Kevin Drum @ Mother Jones questions the priorities of best-selling gasbag Rev. Rick, as the Purpose Driven One bats down a ridiculous straw man while not-so-faintly echoing a GOP talking point:
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| "Dogs? Yes, but no Jews!" |
Rick Warren — he of Saddleback megachurch and Purpose Driven Life fame — is in the news again. He was on ABC's This Week...and Jake Tapper asked him what he thought about President Obama's suggestion that God tells us to care for those less fortunate than ourselves:
Well certainly the Bible says we are to care about the poor....But
there's a fundamental question on the meaning of "fairness." Does
fairness mean everybody makes the same amount of money? Or does fairness
mean everybody gets the opportunity to make the same amount of money? I
do not believe in wealth redistribution, I believe in wealth creation.
The only way to get people out of poverty is J-O-B-S. Create jobs. To
create wealth, not to subsidize wealth. When you subsidize people, you
create the dependency. You — you rob them of dignity.
You know, there's nothing really wrong with a Republican politician
saying this. Or a Democratic politician, for that matter. My first
preference for helping the poor is indeed to make sure they have decent
jobs. Unfortunately, I haven't yet met anyone who has a brilliant plan
for making the economy boom on such a sustained basis that jobs are
always available for everyone.
But I'm a blogger, not a minister. And while I might not be an expert
on the Bible, I've read enough to know that Jesus sure didn't seem to
think that helping the poor robbed them of dignity. Can someone help me
out here? What part of the gospels do you think Warren is referring to?
Warren, incidentally, in the same ABC Easter interview speculated that while he was convinced Jews, Buddhists or Muslims wouldn't get into his Heaven, his dog likely would. This wildly over-hyped guy is some combination of theologically toxic, willfully credulous and...uh... stupid. Why he gets promoted as some kind of inclusive pastor, worthy of being featured as the culmination of Holy Week by a major broadcasting network is beyond me.
All I have to say is that theologians and ministers should be about lifting up those who are "poor in spirit," which is what their Christ said. That way, one can be a democrat or a republican or a socialist, as long as their concentration is not broken on what they are supposed to be doing. Focus on the human spirit, and not the material things, not even jobs, or taxes. Their Christ said that too.
ReplyDeleteBut I agree with you, a particularly willful and mystifying stupid