Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

PRESIDENT OBAMA INVOKES THE BIBLE WHEN IT SUITS HIM

And he uses his own narrow ideological lens in doing so.  The Family Research Council nails the issue (and President Obama) in writing the following:  [my bolding]

Cause God Blessed Taxes with His Own Hand...

President Obama isn't selling the bracelets, but he is asking the question: WWJT? What Would Jesus Tax? Speaking at yesterday's National Prayer Breakfast, the President invoked everyone from Jesus to Mohammed to push his universal welfare state. "It's hard for me to ask [people]... who can barely pay the bills to shoulder the burden alone. And I think to myself, if I'm willing to give something up as somebody who's been extraordinarily blessed and give up some of the tax breaks that I enjoy, I actually think that's going to make some economic sense... For me as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus's teaching that to whom much is given, much shall be required. It mirrors the Islamic belief that those who've been blessed have an obligation to use those blessings to help others, or the Jewish doctrine of moderation and consideration of others. It mirrors the Islamic belief that those who've been blessed have an obligation to use those blessings to help others, or the Jewish doctrine of moderation and consideration for others."

How ironic. Liberals accuse us of trying to create a theocracy, when they're the ones trying to attach biblical significance to big government! The Left engages God when it's convenient, and draws a line between church and state when it isn't. Unfortunately, that's the reality of an a la carte belief system. God can easily conform to public opinion. And this isn't the first time the White House has recruited Jesus to support its policies. Back in November, President Obama said God "wants to see us help ourselves by putting people back to work." "Isn't it a bit much to bring God into the jobs debate?" a reporter asked? Press Secretary Jay Carney fired back, "I believe that the phrase from the Bible is, 'The Lord helps those who help themselves.'" Only that phrase wasn't from the Bible. It's usually attributed to Benjamin Franklin (and I doubt he'd support the legislation either!)

The problem here is not that the President references Scripture. The problem is that he's interpreting it through a narrow ideological lens that isn't aligned with the Truth. Sure, Jesus hung out with the tax collectors, but no serious student of the Bible would construe Luke 12:48 as a call for big government. The Bible is clear that we should care for the less fortunate, but not once does it imply that it's government's job to do so. When Jesus wanted to help the orphaned or widowed, he didn't hire bureaucrats. He called on His followers, the Church. We can ask ourselves What Would Jesus Tax? but without taking Scripture wildly out of context, we may never know. What we do know is that the same God who supposedly "supports" Obama's tax hikes is the One who condemns abortion, sexual immorality, and religious persecution.

THE RELIGIOUS LEFT INDICTS GOV. WALKER FOR HIS EVANGELICAL FAITH

Mark Tooley, President of the Institute on Religion and Democracy (www.theird.org), writes: 

                        "Scott Walker: A Bad Christian?"

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is a bad Christian for standing up to government unions, according to the Religious Left.

Religious Left author Diana Butler Bass, writing for The Huffington Post, is the most explicit in faulting Walker’s ostensibly simplistic evangelical beliefs.  Butler revealed that Walker belongs to a nondenominational church with “boilerplate” evangelical theology about sin and salvation, with apparently none of the statist political demands that the Religious Left believes are more central to faith.

Bass derisively described Walker’s one-time testimony to Christian businessmen in which he shared the Gospel story of the Apostle Peter sinking into the water because of doubt.  She also mocked his favorite hymn of “Trust and Obey.” According to Bass’ breathless analysis, Walker believes only in blind “obedience,” just like the terrifying “evangelical spirituality” of George W. Bush, which resulted in two wars.  “In this theological universe, hard-headedness is a virtue, compromise is the work of the Devil, and anything that works to accomplish God’s plan is considered ethically justifiable,” Bass explained.  Walker is listening only to Jesus and ignoring the wise spiritual voices on the Religious Left he should heed, Bass fretted. “Jesus speaking directly to him,” she alleged.  “God, evidently, has directed him on his current path.”  And not just Jesus, but also Libertarian philanthropist David Koch,” Bass sarcastically quipped.

ALBERT MOHLER: "THE INERRANCY OF SCRIPTURE: THE FIFTY YEARS' WAR . . . AND COUNTING"

Mohler offers a useful overview of new challenges to the evangelical doctrine from within the evangelical camp.  (HT: VirtueOnline)

DAVID VIRTUE - "SCREWTAPE PROPOSES AN EPISCOPAL TOAST"

David Virtue, the extraordinary journalist who runs VirtueOnline, a worldwide Anglican news and commentary website, offers a satirical essay in the vein of C.S. Lewis's famous Screwtape Letters and Screwtape Proposes a Toast.   These are the concluding paragraphs of the toast (remember, Screwtape is a senior devil writing to his nephew, a junior devil):

. . . We are particularly enamored with the British approach to anyone who opposes sodomy and wears their faith around their necks. Individuals are losing their jobs. In time, they will go to jail for opposing what the state, and, by its silence, what the church now embraces. However, mind how you go, Wormwood, it could backfire.

The most important thing you can do is to create a counterfeit faith that mimics the real thing but is not faith at all. Keep up the appearance of things. Let the religious leaders talk about morality, the environment, women's ordination, but keep them from entering into a personal faith that trusts solely in Him who lived and died for them. On no account must they entertain such thoughts.

Hammer justice for all, peace in our time, no fear of Islam, justice for gays, women, wombats and whales, if need be. Under no circumstances should they be allowed to reflect on the Sermon on the Mount or meditate on John Chapter 1 or the book of Colossians and the exaltation of The One who was before all time and in whom everything co-inheres. We cannot bear a repeat of the "darker" side of history.

We have almost won the Culture Wars, Wormwood. Individual battles over sodomite acceptance and same-sex marriage are being won in country and after country aided and assisted by the US State Department and the help of that Clinton woman. The battle is almost over. When Proposition 8 is finally overturned in California, traditional marriage

LEFT WING CHRISTIAN ACTIVIST JIM WALLIS, "SOCIAL JUSTICE," AND GLENN BECK

The Family Research Council sets out the issue clearly:

The Bible speaks consistently and forcefully about the need for justice throughout society. But the term "social justice" has become a code-term used by the Religious Left to mean everything from socialized medicine to redistribution of income. Their argument goes like this:  Since God wants   Christians to show compassion to the poor, government should work to meet the needs of everyone. But this argument is, oddly, a form of merging the roles of the church and state--something the Left says it opposes--and thoughtful conservatives should oppose. Faith and policy are closely linked but the institutional roles of church and state are, as our Founders recognized, distinct.

Last week, talk show host Glenn Beck said on his program, "I beg you, look for the words 'social justice' or 'economic justice' on your church website. If you find it, run as fast as you can." To which Jim Wallis, a leader of the Religious Left, responded that

ENVIRONMENTALIST "WACKOS" AND HUMAN WELL-BEING

It's hard to find a more dramatic beginning to an article than this . . .

Who is the worst killer in the long, ugly history of war and extermination? Hitler? Stalin? Pol Pot? Not even close. A single book called "Silent Spring" killed far more people than all those fiends put together.

"Dr. Zero" proceeds to  unpack and defend his opening paragraph and along the way makes other accusations: 

The DDT ban isn’t the only example of environmental extremism coming with a stack of body bags. Mandatory gas mileage standards cause about 2,000 deaths per year, by compelling automakers to produce lighter, more fragile cars. The biofuel mania has led resources to be shifted away from growing food crops, resulting

EMERGENT CHURCH: IS TRUTH REALLY PLURAL?

Albert Mohler offers a major review and critique of John R. Franke's Manifold Witness: The Plurality of Truth,  (HT: Between Two Worlds).

In recent years, John R. Franke, a professor at Biblical Theological Seminary in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, has been among the foremost proponents of the embrace of a postmodern worldview. A major figure in the emergent church, Franke has been a significant critic of modern evangelicalism. In his new book, Manifold Witness: The Plurality of Truth, Franke offers an argument that pushes the postmodern envelope and offers what amounts to a completely new way of understanding truth. Truth, Franke argues, is inherently plural.

Franke's new book is part of the "Living Theology" series published by Abingdon Press in cooperation with Emergent Village. The book deserves close attention, for it presents a vision of truth we are sure to confront in years to come.   [more . . .]

THE RELIGIOUS LEFT WORSHIPS AT THE ALTAR OF STATE POWER

Mark D. Tooley, president of the Institute for Religion and Democracy, notes the fervor of Rev. Jim Wallis in denouncing Sarah Palin's comment about Obamacare's "death panels":

“Please don’t invoke your ‘Christian faith’ anymore and embarrass the people of God even   further,” he fumed.  “May your efforts to scare Americans during this important debate fail. May your political future also fail, and may your star fall as fast as it rose just a few months ago — because we now know who you really are.” 

Tooley rightly comments:

Wallis is often likened by his Religious Left admirers to a prophet.  But prophets and Pslamists called their audiences back to worship of God, not worship of Big Government.  Palin’s sin, in Wallis’ eyes, is that she will not bend the knee to the alter of The Welfare State, which has been the object of Wallis’ fervor for over 40 years.

Tooley points out:

For the statist mindset to which Wallis and the Religious Left passionately subscribe, government is simply a cornucopia of gifts and services, benignly bestowed, as an extension of, or even substitute for, God’s grace.   But governments, unlike the private sector against whose “greed” the Religious Left perpetually warns, have coercive powers through taxation and law enforcement. . . .  

Understanding the moral limits of state power is foreign to the Religious Left, which imagines that expanding government welfare is always moral, and its critics, always sinister.  In the conference call for Religious Left activists that Wallis convened for the President, Obama  warned of “some folks out there bearing false witness,” of “divisive and deceptive attacks,” of “extraordinary lies,” and “fabrications.”     [more . . ]

ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU - A DISAPPOINTMENT

Retired Archbishop of Cape Town Desmond Tutu won his 1984 Nobel for boldly opposing the racist government of South Africa, but his moral vision of late (actually for many years) has become seriously befogged.  I agree with Mark D. Tooley's clear-headed assessment.

Frontpagemag says of Tutu, "In the UK, Archbishop Desmond Tutu demonizes Israel, Christians, and the United States while ignoring Sudanese genocide.   more

RELIGIOUS LEFTIST AND OBAMA COUNSELOR REV. JIM WALLIS: "THE VISION OF AMERICA THAT CHENEY OFFERS IS DECIDEDLY EVIL"

I couldn't disagree more.  A few days ago I posted about the Religious Left and Rev. Jim Wallis.  I really didn't care to give Wallis any more attention, but  then today I read Peter Wehner's compelling post and simply couldn't let it go unrecognized.  Wehner nails Wallis' hypocrisy to the wall.  And as Wehner notes, Jim Wallis has become one of Obama's spiritual counselors.  Oh my...  But that's really not surprising since Obama sat contentedly (I presume?) in Rev. Wright's church for 20 years.  Herewith Wehner's post:

This Is Elevated Discourse?   [Peter Wehner]

Over at Sojourners, Jim Wallis has written another thoughtful, measured, grace-filled meditation on American politics. Comparing last week’s national-security speeches between President Obama and former vice president Cheney, Wallis informs us that in 2004 his father, who, we are told, was a nonjudgmental man, declared, “Dick Cheney is evil.” Wallis goes on:

I will leave the judgment of Dick Cheney’s soul to God, who alone is in the position to render that judgment on all of us. But I will say the vision of America that Cheney offers is decidedly evil, and has helped to spread even more evil around the world. Cheney represents the dark side of America, a view of the world dominated by fear

THE RELIGIOUS LEFT EXUBERANT OVER OBAMA

Mark D. Tooley, president of The Institute on Religion and Democracy, wrote an article today, "Al-Quedo Terrorists=The Prophet Jeremiah?" which describes the ebullience of the Rev. Jim Wallis and the Sojourner's crowd over Obama's left-wing takeover of the United States. As Tooley describes it,

More than 1,100 Religious Left activists gathered in Washington, D.C., for Jim Wallis's annual "Mobilization to End Poverty," which convened in late April.

And an extremist agenda it is. Speakers at the rally equated themselves with the Biblical prophets, al-Qaeda terrorists to the Prophet Jeremiah, capitalist "greed" with the Soviet gulags, and conservative Christians with the Antichrist.     [more . .]

Me:  Wallis has been a hard-left guy since the 60s.  Socialism and anti-Americanism have continually dominated his thinking.   His accusations against the "Christian Right" ring partisan and hollow given his hard left ideological commitments.   Don't ever think he is some sort of "Christian uniter."  He is anything but.

Update 6/1/09 - Peter Wehner offers a "must-read evaluation" of Jim Wallis and his rhetoric for anyone wishing to get their bearings on Jim Wallis. 

THE LEFT'S TRINITY OF PROPHETS

Mark D. Tooley writes about Jim Wallis, Bill Moyers, and William Sloan Coffin.   Good article.

WHAT DOES EVANGELISM LOOK LIKE IN THE ULTRA-LIBERAL EPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF MASSACHUSETTS?

Pretty unbelievable.  From VirtueOnline:

Ever wondered what evangelism looks like in the ultra-liberal DIOCESE OF   MASSACHUSETTS? The Bishop of Massachusetts, Tom Shaw doesn't want what he calls "conservative fundamentalist Christians to define the word evangelism". So in "These Young Evangelists," a column of his in the Summer 2008 issue of the Episcopal TIMES, the diocesan newspaper of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, he equates a female graduate student at Boston College as being an "evangelist" for having arranged an evening of Reiki therapy and Zen tarot card readings with the assistance of her Episcopal college chaplain. Furthermore, he states, regarding the five examples he gives, "These young people under the age of 35 seem unafraid of being evangelists. They see themselves as disciples, the 21st-century recipients of our risen Lord's command to go out everywhere teaching in the name of God (Matthew 28:20)."

DOES BARACK OBAMA HAVE A "CONVENTIONAL CHRISTIAN FAITH" AS HE CLAIMS?

In 2004 Barack Obama sat down with Chicago Sun-Times religion reporter (now columnist) Cathleen Falsani for a one hour interview on Obama's spirituality.  She subsequently wrote up the interview for the Sun Times.  Now she has published the complete transcript of that interview on her blog. Anyone interested in knowing the extent and depth (or shallowness) of Barack Obama's religious convictions would do well to read the unedited interview.  (HT: Mark Hemingway at The Corner)  Update: Drawing on that transcript, Cal Thomas wrote a column: Barack Obama is Not a Christian.

A theologian Barack Obama is not.  A well-instructed, informed Christian?  I can't imagine anyone thinking so. He has chosen to affiliate with what he calls the "Christian tradition" but if you read the interview, you will see how slim and shallow and wanting in substance is his grasp of the Faith.  It explains how he could make the outlandish statement he made back in March that the Sermon on the Mount justified his support for legal recognition of same-sex unions.  I wonder what Bible passage he employs to justify his role as the King [my designation] of abortion supporters?

Today Stanley Kurtz examined Obama's faith for what it says about his leftist politics. Kurtz highlights a 1995 background piece from the Chicago Reader, "What Makes Obama Run?"  Wow. Read Kurtz's piece and you get a glimpse, more than that -- a revelation-- of the real Obama and his energizing vision. Kurtz writes near the end of his piece:

So it would appear that Obama’s own writings solve the mystery of why he stayed at Trinity for 20 years. Obama’s long-held and decidedly audacious hope has been to spread Wright’s radical spirit by linking it to a viable, left-leaning political program, with Obama himself at the center. The revolutionizing power of a politically awakened black church is not some side issue, or merely a personal matter, but has been the signature theme of Obama’s grand political strategy.

Lucky for Obama, this political background is unfamiliar to most Americans. There are others who share Obama’s approach, however. Take a look at this piece by Manhattan Institute scholar Steven Malanga on “The Rise of the Religious Left,” and you will see exactly where Obama is coming from. . .

MORE ON OBAMA'S PASTOR, REV. JEREMIAH WRIGHT

Update 3/17/08 - Spengler on Rev. Wright and black liberation theology.  His  article appears in the Asian Times Online.  (HT: The Corner)

Update 3/16/08 - VDH analyzes the Obama/Democratic spin.

Update 3/15/08: Last night Barack Obama appeared on television to respond to his crisis, and crisis it is.  Michelle Malkin comments   and links to  other evaluations.

**
Victor Davis Hanson explains the utter seriousness of Obama's close association with his pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.  (Note my previous posts on Rev. Jeremiah Wright here and here.)

Betrayed?

The problems with Rev. Wright and Sen. Obama are fivefold. They won’t go away, but they will raise dilemmas for him that have no analogy, no parallel with other religious leaders of dubious past declamations who have supported the other candidates:

1) The Obamas were not merely endorsed by, or attended the church of, Rev. Wright, but subsidized his hatred with generous donations [in 2006 Obama gave $22,500 to the church], were married by him, and had their children baptized by this venomous preacher; there is nothing quite comparable in the case of Sens. Clinton and McCain.

2) Rev. Wright’s invective is not insensitive or hyperbolic alone, but in the end disgusting. And when listened to rather than read, the level of emotion and fury only compound the racism and hatred, whether in its attack on the Clintons, or profanity-laced slander of the United States and its history, or in gratuitous references to other races. Its reactionary Afrocentrism, conspiracy-theory, and illiberal racial separatism take us back to the 1970s, and compare with the worst of the fossilized Farrakhan—and have no remote parallel in the present campaign.

Is Huckabee More Religious Left Than Right?

I think we'll be hearing more about this in the future.  Meanwhile, Arkansas political columnist David J. Sanders argues in the WSJ that very point:  that Huck is more religious left than religious right.  (HT: Mark Hemingway)

New Book by Paul Kengor: "God and Hillary Clinton: A Spiritual Life"

Jamie Glazov published today a fascinating interview with Paul Kengor, author of the first spiritual biography of the former first lady, God and Hillary Clinton: A Spiritual Life. Kengor says,

She is a classic, textbook-case of a Religious Left politician. Through this book, I was eager to remind a theologically ignorant media and secular nation that not everyone who is a religious believer is a “fundamentalist.”  . . . Hillary’s denomination—the United Methodist Church—has moved so far to the left that

How Global Warming Activisim Hurts the Poor

Mark D.  Tooley does his usual excellent job of analyzing the negative effects of what at first seems a noble endeavor, but in the end proves otherwise.  The Religious Left more often than not can be relied upon to make false judgments of this sort.  Click here

Useful Review of Liberal Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong's New Book

Jason Lee Steorts reviews Spong's Jesus for the Non-Religious, and says

[Spong]has tried to lob his book like a hand grenade into the institutions of Christendom. The idea is to explode two millennia of traditional belief on which these institutions rest, thereby making room for a new Christianity based on a conception of Jesus that is palatable to “a twenty-first century person.” What actually crawls out of the rubble is a Jesus for John Shelby Spong.

Steorts concludes:

It is hard to see how the new story can survive when the God at its center is nothing but an overwrought sentimentality plummeting down an abyss. If that is all we have left, Spong can keep his Christianity.   (more)

Steort  should have put "Christianity" in quotation marks since Spong's religion is a subjective quicksand of his own making.

Speaking of liberal Christianity, the Boston Globe reports that the top official of the Episcopal Church USA stands foursquare behind the Episcopal Church's endorsement of homosexual activity.   According to the Globe, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori regards

Mark Tooley Explains the Religious Left's Vision

Speaking of Jim Wallis' book God's Politics, Mark Tooley summarizes  the position of the Religious Left, a position with which I disagree:

In this vision of the New Heaven and the New Earth, the Savior is a liberal Democrat who supports environmentalist causes, is a strict pacifist, wants higher taxes and more federal regulation, denounces all doubts about the welfare state as the product of greed, and has supreme confidence in the United Nations and other international forae to mediate every conflict.  (more)