Right-Wi Biblical Illiterates: They'd Be Shocked by Jesus' Teachings if They Ever Picked Up a Bible

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/right-wing-filled-biblical-illiterates

Why do talking heads on the right get away with proclaiming what Jesus would or wouldn’t support? The answer is simple: Conservatives have not read the Bible.

The Right has successfully rebranded the brown-skinned liberal Jew, who gave away free healthcare and was pro-redistributing wealth, into a white-skinned, trickledown, union-busting conservative, for the very fact that an overwhelming number of Americans are astonishingly illiterate when it comes to understanding the Bible. On hot-button social issues, from same-sex marriage to abortion, biblical passages are invoked without any real understanding of the context or true meaning. It’s surprising how little Christians know of what is still the most popular book to ever grace the American continent.

More than 95 percent of U.S. households own at least one copy of the Bible. So how much do Americans know of the book that one-third of the country believes to be literally true? Apparently, very little, according to data from the Barna Research group. Surveys show that 60 percent can’t name more than five of the Ten Commandments; 12 percent of adults think Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife; and nearly 50 percent of high school seniors think Sodom and Gomorrah were a married couple. A Gallup poll shows 50 percent of Americans can’t name the first book of the Bible, while roughly 82 percent believe “God helps those who help themselves” is a biblical verse.

So, if Americans get an F in the basic fundamentals of the Bible, what hope do they have in knowing what Jesus would say about labor unions, taxes on the rich, universal healthcare, and food stamps? It becomes easy to spread a lie when no one knows what the truth is.

The truth, whether Republicans like it or not, is not only that Jesus was a meek and mild liberal Jew who spoke softly in parables and metaphors, but that conservatives were the ones who had him killed. American conservatives, however, have morphed Jesus into a muscular masculine warrior, in much the same way the Nazis did, as a means of combating what they see as the modernization of society.

[unblock]

1. joan of ark!!!!!!

[Act_of_Reparation]

2. I think liberals would be just as shocked, to be honest.

A lot of the good things they think are in the Bible aren't really in there. And a lot of the bad things they think aren't... are.

[okasha]

3. Such as?

[Act_of_Reparation]

5. How much time do you have?

For starters, there's the Sermon on the Mount, which our comrades like to hold up as some kind of proto-socialist tract calling for income equality and better treatment of neighbors. While the latter is only half-true, the former is so completely off mark as to call one's reading comprehension into serious question.

[okasha]

6. And your evidence for your statement is?

[Act_of_Reparation]

8. I made more than one statement.

Perhaps you should be more specific.

[okasha]

9. Okay, i'll break it down.

Who are "our comrades?"

Who said what, when, to the effect that the Sermon on the Mount was a proto-socialist statement that called for income equality and better treatment of neighbors?

[Act_of_Reparation]

10. To what end, I wonder?

Let's say I do the legwork and come back here two or three pages worth of articles, posts, or podcast episodes praising the moral liberalness of the Sermon on the Mount. What then? You're going to tell me I was right?

Yeah, I don't think so. More likely, I'm going to post what I have and then you're going to say it isn't representative of what liberals or liberal believers really think despite having nothing but anecdotal experience yourself.

Since I have absolutely no expectation that you are arguing in good faith, here's what I'm going to:

I'm going to post a few supporting examples from a prominent liberal publication, and then I'm going to promptly ignore whatever you have to say in return. As neither of us particularly enjoys the other's company, I'd say this is a win-win.

So, here ya go:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/sermon-on-the-mount/

A list almost two pages long of HuffPo-league blowhards (mostly) espousing the "liberal" ethic of the Sermon on the Mount. If that's not enough, there's always Google.

Good night, and good luck.

[trotsky]

11. Agreed. n/t

[mr blur]

4. "50 percent of high school seniors think Sodom and Gomorrah were a married couple"!

Indoctrination just isn't what it was when I was a child. I blame the parents.

[LiberalAndProud]

7. I laughed. out loud.

Lot still gets no respect, poor soul.