My contention with this series is that the words and actions of Progressives/Democrats align more closely with the teachings of Jesus than do the words and actions of MAGA Republicans including and especially those who classify themselves as Evangelical Christians. I am not saying or even implying that MAGA Republicans are not Christians. Based on what I was taught when I once classified myself as an “Evangelical Christian”, a profession of faith via the Sinner’s prayer suffices to qualify one as a Christian and I expect nearly all MAGA Republican-Evangelical Christians have met that criterion.
However, I find that there is a huge disparity today between what people profess and what they actually say and do and that on the whole, Progressives/Democrats, even those who do not profess to be Christians, are more aligned with Jesus’ teachings than are MAGA Republicans-Evangelical Christians.
Among the litany of condemnations some of my conservative FB friends have levied against Democrats/liberals/progressives are: Pro-illegal immigrants, Pro-homosexuality, pro-abortion, pro BLM & Critical Race Theory, socialists/Marxists, pro-taxing the rich, anti-fossil fuel, anti-gun rights, anti-police/pro-criminals, and in general are anti-making America Great Again. That should give us enough topics to sift through and to begin evaluating whether the Democrats align more with the teachings of Jesus than do the MAGA Republicans.
The key teaching I will focus on is the Second Great Commandment where Jesus tells his followers to love your neighbors as yourselves/treat others as you would want to be treated. When asked “who is my neighbor”, Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan. It”s crystal clear that “neighbor” includes people who are from a totally different tribe/people group. The sheep and goats parable in Matt 25 which mandates that we attend to “the least of these” also applies. As does the Beatitudes (Matt 5 & Luke 6).
The first topic I address is immigration policies on our southern border and specifically the policies practiced by respective administrations to discourage people from seeking to come to the US. Next sexuality and after that racism. From there, we will see where it goes.
I will include with each discourse the most relevant comments posted on my FB page.