I sometimes wonder if there are any actually religious religious people out there. They appear to be nothing but grifters from top to bottom. Latest, but by no means principal exhibit, this guy:
The officiant of a now-infamous wedding in Millinocket gave a defiant sermon during an indoor church service on Sunday, just a day after Maine’s CDC announced it was investigating a coronavirus outbreak among those affiliated with the Sanford church.
Todd Bell, the pastor, portrayed Calvary Baptist Church, which he leads, as being on the front lines of a culture war, battling against a “socialistic platform’’ that mandates mask-wearing and distance learning in schools.
…
Bell’s comments echoed some of the political talking points that President Trump and others on the right have used to decry coronavirus restrictions. At a rally in New Hampshire on Friday night, for example, Trump lamented that Democrats “don’t believe law-abiding citizens can go to a church together. You can’t go to church anymore.’’
The Aug. 7 wedding at which Bell officiated in East Millinocket has been linked to 123 coronavirus cases in Maine, the largest outbreak in the state, as well as to the death of Theresa Dentremont, an 83-year-old woman who did not attend the event. Many of the participants in the wedding, including the bride and groom, went silent as the fallout grew, switching their social media accounts to private.
I find his attack on socialism rather puzzling.
First, lets define the term. In this country “socialism” is a pejorative term used by Republicans for “things we don’t like”. American socialists, on the other hand, are essentially 1960’s liberals, who believe that the fruits of our society should be more evenly spread among the people, and that government has a role in making people’s lives better. Public ownership of the means of production is rather passé, don’t you know.
As faithful readers know, I have a degree in theology from Our Lady of Sorrows Grammar School, and though I no longer consider myself a Christian, I do have more than passing familiarity with the teachings of Jesus. I’m with Tom Paine on Jesus: he wasn’t a god, but his moral teachings were, for the most part, exemplary. It’s just a shame that Christians have a 2 millennium old habit of ignoring those teachings.
I will now, utilizing my in depth knowledge of religion, take it upon myself to show that wearing a mask is the right thing to do from a Christian point of view, and that Jesus was a 1960’s liberal at the least, therefore a socialist by today’s standards.
It’s hard to fit “mask wearing” into the American socialist’s definition of socialism, or any other coherent definition of the term, so let’s go with what is presumably Bell’s definition: something he doesn’t like, particularly now that he is being held responsible for something he helped cause.
Jesus said that you should “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. We don’t wear masks to protect ourselves; we wear them to protect others. Any sane person (very possibly Bell doesn’t qualify) would prefer that a person who might infect him or her with a disease wear a mask if doing so would prevent, or lessen the chances, of that infection. It’s called doing unto others, etc.
That was easy, wasn’t it?
Now, on to socialism. Here’s what Jesus had to say about the criteria and process for determining who spends eternity in eternal bliss, or ends up burning in Hell forever and ever, Amen:
Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’
“Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’
“Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’
“Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ “Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’
Now, before I go on, let’s stipulate that we have to forgive Jesus for putting the righteous on the right hand side; the French Revolution hadn’t even happened yet, and, as I mentioned above, he wasn’t actually god, so he couldn’t be expected to know about political terminology 2000 years after his death.
But the rest of that quote sure makes Jesus out to be a bit of a socialist, doesn’t it? Republicans are constantly telling us that it’s positively sinful to feed the hungry, who should all go out and get jobs whether they exist or not, or help the sick, who should all just die if they can’t afford to pay for the world’s most expensive (and not the best) medical care, or, perish the thought, welcome the stranger, who should all be put in concentration camps, separated from their own children. Then there’s the other little story where Jesus advised a rich guy to give all his riches to the poor if he wanted to get through the eye of the needle, whereas Republicans believe that rich people have a sacred obligation to pervert the political system in order to make sure that the rich get richer and the rest of us eat shit, whereas we socialists believe the rich ought to pay their share and that they actually have a moral obligation, and should have a legal obligation, to those they are grinding underfoot.
There probably are people in the religion racket who agree with Jesus, but they tend to keep their mouths shut, and defer to the Reeds of the world.
Anyone who has gotten this far is probably thinking: this is all so obvious, it’s not even worth saying. You may have a degree from Our Lady of Sorrows, but it doesn’t take a theologian to see that Republicans and Evangelicals are, in the words of Jesus, like the Scribes and Pharisees, “.. hypocrites! for [they] are like to white washed sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.”
All I can say is, if that’s the case, why is hardly anyone pointing it out?