Tuesday, June 21, 2011

WE MUST CALL IT WHAT IT IS: EVIL

Been reading a lot lately. One excellent book I have gotten a hold of is The Politics of Jesus: Rediscovering The True Revolutionary Nature of Jesus' Teachings and How They Have Been Corrupted.

A phenomenal book. Very quickly, I want to leave y'all with some thoughts pulled directly and shamelessly from Dr. Hendricks' book.


"...it is more important, it is our sacred prophetic duty, to
identify and call by name the policies, governmental officials, corporate
officers, events and developments, and greedy elites that are responsible for
the impoverishment of the people. Calling the demon by name is an integral
part of our vocation to treat the people's needs as holy. thus, we must
call by name every factor, condition, person, or persons that do not treat the
people's needs as holy. We must call the demon by its name:
evil.

We must call by name tax laws that favor the interests of the rich:
evil.

We must call by name corporate boards and executives who underpay their
workers while giving corporate executives annual salaries and bonuses so large
that it would take the average worker centuries of labor to earn as much"
evil.

We must call by name those who claim to hold the people's needs as holy but
in reality do not: evil.

We must call evil by name to remind the people that public officials are
supposed to be public servants, and remind public servants that it is the
welfare of the many that they are to serve, not the whims and wants of the
privileged few.

We must call the demon by name in our churches, call by name ministers'
crass materialism and their lack of prophetic engagement; must call by name
their collusion with forces that exploit and oppress those whom they are
supposed to serve.

We must call by name the perversion of Jesus' Gospel by prosperity
preachers who blame the people for their sickness and poverty, instead of
decrying the demonic mistreatment of the poor by those who hold only their own
needs as holy.

We must call evil by name when pensions are squandered, when
Americans are dispossessed of their livelihoods by greedy executives who export
American jobs to regions where they can better exploit workers'
desperation."
(Bold mine) (Dr Obrey
Hendricks, Jr. The Politics of Jesus (Doubleday, 2006), pp
148,149


Dr. Hendricks goes on, I am somewhat pressed for time.

I will say this: The conservatives have done a great job in equating moral conservatism with political conservatism. The two have nothing in common.

If Political Conservatism had its way from the founding of the United States, the British would have never had to fight to keep the colonies. Breaking from Britain was a Liberal idea. The conservatives wanted to remain part of the crown.

If Political Conservatism had its way in the 1960's, Jim Crow would be alive and well. It was political conservatives that wanted to keep slavery and African-Amercians under the thumb of White America.

And now, it is Political Conservatism that wants to destroy bargaining rights in a number of states. It is political Conservatism that wants to repeal child labor laws in the State of Maine. It is Political Conservatism that seeks to deny children as well as adults in this nation a free education. It is political Conservatism that would have children go to bed hungry at night. It is Political Conservatism that seeks to deny equality to people based on their sexuality. It is Political Conservatism that seeks to destroy families of brown people that speak Spanish through the scapegoating of an entire class of people based on their ethnicity.

Make no mistake, Political Conservatism and Moral Conservatism are utterly antithetical, and they will never be reconciled.

I will leave you, Searchers with a quote from a Founding Father:




"As mankind becomes more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all those
who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are equally entitled
to the protections of the civil government. I hope ever to see America among the
foremost of nations in examples of justice and liberality."-George Washington

Peace, Searchers, I'm sure looking forward to having my laptop back...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

How strange coming from a man who does not work, has five children he does not support, allows his wife to support him in whatever way necessary. Jesus also talked about a man should work and not be a free loader like you. You are indeed a joke. Did you finish high school after being suspended for for tearing up the high school and vandalism? Since you have so much time to stay on the computer, do some research on what is written about a personality profile of a vandal. Sociopath behavior since childhood according to your adopted family. I think the term used to describe you a Bad Seed.

Mike Searches said...

Wow...

Mike Searches said...

in the words of the great Jon Stewart..."Go fuck yourself"