We have to talk about economic morality

[soupkitchen]

Make the distinction between the morality articulated by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount and self-righteousness.
The stink of corruption is wafting like a pig sye through this country, but the American people instead of scrubbing the country's soul have chosen to apply the perfume of moral platitude to cover the stench.
But the stink is not going away. Which means, of couse, that at some point the American people either going to have to cut off their noses or face their spite.
And if the Republicans want to play the morality card, fine.
The fact that many working people who go to work every day are not convered by health insurance is immoral.
That CEO's make hundred of times what their lowest paid workers make is immoral.
That credit card companies lure desperate people into more and more debt and charge shylock rates of interest is immoral.
The list goes on and on, for the simple reason that when you strip away the perfume of "self-righteousness" the whole system stinks to high heavens.
So, in someway the morality issue in politics has given the Democratic party an opportunity. All we have to do is make the case it is more moral to take care of your fellow man than to steal from him.
Which means, of course, calling a theif a theif. And talking about morality in economic tersm.

[KittyWampus]

1. I Agree. And We Need To Talk About It In Terms That Non-Democrats

will comprehend.

Different people have different jargons and ways of processing info and expressing their thoughts and feelings.

What specific images and words can we use to project the image of Democrats belief in social and economic justice as being the same as "Chrisitan" Values.?

[soupkitchen]

4. Just keep repeating, The Sermon on the Mount instructs us

One doesn't have to be a Christian (that is believe Christ is the son of God) to respect Christ's vision.

[jdj]

7. yes, let's endorse the crusades too.

[KittyWampus]

9. Huh? Are You Deliberately Misreading My Post? Or Are You Bigotted

against those who have Spiritual leanings?

MOST people see life as having more than just a materialistic base.

MOST people on some level agree with the principles that Christ taught.

Unfortunately, MANY people are mislead by Religous Leaders who manipulate others by using imagery, symbols and words.

The Left simply must counter this manipulation by learning to use imagery, symbols and words equally well.

[Ninga]

2. Outstanding! You have hit the right button.

What we have here is the Old Testament vs. the New Testament....and the battle for the soul of this country.

We are in a religious battle.......are we doomed???

[soupkitchen]

5. Have you ever read Simone Weil, the French philospher?

She hated the old, loved the new Testament. Thought the old was responsible for all the evils in the world.

[Joe Chi Minh]

11. Then,

I'm afraid she was very misguided, Soupkitchen. When Christ rounded on the scribes and Pharisees for their hardness of heart it was to passages of the Old Testament that he adverted.

Some of the most beautiful passages anywhere relating to love, compassion and true knowledge of God, are to be found in Isiah and the Psalms. Read, also, Amos and see his take on economic morality.

[soupkitchen]

12. In all fairness to Simone Weil

I'm sure I misrepresented her position. Because the reality is I'm familiar with her from reading her biography rather then her actual writings.
Yet, it is true that she backed away from converting to Catholisim because she felt the Church still was a little bit too much into the fire and vegence, Old Testament God, while it was the loving, forgiving God represented by Christ in the New Testament that she admired.
On another level, obviously Christ was instructed and influenced by the Old Testament. The New Testament doesn't exist without the Old Testament. So to dismiss the importance of the Old Testament completely is silly. Mea Culpa. Still, I do think it's a matter of what teachings one choses to emphasize. And Simone Weil thought that teachings related to love and forgivenss were more important than the fire and hell teachings. Would lead more quickly to the fulfillment of God's will on Earth.

[Joe Chi Minh]

10. Absolutely.

Christ was unequivocal on the subject. Read Matthew 25, 31 to 46, the only description in the whole of Christian Scripture of the last Judgement, and that, given by Christ, the Son of God, himself.

He had earlier pointed out in Matthew 23, 13 to 37, the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees in the same matter, the Alpha and Omega of his teachings, social morality. Particularly in verses 23 and 24 - in our societies, expressed by their jealous preservation of the unjust structures, which wreak such economic havoc on the rest of society, particularly the poorest, while "religiously" dropping a few dollars, maybe, in the collection plate for the poor, on a Sunday.

There is an enduring presumption by the far right that they, not God, are the creators of wealth. In the UK, they even had the temerity to style themselves as the "wealth-creators"! However, a number of saints and popes pointed out that when we give to the poor, we are only giving back to them what already rightly belongs to them. God created the good things of this world for all his children, (i.e. not just the most worldly).

It is a comfort, is it not, to reflect that God clearly does not have any intention of extending to the latter the "benefit" of 3 strikes and you're out (too late for that), on the Day of Judgement, to those callous worldlings.

[Cary]

3. Why does no one talk about, or seem to care about,

what * did at Harkin Energy?

Look at what the right did to the Clintons over a measly $100,000 or so involved in their Whitewater investment. * bilked Harkin stockholders to the tune of $10 million, using the same Ponzi scheme strategy employed at Enron, and he gets a free pass.

That, folks, is a man of "values".

[jdj]

6. How would Jews and Muslims feel about that?

I don't sink so. I don't think a party that carries a majority of Jewish voters needs to start talking Jesus.

come up with a solution that won't gain us some votes while losing others.

[MaryH]

8. Business is not a moral institution

It just moves which ever way the profits move. There is no morality there.

It is the people who run the corporations that may or may not have moral quidelines.

Most of them don't really. The money angle is too strong to fight.