Biff_Poindexter
Diamond Member
'Jesus never charged a leper a co-pay': the rise of the religious left
A wise man said about the upcoming election that what America needs is an endorsement of ideas, not personalities....and by ideas, he was talking policies...so whoever has policies that can inspire and energize the voting public will ALWAYS win over personality....This wise man goes by the name of Pastor Dr. William Barber and he is a conservative Christian -- and he also wants to set the record straight on what it means to be a conservative Christian...
“There is no religious left and religious right,” Barber, a pastor and political leader in North Carolina, told the Guardian. “There is only a moral center. And the scripture is very clear about where you have to be to be in the moral center – you have to be on the side of the poor, the working, the sick, the immigrant. Barber, [co-chair of the Poor People's campaign, which is a revival of MLK's campaign that got him killed], says some conservative faith leaders have “cynically” interpreted the Bible’s teachings to demonize homosexuality, abortion, scientific facts and other religions. They are guilty, he says, of “theological malpractice” and “modern-day heresy”.
He then went on to further make his point about being a conservative Christian by quoting verses such as Isaiah:10 or Mark: 53 saying stuff like "Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights, and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people' ---or---
'If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk,and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, blah blah socialism.."
Now of course many of the so-called religious right evangelical Trumper type pastors despise this interpretation of Christianity -- they prefer a more wealth worship, corporation friendly type of Christianity...but according to Dr. Barber, that isn't conservative at all....
“They say so much about the issues where the Bible says so little,” Barber said, repeating a refrain he often deploys to criticize the religious right. “But they speak so little about the issues where the Bible says so much. '“Jesus set up free healthcare clinics everywhere he went. He healed everybody and never charged a leper a co-pay.” -- Now obviously the last part of what he said was a joke because everybody knows that Jesus refused anyone who had pre-existing conditions..
However, his beliefs on organizing the working class, white, black, brown, whoever, regardless of political party, but more so a solidarity on policy -- that is definitely a winning strategy -- as an example, when Matt Bevin LOST the governorship in Kentucky, it was Barber's group who flipped 4 or 5 trump counties with that same authentically populist message -- not the fake populism we continue to hear from BOTH SIDES..
A wise man said about the upcoming election that what America needs is an endorsement of ideas, not personalities....and by ideas, he was talking policies...so whoever has policies that can inspire and energize the voting public will ALWAYS win over personality....This wise man goes by the name of Pastor Dr. William Barber and he is a conservative Christian -- and he also wants to set the record straight on what it means to be a conservative Christian...
“There is no religious left and religious right,” Barber, a pastor and political leader in North Carolina, told the Guardian. “There is only a moral center. And the scripture is very clear about where you have to be to be in the moral center – you have to be on the side of the poor, the working, the sick, the immigrant. Barber, [co-chair of the Poor People's campaign, which is a revival of MLK's campaign that got him killed], says some conservative faith leaders have “cynically” interpreted the Bible’s teachings to demonize homosexuality, abortion, scientific facts and other religions. They are guilty, he says, of “theological malpractice” and “modern-day heresy”.
He then went on to further make his point about being a conservative Christian by quoting verses such as Isaiah:10 or Mark: 53 saying stuff like "Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights, and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people' ---or---
'If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk,and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, blah blah socialism.."
Now of course many of the so-called religious right evangelical Trumper type pastors despise this interpretation of Christianity -- they prefer a more wealth worship, corporation friendly type of Christianity...but according to Dr. Barber, that isn't conservative at all....
“They say so much about the issues where the Bible says so little,” Barber said, repeating a refrain he often deploys to criticize the religious right. “But they speak so little about the issues where the Bible says so much. '“Jesus set up free healthcare clinics everywhere he went. He healed everybody and never charged a leper a co-pay.” -- Now obviously the last part of what he said was a joke because everybody knows that Jesus refused anyone who had pre-existing conditions..
However, his beliefs on organizing the working class, white, black, brown, whoever, regardless of political party, but more so a solidarity on policy -- that is definitely a winning strategy -- as an example, when Matt Bevin LOST the governorship in Kentucky, it was Barber's group who flipped 4 or 5 trump counties with that same authentically populist message -- not the fake populism we continue to hear from BOTH SIDES..
