WashPost's 'On Faith' Pounds Pulpit for Tax Hikes on 'The Wealthy'
The Washington Post religion page is thundering from the pulpit again, preaching to the liberal choir on the godliness of higher taxes.
In "It's not 'class warfare,' it's Christianity," "On Faith" contributor and liberal theologian Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite defends President Obama's call for tax hikes on top income earners, arguing in essence that President Obama is helping us all be better Christians through tax hikes (emphasis mine):
President Obama just drew the economic battlelines more clearly in his call to raise $1.5 trillion in new revenue primarily through increased taxes on the wealthy, letting the Bush tax cuts expire, and closing tax loopholes.
“Class warfare!” countered the Republicans.
Americans sharing more equally in the burden of pulling our country out of massive debt, and using tax revenue to stimulate the economy and create jobs isn’t “class warfare,” it’s actually Christianity.
[...]
The Christian approach to economics is to be the conscience of the nation and to insist that we regulate capitalism so it does not become reckless and destructive. Christians must call on the nation’s politicians to have us share the burdens and the sacrifices, as President Obama is doing, in order get to the “freedom from want” that is in our democratic values and our faith values.
We do this because the Christian conscience is driven by duty to “love God with your whole heart and your neighbor as yourself.”
That’s in the Bible. Luke 10:27. Look it up.
But is it really loving your neighbor when your financial contribution is compelled by government?
It's funny that Brooks Thistlethwaite cites Luke 10:27, seeing as it's a verse that leads into the parable of the Good Samaritan. The Good Samaritan, of course, took care of a complete stranger out of his own resources, whereas a priest and Levite, the political-religious leaders of Israel, ignored the injured man bleeding on the side of the road.
The passage ends thusly (Luke 10:36-37):
"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"
The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."
Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."
Perhaps Brooks Thistlethwaite just thinks the priest and the Levite in the parable of the Good Samaritan would have been more loving to the dying stranger on the Jericho Road had they been taxed to provide for his health care.
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Comments
Oh, look. The Washington Post
Submitted by jessieH on Tue, 09/20/2011 - 11:21am.
Oh, look. The Washington Post wants to pay higher taxes, too. Well, I think we can fix them right up! How does double sound? They love Obama's insane plan, so we let them pay double! Thanks, WP!
Simple question
Submitted by DontFeedTheTrolls on Tue, 09/20/2011 - 11:33am.
'Americans sharing more equally in the burden'? Does that not include the 40+% who pay no income taxes? If not, why not? Aren't they Americans too?
I know, I know, that question will NOT be answered.
My goodness....
Submitted by DumbCanuck on Tue, 09/20/2011 - 12:13pm.
Liberals really DO have a warped sense of Christianity. If 'charity' is imposed, by the state, or the government, IT'S NOT CHARITY!!! People must be FREE to FREELY GIVE.
God commands us to be charitable -- as individuals, so we should not rely on government to do our 'charity' work for us. True charity starts from within.
"Christians must call on the nation’s politicians to have us share the burdens and the sacrifices, as President Obama is doing, "
Uhhh... No..., Christians are NOT called on to call on the nation's politicians to have us share the burdens and the sacrifice. Christians are themselves called to share the burdens and the sacrifice. Pretty subtle, but totally different slant, don't you think?
And yes, I did look up Luke 10:27, and there's nothing in there, nor I doubt anywhere else in the bible that commands Christians to have government do the work that Christians should be doing themselves.
"There... Are... Four... Lights!"
Not this Christian!
Submitted by CobraMan on Tue, 09/20/2011 - 12:16pm.
"Christians must call on the nation’s politicians to have us share the burdens and the sacrifices..."
Ahh, that "theologian" doesn't know much about Christianity, does she? Christians ASK EACH OTHER to share the burden, they don't demand their leaders to force us to "share". You see, there's thing, called Free Will, that Christians, in general, understand and accept in each other. You can't force people to do things like be charitable. You can't force people to be generous. You can't force people to be like you. It would be a very unchristian thing to do. Yet, in opposition to the Christian concept of Free Will, this "theologian," in the name of Christianity, no less, is asking people to forgo their own free will, and the free will of others, by abdicating our free will to yet another person or persons. In this case, the government. That is NOT a Christian attitude. Not even in the slightest!
Lady, you need to go back to school! You didn't learn anything the first time!
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
Jynx!
Submitted by DumbCanuck on Tue, 09/20/2011 - 12:29pm.
.
"There... Are... Four... Lights!"
Great minds think alike!
Submitted by CobraMan on Tue, 09/20/2011 - 12:48pm.
I saw our similar posts after I made mine.
Speaking of being jinxed, I just received a letter from "President Barrack Obama" thanking me for my continuing support (in the form of a donation request, of course) for him and his fellow democrats. Which makes me wonder, just what makes them think I'm a Democrat?
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
President who is doing what?
Submitted by almostacowboy on Tue, 09/20/2011 - 12:52pm.
".....President Obama is helping us all be better Christians...".
Wow! Where to start?
A man who believes in "collective salvation" is going to help us "be better Christians"? A man whose advisers consist of avowed communists (Van Jones), admirers of Mao (Anita Dunn) and Marx (Mark Lloyd), and people who believe animals should have the right to sue (Cass Sunstein) is going to help us "be better Christians"? An incompetent, radical, opportunistic, Marxist, Muslim whose first phone call after winning the Presidential election was to the president of a terrorist state (Mahmoud Abbas) is going to help us "be better Christians"?
Ooooooooooo-kay! :-|
Ditto!
Submitted by jon_torlin on Tue, 09/20/2011 - 1:13pm.
I was going to say the same thing, this falls under "Now how the hell does that really work??" when the answer simply is: It doesn't.
-Jon
how does a man
Submitted by misterbee241 on Tue, 09/20/2011 - 1:36pm.
who has called his savior a liar on at least two occasions that i know of, help anybody to be a better christian? if anything, he's the model of what NOT to be as a christian. oh wait, i just answered my own question.
a pastor once told me
Submitted by misterbee241 on Tue, 09/20/2011 - 1:27pm.
text taken out of context is pretext. liberals use scripture out of context to establish a pretext that redistribution of private wealth by the government is scriptural. it is not. but then thistlethwaite will never ever read this. and if she did she'd never take it seriously. that's the liberal worldview both in theology and politics and they are sticking to it.
Isn't it Funny
Submitted by KornKing on Tue, 09/20/2011 - 2:06pm.
One can take from a few, waste a bunch of it taking care of your bureaucrat buddies who pass some crumbs down to a group to create dependency, then pat themselves on the back for being the "compassionate" ones, all the while demonizing those it was taken from in the first place, and have the guts to say they're not doing enough. Yep-sounds like a Christian attitude to me.
meet me at the mission at midnight