Why Don't Televangelists Speak Out Against The Iraq War?
Robert Paul Reyes
September 30, 2006
If you channel surf you are bound to run into televangelists, and it seems they are always railing against one sin or the other. There's Jerry Falwell thundering against homosexuality as his three chins tremble in moral indignation. There's Pat Robertson preaching against abortion, spittle flying all over his $5,000 Armani suit.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist or an advanced degree in abnormal psychology to realize that these "men of god" only preach against "sins" that will rile up their base. When Jerry Falwell condemns gays, feminists and pagans from the pulpit, his well-fed congregation smiles in agreement. But if the rotund reverend denounced gluttony and adultery on a regular basis, he would lose half of his membership.
Jesus Christ didn't spend all his time rebuking the brutality of the Roman empire, in hopes of winning Jewish hearts and minds. He spoke out against the sins of pride, selfishness, religiosity -- words that convicted hearts and led to changed lives.
Jesus didn't demonize social outcasts to appeal to the baser instincts, instead he reached out and ministered to lepers, the homeless and the destitute.
Televangelists are blinded by the dollar signs dancing in their eyes, they fail to see and speak out against the moral outrages that plague our civilization.
You don't have to be a theologian to realize that the war in Iraq and Dubya and his adminstration's use of torture against those it has arbitrarily designated as "enemy combatants," are the defining moral issues of today. Yet these "giants of the faith" are mute when it comes to these pressing issues. The war in Iraq has claimed more American victims than 9/11 and it costs billions upon billions -- but not a peep from these religious con artists.
Enough with Jerry Falwell who incites and entertains his flock by demonizing Hillary Clinton; enough with Pat Robertson who calls for the execution of foreign leaders; enough with televangelists brandishing the Bible as a weapon to keep liberals at bay.
Is there not one prophet of God in the evangelical realm with the moral cojones to speak out against the war in Iraq? Is there not one brave man of God who will chastise Bush for condoning and subsidizing torture?
I'm afraid you won't find these men of conscience and faith by channel surfing, but they do exist and I hope that our nation heeds their lonely voices crying in the wilderness.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist or an advanced degree in abnormal psychology to realize that these "men of god" only preach against "sins" that will rile up their base. When Jerry Falwell condemns gays, feminists and pagans from the pulpit, his well-fed congregation smiles in agreement. But if the rotund reverend denounced gluttony and adultery on a regular basis, he would lose half of his membership.
Jesus Christ didn't spend all his time rebuking the brutality of the Roman empire, in hopes of winning Jewish hearts and minds. He spoke out against the sins of pride, selfishness, religiosity -- words that convicted hearts and led to changed lives.
Jesus didn't demonize social outcasts to appeal to the baser instincts, instead he reached out and ministered to lepers, the homeless and the destitute.
Televangelists are blinded by the dollar signs dancing in their eyes, they fail to see and speak out against the moral outrages that plague our civilization.
You don't have to be a theologian to realize that the war in Iraq and Dubya and his adminstration's use of torture against those it has arbitrarily designated as "enemy combatants," are the defining moral issues of today. Yet these "giants of the faith" are mute when it comes to these pressing issues. The war in Iraq has claimed more American victims than 9/11 and it costs billions upon billions -- but not a peep from these religious con artists.
Enough with Jerry Falwell who incites and entertains his flock by demonizing Hillary Clinton; enough with Pat Robertson who calls for the execution of foreign leaders; enough with televangelists brandishing the Bible as a weapon to keep liberals at bay.
Is there not one prophet of God in the evangelical realm with the moral cojones to speak out against the war in Iraq? Is there not one brave man of God who will chastise Bush for condoning and subsidizing torture?
I'm afraid you won't find these men of conscience and faith by channel surfing, but they do exist and I hope that our nation heeds their lonely voices crying in the wilderness.
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