The Gospel According To Nancy
I read about it, but I had to see it for myself. And there she was on YouTube, Nancy Pelosi made flesh, speaking of her deep conviction that public policy should be made in pursuit of Biblical aims. According to Pelosi,
...we have to give voice to what that means in terms of public policy that would be in keeping with the values of the Word. The Word. Isn't it just a beautiful word when you think of it? It just covers everything. The Word.
Uh huh. Well, apart from her convictions which evidently encompass the scripture, "Suffer the little children to come to late term abortions," there are a couple of problems here.
First, if Senator McCain had said during the last presidential elections that he would pursue policies guided by Biblical principles, the major media, the ACLU, and the left in general would have gone into apoplectic fits. Perhaps if Pelosi had made these remarks at a high school graduation ceremony, or before a school sporting event someone would have objected, but the double standard is glaring.
Second, I'm noticing increasing Biblical usage in support of various causes of the left. Attempting to persuade Americans to support the health care bill, the President reminded us that we are our brother's keeper. Ignoring the difference between a voluntary act of charity that flows from a kind heart, and an involuntary act of theft that flows from the point of the IRS's gun, he uses the same language in support of a redistributive tax code. Is just me, or do you get the impression that these folks are getting just a bit desperate?
- Comment (15)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (2)
Comments :
May '10
Re: The Gospel According To Nancy
No theocracy in the USA!
May '10
Re: The Gospel According To Nancy
Every election season there is yet another pair of stories, with different specific words, but the same theme. The first is that "evangelicals are finally embracing the fact that Jesus was an anti-war socialist environmentalist" as they point to polls among college students indicating that their views at 21 differ from the standard George Barna population around age 40. These stories tend to quote Tony Campolo, Shane Claiborne, Brian McLaren, or Greg Boyd. And each time, the rough voting patterns are the same- there are leftist evangelicals, and always have been. The question is the where the division occurs- 66-34? 70-30? 55-45?
The second story is kind of inconsistent, coming from the opposing view, generally about how some evangelical leader embraces Virtuous Thought, talks like Jimmy Carter, and is cashiered from the movement for apostasy by Stone Age, knuckle-dragging, right-wing wackos who probably voted for Bush. The popular examples are Greg Boyd (again, primarily for pacifism) and Richard Cizik of the National Association of Evangelicals (global warming).
The use of Biblical language is generally the sign that an election is approaching and it is time for the legacy media to fire up the stock story once again to try to help their side. Yawn.
May '10
Re: The Gospel According To Nancy
I can't resist an appropo quote:
For such men [or women] are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve. -- Paul, in a letter to Corinth (2 Corinthians 11:13-15
Sometimes it's best to let The Word speak for itself. ;-)
May '10
Re: The Gospel According To Nancy
How to talk about God and Jesus without using the words "God" and "Jesus".
Tricky...
Otherwise I must be pretty thick because I don't think I understood the first part of what she's was trying to say.
May '10
Re: The Gospel According To Nancy
Oh, it is so time to throw a little P.J. O'Rourke at Pelosi: "'Don't envy your buddy's cow.' What's that doing in there? ... And yet, think about how important to the well-being of a community this Commandment is. If you want a donkey, if you want a pot roast..., don't bitch about what the people across the street have. Go get your own. The Tenth Commandment sends a message to socialists, to egalitarians, to people obsessed with fairness..., to everyone who believes that wealth should be redistributed. And the message is clear and concise: Go to hell." ("Eat the Rich," p243) The man can write. Might not win you an argument with Pelosi--it's a little Old Testament dependent--but I imagine it would be pretty effective at ending one.
Re: The Gospel According To Nancy
We have an expression we use, among writers: "Bob Hope in a hippie wig." We use it to describe someone who just can't pull something off -- someone who just doesn't have the "cred" to make a certain pose work. Old bald guys with pony tails. Suburban white kids trying to act hip-hop. Ivy League professors with vaguely English accents. They always get the lingo slightly wrong. The outfits are always just a little off -- too clean, or too neat, or too "composed."
And now this: Nancy Pelosi, Evangelist. She just can't pull it off.
Neither could Bob Hope.
May '10
Re: The Gospel According To Nancy
Liberals generally aren't interested in debate. An appeal to the highest authority is one way to preclude any discussion.
Religion in America will remain free as long as people speak of God in the face of criticism. As I Tweeted earlier today: Imagine a child doing all her parents want but ignoring them. That's not love. Life is about loving God, not merely being a good person. It's important to speak of Him openly and to include Him in everything.
May '10
Re: The Gospel According To Nancy
Oh, it is so time to throw a little P.J. O'Rourke at Pelosi: "'Don't envy your buddy's cow.' What's that doing in there? ...And yet, think about how important to the well-being of a community this Commandment is. If you want a donkey, if you want a pot roast,...don't bitch about what the people across the street have. Go get your own. The Tenth Commandment sends a message to socialists, to egalitarians, to people obsessed with fairness,...to everyone who believes that wealth should be redistributed. And the message is clear and concise: Go to hell." (p243 "Eat the Rich") The man can write. Might not win you an argument with Pelosi--it's a little Old Testament dependent--but I imagine it would be pretty effective at ending one.
May '10
Re: The Gospel According To Nancy
Dave - I've also noticed the left trying to shoehorn scripture into their rhetoric, especially the green wing of the left (my take is that it's a poor fit). A recent report from the White House office responsible for faith-based initiatives suggests using churches and other houses of worship to spread the word about environmental causes and to model "sustainability" (sorry - their word, not mine) by upfitting church properties with "green" technology. (The Weekly Standard examined this report recently, if memory serves.)
Considering the mad leftward dash of most mainstream American denominations over the last few decades, it seems natural to me that the Obama administration to try to make common cause with them - they're sure to get a warm reception in such circles. I reckon it's just a classier form of astroturfing.
Re: The Gospel According To Nancy
Matthew, I remember reading about White House efforts to enlist churches to push their green agenda. Recall that there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth over George Bush's faith based charity initiatives as a violation of the ostensible wall of separation between church and state. It's starting to look like this wall that the left kept referring to was just a temporary partition.
May '10
Re: The Gospel According To Nancy
So much for the separation between church and state. Why exactly does Ms. Pelosi believe that public policy should conform to "the Word?"
May '10
Re: The Gospel According To Nancy
So, now I'm picturing Nancy Pelosi in a hippie wig. Is it possible with election time coming she's trying to pull some of the faith-based voters from the other side? That can't be right, though, because it would be like the Libertarians trying to appeal to Greenpeace. But, nothing makes sense with Nancy, because she's not right. Really, really not right.
May '10
Re: The Gospel According To Nancy
The best phrase Pelose let slip: "Fill it in with anything you want." I seriously doubt Pelosi knows the gospel letter she was paraphrasing -- much less, the basic content of the Bible and what "values" should inform public policy. But does it matter? Just "fill it in with anything you want."
May '10
Re: The Gospel According To Nancy
Roy Spencer is one of the leaders of the Cornwall Alliance, which was formed to counter the "green evangelicals" push with a "conserve and render unto Caesar" message. That is, religious bodies that worship God rather than themselves or Mother Gaia should tend to their knitting- there is already enough to do without saving the glaciers in Greenland.
May '10
Re: The Gospel According To Nancy
Watching that video is just surreal! I find myself taking Rob's comment to heart and wondering if Nancy was wearing a wig in that segment because I wasn't buying any of it. Who was she speechifying to because my next question is "Did any of them buy it?" And if she loves "The Word" so much, why doesn't she just come out and say "The Bible?" Why is she couching her self-admitted admiration for biblical scripture with such nebulous, references? Or is she actually saying she admired JESUS because John 1:1 from THE BIBLE describes Jesus as the Word? Or does she admire biblical scripture? Ahhhh!!! I just can't take the foggy double speak anymore! People of the United States, please vote her out of the Speakership next November!