Glenn Beck calls Jesus a "Communist".

[Thunder]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/us/12justice.html?ref=us

wow. social justice is a communist idea?

human rights is communist?

does Beck wanna go back to the days of Segregation, no Women's right to Vote, child labor, no environmental laws, no unions, etc?

what a moron.

[Undesired Walrus]

Where did he call Jesus a Communist?

I am amazed at the US's aversion to a phrase as tame as 'social justice', and amused. It seems Beck and the extreme right in general need to have sex more often and get it out of their systems.

[The True Scotsman]

Glenn Beck is being controversial. Now I've seen everything. :oldroll:

[Thunder]

Jesus healed the sick...for free.

Jesus gave sight to the blind....at no charge.

Jesus fed the hungry....no credit card required.

Jesus gave water to the thirsty.....no cash needed.

....had Glenn Beck existed in Jesus' time....he'd call him a Communist and turn him over to High Priest Caiphas.

[Scootch]

And if Glenn Beck had been in a galaxy far, far, away he would have called Luke Skywalker a terrorist (and probably a commie for good measure)

[Thunder]

And if Glenn Beck had been in a galaxy far, far, away he would have called Luke Skywalker a terrorist (and probably a commie for good measure)

no. Luke was a part of the Rebel Alliance and a traitor. Take him away!!

:D

[KingMerv00]

And if Glenn Beck had been in a galaxy far, far, away he would have called Luke Skywalker a terrorist (and probably a commie for good measure)

Think of all the private contractors and slaves the rebels killed on the second death star. :D

[Thunder]

Think of all the private contractors and slaves he killed on the second death star. :D

Jay and Silent Bob do not get a say on this issue.

[ksbluesfan]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/us/12justice.html?ref=us

wow. social justice is a communist idea?

human rights is communist?

does Beck wanna go back to the days of Segregation, no Women's right to Vote, child labor, no environmental laws, no unions, etc?

what a moron.


You realize Obama isn't really Jesus, don't you?

:duck:

[Undesired Walrus]

Jesus healed the sick...for free.

No he didn't.

Jesus gave sight to the blind....at no charge.

No he didn't.

Jesus fed the hungry....no credit card required.

Jesus gave water to the thirsty.....no cash needed.

Questionable.

....had Glenn Beck existed in Jesus' time....he'd call him a Communist and turn him over to High Priest Caiphas.

I'm certain he wouldn't. Beck would blabber on about how Jesus 'chose' to do those things and admire at how no Government bureaucrats 'forced' him to do it with their evil Socialist plans.

[Ziggurat]

I am amazed at the US's aversion to a phrase as tame as 'social justice', and amused. It seems Beck and the extreme right in general need to have sex more often and get it out of their systems.

"Social justice" may be a tame phrase, but it's also a meaningless phrase. And that's the problem. Because it's meaningless, it gets used by people who want to use a meaningless phrase so that they can make it mean whatever they want it to at the moment.

[Brainster]

Stop the presses! Parky makes up another headline!

[The True Scotsman]

Jesus healed the sick...for free.

Jesus gave sight to the blind....at no charge.

Jesus fed the hungry....no credit card required.

Jesus gave water to the thirsty.....no cash needed.

Wow, how did I not think of it before. Let's drop the house bill for healthcare and let Jesus heal us all. Christian science anyone? :p

[ddt]

Wow, how did I not think of it before. Let's drop the house bill for healthcare and let Jesus heal us all. Christian science anyone? :p

South Park already covered this - Margaritaville (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaritaville_%28South_Park%29). :D

[Schrodinger's Cat]

"Social justice" may be a tame phrase, but it's also a meaningless phrase. And that's the problem. Because it's meaningless, it gets used by people who want to use a meaningless phrase so that they can make it mean whatever they want it to at the moment.

exactly.

Also, I am so sick of how people like Beck think that if you agree with any single sentence ever spoken by a person or group, then that means you ARE that person or group. Just because your church cares about economic disparity and communists care about economic disparity does not mean that church is pushing a communist agenda or are communists.

I'm a vegetarian. Hitler was a vegetarian. That does not make me a Nazi.

I agree with MANY teachings by many religions; Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, etc. All these religions either have *some* writings I agree with. That does not make me a part of any of these religions or mean that when I have a conversation in which I discuss these shared ideals, I am then pushing an agenda for any of these religions.

[Ziggurat]

exactly.

Also, I am so sick of how people like Beck think that if you agree with any single sentence ever spoken by a person or group, then that means you ARE that person or group.

I'm not just criticizing Beck on this. He's too excitable. But if you hear someone use the phrase "social justice", that really is a good indicator that they're engaging in fuzzy thinking. Not the worst of sins, perhaps, but its use really should put you on guard.

[brodski]

And if Glenn Beck had been in a galaxy far, far, away he would have called Luke Skywalker a terrorist (and probably a commie for good measure)

m9fPpya1iDQ

[Thunder]

Hitler breathed oxygen. I too, breath oxygen.

Therefore, according to Glenn Beck, I am Hitler.

:)

[ddt]

m9fPpya1iDQ

"This video contains content from bbc, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds. "

[Safe-Keeper]

So because Jesus told his disciples to sell everything they had and give to the poor, he was a Nazi? That's a new one.

[Snide]

Jesus healed the sick...for free.

Jesus gave sight to the blind....at no charge.

Jesus fed the hungry....no credit card required.

Jesus gave water to the thirsty.....no cash needed.

....had Glenn Beck existed in Jesus' time....he'd call him a Communist and turn him over to High Priest Caiphas.If Jesus did all those things, that makes him a swell guy, not a Communist.

If Jesus preached a government to take money from everyone to do all those things and more, you might have a point.

[Ducky]

So, just to be clear, Glenn Beck is a jackass. Also, he didn't actually call Jesus a Communist.

Gotcha.

Thanks for the rhetoric, parky. We don't get enough of that in this forum section.

[brodski]

"This video contains content from bbc, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds. "

That's cos the BBC are communists.

[dudalb]

I wonder if Parky gets that he is giving Glenn Beck just Beck wants..publicity and Notoriety.

[Thunder]

So, just to be clear, Glenn Beck is a jackass. Also, he didn't actually call Jesus a Communist.


nooo....really???

:D

[Schrodinger's Cat]

If Jesus did all those things, that makes him a swell guy, not a Communist.

If Jesus preached a government to take money from everyone to do all those things and more, you might have a point.

We already have programs which do all these things. We have medicare and we have WIC and we have food stamps and medicaid, etc etc.

Are you suggesting that the United States has been a communist country for decades?

I'm not asking whether you approve these programs, that's a matter of opinion.

But having programs in which some taxes go towards the needy is not communism. If that's communism, every country in the western world is communist and has been for decades.

Communism is the forfeiture of private ownership of business and property to the government.

Tax collection may be unsavory. But it is not communism.

[Thunder]

Our Constitution gives Congress and the President the duty to promote the general welfare of the American people.

sounds pretty Commy....to me.

[Ducky]

nooo....really???

:D

Please accept my sincerest and heartfelt sympathy on your suffering under the delusions that you're funny.

[dirtywick]

haha that is awesome.

[Thunder]

Please accept my sincerest and heartfelt sympathy on your suffering under the delusions that you're funny.

my friend, you have no *********** clue how funny I can be.

:p

[Undesired Walrus]

I'm not just criticizing Beck on this. He's too excitable. But if you hear someone use the phrase "social justice", that really is a good indicator that they're engaging in fuzzy thinking. Not the worst of sins, perhaps, but its use really should put you on guard.

I don't find it that objectionable. Injustice persists throughout society, I don't think anybody contests that. It isn't outrageous to suggest it needs to be beaten back.

[Ziggurat]

I don't find it that objectionable. Injustice persists throughout society, I don't think anybody contests that. It isn't outrageous to suggest it needs to be beaten back.

What you describe is just plain "justice".

[Undesired Walrus]

Indeed.

[Captain.Sassy]

What you describe is just plain "justice".

"Social justice" is strongly associated with the notion of 'positive rights', which is a notion generally rejected by small-governmentalists.

[KingMerv00]

Our Constitution gives Congress and the President the duty to promote the general welfare of the American people.


Technically, the general welfare clause only applies to Congress.

[a_unique_person]

What you describe is just plain "justice".


The term "social justice" was coined by the Jesuit (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesuit) Luigi Taparelli (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Taparelli) in the 1840s. The idea was elaborated by the moral theologian John A. Ryan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_A._Ryan), who initiated the concept of a living wage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_wage).


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_justice

The concept of a living wage seems reasonable to me. If do the right thing, obey the law and work hard, yet starve, then something is wrong.

[Ziggurat]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_justice

The concept of a living wage seems reasonable to me. If do the right thing, obey the law and work hard, yet starve, then something is wrong.

Good thing that pretty much never happens in the US now, isn't it? We must be an extremely socially just nation, far more socially just than almost all of human history until now.

[a_unique_person]

Good thing that pretty much never happens in the US now, isn't it? We must be an extremely socially just nation, far more socially just than almost all of human history until now.
You just moved the goalposts. Is a living wage something that people have a right to?

[Grizzly Bear]

I don't think this controversy is what the OP thinks it is. I don't think the OP read much into the article.

[Pardalis]

Jesus healed the sick...

Jesus gave sight to the blind...

Jesus fed the hungry...

Jesus gave water to the thirsty...

No, no, no and no.

It's so strange that people just assume he existed.

BTW Parky, aren't you supposed to be Jewish? ;)

[Ziggurat]

You just moved the goalposts. Is a living wage something that people have a right to?

How do you define a "living wage"? Because not starving isn't how it's usually defined. Which was part of my point, but I guess I didn't make it explicit enough. The other part being that calls for "social justice" typically extend far beyond a living wage. So no, AUP, I didn't move any goalposts, you just didn't keep up.

[Thunder]

"Living wage"?

"Minimum wage"?

sounds like Communism to me.

who is the govt. to tell businesses how much to pay their workers????

if they wanna pay their workers 30 cents an hour..that's their business!!!

[Beerina]

And all this has what to do with Jesus? Jesus was a guy who could use magic to create indefinitely large supplies of food, and cure arbitrarily sick or even dead, rotting people.

Neither communism nor "socialism" can promise these things, in spite of their rhetoric.



Oh, and Jesus said to help the poor. He didn't tell you to point your gun at your neighbor and demand they help the poor, too. Or give them a "living wage". Jesus was about teaching people by example, and they would voluntarily follow. It's a sickness of the human mind to want to force people to behave in certain ways as if forcing people to ape that would achieve the same results.

And that neglects the inevitable and complete corruption that said absolute power engenders.

[Sword_Of_Truth]

Someone save me the pain of reading this thread and answer a question?

Did Glenn Beck actually call Jesus a communist or did some talking head say "By my logic and my definition of christianity, Glenn Beck just called Jesus a communist"?

[Galileo]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/us/12justice.html?ref=us

wow. social justice is a communist idea?

human rights is communist?

does Beck wanna go back to the days of Segregation, no Women's right to Vote, child labor, no environmental laws, no unions, etc?

what a moron.

we have way too many people voting. I would be in favor of property qualifications at the polls.

[BaaBaa]

we have way too many people voting breeding. I would be in favor of IQ testing at the polls.

Fixed that for you.

[Thunder]

Oh, and Jesus said to help the poor. He didn't tell you to point your gun at your neighbor and demand they help the poor, too. .

wow......requiring people to pay taxes is like putting a gun to their head..huh?

[Beerina]

wow......requiring people to pay taxes is like putting a gun to their head..huh?

Correct. Isn't it?

Of course, we aren't talking about people who want to pay the taxes and who like what they're spent on. You're already free to give the government money if you want to.

[Praktik]

Right, but what was Jesus' position on video game development??

;)

[HansMustermann]

Oh, and Jesus said to help the poor. He didn't tell you to point your gun at your neighbor and demand they help the poor, too.

Actually that's the kinda funny part. He did pretty much promise that whoever doesn't, will get roasted by his sky-daddy.

Quoth for example, Matthew 19:16-24

16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?

17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,

19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?

21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.

22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.

23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.

24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

(And parallel versions exist in Mark and Luke too, but this one will do for illustration.)

It seems to me like Jesus is saying pretty clearly that even just being rich already makes it downright impossible to get into heaven, even if you're otherwise as devout and righteous as this young guy who was asking him. If you don't sell your stuff and divide it among the poor, well, if you don't get into heaven, you do the maths as to where you're supposed to go ;)

So in effect, yeah, he's not saying "give some of your money to the poor or I'll shoot you", he's saying "give all your money to the poor or I'll subject you to the most horrible torture you can imagine, for more time than you can possibly imagine." (At least if you go by the common trinitarian belief that Jesus is God.) Doesn't seem to me like he's on the side of the right wingnuts there, sorry.

[HansMustermann]

Correct. Isn't it?

Of course, we aren't talking about people who want to pay the taxes and who like what they're spent on. You're already free to give the government money if you want to.

But actually Big J himself was actually telling people to pay the taxes in Mark 12:17 and Luke 20:25.

Don't get me wrong. If you just don't believe in the Bible or Jesus in the first place, obviously that's irrelevant. But the common pretense that Jesus was somehow totally on the side of the right wingnuts and totally wouldn't have endorsed such stuff as taxes or social programs, is kinda funny for anyone who's actually read the damned thing.

[HansMustermann]

No, no, no and no.

It's so strange that people just assume he existed.

BTW Parky, aren't you supposed to be Jewish? ;)

Reminds me of Futurama:

Fry: So, what's the deal? You guys don't believe in Robot Jesus?
Robot Rabbi: We believe that he was built, and that he was a well-programmed robot, but he wasn't our messiah.

[Thunder]

Jesus: "Give unto Ceaser that which is Cesear's"

translation? pay your taxes.

[Gaetan]

God is socialist. According to God goods should be free and the creation of richness should come from volontary work.

Gaétan

[Snide]

We already have programs which do all these things. We have medicare and we have WIC and we have food stamps and medicaid, etc etc.

Are you suggesting that the United States has been a communist country for decades?I figured someone might respond this way, which is why I added "and more," and "might have a point." Re-read with those words included, and you have your answer.