Sean Hannity was sent into a frenzy of “good Christian” hate last night after President Obama suggested faith-based organizations speak out more forcefully on behalf of poor people.
Obama’s blasphemy was part of his remarks at a discussion about poverty at Georgetown University on May 12.
And I think it would be powerful for our faith-based organizations to speak out on this in a more forceful fashion.
This may sound self-interested because there have been—these are areas where I agree with the evangelical community and faith-based groups, and then there are issues where we have had disagreements around reproductive issues, or same-sex marriage, or what have you.
… There is great caring and great concern, but when it comes to what are you really going to the mat for, what’s the defining issue… this is oftentimes viewed as a “nice to have” relative to an issue like abortion.
Rather than debate the idea, Hannity spent approximately eight minutes smearing Obama’s Christianity.
“There’s something here. I don’t know what it is but he feels compelled to, you know, go after Christians repeatedly and can’t even take on radical Islam,” Hannity sneered.
Fox News contributor Father Jonathan Morris said, “What he did this time was very unique and that is he tried to echo Pope Francis,” Morris said. But, Morris added, Francis also says “abortion is evil” and “gay marriage is not according to the plan of God.” As if the only Christian way to oppose poverty is to also oppose abortion and gay marriage. “And here President Obama doesn’t believe those things! ...He’s trying to echo the pope and he’s not echoing him in truth,” Morris complained.
Except that nowhere in his remarks did Obama say that Christians should oppose poverty instead of abortion or gay marriage; he was saying that poverty was a subject in which all Christians could come together and create a very powerful message the way Pope Francis has. Nor did Obama say that anyone opposing poverty would be just like Pope Francis.
Hannity added a little more Christian spirit – via some 2008 chestnuts, Angry Black Man clips of Rev. Wright.
Next up, Pastor Robert Jeffress offered his Christian perspective – exhorting us to care more about gay marriage and abortion than the poor:
JEFFRESS: Look, the problem with President Obama is, he treats the Bible the same way he does the Constitution. He disregards the portions he doesn’t like. Look, it’s true, the Bible talks about the poor but Jesus also talked about protecting children, including the unborn. He said it’d be better to have a millstone put around your neck and cast into the sea than to hurt a child. He also talked about marriage in Matthew 19. He said marriage is between one man and one woman for life. And if Obama is a faithful follower of Christ, that means he accepts all of Jesus’ teachings, not just those portions that are politically correct.
For a little extra maliciousness, in the name of Christ, Hannity blew the “secret Muslim” dog whistle.
HANNITY: Why the obsession now to attack Christianity and then conversely say the future does not belong to those who criticize the prophet, meaning Muhammad? Or quoted in the New York Times when he went to a Muslim school in Jakarta, “The most beautiful sight in the world is the call to Muslim prayer at sunset?” He won’t take on radical Islam. When you compare it all, it seems like he’s got an axe to grind against Christianity.
In short, not one of these good Christians seemed to care a fig about the poor. Which is not surprising, given that Fox News regularly conducts a war on the poor.
But Jeffress did find time to take a Christian dig at Hillary Clinton: “That is why this 2016 election is so pivotal. It will determine the spiritual and moral direction of our country and people of faith need to rise up and vote not Republican or Democrat convictions but Biblical conviction.”
Watch it below, from the May 13 Hannity.
These people are a threat to humanity and deserve more than a passive responses from a political blog, hopefully eventually delivered by more peaceful democratic processes but……..
Oh, the irony!
His close friends know about his dark side, and stay silent because they need free publicity from this aging showboat.
The Stop Hannity Express list good tips for Catholics.
1. Don’t lust after girls half your age.
2. Don’t lust after guys half your age.
3. Don’t lie to your spouse & threaten to take the kids away.
4. Don’t lie to your children.
5. Don’t lie to your friends.
6. Don’t lie to your co-workers.
7. Don’t lie to your parents.
8. Don’t use your position to get free goods and services.
9. Don’t act like the world owes you.
10. Don’t use blackmail to get your way.
11. Don’t argue with your spouse because they are right, and you are wrong.
12. Don’t be obsessed with money and power.
13. Don’t use people.
14. Don’t yell at your children.
15. Don’t use drugs.
16. Don’t get involved in questionable behavior.
17. Don’t get in trouble with the law.
18. Don’t throw a hissy fit at every little thing.
19. Don’t promote illicit behavior.
20. Don’t ask people if they are gay. It’s rude.
21. Don’t curse and still call yourself a Christian.
22. Don’t complain about your spouse’s weight gain. If they want to eat peanut butter with bananas, it’s their business.
This is proper behavior for true Catholics. Those who practice the above are cafeteria Catholics, and they know exactly who they are.
A little further along in that very same chapter, it’s worth noting that Jesus also said “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” (verse 21) This was in response to a wealthy young man who’d earlier been told to follow the Commandments to be good, but wanted to “have eternal life” (ie, go to Heaven). The man then says that he’s kept all those Commandments but what else was he lacking—at which point Jesus gives him the advice about the possessions. But, as the following verse states, “when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property.” (verse 22). It’s at this point that Jesus makes the statement about it being hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God (along with the “camel through the eye of a needle” proverb).
Something tells me that Mr Jeffress has chosen willfully to ignore Jesus’ demand to “go and sell your possessions and give to the poor.” Which makes him unworthy of being a Christian (except in name only).
*The Pharisees, it should be remembered, were the smug, sanctimonious religious purists who ultimately had Jesus arrested. You know—because they didn’t like Jesus’s just going around telling the people they didn’t really need all the formalities that formed the Pharisees’ bread-and-butter. I mean, if the people didn’t really need the priests as much as the priests needed the people, why it could cause a revolution—which is what Christianity was about (for its first century or so, after which it fell into the same hierarchy rut, where “some” people knew God’s word better than others).
