The Republican/Religious Right Paradox?

Question

It's a given that the Republican Party has aligned itself with Christian values and yet what this party represents is quite the opposite of Christ's teaching. This is a well worn subject, but still remains a mystery to me. Christ talked about taking care of the poor and yet Republican Party represents sort of an every-man-for-himself philosophy. Socialized health care is scoffed at. Capital punishment is heralded as an deterrent, war is an acceptable answer and vast amounts of wealth in the hands of a few is not seen as no fault of the wealthy but rather a reflection on what can do when one is not "lazy." So much for being your brother's keeper. And what magnitizes the religious right to this party seems to be the issue of abortion. How is it that the Rebublican Party can get away with being so un-Christian in so many obvious ways and yet it retains so many supposedly Christian followers based on this one issue? Looking for an intellegent answer without beligerant name-calling.

Answer 1

You're confusing the christian tradition of charity with the leftist tradition of egalitarianism. The two are not related - in fact, to an extent, they're mutually exclusive.

The egalitarian ideal is simply that all should be equal - not just in rights, but in condition. Everyone should have the same share of whatever resources society has. Socialized health care is an example of a program driven by egalitarian values.

Charity, OTOH, only exists if there is inequality. You cannot give to one less fortunate than you, if there is no one less fortunate than you (nor anyone more fortunate). Furthermore, charity is a virtue - it's a good act, but to be meaningful, it must be done by choice. You aren't evincing the virtue of charity by giving a portion of your wealth over to the 'poor' if there is a government stormtrooper metaphorically sticking a gun in your back to make you do it.



Of course, as an Athiest who isn't a Leftist, I may not be the best qualified to explain this.

Answer 2

There are Christians in both parties. The Bible also says If a man doesn't work, neither should he eat. Conservatives believe that "welfare" can be best performed by churches and other charities. Socialized health care is a joke. The best examples of socialized medicine are communist countries. Look at the Health care in the former Soviet Union, North Korea, or Cuba. Cuba had to call in doctors from Spain to treat Castro. If socialized medicine is so great, why do the Canadians come to the U.S. to get serious treatment. Capital punishment has nothing to do with religion. Society (the state) decides what punishment goes to what crime. War is not condemned in the Bible. Read the last book. Christ comes back to Earth with the armies of Heaven and wipes out the Anti-Christ and all those that side with him. Poverty is not a virtue in Christianity, though some take a vow of poverty. Wealth does not make you un-Christian. Money is not the root of all evil, THE LOVE OF MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL. And by the way, I'm a Republican, and a Christian, and live in the poverty level, and I don't begrudge anyone making money or being wealthy. The wealthy are the ones who take risks and create jobs for the rest of us. The same things that you said about the Republicans can be said about the Democrats too.

Answer 3

When the government is involved with health care, charity, etc, it is essentially forcing people to give to the poor. This is not what Christ taught. Christ taught to give to people freely.

On a side note, I personally am not against welfare for people who are really in need such as those who are mentally or severely physically handicap. However, our welfare system is very inefficient. Many people don't realize that nearly 80% of the federal "welfare" budget is used to run the bureaucracy. About 20% is used to help those in need. Of the people who receive welfare, I can only speculate how many actually need it, but I would guess somewhere in the range of 50% +/-. Purley from a financial point of view there must be a better way to distribute welfare among those who need it.

As far as Capital punishment goes, I don't know of any references in the bible that advocate anything other than Capital punishment for murderers.

Abortion didn't exist in Christ's time, but the majority of Christians are against it based on the teachings about the sanctity of life, and the innocence of children. It doesnt seem right, and really I don't understand how anyone could think it is ok to kill someone, even if they are still in the womb because the birth would be in-convenient. It is not as if the child had a choice and voluntarily invaded the woman's body, and with the notable exceptions of rape and incest (for which most Christians agree there should be an exception to the rule) the woman usually voluntarily committed the act to get pregnant.
If you argue that abortion is ok at what time is it not ok to kill a child? Does something miraculously happen when a child is born that turns them from a meaningless pile of flesh to a living human. Obviously not, they were a living human even before birth. In fact babies are born prematurely quite regularly and most do survive. It just doesn't make sense to me, Christian or not, that a child who is born prematurely say at 7 months, now has rights and protection under the law, while an 8 month old "fetus" who is more developed than the 7 month old pre-me, just not yet born, can simply be discarded -- their entire life ended, (even though they have a heart beat, brain waves, etc), simply because they have not yet exited the womb.

As far as the war -- I don't think anyone considers war an acceptable answer, it should always be a last resort. But you will rarely get the Republican and Democratic parties to agree on exactly when we are at our last resort. Most people do believe that war is unfortunately necessary sometimes.

Answer 4

You are probably confused because your view of Christianity is not correct. Christianity is not about:
Taking care of the poor, Socialized health care or being your brother's keeper. Nor is it about the issue of abortion, capital punishment or vast amounts of wealth in the hands of a few.

What it is about is the sinless life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth as redemption for man’s sin and the only way to be justified before God is through acceptance of Him as Lord and Savior.

Yes He said help the poor (economically) when you can, but most of His talk about “the poor” referred to the poor in spirit. In fact when Judas chastised the woman for anointing Him with costly oils instead of using the money for the poor, Christ replied, “For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always.” Matt 26:11 (KJV)

Jesus preached against the rich not because they were rich but because they worshiped their money and not God. And God had no problem with men being affluent if they were righteous. In fact He rewarded the righteous with wealth on more than one occasion.

The Jesus you described is one invented by the Social Gospel Movement and carried on today by the Liberal Social Justice folks. In the past they called themselves Progressive Christians but it was to close to the truth so they backed away from that.

I am sad to report thought that those false prophets have made significant inroads within the church and are leading many to eternal damnation.

Answer 5

It's a shame that good GOD loving people can have their beliefs hi-jacked by the fundamentalists. The fundamentalists used the unquestioned faith as a way to get the camel's nose under the 'tent' . After all , if the guy next to you in church is telling you to watch FUAX NEWS and tells you that the Democrats are not Christians and claims to believe VERY strongly in GOD ,how can an un-informed Christian make a real decision?As soon as you say something these righties don't like they claim you are of little faith. Many people drop out of the argument ,the rest argue with them . It's tough but we need to put those idiots out of the White House !

Answer 6

It is not a paradox, it is just a matter of your interpretation of a religion compared to that of those who follow it. You have a scewed point of view because you are an outsider looking in. The Republican party defends many social values that the church rallies itself behind such as abortion which you named and many other issues such as opposing embryonic stem cell research, oppsing gay rights, and protecting core cultural values lost in the 21st century. Part of Christianity is a belief in the individual, God did not demand that Adam follow him and that he not eat from the tree of knowlege but instead he gave him the choice or free will which is what all human beings have been given by God. Since humans have free will it is not societies job to help those less fortunate but it is really the responsibility of that individual himself to correct his mistakes and live his life. Its not to say that the Republican party opposes the "Love thy neighboor" policy but every person has the responsiblity to take care of himself just as every human being has the choice to do god's will and go to heaven or do his own will and go to hell. It may not seem like much of a choice to an outsider looking in but the choice is very clear to many Christians. Liberals act as if they are humanitarians by supporting massive social welfare spending and federally funded health care, but soem of the largest social spendign occured during Republican administrations; during the Nixon and Reagan years social welfare programs were expanded further than anyone could have ever expected. And as for war being an acceptable answer, war is part of the history of Christianity in the Old Testament and even in the New Testament, God led the Isrealites to many victories over people who opposed their religion. It is ignorant not to consider war as an answer because sometimes the only option left is force; if war wasn't an option should we have not entered World War II or World War I, war should be an option because sometiems that is the only option available. Capital punishment is also mentioned in the Bible and although some Christians may disagree, i believe it is an effective deturrent to crime. A belief in the responsibilities of the individual seems to be your major discrepancy between the religious right and the republican party, but the beliefs are intermingled and regardless of religion that belief is generally accepted as the cultural norm in our society because of the capitalist system our country supports which is why socialized health care would be mistake because capitalism in our country drives our excellent health care system because competition between the drug companies creates better drugs. Competition is the resaon why our health care system is the best in the world. Sympathy for the poor should not involve livign their lives for them and providing everything for them. Christianity was never about socialism and this question is a classic liberal argument to get uneducated Christians to take a different stance

Answer 7

greed... people want their money... so they twist the religion to make "greed good"...

religion is just a nice thing to hide behind if things go wrong...

EDIT: and how can a party, where many of it's members say "the poor are all lazy." and "anyone can succeed if they try".... be so charitable?

by their OWN WORDS... they would only be helping the poor be victimized if they helped them... according to their warped ideas... but yet THEY GIVE MORE IN CHARITY?

are they hypocrites... or are they just lying?

Answer 8

The Dem's want to take money from me to support their special interest programs like universal health care. Is it not a greater sin to steal than to be asked and refuse.

Answer 9

It does make you wonder. Republican candidates pander to religious conservatives at election time. Once they get elected they throw them a few inconsequential bones and basically ignore them until the next election cycle.

Answer 10

Conservatives give more to charity than liberals ever do. Much more. The only difference between the Republican party and the Democrats, is that the Republicans don't want to FORCE us to help others... They do it on their own. Why give to charity when you pay into welfare anyway?