By Rick Ruffin
America is full of uncompassionate Christians. Uncompassionate Christians are found mostly in the Republican Party, and as the 2012 U.S. presidential election draws near they are coming out of the woodwork in droves, becoming more vocal each day. Here are some things that they mostly share in common.
They hate the novel idea of allowing a woman the right to control her own uterus. Uncompassionate Christians in America are so hateful that they have been known to murder doctors performing abortions (one obstetrician was murdered while attending church) and bomb clinics where abortions take place.
They claim that they are ``pro-life,” yet they support capital punishment. When presidential candidate and current Texas Governor Rick Perry recently admitted that he hadn’t lost any sleep over the more than 200 prisoners put to death under his two terms as Texas governor, the audience at the debate erupted in a chorus of cheers.
They hate the concept of universal medical coverage. When presidential candidate Ron Paul admitted that insurance should be a personal choice, and not mandated by the state, moderator Wolf Blitzer added, ``Are you saying that society should let some people die?” A moment later, several people yelled ``yeah” from the peanut gallery.
They think that war is necessary, and don’t lose any sleep over all the women and children killed because of their support for the never-ending American military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.
They are decidedly anti-immigration. They support building a fence between Texas and Mexico, like the fence between Israel and the Palestinian territories. You can find them on the Yahoo bulletin boards posting all sorts of racist drivel.
Most of them don’t believe in Darwin’s theory of evolution, and they are decidedly anti-science. Of eight God-fearing presidential candidates, only a few will admit that they believe in science. Most of them don’t believe in global warming, even though Texas and Oklahoma, both set smack in the middle of the bible belt, recently recorded their hottest summers since record-keeping began.
They believe in the End Times, as prophesied in the Bible. Because they think that Armageddon is inevitable they are unwilling to do anything to change the fate of the world, and because of their inaction, many millions of people in America (and the world) are resolved to suffer. (But are we to show any compassion for a country that seems to show little compassion for the rest of the world? Ask yourself, what would Jesus do?)
Uncompassionate Christians say that charity is the domain of the church, and not the state. Yet when Barbara Savage and her husband Larry decided to ride around the world on their bicycles, they were confronted by an angry and hateful pastor, who refused to let them camp on his church’s land in Florida.
When I drove through Texas more than 30 years ago, I stopped to have breakfast in the small town of Dumas. The entire town had just spilled out of church, and the stares of hate and hostility that I received were enough to last me a lifetime. And I’m a white boy. If you are black or Hispanic, multiply that feeling by a hundred.
Uncompassionate Christians hate learning and education, unless it means reading the Bible. The Republican Party, which is their power base, is against increasing funding for scientific research and education. Several of their ilks, such as former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, exude an open contempt for people with Harvard degrees.
Uncompassionate Christians, as one New York Times reader posted, are driven by ``a lack of compassion, lack of generosity, close mindedness, selfishness, and greed.”
The entire American blogosphere is in a tizzy at the way the Republicans, who label themselves as ``compassionate Christians,” are currently behaving.
The so-called ``compassionate Christians” in America are in fact the exact opposite from what they say they are. If you are one of them then perhaps they will look out for you. But if you aren’t, they will be happy to let you die.
The author claims neither to be a Christian nor particularly compassionate. But he tries to be as true to his nature as humanly possible. He can be reached at rick.ruffin@gmail.com.