Hypocrisy.  Alive and well in 1999 and 2012.

abaldwin360:

If all you know about healthcare “death panels” is what you heard on a talk show, then you must think the feds will pull the plug on patients.

News bulletin: Texas already has death panels.

A Houston man’s life was ended last week.

A leukemia patient identified only as Willie was denied nourishment and died, according to Texas Right to Life.

Since 1999, Texas has given hospital “ethics panels” the authority to end care even if the patient or family wants to continue.

It’s called the Texas Futile Care Law. The Texas Senate bill passed in 1999.

Back then, the Senate’s presiding officer was Lt. Gov. Rick Perry.

Yes, the governor who says, “I always stand by the side of life.”

Willie went to the hospital a few weeks ago with chest pains, according to Texas Right to Life’s Elizabeth Graham.

Doctors found pneumonia and leukemia, Graham wrote. After Willie underwent surgery and chemotherapy, his family asked about another hospital or hospice care.

Though he had plenty of insurance, no other facility would accept him. After the legally required 10 days, the hospital ended nourishment.

He was “dehydrated and starved to death completely against the family’s desire,” Graham wrote.

read more

Governor Perry, Undercover Nun is praying for your immortal soul.

(via reagan-was-a-horrible-president)

There is absolutely no excuse for not being on the ballot for primaries in any state.

Well, I guess there’s one: because you can’t find enough people who support you.  And that’s just peachy keen with me.

Asked what he thought of the governor’s explanation that he “hates the sin” but “loves the sinner,” Todd Green said, “I have always hated that phrase. I think it’s impossible and you show it by action. If you love the sinner, whatever that means, your policy should reflect that I think, but in the end, I don’t understand the logic behind that at all.”

“Hate the sin, but love the sinner” is one of the worst thoughts to come out of Christianity, not only useless but harmful as well.

There is no room in a Christian for hate.  Hate is not a virtue.  Hate is not a Christian value.  Hate is not a family value.  Hate harms the hated, and it harms the hater even more.  Hate is based on fear, which is not only the opposite of faith, but the rejection of faith.

One of the only two new things that Jesus said was this:

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.

He even repeats it: Love one another as I have loved you.

Did Jesus hate sin?  No.  Sin frustrated Jesus, made Jesus feel pity or sadness.  But hate?  No way.  The love Jesus showed was so complete, so merciful, so infinite and scandalous that it had no room in it for hate.  To love one another as Jesus loves us is to try to see each person we encounter as God’s beloved child, to give anything — even our freedom, our bodies, our lives — so that other persons can have life.

This is the yardstick by which Christians should be measured.  We are not called to hate sin; rather, we are commanded to love all persons, to love as Jesus loves us, to pray for our enemies, to love those who hate us, to forgive infinitely.  You cannot do these things and still have room in your heart for hatred. 

So stop hiding behind this deceitful language: it is impossible to hate the sin but love the sinner. Drop the hate. Just love.

(Source: ryking)

Undercover Nun knows you’ve seen and heard a lot of commentary on Rick Perry’s latest ad.  You know, the one with gay commie Aaron Copland music and the Brokeback Mountain outfit and the really, really, truly terrible content.  So I beg your indulgence as I point out yet one more piece, written by a bishop of The Episcopal Church for whom I have great admiration and respect.

Rick Perry would be pathetic, if he weren’t so infuriating. In an effort to revive a sinking political campaign, Gov. Perry has reached a new low in promoting himself in a recent commercial.

The governor begins this 30 second spot with “I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a Christian.” He goes on to say things that Christians should be ashamed of him for.

“You don’t need to be in the pew every Sunday to know there’s something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can’t openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school.”

…

Christians everywhere should be alarmed that a candidate for our nation’s highest office would play fast and loose with both the Constitution and our men and women in uniform. It would be simply pathetic that Gov. Perry would do so in an effort to entice conservative voters, if it weren’t such an abuse of religion and a violation of the Constitution.

Gov. Perry is right about one thing. There is something wrong in America. But surely it begins with disloyalty to our brave troops in the field and violation of the hard-won separation between church and state which protects all Americans.

Go read the whole piece.  It’s short and should only take you a few minutes, and it’s worth your time.

TL;DR version: Rick Perry does not speak for God. Nor for Jesus. Nor for Christianity.  Undercover Nun prays for his immortal soul.

Point by point comments are embedded below.

abaldwin360:

By Mike Meno secular.org

In case you didn’t have the time (or the willpower) to follow Texas Governor Rick Perry’s grandstanding prayer rally this Saturday, here is my list of the top five most divisive and/or outrageous statements made during the televised prayer-fest. 

5. Public Schools Should Bring Back Prayer and the Ten Commandments

“Lord, I pray that we might see a reinstating of the display of the Ten Commandments in our classrooms. I pray Lord that we will again see freedom to pray in our classrooms.”

Vonette Bright, a co-founder of CRU (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ) whose work has helped establish the National Day of Prayer, received huge applause when she said this. The rally’s attendees apparently believe it’s crucial for all schoolchildren – regardless of their religious backgrounds or lack thereof – to be reminded daily to respect the Sabbath, to worship only the god of Abraham, and to not covet their neighbor’s “male or female slave, or ox, or donkey.” Clearly. Since any individual student (or teacher) is free to pray to themselves during school, Bright’s comment about “freedom to pray in our classrooms” must actually mean “freedom to force everyone to say a Christian prayer together.”

Undercover Nun has never understood this fascination with the Ten Commandments.  First off, the exact number of commandments is different depending on where in scripture you find them. Second, the set of commandments also differs.  Yes, these are basic rules for life: don’t take stuff that doesn’t belong to you; be good and obedient; don’t waste your time with jealousy; tell the truth.  But there are so many places you can find solid basic life rules. Why this one?

If the purpose is to make public school classrooms into little shrines to Christianity, then it’s pretty clear that the decalogue is the wrong thing to post:

‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ [Jesus] said to him, ‘ “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”

Of course, turning our public school classrooms into little mini-churches is indeed the state establishing a religion, so it’s not legal.  Don’t like this?  Move to Canada, where Thomas Jefferson’s “wall of separation between church and state” is merely a line drawn on the pavement.

4. Jews Should Convert to Christianity

“Tens, even hundreds, of thousands of Jewish people in the last decades have come to their Messiah. And so Lord, we pray for the revival around the world, and for Israel to come to their own Messiah.”

This “gem” came from Pastor Don Finto of the Caleb Company. According to Right Wing Watch, the sentiment that Jews should embrace Jesus was not isolated on Saturday. In fact, another rally sponsor, the International House of Prayer “actively encourages Jews to convert to Christianity.” Remember when the rally organizers said that people of all faiths were welcome at this event? Well, they were welcome—but apparently so the attendees and organizers could persuade them to convert to their religion instead. 

Sigh.  It probably makes me a lousy Christian to say this, but here goes: Undercover Nun doesn’t care if you convert to Christianity.  There.  I said it.  If you are Jewish, then you are still my sister or brother in faith, and we worship the same God.  In the gospel accounts, Jesus said nothing that isn’t already a clear teaching in Hebrew scripture.  Nothing. 

Yeah, I know we have the Great Commission, to go out and make disciples of all peoples, to baptize everyone in the name of the Trinity.  In today’s world (if ever), this doesn’t happen through fiery sermons or sensational prayer rallies.  New Christians are not made when we tell people that their faith is a lie for which they’re destined to eternal torment.  If I ever believed God to be capable of sending my Jewish friends and neighbors and brothers and sisters to hell, purely because they’re Jewish, then I would choose not to follow God, would choose not to be a Christian.

So how do new Christians come to be?  Usually, it’s a confluence of events: a loving friend or family member, the sharing of personal stories, maybe a personal invitation to church.  I know that God sends love notes to us all, though we so often miss them.  When we’re particularly hard-headed, those love notes have all the subtlety of a locomotive, and they bring us face to face with the living God. 

I don’t pray, as in this example, for Jewish people or Muslim people or Hindu people or any other group of people to “come to Jesus.”  It’s demeaning.  It’s condescending.  And it is not love for neighbor. 

3. Humanists Can’t Be Good Without God

“In the humanistic culture, people are talking about love without reference to Jesus Christ.”

Mike Bickle, director of the International House of Prayer Missions Base of Kansas City, was outraged – outraged! – that so many people can feel, share, and even talk about love without placing it in the context of his religion. Maybe he should take a minute to check out the American Humanist Association’s website and learn what humanism really is. It might do Bickle some good, especially considering his next quote. It’s a hum-dinger. 

One thing that I believe Christian tradition misses the mark on is the brokenness of humanity.  We are told to believe that humans are incapable of any gesture of love or generosity completely on our own, without God inspiring the gesture.  Some tradition goes so far as to say that we are capable only of wrongdoing, unless we recognize God and invite God to help us do good. 

I think our nature is much more complex than that.  I know that it’s very easy for us to do things that look generous and loving and good, for the primary reason that it feels good to do this.  People praise us and know our name and tell us how wonderful we are.  It’s also possible for us to so completely deny ourselves that we give our very lives to help others.  I believe that it’s much easier to make good choices when we are aligned with those two greatest commandments, but I have real trouble believing that no good action is possible without God.  That’s just so smug and prideful.

2. Jesus Was Anti-Gay Marriage and Anti-Choice

“There’s a crisis of truth in the pulpits today in our land. That, in the name of tolerance, even in the name of love, we are redefining love that is not on God’s terms. Jesus is god. There is no other god than Jesus. Father, son, and Holy Spirit. All the world religions, they can say what they say. There is no other god besides Jesus. There is no other standard of truth. Jesus alone is the standard of truth. He defines morality. He defines marriage. He defines life. He defines righteousness. And in our allegiance to him, we say what he says. It’s time to come out in the open. It’s time to go public. Regardless what it costs us, we love you Jesus! The only god!”

That’s Mike Bickle again. Where to begin? Well, I’m no Bible scholar, but I’m pretty sure Jesus never said anything about gay marriage or abortion, so, as Sarah Posner of Religion Dispatches observed, it sure is convenient that Bickle claims Jesus defined these things exactly “the way that Bickle does.” Notice the certainty with which he says Christianity is the only “standard of truth,” but every other religion in the world is wrong. The rest speaks for itself.

Oh, puh-LEEZE.  If one actually reads the gospels, one can see that there’s really only one thing Jesus ever tries to define: the Kingdom of Heaven.  Jesus is constantly trying to explain to his friends and disciples, to the secular and spiritual authorities of the time, to strangers outside Judea, to anyone who will listen about how the Kingdom of Heaven is entirely upside-down-inside-out different from any realm in this world.  Marriage, morality, life, righteousness — Jesus says very little about these!  In fact, you know what’s next on the list of things Jesus talks most about in the gospels?  Money.  Wealth.  Being rich.  And he doesn’t have sweet, comforting things to say about it, either.

If you really engage with the puzzling things Jesus has to say about God’s kingdom, you can work out what he might say about same-sex marriage, about being a frightened woman who’s considering abortion, about legislating her awe-full choice, about the famine in Somalia, about the death penalty.  It all comes down to this:

1. Love me.
   
2. Love everybody else.
   
3. Any questions?

1. God Is Not Political (Says the Would-Be Presidential Candidate Hosting the Prayer Rally)

“His agenda is not a political agenda. His agenda is a salvation agenda … He is a wise, wise god, and he is wise enough to not be affiliated with any political party. Or for that matter, He is wise enough to not be affiliated with any man-made institutions.”

Yep, this one is from Governor Perry himself – and he’s exactly right! “God” has no reason to be affiliated with man-made institutions like government, public school, marriage, the doctor’s office, or prayer rallies. Wait a minute … then why did a sitting U.S. governor host a prayer rally so people could ask God to intervene in all these man-made institutions?!

Oh, that’s right. Because – as various news sources report today – Perry plans to announce his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination in the next week or two. I wonder if he’ll stick to that line about his God not having a political agenda come debate time.

Well, God — as the first person of the Trinity — may not be political, but Jesus sure was!  This much is obvious to anyone who actually reads the gospel accounts.  His preaching often struck right at the intersection of spirituality and politics, at the place where What Is Lawful and What Is Right may not match.  Our ears are so accustomed to the stories of the bible that we aren’t shocked by them as we should be.

“Wise enough not to be affiliated with any man-made institutions” — you mean, like, THE CHURCH?!?  Jesus certainly didn’t institutionalize the church; men and women did.  And sometimes, I suspect that God would prefer as much distance as possible between the church and Godself.

The thing is, Christianity is really simple.  It comes down to just a few simple principles.  The trick is that living out those simple principles is almost never easy.

1. Love God.
2. Love everybody else.
3. Repeat.

So these five assertions (schools should post the 10 Commandments; pray for the conversion of Jewish persons; you can’t be good without God; God hates fags; and God is apolitical) can be evaluated pretty easily in light of those two commandments.

1. Is it loving to use the power imbalance in a classroom to force children to pray?
2. Is it loving to tell God’s Chosen People that their faith is wrong and they’re destined for torment?
3. Is it loving to assume that no Christian person is capable of doing good? 
4. Is it loving to deny basic human rights, not to mention God’s grace as mediated through sacrament, to any person? 
5. Is it loving to promote oneself as a godly person, when one expresses such incredibly unloving statements?