What DOES the Gospel say?

For the last two years, I have gone to church nearly every Sunday with my wife. It's the least I could do after turning her into an Episcopalian (say, where's my toaster? ;-) I haven't attended church regularly since my 8th grade (Roman Catholic) confirmation, which was well over 30 years ago, so I come back to it quite "fresh". And, of course, since I don't actually believe in God, I expect I hear the readings as a different kind of narrative than most of you do.

And I find that it is impossible to miss the fundamental message in the weekly Gospel. It is what I will call responsibility, in the sense of accountability. It's really quite, quite striking.

• We are responsible for the poor and the sick. They may be with us always, but we are expected to care for them, to feed them, to bind their wounds, to cure them if we can.
• We are responsible for the stranger among us, and by providing him hospitality, we discover he is no stranger after all. We are all one, there is no them and us.
• We are responsible for our jobs, to carry out our duties honestly and dependably-- and this includes paying our share of taxes.
• We are responsible for loving all those around us, not judging them, turning the other cheek, and forgiving as many times as necessary.
• We are responsible in turn for admitting our own wrong and seeking forgiveness, when we do wrong ourselves. And we should try to avoid doing wrong.
• Finally we are responsible for being generous in every way: generous in what we think of others, generous in how we live, generous in how we share our possessions. The bravest among us may give up worldly things to live this out more completely because possessions matter least compared to all the rest.

Wouldn't you say that about sums it up?

So, I ask you, how can our politicians, particularly those on the right, claim the mantle of Christianity with such fervor when they appear to be unable to hear what it actually says?

There's nothing there about enriching plutocrats, seeking power, or waging war. There's nothing there that can justify eviscerating health care, education, or aid to the poor. Nothing that allows telling lies or demonizing the opposition. Nothing that justifies a Them vs Us, rather than a We.

Or perhaps they just aren't hearing the same Gospel I am.

The News from Newsweek

The new issue of Newsweek is catching some flack. The usual suspects are calling for boycotts. The cover story is gay marriage.

Let's try for a minute to take the religious conservatives at their word and define marriage as the Bible does. Shall we look to Abraham, the great patriarch, who slept with his servant when he discovered his beloved wife Sarah was infertile? Or to Jacob, who fathered children with four different women (two sisters and their servants)? Abraham, Jacob, David, Solomon and the kings of Judah and Israel—all these fathers and heroes were polygamists. The New Testament model of marriage is hardly better. Jesus himself was single and preached an indifference to earthly attachments—especially family. The apostle Paul (also single) regarded marriage as an act of last resort for those unable to contain their animal lust. "It is better to marry than to burn with passion," says the apostle, in one of the most lukewarm endorsements of a treasured institution ever uttered. Would any contemporary heterosexual married couple—who likely woke up on their wedding day harboring some optimistic and newfangled ideas about gender equality and romantic love—turn to the Bible as a how-to script?

Of course not, yet the religious opponents of gay marriage would have it be so....
First, while the Bible and Jesus say many important things about love and family, neither explicitly defines marriage as between one man and one woman. And second, as the examples above illustrate, no sensible modern person wants marriage—theirs or anyone else's —to look in its particulars anything like what the Bible describes....

We want, as Abraham did, to grow old surrounded by friends and family and to be buried at last peacefully among them. We want, as Jesus taught, to love one another for our own good—and, not to be too grandiose about it, for the good of the world. We want our children to grow up in stable homes. What happens in the bedroom, really, has nothing to do with any of this.

Full credit to Newsweek for daring to challenge the hegemony of the religious right in political discourse. Thanks to Ann for bringing this to my attention.