This book explores the intersections of partisan politics and Christianity in contemporary society. It examines how biblical values, such as equitable justice, honesty, love of other people, and help to the poor, have been compromised for partisan politics, which presents an unprecedented danger to the integrity of the Christian faith. The book presents compelling biblical teachings that contradict the misinformation promoted by some evangelical preachers to give the impression that the Republican Party’s political agendas represent God’s values. To demystify such misconceptions and present clarifications concerning significant political and social issues, the book draws parallel comparisons of the practices and policies of the Republican Party and Democratic Party and contrasts them with biblical teachings.
The complete guide to debunking right-wing misinterpretations of the Bible—from economics and immigration to gender and sexuality. Jesus loves borders, guns, unborn babies, and economic prosperity and hates homosexuality, taxes, welfare, and universal healthcare—or so say many Republican politicians, pundits, and preachers. Through outrageous misreadings of the New Testament gospels that started almost a century ago, conservative influencers have conjured a version of Jesus that speaks to their fears, desires, and resentments. In Republican Jesus, Tony Keddie explains not only where this right-wing Christ came from and what he stands for but also why this version of Jesus is a fraud. By restoring Republicans’ cherry-picked gospel texts to their original literary and historical contexts, Keddie dismantles the biblical basis for Republican positions on hot-button issues like Big Government, taxation, abortion, immigration, and climate change. At the same time, he introduces readers to an ancient Jesus whose life experiences and ethics were totally unlike those of modern Americans, conservatives and liberals alike.
An acclaimed reporter presents the first major biography of the legendary, and divisive, conservative pastor who reshaped the landscape of American politics—Jerry Falwell. At a time when the Tea Party movement is dominating much of America's social and political discourse, the story of Falwell's Moral Majority will resonate strongly. Indeed, Falwell’s language may sound familiar to anyone who has heard recent speeches by figures like Sarah Palin, Rick Perry, or Michelle Bachmann.
A party girl with a broken heart, pissed off at a culture that made her an easy victim of a love gone wrong, takes an irreverent look at the way centrists and liberals let the right hijack Jesus-and gives moderates and progressives of all faiths and of no faith a recipe for taking back God, flag and country.And she'll make you laugh in the process-like where Paul says, in Aramaic, shit happens. Corinthians 6; 1-13.. (Rice is pretty sure that most Bible literalists don't realize that the Bible was written in Aramaic, Hebrew and ancient Greek. Meaning it's impossible to interpret the Bible literally). Kate Rice is a party girl and battle-scarred veteran of three different religions and countless church suppers, Easter luncheons and bar and bat mitzvahs. She explains our nation's ongoing wrestling match with religion, politics, and sex through the prism of her own struggles with God, faith, and society. She explains her teenaged self's religious justification of blow jobs and believes that sex can't be bad because God made it so fun. She introduces us to the tatted up minister who preaches the joy of sex, church-going progressives standing strong in a rural America that is not as red as you think, and people of all faiths and no faith at all working together. These Americans who know the America our founders created: a nation that promised not just freedom of religion but freedom from religion. And, most importantly, freedom and equal rights for all.
New York Times bestseller God's Politics struck a chord with Americans disenchanted with how the Right had co-opted all talk about integrating religious values into our politics, and with the Left, who were mute on the subject. Jim Wallis argues that America's separation of church and state does not require banishing moral and religious values from the public square. God's Politics offers a vision for how to convert spiritual values into real social change and has started a grassroots movement to hold our political leaders accountable by incorporating our deepest convictions about war, poverty, racism, abortion, capital punishment, and other moral issues into our nation's public life. Who can change the political wind? Only we can.
This book was written specifically for Evangelical born-again Christians and those who identify with the Tea Party political movement. Anyone else reading this book may find it offensive. "Jesus Is A Republican" is a picture book for both adults and children. For adults, it reinforces conservative political convictions, and for children it instills conservative values with passages from the Bible accompanied by explanations, along with full-color illustrations. Although "Jesus Is A Republican" has political undertones that chastise liberal Democrats for supporting immoral behavior and encouraging deviant lifestyles, it is not meant to be a political book. It is a guide for both adults and children to strengthen the message of Jesus Christ as Our Lord and Savior. For too long the media elite have attempted to silence a majority of Americans who believe in God. The United States was founded as a Christian nation, yet laws exist that prevent Christians from openly expressing ourselves. From nativity displays during Christmas on public property to our children being able to pray in public school classrooms, it is time the majority rise up and take our country back. "Jesus Is A Republican" is a picture book that plainly and objectively explains the conservative teachings and values of Jesus Christ on a variety of subjects, many of which affect today's political discourse. Progressives have an image to sell, which is tolerance and acceptance of behavior that is the antithesis of Christianity, whereas Republicans advocate the same conservative values as those of Jesus Christ, which is what this picture book conveys. Contrary to the message from those who do not agree with the Bible, Jesus never would have tolerated a society in which abortion is allowed, where homosexuality is openly practiced and taught to our children, and where the authority of God is superseded by Man. "Jesus Is A Republican" provides New Testament examples of Jesus' acceptance of guns, why war is often necessary to achieve certain outcomes, the requirement of the death penalty, and how wealthy people are beneficial for a society to function. "Jesus Is A Republican" also dispels common myths, such as the fact that Jesus was not poor, who among us should have access to healthcare, and why the tax rates we currently endure in the United States are unnecessarily punitive. Christian adults and their children will enjoy the message and tone of "Jesus Is A Republican," while appreciating the full-color illustrations that accompany each chapter from award-winning illustrator Aron Vaisvila. "Jesus Is A Republican" has been banned in over 30 Islamic countries, and every major publisher turned its back on the values contained within this picture book, proving beyond doubt that the liberal media does exist and is still in charge. What the media establishment fails to understand is that Jesus the conservative is not about hate, but rather about fact.
Widely known for his hard hitting, no punches held journalism and criticism of religious belief, Werleman comes out with the gloves off, but this time he takes aim at atheist Republicans. Atheists Can't Be Republicans exposes the insane economic and social policies of today's Republican Party. Policies that have been proven abjectly false and dangerous, in much the same way religious belief is false and dangerous. Werleman contends that atheists who cling onto modern U.S. conservative ideology are hanging onto ideas that have either been proven mythical at worst or remain unproven at best. If atheists applied the same litmus test to their political ideology as they do to theology, then clearly an atheist cannot be a Republican.
A new breed of evangelicals, with a fiery passion for economic justice, racial reconciliation and a care for the environment, has abandoned the religious right. Harper, a rising star in this movement, describes the roots of this political shift, the agents of change driving it and the extent of the evangelical rejection of the right-wing political agenda. Here, Harper offers a powerful indictment of the religious right demonstrating how it has abandoned the gospel in its racist and sexist core beliefs.
