It's clear that the leadership of this religious segment of American society hasn't come to face reality that the harm which they have prophesied for decades as coming from OUTSIDE FORCES is really now most virulent and destructive as forces organized and promoted from sources on the inside as well. THE COUNCIL FOR NATIONAL POLICY HAD IN IT MEMBERS WHOSE INTERESTS EASILY SLIP FROM RELIGIOUS TO ENTREPRENEURIAL, FROM MORAL ISSUES TO DE-REGULATED CORPORATE INTERESTS. These forces have promoted and put in place legislation, programs, and business models that have inflicted considerable harm on themselves: the members of the conservative Catholics, Pentecostal, Mormons, and Evangelical congregations across the country.
"...(J)ust how pervasive the alliance between the rich on the one hand, and the church on the other, has become can be measured by the harsh new attitude towards the poor manifested today by so many evangelicals - an attitude which ascribes poverty to "laziness" and "individual failure;" while such an attitude is not particularly reflective of Christ's attitude towards the poor, it certainly reflects the historic attitude of the rich"... writes S. R. Shearer - one brave prophetic voice that has been crying out in the wilderness of these times against the sinfulness and moral injustice these highly skilled and politically connected men of immense wealth have perpetrated on the poor and the very people, who are the base of the Republican Party and the 8 year threadbare "morals" cult of "Texas born-againer" George W. Bush.
Shearer insightfully explains:
"In attributing poverty to "laziness" and "individual failure," evangelicals have unwittingly bought into the arguments of their elite "business allies" - allies which have ostensibly joined them in their struggle to "return America to Christ and the church." But what evangelicals have evidently not fathomed is the fact that much of the poverty which has developed in the country since 1972 is directly attributable to the "free trade" (and, ipso facto, anti-union) policies and practices of their own business backers - phony "supporters" who, on the one hand, financially aid the ministries and churches of their evangelical allies, while on the other hand they mercilessly ship American jobs (many of which are held by rank-and-file evangelicals) overseas to Third World sweat shops. Maybe the next time evangelicals hear of large sums of money pouring into their churches and/or ministries from wealthy benefactors, they might do well to ask themselves what all this money is purchasing? What deals - implied or otherwise - might have been struck? WHAT KIND OF SILENCE ON THE PART OF THEIR LEADERS THIS MONEY MIGHT BE BUYING?"This is a very troubling era, and if it is not corrected, OUR SOCIETY AND GOVERNMENT WILL COME INTO GREAT CALAMITY... The "conservative" church, the "use-the-government-to promote" their ideological and theological goals faction, has become a huge economic source of adventure for an evil cabal of far right corporatists and free marketers (given effective cover from the religious groups) as well as the latest group of "free marketeers" among them are 400 OR SO CORPORATE MEMBERS WHO DOMINATE AND CONTROL THE AMERICAN LEGISLATIVE EXCHANGE COUNCIL.
(emphasis added)
Now that the auspices of FOX/Rupert have given us (via the saturation promotion of so-called Tea Parties) the scourge of angry white men with placards and megaphones in mimic of the original Tea Party hooligans and vandals. Thanks to Karl Rove, Dick Armey, the Brothers Koch, and FOX we have a movement (laced with conservative religionists) completely out of control of GOP regulars and forcing the country deeper into ongoing economic chaos.
The "values voters," Fundamentalists, conservative Catholics, Evangelicals, and Pentecostals have only themselves to blame for the thundering failures now raining down on America. They have made the current mess possible by their blind allegiance to their own narrow beliefs and beguiling operatives while blind to the day-to-day problems of everyday life and gridlocked federal government.
Keen to choke all Americans with their sectarian dogmas and strict behavioral demands and aggressively using "government coercion" in many areas of human life, while ignoring the crumbling economy and the ongoing wars of present day. This command leadership has put a full nelson on the selection of appointees, the Supreme Court, and federal judgeships.
Decrying "big government" THESE FORCES HAVE ACTUALLY BECOME THE CLUELESS PROMOTERS OF BAD GOVERNMENT-BLIND TO THE FOIBLES AND FLAWS OF THOSE IN GOVERNMENT WHO ESPOUSE THE KIND OF BRANDED "CHRISTIANITY" THAT THESE THEOLOTICIANS USE TO PULL-THE-WOOL ON THE HUMBLE BELIEVERS ACROSS THE COUNTRY, WHILE CATERING TO THE NEEDS OF A VAST CORPORATOCRACY.
Blind to greed, fraud, and corruption in the business and financial world, these religious groupings (and their compromised leadership) have abandoned social justice, to become the enablers of catastrophic crimes against the economic well-being of the nation and their own children.
Social Justice Defined
Social Justice means an equal participation of all groups in a society mutually shaped to meet their needs. Social justice includes a vision of society that is equitable and all members are physically and psychologically safe and secure.
None less than the "national pastor" Dr. Billy Graham once weighed in on the scope of Social Justice: "Jesus taught that we are to take regeneration in one hand and a cup of cold water in the other."
And "Christians, above all other, should be concerned with social problems and social injustice."
Original.
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