Monday, September 14, 2015

Bernie Sanders Preaches Jesus' Gospel to Falwell's Students

"Do unto others what you would have them do to you. That is the Golden Rule and it is not very complicated," said Bernie Sanders. It was the right kind of crowd for an appeal to Mathew 7:12. Sanders addressed 10,000 Liberty University students today. Liberty was founded by religious-right luminary Jerry Falwell and hosted Ted Cruz's campaign announcement earlier this year. It is a university known for it's political affiliations. A couple decades ago this would have meant a particular incarnation of "family values" and public demonstrations of faith. In recent years, however, the GOP, has pushed fiscal conservativism to center stage. This is exactly the talking point that Bernie Sanders engaged to this very Jesusy audience.

"It would be hard to make the case that we are a just society or anything resembling a just society today . . . . In the United States of America today, there is massive injustice in terms of income and wealth inequality. Injustice is rampant." According to Sanders this injustice stands in contrast to the ethics preached at the Sermon on the Mount.

Sanders acknowledged that he disagrees with America's religious right on a number of issues including LGBT rights and abortion. But, argued Sanders, there is common ground to be had on the topic of fiscal ethics.

This is a fascinating move on the part of Bernie Sanders. While the Jesus tradition fails to address marriage equality or abortion directly, it is rife with direct references to fiscal ethics. Indeed care for the poor is one of Jesus' most celebrated talking points. Sanders also pointed to Pope Francis as he preached against the "idolatry" of money. Such appeals challenge the conceptual darling of the Tea Party by setting the topic in conversation with Jesus.

You can view the full speech below:
-anthony







at

12 comments:

  1. UnknownSeptember 14, 2015 at 1:00 PM

    indeed a very positive civil discourse

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownSeptember 14, 2015 at 1:01 PM

    what is the meaning of "marriage equality"? what is the meaning of "Jesus tradition"? -mark

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anthony Le DonneSeptember 14, 2015 at 1:46 PM

      Mark, "Jesus tradition" refers to the compositions which purport to contain sayings and deeds of Jesus including but not limited to the four canonical Gospels. Most would think of Paul as a source beyond the Last Supper, however, see http://davidbcapes.com/articles/not-so-brief-articles/jesus-and-paul/

      I'll let you do a wikipedia search for "marriage equality" as I know that you're a big fan of wikipedia.

      -anthony

      Delete
    2. Joshua MannSeptember 15, 2015 at 2:25 AM

      It might be better to say "Jesus tradition" refers to the sayings and stories of Jesus rather than the compositions themselves (which may be what you meant--I realise you're offering a quick definition).

      Delete
    3. Anthony Le DonneSeptember 15, 2015 at 7:10 AM

      Agreed, Joshua. Should we say "sayings by Jesus and stories about Jesus" to disambiguate between stories attributed to Jesus (which would be included in sayings) and stories told about Jesus?

      -anthony

      Delete
    4. Joshua MannSeptember 15, 2015 at 10:38 PM

      Good point!

      Delete
  3. JulianSeptember 14, 2015 at 4:03 PM

    Thanks, Anthony, for another post that I will have to share.

    ReplyDelete
  4. JulianSeptember 15, 2015 at 10:57 AM

    I am a supporter of Bernie Sanders. However, it's difficult for me to believe that Jesus would have taught that a woman has a right to an abortion. I feel that we are living in a world where morality has been divided into two portions, and we can only choose one. I am choosing what I think is the more important portion, but I can understand why someone would disagree with me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anthony Le DonneSeptember 15, 2015 at 2:09 PM

      Julian, in Jesus' world the biggest concern for a pregnant woman was survival as 1 in 8 women died during childbirth. To project the complicated issues related to 20th/21st women's health back to the first century probably isn't going to work on any number of levels.

      I wholeheartedly agree about the two party system. Shall we move to Canada together?

      -anthony

      Delete
    2. AnonymousSeptember 15, 2015 at 3:34 PM

      While Jesus lived before Rabbinic Judaism, many rabbinic commentators over the centuries have supported reproductive choice (including abortion) and have accepted that there are times that the life of the mother is in conflict with the life of the unborn child.

      Delete
  5. AnonymousSeptember 18, 2015 at 4:57 PM

    So we are to take the Sermon on the Mount as a mandate for government fiscal policy? Hmm... Methinks that many of Jesus' other teachings would not be lauded as good government policy. This smells like a fan of the political Left selectively choosing which parts of the New Testament should be instituted as (secular) government policy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anthony Le DonneSeptember 18, 2015 at 6:24 PM

      Anonymous, (1) I don't take anything I read in the Bible as a mandate devoid of interpretive filters--and there are many; (2) You're probably right that most of Jesus' teachings cannot be translated into government policy... and certainly not in a neoliberal environment. (3) I plead guilty to reading selectively. Is there any other way?

      What made the above speech interesting to me is that folks like Jerry Falwell Jr. have married religion (and Jesus in particular) to a neoliberal fiscal ideology. So I don't think it is out of line to look at what Jesus taught about fiscal ethics in conversations with those who profess to be Jesus followers. Moreover, Bernie pulled a few punches for the sake of common ground. He easily could have appealed to Luke's sermon on the plain. The wealthy don't do too well in that version of the story or in many of Luke's parables for that matter.

      -anthony

      Delete