The vast majority of men and women who claim to be Christian are not. They are Christian in name only. It’s impossible to be a Christian if you don’t believe in the teachings of Jesus Christ. When Jesus walked the earth the Bible tells us that He told his followers to ‘love others as they love themselves.’ He forbade the judgement of other men saying ‘judge not lest ye be judged.’ He spoke of the cardinal sin of man; pride and the absence of tolerance; ‘Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to cast a stone.’ Finally he spoke about those who suffer indignities from the self-righteous; ‘But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.’

In general it is fair to say that all members of the GOP are hypocritical. Sometimes some stand out farther than the others.

Last week the National Religious Liberties Conference led by Pastor Keven Swanson was held in Des Moines, Iowa. He is a man so filled with hatred, it is surprising that he doesn’t explode. His homophobia ranks atop the GOP. He believes that all members of the LGBT community should be executed. He spoke to his followers instructing them to hold up signs at gay weddings telling the participants that they “should be put to death.” He supports Uganda’s “Kill the gays” bill.

Attending the conference and speaking to the crowd were three faux-Christians and presidential hopefuls; Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, and Bobby Jindal. It’s true; these three men support Swanson and want to lead a nation originally founded on religious and personal freedom, but has lost its way.

But they don’t believe in the Constitution, and have not read the teachings of Jesus Christ. They would rewrite the law of the land to appease their supporters, and twist the actual words of the Bible to substantiate their supposed beliefs.

Rachel Maddow showed clips of the speech on her MSNBC show.

“This is a political event. This is a Republican presidential candidates’ event,” Maddow said. “It really was a ‘kill-the-gays’ call to arms. This was a conference about the necessity of the death penalty as a punishment for homosexuality.”

Of course all three candidates denied that they knew of Swanson’s extremist views, but we also know that is a lie. They would do anything to get votes.

How far our country has fallen. Once a compassionate and tolerant nation is now composed of millions of individuals who hate their fellow man and use religion as a crutch.

I remember the real America. I am thankful every day that I am a senior citizen and lived in times when we were proud to be in the greatest country in the world.

The greatness is gone, and unless our people return to the principles which made it great, it will never wear that label again.

Op-Ed

By James Turnage

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Photo Courtesy of Tito & Eva Marie Balangue

Author’s Page http://www.amazon.com/By-James-turnage/e/B00LOCJ2Z2