By Doug Newman

September 29, 2009

Posted at Christian Liberty Party and  Freedom4um.

Ever since GW Bush said something about Jesus one time when he was running for president in 2000, a lot of professing Christians – both nationally well-known and rank-and-file – have wanted me to believe that some very evil and wicked things are Christian. These include:

•          Aggressive war
•          Torture
•          Warrantless searches and spying
•          Arbitrary arrest and imprisonment with no due process
•          Rogue police
•          Martial law
•          Assassinations
•          Internment camps

Now, they want me to think trade sanctions on Iran are Christian.

It goes like this: pick a country that hasn’t done anything to us, strangle its economy and inflict widespread hardship and suffering. And then tell me it is Christian.

Last week, several “Christian leaders” – including John Hagee, Pat Robertson, Gary Bauer and Ralph Reed – called publicly for trade sanctions on Iran “to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.”  http://cnsnews.com/news/article/54472

A nuclear weapon? As in just one? America has how many troops in 130 countries and thousands of nuclear warheads and these guys have their undies in a bunch about a country that hasn’t invaded anyone since who-knows-when obtaining one such weapon?

Lew Rockwell, had this to say: “When the Neocons Say ‘Sanctions’… they actually mean impoverishment, sickness, starvation, and death. As an act of war intentionally directed at civilians (including women, children, old people, and non-combatant men), sanctions are war crimes—and those who implement them are war criminals. Those who propagandize for them are accessories to murder.”

Somehow I don’t think this is what Jesus had in mind when He said “my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:30)

Many of these leaders, who were rightfully outraged about Bill Clinton’s lying under oath about his dalliances with Monica, were strangely silent about the horrific toll inflicted on Iraq by US-led UN economic sanctions. In 1996, Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes asked Clinton’s secretary of state, Madeline Albright if the fallout from these sanctions – 500,000 dead Iraqi children – was worth it. Madame Secretary stated that “the price is worth it.”

And all these “Christian leaders” were silent.

And they still want me to think they are “pro-life.”

Oh, sure, they may honor Jesus with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him. (Matthew 15:8)

These Holy Joes are religious hustlers of the very worst sort. They are in the same class as Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.

And they may have a form of godliness, but they deny its overarching all-inclusive power. (II Timothy 3:5)

This last Scripture goes on to say: “Have nothing to do with them.”

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"Bush is no Christian. Last I knew, Ralph Reed was a faggot. Pat Robertson I think can be delusional at times. John Hagee is a theological/doctrinal fraud. I don't know about Gary Bauer. We have Neocon 'Christians' who are just Trotskyites perpetrating a fraud." -- GL in Denver

Freely Speaking: Essays by Doug Newman

Email: dougnewman@juno.com