earth does the worship of Ayn Rand square with Christianity, the Golden Rule and teachings of Christ as portrayed in the four Gospels? The Gospels are replete with numerous parables and teachings that leave no room for doubt as to how Jesus would have responded to the likes of Rand. After all, it was Christ who said - “And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”
So, how can a true Christian have a Bible and Atlas Shrugged tucked under the same arm and not see the blatant hypocrisy? The melding of such two disparate philosophies takes on a mental gymnastics that to my mind cannot be resolved with any degree of reason. This is particularly true because most fundamentalist Christians supposedly follow the teachings of Christ with a literal devotion which borders on the absurd.
Enter the Reformation and John Calvin...
But the Reformation gave birth to Calvinism and the Protestant work ethic. Taken to extremes it becomes a negation of everything that the four Gospels say that Jesus stood for. And the Christian right has done just that - taken Calvinist philosophy to a wild extreme. The Calvinist twist is that “By faith, you are saved”. Good works seem to have taken the back seat. Add to that the notion that if you are successful it is because God has deemed you worthy and deserving of such bounty - and you have a powerful argument for acquisition of great wealth being synonymous with salvation. Faith by itself requires no “good works” and no personal sacrifice for the greater good. The notion that God’s grace is bestowed as a matter of right to the faithful conveniently translates into “Greed is Good” all too easily. Of course, you have to toss aside many of the quotes and parables of Christ- but why should anyone worry about such trivial details?
Sometimes the Roman Catholic Church does “Get it right...”
You do notice this difference more distinctly when you look at the Roman Catholic Church and contrast it to the modern Born Again Christian philosophy. The Catholic church has certainly been having its “issues” lately. But a lack of concern or dedication to the plight of the world’s poor has not been one of them. No matter how much Pope Benedict has deviated from the path that Pope John Paul paved - the concern for the poverty in the world has remained a constant. Both pontiffs have raised alarm bells about such things as income inequality and both have condemned greed. This is diametrically opposed to large swaths of the Protestant Church - although that depends on the denomination. But I can’t imagine the likes of Scott Walker, Paul Ryan or Eric Cantor in a progressive Protestant Church.
© 2011 - RMGHicks -http://www.therobberbaroneconomy.com - All rights reserved.
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I am not interested in what each different denomination says about this, we have all been misled. "If you are not on the side of the poor and oppressed, who's side are you on"?
ReplyDeleteJesus told the rich man to give all he had to the poor, and come and follow him. That seems contradictory to what is now being thought of as good. Having more money, does not make a better person, no matter what our culture says.
Jesus said that "The Love of Money is the Root of ALL evil." You can see that in our government. The other day, people were fined, for feeding the homeless! I am not kidding. I wonder if some of these people even meet the smallest criteria to be called human.
Good Post
Hi Motivated - The Book of Cletis was asking how Atlas Shrugged squares with religious conservatives. I was kind of addressing the how. Does it make sense? Of course not. Is it a perversion of true Christianity? Absolutely. They took the Protestant work ethic and a few passages in the Bible - ran with it and ignored the rest. But isn't that often the case with religion? Interpretation can be manipulated to the point where you can create 180-degree turns in direction. This isn't the first time a religion was mangled into an unrecognized perversion of itself. Won't be the last time either.
ReplyDeleteI like what you've done with my song. Thanks for reposting it and I truly enjoyed your additional insight into this matter. You are a very bright and valued member of an interconnected group of people. Piss on Ayn Rand and her fascist disciples as well.
ReplyDeleteIt was a good article. I was having a discussion on the Religious Right on Mother Jones, where someone implied my immortal soul was in jeopardy because I was not a RWNJ. I brought up Ralph Reed's little indiscretion in the Mariachi Islands, (putting people into slavery, forcing women to have abortions). This is a very important topic. If we allow the Right to mislead people without standing up, we will not be doing the right thing.
ReplyDeleteHi Cletis - I'm glad you liked it. I think that its this distortion of Christianity that allows these this dichotomy to exist. Certainly any true Scriptural scholar would view these two stances as mutually exclusive - but revisionist Christianity makes any crazy combination possible.
ReplyDeleteHi Motivated - so true - you have to call them on it. Granted you will never convince a zealot - but you can plant seeds of doubt in those who are in the middle of the road.