One of the things that disgusts me about today's Republican Party - actually, there are MANY things that disgust me about the GOP - is the perversion, if not total rejection of the Gospel message even as both candidates and many in the party base wrap themselves in religion and utterly false piety. The New Testament seemingly does not exist and only selective passages in the Old Testament - generally those that inspire hatred and justify violence - are on the radar screen. The hypocrisy is literally off the charts. A column in the Washington Post looks at this hypocrisy. Here are excerpts:
Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) defended “carpet bombing,” while Donald Trump explained that being “much tougher” on terrorists meant going after their families and “girlfriends.”I long ago ceased calling myself a Christian given what an ugly word the GOP and the Christofascists have made it to be.
Perhaps I am influenced by the Christmas season, but there was something genuinely appalling that candidates who so often claim to be devout Christians allocated the bulk of their time to warfare, to throwing people out of our country and to walling them off. There was almost nothing about our obligations to millions around the world who are suffering, from the very wars the candidates were so focused on and from a depth of poverty that is hard for us in rich countries to fathom.
[Carly] Hernandez raised this matter pointedly in a video, asking: “If the Bible clearly states that we need to embrace those in need and not fear, how can we justify not accepting refugees?” The responses from Christie and even the normally compassionate Kasich were, shall we say, less than full-hearted.
I am not naive, and I am not a pacifist. But I’d ask a small favor from these candidates: Please stop saying how Christian you are unless you show at least a few signs of understanding the social obligations the word imposes.
Bush, at least, called out some of the meanness where Trump is concerned. The smart punditry saw his performance as coming too late to salvage his candidacy, and this may well be true. But it was a real relief to hear Bush mock Trump for proposals that would “push the Muslim world, the Arab world, away from us at a time when we need to reengage with them to be able to create a strategy to destroy ISIS.” Bush left a lasting scar when he called Trump “a chaos candidate” who bids to be “a chaos president.”
Overall, Republicans are betting that our country is in a warlike mood. I’m skeptical. But even if they’re right, they will have to do better than playing tough guys on TV.
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