I get a daily email newsletter / update from Dobson’s “Focus on the Family” (“Citizen Link“). As of today, the silence about Pat Robertson’s terrorism-promoting remarks (on Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela, see recent posts) is eloquent.
I guess “moral values” and “family values” do not overlap into issues of economy, political democracy, oil, and international relations.
And apparently they do not apply to prominent spokespersons for the radical right (or “fundamentalist clerics” who have great influence in the government) in this country.
I think they should.
As a believer, I do not feel responsible for communicating with the enemy. And I consider the televangelists who support the regime to be the enemy of both the church and the people.
Talking with those monsters is absurd. Best I can tell they’ve already sold their souls for fame, or they would not even be courting that great whorehouse called Washington D.C.
I appreciate the sentiment of the comment above, but where do people get the idea that Dobson or Robertson are designated spokespeople for everyone who obeys the Lord? Not!
Well, well isn’t it interesting when the hens come home to roost? All of this hand wringing and concern over a “Profound Silence.” Well let a non-believer quote the bible for you: “JUDGE NOT, LEST YE BE JUDGED” MATTHEW 7:1-5.
How many of you sent letters, emails, phone calls to robertson and dobson? How profound was, and still is, your silence? Tell not of their omissions and commissions, but of yours.
Thank you Barb, oh thank you.
And Larry, I have to emphasize that by declaring a national state of emergency as the president has done, due to the provisions of Patriot I he is now a de facto dictator. To quote the free Al Martin article focusing on the fifty Texas legislators who fled the state to avoid a vote:
We are now in a state of National Emergency which means that constitutional bicameral guarantees of legislative bodies DO NOT exist… It can be declared “seditious� or “treasonous� for a minority in a legislative body to “obstruct� the will of the majority. That now translates into obstructing the will of the State. Because the President says so. The President is the Leader of the majority party. His power by edict, after the imposition of a state of National Emergency, is ABSOLUTE and UNCHALLENGABLE by any legislative or judicial body.
The president directly chairs and controls the new National Security Court and the New Supreme National Security Council. You can tell the difference because the “new� and the old because it has the word “Supreme� in it.
People don’t seem to understand that with the passage of the USA Patriot Act and subsequent pieces of legislation, the President has fulfilled the requirements by the imposition of a declared state of National Emergency to now act in this extralegal capacity given to him with the passage of these various pieces of legislation.
President now has the power to act as the Supreme Leader of the State.
http://www.impeach-bush-now.org/Articles/Ashcroft/sedition.htm
Larry this is why I keep wigging out about your belief in democracy. Your aims are noble. It’s just that our government has been overthrown. Even if you buy the party line on 9/11, the terms of Patriot I, and Patriot II (which has been being sneaked in on us piecemeal through riders in other legislation) make Bush a dictator. Please read the above-linked article.
We have been taken captive, legally speaking. This are bizarre times. In other ages, no one could conquer you but by force, and you would know it. Through our horribly litigious, labyrinthine government system, it is now possible that we can be conquered as a people through legislation. The deeds of capture can wait until the controlling family is ready. To wit, there are already concentration camps set up for those who disagree. We are all at peril of ending up in one simply for having these discussions on the internet. By the terms of the Patriot Acts, we are criminals even now.
Christians need to understand that the US government was fully, effectively overthrown through the events of 9/11, and the ensuing legislation.
How does this point to the evangelical leaders on TV? They are the friends of the government that has overthrown us. You can not look to them for truth, or bargain for repentance with anyone who insists on living a lie.
As anonymous indicates, the leaders of the religious right are drawn to the media spotlight, and it is their expertise at manipulating the media against those they disagree with that results in many of us assuming they agree with Robertson. If they are embarrased, it may be only because he actually said it out loud.
The problem is that this leads people away from Jesus who taught us to love our enemies and to remove the plank from our own eye before looking for the splinters in someone else’s eye. Many on the religious right rely heavily on John 3:16 to believe that if they believe that Jesus is the son of God they are saved regardless of what they say or do. I personally wish they would read further to John 3:36 “And he who believes in the Son has eternal life. BUT he who disobeys the Son will never see life, but the wrath of God abides on him”. This passage demonstrates that obeying Jesus is an integral part of believing in Him. Those that obey Jesus do not advocate murdering enemies as Robertson did, nor do they criticize enemies as a dictator for having stolen his election, as another conservative Christian commentator did, without first looking for the plank in their own eye.
And why does Dobson love to mingle among the rich and powerful?
Why does Dobson just love to be seen and heard in any public dogfight?
Why does Dobson desire to manipulate the senate?
Come on come on, brethren, is this the path of anyone truly looking forward to Jesus establishing the kingdom of Heaven on earth (“thy will be done, thy kingdom come, on earth as it is in Heaven�).
A man is distinguished by his friends. Dobson is not embarrassed, albeit maybe inconvenienced.
The men/women who are bathing in the media limelight are hogging attention that could instead go to more excellent places. As for all those that hog the limelight in Washington D.C., why don’t they instead – just for instance – do reality TV about one of the US’ biggest ghettoes, which is the African-American community surrounding the power matrix? Have any readers ever driven through this ironic Hellhole which surrounds the White House?
I can’t trust anyone ministering in/around this city who cleaves to the power-mongers at the expense of the poor and the oppressed. The closer they are to the elite – at the expense of ministering to the D.C. poor – the more they look like the sorriest caricatures of Jesus I can imagine.
Dobson loves to be on TV. There, friends, is his full reward. Expect little more.