The Great American Political Jesus

By James Donahue

Someone sent us a link to a column by author Rob Borsellino in the Des Moines Register that notes the absurdity of Christian thinking in American political circles. His points are so cleverly made that we are passing them on to you.

Borsellino claims that Jesus has been "kidnapped by politicians and preachers" in the United States "who decide what he does and doesn’t think. They speak for him, and it doesn’t always make sense.

"They say Jesus is pro-life, but he doesn’t seem to have a problem with the death penalty. And he thinks stem cell research – something that would save lives – is no different from murdering babies.

"They say he’s the embodiment of kindness, love, decency and compassion. But he hates gays, lesbians and Muslims. And he’s not too crazy about Buddhists, Hindus and the rest. Jews? He can put up with them if he has to," Borsellino wrote.

He said a minister in Topeka, the Rev. Fred Phelps of Westboro Baptist Church, "claims to speak for Jesus and goes around the country talking about how AIDS cures fags.

"Pat Robertson says it would be a good idea if the United States killed the president of Venezuela. It would be a lot cheaper than starting another war," he wrote.

Indeed, the Christian community has been acting rather strange recently throughout America, if not the entire world. There seems to be a world-wide Armageddon agenda that is keeping believers of all faiths confused. The world appears to be driven by a twisted angelic-inspired myth that promises a messiah will save us through global conflict.

Because of all the rhetoric by so-called "men of the cloth," who are supposed to know the ways of God, it should not be surprising that Christians in America are confused about just what is right and wrong, or how Jesus thinks about such issues as abortion, stem-cell research and terrorism.

The Islamic extremists seem even more confused as they happily blow themselves up in crowded places, taking innocent men, women and children with them, believing they are doing it in the name of Allah.

Or that the Hindu people of India and the Islamic followers in Pakistan are looking down gun barrels, and possibly setting nuclear sites on one another over ownership of a long disputed territory of Kashmir, that stands between them.

Or that a Roman Catholic pope in Rome would urge Catholics all over the world to have more babies at a time when the world is already so overcrowded that we are running out of natural resources and drawing the life out of the planet under our feet.

We must agree that the four "great" religions must be dismantled so that the world can turn to a new spiritual path that leads to the real salvation of ourselves, by ourselves.