Not Really Concerned

[go4tli]

Have you been following Tea Party Jesus on tumblr?:

http://teapartyjesus.tumblr.com/

It's reduced the complex and difficult endeavor of attempting to
determine what Christian politics should look like to a simple and
jarringly effective formula: Take quotes, verbatim, from political
figures, and put them in the mouth of Jesus to see how well they fit
there.

Consider what Mitt Romney said yesterday morning (2/1/12) on CNN:

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I'm not concerned with the very poor. We have a safety net there.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/romney-im-not-concerned-with-the-very-poor/2012/02/01/gIQAvajShQ_blog.html

I don't need tumblr to realize that that's a terrible, callous
statement. But seeing it placed in the context of a devotional
picture of Jesus takes it to a new level; it shows in stark relief how
deeply *wrong* I should find the statement if I claim to love Jesus
and want to be like Him *at all*.

Despite what you'll see in much popular apocalyptic media foisted upon
the American Evangelical market, the word "antichrist" in the Bible
never refers to the Beast of Revelation or lurid fantasies about End
Times "prophecies". It always and only has to do with *this*. This
attitude of not caring about what Christ cared about. For example,
this not being concerned for the poor.

If we want to be generous to Romney, we could read his comment as
saying that he wants to make sure the poor are helped by the American
social safety net. But I think that contradicts what Mitt Romney has
said that he wants to do to that social safety net. He wants to
completely destroy domestic spending (except for the DoD, of course).
He endorses Ron Paul's plan to get two-thirds of its $4.5 trillion
cuts from low-income programs, using the cuts there to pay for more
tax cuts for the wealthy. His *own* tax plan *raises* taxes on the
bottom fifth of the income scale by getting rid of a refundable credit
and cutting the Earned Income Tax Credit, while simultaneously cutting
taxes for the richest households by $460,000 a year. He claims that
he wants to block grant that safety net -- making states run it on a
fixed annual grant that cannot fluctuate based on need.

This morning, at the Hilton Washington International Ballroom, many of
the most powerful people in the world are gathering for the 60th
annual National Prayer Breakfast. With the religious voting bloc in
this country, it would be suicide for many political figures *not* to
attend. In light of this topic, I find it interesting to note that
their concerns don't parallel Jesus' concerns much with respect to the
poor; at $425 a seat, it would seem that they're interested in some
kind of wealthy and influential Jesus. It's a meeting for The Family,
the sophisticated elites of American Christian fundamentalist power,
who collect to spread a gospel of capitalism, military strength, and
imperialism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fellowship_%28Christian_organization%29

With that in mind, I am somewhat heartened by The People's Prayer
Breakfast (http://peoplesprayerbreakfast.org/).

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What does it mean to be a Christian when organizations such as The
Family create a Jesus that does not hear the prayers of the poor? An
organization that prays to the powerful in place of God? That
participates in the global crucifixion of the poor by turning Jesus'
cross into a social ladder for politicians to climb upwards, past the
broken body of Christ? To cultivate relationships with dictators?

To cultivate the most powerful for political influence, to create an
elite society for the elite, is that listening to the prayers of the
people?

... Our political class does not hear the prayers of the poor, they
hear the "prayers" of corporate lobbyists who fund their campaigns.
And they hear the prayers of Christians such as Doug Coe and The
Family at the National Prayer Breakfast, because they offer
connections, votes, and money.

This is not the way that Christians pray politically. If we are to
take one political message from the entirety of the Scriptures it is
that God hears the prayers of the poor, the downtrodden, and the
oppressed, and acts through the narrative of history both for the
daily bread of the poor and to make right their conditions of
oppression. And if we ourselves do not listen, we face the judgement
of a God who does hear those prayers.
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http://sojo.net/blogs/2012/01/30/occupy-breakfast