Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Abominations?

I love the hypocrisy of the buffet religious right. There are quite a number of things in the Bible which are listed as 'abominations'. Yet somehow, the buffet religious right only seem to focus on a few, and blithely ignore the many other ones. 

Eating pork and shellfish are abominations. How many of the buffet religious right care one flip about that? Remarrying a woman who in the interim was married to someone else is an abomination. How many care about that? Using false weights is an abomination. Though most would agree that is wrong, is there the same outrage over that? 

According to Ezekiel, the abominations of Sodom consisted primarily of the following: "Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy." Yet the buffet religious right are quite happy to cut food assistance and unemployment compensation to needy people. There is zero outrage over what Ezekiel said was G-d's outrage in this instance. 

Yet the intolerance of the buffet religious right should be tolerated by others? The Jewish Rabbi Hillel summed up the Bible as "What is hateful to yourself, do not do to your neighbor." Jesus later reworded this slightly as what is known as the Golden Rule. Yet gays are singled out for hatred and denouncing by the buffet religious right. It seems to me these folks have missed a teaching that is central to Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, and many other religions. 

To them I can only repeat the statement from the book of Matthew: "You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye."

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