{"id":1408,"date":"2013-05-28T18:41:00","date_gmt":"2013-05-28T18:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/05\/if-you-dont-work-you-should-not-eat-the-hypocrisy-of-congressional-public-theologians.html"},"modified":"2013-05-28T18:41:00","modified_gmt":"2013-05-28T18:41:00","slug":"if-you-dont-work-you-should-not-eat-the-hypocrisy-of-congressional-public-theologians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/05\/if-you-dont-work-you-should-not-eat-the-hypocrisy-of-congressional-public-theologians.html","title":{"rendered":"If You Don’t Work, You Should Not Eat: The Hypocrisy of Congressional Public Theologians"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>


<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/a>by Andre E. Johnson<\/a><\/span>
R3 Editor<\/span>

<\/span>In our season of continued austerity, (despite evidence that it is not working<\/a>), the House\u00a0Agriculture\u00a0Committee met earlier last week<\/a> to discuss cutting 4.1 billion from the\u00a0Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Food Stamps) or\u00a0<\/span>SNAPprogram. The highlight (or lowlight, depending on your preference) from the hearings was when the debate shifted from a policy debate to a theological one. While many tended to focus on Tennessee Republican Congressman\u00a0Stephen Fincher and his misinterpretation of 2\u00a0Thessalonians\u00a0<\/span>3:10<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cFor even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat,\u201d <\/i><\/span><\/span>the real theological discussion focused on the role of the government. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
<\/a><\/div>\n

As reported in a\u00a0<\/span>HuffingtonPost<\/a>,\u00a0Rep. Juan Vargas<\/a>, (D-California), in support of undoing the mandated cuts to Food Stamps suggested that while Jesus did not\u00a0oftentimes\u00a0\u201csay exactly what he meant,\u201d in Matthew 25,<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
[Jesus] is\u00a0very, very clear. And he delineates what it takes to get into the kingdom of heaven very, very clearly. And he says how you treat the least among us, the least of our brothers, that\u2019s how you treat him.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
To counter the argument,\u00a0Rep. Mike Conaway<\/a> (R-Texas) showing his Jesus bonafides,\u00a0responded:<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cI read this chapter of Matthew 25 to speak to me as an individual. I don\u2019t read it to speak to the <\/span>United States<\/span> government. And so I would take a little bit of umbrage with you on that. Clearly, you and I are charged that we do those kinds of things but [our government is not] charged with that.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Fincher<\/a> also added,\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cJesus made it very clear we have a duty and obligation as Christians and as citizens of this country to take care of each other. Democrat, Republican, and Independent \u2014 we should look after one another. But I think a fundamental argument we\u2019re having today is what\u2019s the duty of the federal government. We\u2019re all here on this committee making decisions about other people\u2019s money.\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/a>I have to admit, teaching in a seminary, I hear this argument a lot. Moreover, while I could argue that the \u201cgovernment should not be in the position of giving away other people\u2019s money\u201d is a ruse\u2014(one can only point to Fincher\u2019s farm subsidies as exhibit A <\/a>and suggest that this) is based in a racial understanding of who \u201cthe poor\u201d are and the rhetoric associated with \u201cthe poor\u201d as being lazy,
\n shiftless, and not worthy of help, I would like to focus on what I believe gives this thinking its moral justification and theological relevance. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Notice that the Republican Congressmen did not refute Jesus\u2019 Matthew 25 declaration that we should assist in helping the poor; they just do not believe government should play a role. However, as I do in class when this subject comes up, I ask, \u201cIf the government is made up of the people, when do those people who profess to be Christian stop being Christian\u2014or more precisely, \u201cwhen do those who profess to \u201cfollow Christ\u201d stop following Jesus\u2019 command to help the least of these? I continue by asking, \u201cCan one help the least of these as one would if she or he were not in Congress?<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
What makes Conaway, Fincher and a host of would be Congressional public theologians so hypocritical is that for just about everything that limits, restricts, confines, and marginalizes progress, they tend to argue there is a role of government and their faith is an important part of their decisions. However, for the poor, they limit the role of government and faith to just individual responsibility.\u00a0<\/span>

<\/span>In short, when it comes to marriage equality, voting rights, the Second Amendment, women and their health choices and a host of other issues, they would invoke their faith to argue for government intervention. It is just when it comes to the poor and anything that would stimulate a sluggish economy; (ie., jobs,\u00a0infrastructure\u00a0programs and the like) and that invariably\u00a0help the\u00a0thousands\u00a0of people who they represent, they put Jesus on the shelf,\u00a0interpret\u00a0scripture badly, and hide behind rhetoric that\u00a0stigmatizes\u00a0and legitimates not helping the poor all to the glory of God.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Andre E. JohnsonR3 EditorIn our season of continued austerity, (despite evidence that it is not working), the House\u00a0Agriculture\u00a0Committee met earlier last week to discuss cutting 4.1 billion from the\u00a0Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Food Stamps) or\u00a0SNAPprogram. The highlight (or lowlight, depending on your preference) from the hearings was when the debate shifted from a policy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2251,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nIf You Don't Work, You Should Not Eat: The Hypocrisy of Congressional Public Theologians<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"by Andre E. 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