Which God Saves? → give to Caesar

Religion and the law. Are we protecting laws from religion?

Protecting laws from religion? Management of religious affairs is about protecting what is lawful. That last sentence is the English translation of something from China’s Religious Affairs Regulations. But does that even make sense? China claims their citizens have freedom of religious belief. So shouldn’t laws about religion be concerned with protecting those religions?

What’s this thing about protecting the law from religion? It sounds so backwards. And yet, is it even unusual? We claim to have religious freedom in the U.S. So do many countries. But are we really doing anything different than China? In other words, is the real issue that China isn’t hiding what they’re doing? Let’s find out.

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Should Christians be concerned about healthcare for the poor?

Politics and religion

Should Christians be concerned about healthcare for the poor? Of course, the answer is yes. Isn’t it? In theory, it’s hard to argue against the idea. However, in practice, it’s apparently very easy to just ignore it. Does that sound familiar? If you’re Christian, it should resonate, loud and clear. Even if you’re not Christian, chances are you know something about “the good Samaritan”. Even if you don’t know where it came from, that concept is known by all sorts of people.

So let’s look at the question of healthcare for the poor in that light. We’ll see what Jesus says on the topic. After all, Jesus was the One who first put forth the idea of the good Samaritan. And then we’ll see what happens today. How we went from what Jesus taught, to a scenario where that’s pretty much impossible for all but the extremely wealthy people in the world, and how too many Christians have done the unneighborly thing by, well, by doing what we do. We’ll look at that in a moment.

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Should Christians vote based on where tax dollars go? Give to Caesar and give to God.

What did Jesus really say to Christians about paying taxes?

is this Christian?

Should Christians vote based on where tax dollars go? I know many Christians who think they do exactly that. As in give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s. You know the issues. Abortion. LGBT. Immigration – illegal immigrants, emphasis on “illegal. These topics and many others are hot button issues for many on the so-called Christian-right. While they may be “right, in the sense that “right” indicates conservatives / Republicans – are they “right” as in the sense of right and wrong? We’ll get to the liberal left in a moment.

What did Jesus really say to Christians about paying taxes? Read More »