Christ says, "Shoot 'em"

CNN story <-- check it

Now, I pretty chill with this Jesus guy. We've gone back a long time. I'm learning a lot about him and have several very wise spiritual friends that help me through life's bumps, using the knowledge and knowhow that comes through the Bible and all that business.

That said, I often find myself on the verge of being physically ill when I hear certain "Christians" spout their spiel.

Pat Robertson is the founder of the 700 Club, a media outlet for the religious right. I don't say "the right" in a bad way, as I'm usually painted with that brush, but he's one of our front men -- one of those lucky enough to have captured the public eye to have influence in certain circles of politics and the mainstream conservative body politic.

Mainstream conservative body politic? Yes, and why church and state should remain separate will be addressed in another post, although this example is probably enough for that too.

Anyway, Robertson was even a contender for the Republican 1988 presidential campaign, so he's not just some bum.

Now, when a person decides to walk the life that Christ walked, to learn to become a power of love and compassion to restore the hope and spirit of we the people of planet Earth, there are levels of responsibility that come with it.

When people start to find out that others are "Christians," they'll expect them to be perfect, like that nerdy kid in school that's arrogant enough to say he's so damned fantastic at math. Everybody else who's making little tick marks on their paper to help count is just waiting for this kid to screw up, to prove he doesn't have it all together.

The actions and attitudes of Christians are carefully scrutinized. They are ambassadors of God's love to the world. Thus what Christians say, for many people, is what God is saying.

Now, I'm skipping through a lot of stereotypes and half-truths, but for the Machiavelli in all of us: as you are perceived, so you are. Moving on.

So, when Pat Robertson goes on the air of his Christian and very religious program to call for the killing of world leaders that he doesn't like, it sends a very damaging and frankly *expletive* view of how God is.

Is this Venezuelan cat not the nicest guy? No, he's a jerk. Is he a "threat" to America? Well, who knows. Should a person charged with bringing hope and life to the world through Christ use his religious clout to ask for the killing of another of God's creations? I'm going with *expletive* no!

Yes, help the poor. Go in and feed the hungry. Defend the defenseless. Plead the case of the orphan and the widow. All of these are straight out of the Bible.

Using assassination to achieve political ends while implying that God wants it? I've missed that chapter.

Politics is not our game, and we can't whisk the woes of the world away with a couple rich, white "conservatives" in office.

If churches want to be political, then they should be taxed, and should leave God out of it, 'cause he'd rather me give a homeless guy a dollar than travel halfway around the world to put a bullet in someone's head.

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