One of the wonderful aspects of nature is that it just is. There are no pretenses. No ideologies. No belief systems. No vanity. No illusions. The sun shines and the rain falls...on everyone and everything.
You can be good or wicked, charitable or a scrooge, helpful to a fault or entirely self-centered. It matters not.
It's sad that more people refuse to learn and embrace this lesson. We live in a nation that has moved more and more toward faith-based social services. If a person is hungry and homeless, they are welcomed in with a slice of bread, a roof over their head and a [un]healthy dose of proselytizing. In time, if many don't mouth the sacraments, they are turned back out on the street as another "lost" soul.
Yes, we'll extend to you a helping hand IF you believe as we do. If not, get out of our sight -- there are more lambs to try to shepherd.
While I'm no fan of religion, I have no problem whatsoever if a person shares their faith in whatever IF asked. If a person in need, while being provided with assistance, asks what motivates the act of charity or what serves for the foundation of a helper's commitment, by all means share what serves as your fount of inspiration.
But charity should never be doled out with proselytizing as a mandatory component.
For me, this one of the things that truly separates a conservative-minded person from a liberal one. Conservatives support laws and initiatives that will benefit them and their kind only. The more liberal-minded person supports policies that benefit everybody, even those they completely disagree with.
An example of this is the push for universal health care. Such a health care system would insure that the medical needs of everyone are provided for from cradle-to-grave. It wouldn't matter if you were a conservative or liberal, a Christian or non-Christian, rich or poor. You would be covered.
Just like the sun and the rain.
You can be good or wicked, charitable or a scrooge, helpful to a fault or entirely self-centered. It matters not.
It's sad that more people refuse to learn and embrace this lesson. We live in a nation that has moved more and more toward faith-based social services. If a person is hungry and homeless, they are welcomed in with a slice of bread, a roof over their head and a [un]healthy dose of proselytizing. In time, if many don't mouth the sacraments, they are turned back out on the street as another "lost" soul.
Yes, we'll extend to you a helping hand IF you believe as we do. If not, get out of our sight -- there are more lambs to try to shepherd.
While I'm no fan of religion, I have no problem whatsoever if a person shares their faith in whatever IF asked. If a person in need, while being provided with assistance, asks what motivates the act of charity or what serves for the foundation of a helper's commitment, by all means share what serves as your fount of inspiration.
But charity should never be doled out with proselytizing as a mandatory component.
For me, this one of the things that truly separates a conservative-minded person from a liberal one. Conservatives support laws and initiatives that will benefit them and their kind only. The more liberal-minded person supports policies that benefit everybody, even those they completely disagree with.
An example of this is the push for universal health care. Such a health care system would insure that the medical needs of everyone are provided for from cradle-to-grave. It wouldn't matter if you were a conservative or liberal, a Christian or non-Christian, rich or poor. You would be covered.
Just like the sun and the rain.
Blasphemer! According to Pat Robertson, nature takes revenge on people who don't believe in God, or intelligent design, or white Christian Republican America, or the chosen people of the Holy Land, or the ability of every single individual, regardless of circumstances, to pick her or himself up by her or his bootstraps and pay for her or his own health insurance...
ReplyDelete"Conservatives support laws and initiatives that will benefit them and their kind only"...sir, you had better prepare for nature's wrath!
re: proselytizing as a mandatory component of charity.
ReplyDeleteMany years ago, my aunt, who was a hard-shell Baptist, went with a group to visit a downtown rescue mission that their church helped support. She almost had tears in her eyes when she told of the poor, derelict men who came for their dinner, first attended the religeous service and actually knew all the words to the hymns they sung. My dad laughed and explained that this is what the men did to earn their dinner. Most of them had been on the mission circuit so long they could probably have substituted for the minister if asked. None of this made any change in their chosen way of life on the streets, but a free meal is a free meal.
PS AARP magazine called me today to do a short interview about my entry for SinceSlicedBread.
Editor,
ReplyDeleteIf good 'ol Pat says I'm a blasphemer, then I must be doing something right!
Dino,
Great illustration! Re AARP, you're becoming famous before our very eyes. :-)