By -
One Last Thought On Kerry's Religious Beliefs
He quotes James, but does he live it?

Lately, Senator John Kerry has been infusing his speeches with religion. He seems especially fond of quoting from James, noting that faith without works is dead. The San Francisco Chronicle, in a column entitled Voters' perceptions on candidates' faith playing big role in election calls it his "standard quote." Well, the author of "Let's Try Freedom" has made a point about Senator Kerry's inactions that may not line up all that well with his words.
Senator Kerry is on record as saying "I'm a Catholic, and so I am not in favor of abortion. But my stance on abortion is borne of my faith, and I can't impose my faith on others. Therefore, I continue to support a woman's right to choose."

He also is on record as saying that faith without works is dead. So obviously he has to do something to implement that faith-based opposition to abortion, right? If I am really, strongly opposed to something bad, but I think people have a right to do it anyway, what will my actions be? It seems to me that I will take action to mitigate the bad thing, as much as possible.

If, for example, I was a powerful Senator married to a billionaire who was "not in favor of abortion", but I thought it wrong to work directly against abortion in the legal arena, I might do some or all of the following things:

  1. Work to fund pregnancy crisis centers that provide non-abortion counseling

  2. Work to ease adoption restrictions and promote awareness of the adoption option

  3. Work to encourage strong marriages

  4. Work to encourage abstinence in young people not ready for childbearing

  5. Generously contribute to pregnancy centers

  6. Generously contribute to non-profit adoption agencies

  7. Generously contribute to social welfare organizations working with young mothers

I wonder what Senator Kerry's actual record is in these areas? I'm sure it must be outstanding. Surely a man of such strong faith has made enormous contributions to the areas of public policy and private charity.

Right?

What makes these questions so interesting is that I doubt that many people could read them without already knowing the answers to them. Kerry's idea of giving to charity is to have large government programs that give to charity. In fact, if a website called "crushKerry.com" is to be believed (and I certainly have questions about the accuracy of the information contained on it simply due to the name of the website), he is not much of a believer in giving to charity at all.

In 1991 and 1995 (the year of the OK City Bombing when donations to the Red Cross poured in) Kerry had incomes of $113,857 and 126,179 respectively. In those two years, Kerry donated a whopping total of, drum roll please - $0 total to charity . No, that's not a misprint - its zip, zero, zilch, nil, nada, no mas, the big donut, the collar (to use a baseball term).

This is especially puzzling given Kerry's website claim trumpeting his "active membership" in the Catholic faith. Funny, last time we were there we seem to recall a collection plate being passed. Apparently at Kerry's church they missed doing that during the 104 Sundays in 1991 and 1995. Either that or Sen. Kerry has terrible aim, as his envelope seemed to have somehow missed going into the plate or basket.

Also, it's not as if his charitable giving record in the interim was all that much to write home about. From 1992-1994 he gave a whopping total of $3,044. Which means that from 1991-1995 John Kerry gave a paltry total of $11.66 per month (or 40 cents a day - the price of a cup of coffee) to charity, for which the "children" of America will be ever grateful. Perhaps Senator Kerry was so busy dating Hollywood Starlets and trying to pay child support that he missed those commercials with Sally Struthers and the guy from Trapper John MD begging us to help starving children.

However in 1996 his fortunes changed. You see that was the year that he himself was a beneficiary of charity - that being his nuptials to the $500 million dollar woman Ter-ez-zaa Heinz. What's more he didn't have to go on "Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire" to do it. We don't know how much Mrs. Heinz-Kerry gives to charity because she still refuses to release her tax records. We do know however that the "charitable" foundation she runs funds some rather loony radical left-wing causes.

But even without knowing this, is there any question in anyone's mind that John Kerry does not support Crisis Pregnancy Centers? His official website makes it clear that he would not support abstinance-only programs but would insist upon the old failed "safe sex" statements. His only discussion about adoption on his official website is about gay adoption. There is not much discussion about marriage (certainly nothing I can find about keeping marriage strong), and the main focus on matters of marriage concerns the Federal Marriage Amendment and the marital tax penalty.

No, I have no reason to believe that Kerry's faith is much more than a last minute "sway the voters" kind of faith. While no one is perfectly consistent in the way that they support their faith, I see virtually no evidence that he really, truly believes in his heart that Christianity is true, or at least relevant to his life.

That's the way I see it, and I sure plan to vote accordingly.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How Many Children in Bethlehem Did Herod Kill?

By -
A couple of months ago, I wrote a post about the Gospel of Matthew’s account of the slaughter of the innocents. Therein, I argued that some of the skepticism about the account was unjustified. One argument I made was that the number of children killed in Bethlehem would likely have been no more than 20. Though obviously an act of great evil, the killing of 20 children would be much less likely to be noticed by historians of the time than the slaughter of thousands as later traditions speculated. In response to the post, Peter Kirby asked a few questions. He has patiently waited my response, continuously delayed by work, family, and the completion of my Acts article . Two of the questions had to do with how the amount of 20 was determined. Others with the omission of the account by Luke and the reliability of the tradition recounted by Macrobius. Peter also mentioned that there were other reasons to doubt the story's historicity beyond just the silence of other sources. I
Read more

The Bogus Gandhi Quote

By J. P Holding -
Image
I first made this post in 2012, and since then I've made a sort of mini-career out of tracking down bogus quotes like this one (including a video version below). It's a sort of fun microcosm of the way information is mishandled in the Information Age. ** I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. – Mahatma Gandhi A Christian can probably expect to get this quote thrown at them at least once in their lifetime, and waved in their face many more. I had it put to me recently, but my experience with this sort of thing immediately led me to wonder -- is it real? The evidence at this point seems to be no. The first signal of a problem was that anywhere I found it, no source was given. That's often a sign that something is being passed around uncritically. Whether online sources or books, no one seemed to have a source for this quote. A second warning was that the quote has been given more than one context. As
Read more

Where did Jesus say "It is better to give than receive?"

By -
A visitor to the CADRE site recently sent a question about Paul's statement in Acts 20:35 which records Paul as saying, "And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, 'It is better to give than to receive'." The reader wanted to know where Jesus said this. This was my answer: You are correct in noting that this saying of Jesus quoted by Paul is not found anywhere in the four Gospels. My own study Bible says "This is a rare instance of a saying of Jesus not found in the canonical Gospels." Does the fact that it isn't stated in the Gospels mean that it isn't reliably from the lips of Jesus? I don't think so. The Apolstle John said at the end of his Gospel (John 21:25): "Jesus did many other things as well.If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written." Obviously, this is exaggeration for the sake of making a point, but it means that Jesus
Read more

Discussing Embryonic Stem Cell Research

By -
Stand to Reason has published a list of "talking points" that can be used as a quick reference sheet for answering questions about embryonic stem cell research and why people ought to oppose this procedure. The piece, entitled "Are you against stem cell research and cloning?" give good, concise answers to some of the questions that arise concerning why Christians would oppose this procedure when it supposedly holds such great promise. For example, consider the following from the "talking points": Where do we get human embryonic stem cells? We can only derive human embryonic stem cells by killing a human embryo. Removing its stem cells leaves it with no cells from which to build the organs of its body. What is the embryo? An embryo is a living, whole, human organism (a human being) in the embryonic stage. All the embryo needs to live is a proper environment and adequate nutrition, the very same thing all infants, toddlers, adolescents, and adults need.
Read more

Revamping and New Articles at the CADRE Site

By -
We have changed the Christian History page at the CADRE site from the old design to the new one. The focus of the revamped page has expanded, with many new articles: This page provides links to websites and articles relating to Christian history, including theological development, notable figures, contributions of Christianity to society and culture, and the archaeological evidence for the facts of the Bible. We have also added four new articles by Darin Wood, PhD: John Chrysostum: His Life, Legacy, and Influence Dr. Wood provides an informative sketch of Chrysostum's life, as well as an exploration into his writings and impact on church evangelism. The Righteousness of God in the Pauline Corpus Dr. Wood examines the crucial role that righteousness plays in understanding Paul's perspectives on justification, propitiation, expiation, and covenant. The Structure of the Apocalypse Dr. Wood provides an in-depth analysis of the structure (or structures) behind the Book o
Read more

Tillich, part 2: What does it mean to say "God is Being Itself?"

By -
 In this essay, which is a chapter from the new book I'm now working on, I'm moving toward defining what I think Tillich means exactly by being itself. It's a long journey but an important one. What does Tillich actually mean by “being itself?” Does he mean the same things as other theologians who use the phrase? It’s a mysterious sounding phrase and Tillich never actually comes out and says what he means by it. As I will show there is a reason for this, and I will show what I think that reason in is. In the mean time the task of this chapter is to deduce exactly what Tillich actually means by this phrase. There are three basic possibilities: Three alternatives as to meaning (1) The basic fact that things exist is all that the concept of “God” amounts to. (2) There is a special quality to being, an impersonal aspect” ground of being” or “being itself” and that quality constitutes ‘the divine.’ This possibility excludes God as “king of the universe.” (3) God is b
Read more

A Botched Abortion Shows the Lies of Pro-Choice Proponents

By -
One of the classes I teach at the university is a course on Ethics, and I am using a book by Ralph Dolgoff, Donna Harrington and Frank M. Lowenberg entitled " Ethical Decisions for Social Work Practice " as the text. Overall, I think that it is a good Ethics textbook largely because it provides a balanced viewpoint on the need for values in social work. For example, the book makes the argument (without committing to it) that those engaged in social work cannot avoid making value judgments in ethical decisions because trying to do what is right necessarily involves making an value choice. Also, I book notes that some (including me) think it is ethically wrong for a social worker to cover-up her own values when counseling another person because it creates a false (and ultimately unproductive) relationship with the person being counseled. Still, one of the exemplars in the book gave me pause – not because I thought it raised a deep ethical quandary, but because I wondered how
Read more

The Folded Napkin Legend

By J. P Holding -
I wrote about t his "urban legend" a few years ago, but it's typical of the silly urban legends we hear about now and then, such as the idea that the head of Proctor and Gamble went on Oprah to pledge his allegiance to Satanism. Christians are no less gullible for this sort of nonsense than anyone else, and frankly, some seem more gullible to believe anything that they consider "edifying". It's no wonder we're mesmerized by self-comfort tunes like "I Can Only Imagine" that contain about as much useful theology as a thimble. ** The Gospel of John (20:7) tells us that the napkin, which was placed over the face of Jesus, was not just thrown aside like the grave clothes. The Bible takes an entire verse to tell us that the napkin was neatly folded, and was placed at the head of that stony coffin.... In order to understand the significance of the folded napkin, you have to understand a little bit about Hebrew tradition of that day. The fol
Read more

Exodus 22:18 - Are Followers of God to Kill Witches?

By -
Image
A few days ago I stumbled upon an article published on a website named Haaretz which appears to be a news site for Israeli news. The article entitled " Thou Shalt Not Suffer a Witch to Live: A Murderous Translation ," discussed the correct understanding of Exodus 22:18. According to the Haaretz article (authored by Elizabeth Sloane), the word "witch" may have been an erroneous translation. And, to read into Ms. Sloane's argument just a bit, the erroneous translation contributed to the deaths of many innocent witches. Specifically, she notes: This quote, found in the King James Version of the Bible, has been widely held responsible for the witch burnings that plagued Europe, and later America, in the Early Modern Period (1450 C.E. – 1750 C.E.). But the murderous practice may have all been the result of a Biblical mistranslation. Now, as I am not an expert on ancient Hebrew, I need to approach translation issues such as this by accessing sources readily
Read more

A Non-Biblical Historian Accepts the Key "Minimum Facts" Supporting Jesus' Resurrection

By -
In their book, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus , Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona argue for the historical reality of Jesus' bodily resurrection using the "minimum facts" approach. Rather than get bogged down in inerrancy and other debates, they focus on the key facts demonstrating Jesus' resurrection. For them, the key facts are: *Jesus' death by crucifixion. *Disciples' Beliefs that Jesus Appeared. *Conversion of Paul. *Conversion of James. *Empty Tomb. William L. Craig, another significant apologist for the historical bodily resurrection of Jesus likewise focuses, in his accessible The Son Rises , on the empty tomb and Jesus' resurrection appearance. Craig gives special emphasis to Jesus' honorable burial by Joseph of Arimathea and Jesus' appearances to James and Paul and their subsequent commitment to the Christian cause. Craig, Licona, and Habermas argue that these basic facts are generally supported by most of the relevant sc
Read more