Christian Coalition gambled, & lost

[Khephra]

The Christian Coalition of Alabama is in a jam - a mess of its own making. The group that considers itself the last word on morality in politics is on pretty shaky ground right now. And its top leader is squirming worse than a liberal Democrat filling out one of the Christian Coalition's notoriously loaded questionnaires.

You see, it turns out the Christian Coalition, long the leader of the fight against gambling in Alabama, has been fueled in part by money from out-of-state Indian casinos.

Not directly, of course.

As reported by The Washington Post, The Montgomery Advertiser and Roll Call, the Indian casino money was filtered through Washington, D.C., lobbyists, to Ralph Reed's consulting firms, to various anti-gambling fights in the South, including Alabama.

http://www.al.com/opinion/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/opinion/109420292052742.xml

[shaolinmonkey]

1. To quote Nelson Muntz:

"Ha Ha!"

Fucking hypocrites. I guess they really do subscribe to Bill Bennet's "Book of Virtues". Only his book is a sports-book.

[klook]

2. Jackpot!

This could actually hurt them. The Kreeschun Coalition has been caught with its hand in the till.

[Fovea]

3. Between the word and the deed

falls the shadow.

Why are so many moralists now unafraid to be public hypocrites?
Before they practiced private vice, under cover of darkness.
Now they are bold as brass, holding up Mammon as God.

[Warpy]

4. Paul's loophole

Paul said that faith alone was necessary for salvation. That means that as long as these scumbags profess their belief, they are completely exonerated from defying every single teaching of Christ plus all the commandments. They can lie, cheat, steal, kill, bugger children and start all the wars they want to, and they've still got their ticket to heaven all punched and ready.

It's the rich man's loophole, the one Bush found in his rich man's bible study group in Midland, Texas. It's the same loophole found and used by emperors, kings, dictators and plutocrats throughout history.

That they're in for a surprise at death is no shocker. The problem is the misery they create for the rest of the world's people in the meantime.

[Fovea]

5. The Catch 22

What is faith? Certainly it is not the cynical pro forma of a person steeped in every sort of vice, who pencils in another recipient in the will. Nor is it the terrified dying miser, finding wealth illusory against the sweep of the universe, and the bite of mortality. There is no ghost of Christmas Past.

For such souls, there is no salvation, because there is no faith within them. How horrible! I feel no shadenfruede over their fate.

I say this as a Wiccan, but what I say is not logically inconsistent.
Regardless of which faith, we share our faith with our lips, hearts, and hips. Without all three in gear, you have no faith to declare.

[MissMarple]

9. I agree. How we strive is as important as what we strive for.

What we do, how we conduct ourselves directly affects the quality of our achievement and I think also reflects values and faith. So, if you believe that, George's war is up a creek, and his soul will end up in a place that doesn't freeze over, or will be faced with major do-overs.

George and his kind of Christians are like the Pharisees, all law and rules, but no real faith.

[Sandpiper]

6. Yes but James said

That faith without works is dead.

So who's right?

The "infallible" word of God sure can be confusing sometimes.

[shaolinmonkey]

7. I think I'd go with James,

he was an actual disciple, wasn't he? Not some beauocrat who suddenly found a new org chart to start.

[Sandpiper]

8. Yes, there were actually two of them

Both of whom were disciples and knew Jesus first hand. There was James the brother of John, and James the brother of Jesus. The epistle is attributed to the latter.

[yellowcanine]

10. Personally I like the mental picture of Ralphie squirming BUT no way

would I squirm filling out a CC questionaire - laugh, maybe.

[KoKo]

11. This is the first I heard of this? Any links to the WaPo article? Hope

this story doesn't get lost...