bush & Christianity

I remember during the last presidential campaign being told by the "born again" crowd that bush junior was a Christian. By implication this meant he was the one to vote for and conversely other candidates were not either Christian or vote worthy. John Kerry and myself are co-religionists, so I saw this, naturally and inevitably, as anti-Catholic bigotry. When countering that bush's opponent was also a Christian and perhaps more so, I was responded with a stunned silence.

I am skeptical about bush's declaration of faith. Words and actions should have some congruence, some one to one correspondence. This is what Jesus taught. Read Matthew, read James, even though Luther would deny and discard James as would many Americans. Any charlatan, read Sinclair Lewis's, "Elmer Gantry", or fraud can mouth words, even if they sputter and trip off the tongue. And if such a maladroit sputterer can say it smoothly, it has been calculatingly practiced.

Here follows some biblical passages to consider:

Isaias x
1 WOE to them that make wicked laws: and when they write, write injustice:
2 To oppress the poor in judgment, and do violence to the cause of the humble of my people: that widows might be their prey, and that they might rob the fatherless.
3 What will you do in the day of visitation, and of the calamity which cometh from afar? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory?

Shame on you! you who make unjust laws and publish burdensome decrees, depriving the poor of justice, robbing the weakest of my people of their rights, despoiling the widow and plundering the orphan. What will you do when called to account, when ruin from afar confronts you? To whom will you flee for help? (Isaiah 10:1-3) kjv


He that oppresseth the poor, to increase his own riches, shall himself give to one that is richer, and shall be in need. -- Proverbs xxii 16

He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want. (Prov 22:16) kjv


And I will come to you in judgment, and will be a speedy witness against sorcerers, and adulterers, and false swearers, and them that oppress the hireling in his wages; the widows, and the fatherless: and oppress the stranger, and have not feared me, saith the Lord of hosts. -- Malachias iii 5

And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts. (Malachi 3:5) kjv


The fool shall no more be called prince: neither shall the deceitful be called great:
For the fool will speak foolish things, and his heart will work iniquity, to practice hypocrisy, and speak to the Lord deceitfully, and to make empty the soul of the hungry, and take away drink from the thirsty. -- Isaias xxxii 5-6