Posted on 01/09/2004 12:58:41 AM PST by JohnHuang2
Howard Dean stumbles upon the Creator
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
Well hallelujah! Praise the Lord. Howard Dean has found God. Glory be.
The former Vermont governor and democratic frontrunner says he'll be talking a lot more about religion and faith in the campaign as he now tries to woo Southerners in the presidential election. According to the Washington Post, "Dean said frequent trips to Bible Belt states such as South Carolina, where evangelical Christianity flourishes ... are prompting him to more candidly discuss his faith."
Now there's a man of conviction for you ... bringing God out of the closet in order to woo voters. I suppose if he were running for the presidency of Tibet he'd by now be sitting with a turban on his head, in the lotus position, meditating on the sound of one hand clapping.
But it does make you wonder which is nuttier: to suddenly become religious in order to get votes, or to be stupid enough to admit it? "Faith is important in a lot of places, but it is really important in the South – I think I did not understand fully how comfortably religion fits in with daily life ... The people there are pretty openly religious, and it plays an ingrained role in people's daily lives," he said.
What? He just discovered that faith is important in the South? What did he think "Bible Belt" meant? A clothing shop where old pieces of scriptural parchment are turned into a garment that holds up men's trousers?
It gets better: "Dean was reared an Episcopalian, but left the church 25 years ago in a dispute with a local Vermont church over efforts to build a bike path." Certainly a profound reason to chuck in one's faith. Jews died for the law of Moses, Christians were eaten by Roman lions over their faith in Jesus. Dean dropped his church for the Tour de France.
If I sound cynical, it's intentional. To be sure, any man or woman's preparedness to speak openly about religion should be applauded. In this age of rampant materialism, where women covet shoes and men worship sports heroes, a politician who is prepared to mention God – however belatedly – deserves applause. So why am I so tough on Dean?
Two reasons.
First, there are areas of life, like telling a woman you love her, that are convincing only when they are sincere. Religious faith is one such area. You can't just start talking about God artificially. It will appear canned and capricious and people will see you for the faker you are. It must emerge organically from the heart, spring naturally from the soul.
George Bush talks about God because he follows Him. Joseph Lieberman speaks of God because he walks with Him. They couldn't stop themselves even if their pollsters ordered them to do so. In the 2000 presidential election, Lieberman was widely criticized – even by Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League! – for making faith such a central issue in the campaign. Still, he persisted because he is a man utterly animated by faith. Telling him not to talk about God would be like telling him not to campaign with his wife Hadassah.
It is better for Dean to first sincerely find God than to artificially plug Him into a campaign message that is geared to a specific audience.
Which brings me to my second objection.
By now you are thinking: "Shmuley, you arrogant, judgmental Neanderthal. How dare you say that Dean must first find God. How do you know what's in his heart?"
But I know that Howard Dean hasn't sincerely found God, and here's how.
From time immemorial philosophers have debated what the primary determinant of religious faith is. How do we know when someone's religious conviction is sincere?
Some say it is a love of God's creatures. But I have met legions of confirmed atheists who are sincere humanitarians and sincere lovers of the human family.
Others argue it is martyrdom and a preparedness to lay down one's life for God. But suicide bombers – who are as distant from God as Hugh Hefner is from fidelity – die for their "god" every day of the week.
Still others argue that faith is judged principally by ritual observance, but we all know religious people who are devout church or synagogue goers but who may not be ethical in business.
Which brings us to this conclusion: The most accurate arbiter in judging people's attachment to God is the extent to which they hate and fight against evil.
Secular humanists can be good people, but they usually find some way of excusing the actions of a Chairman Mao or a Marshall Stalin. A man as enlightened as George Bernard Shaw called Hitler a great man, and look how many people on the left – honest and goodly in their daily lives – object to the war in Iraq and find compelling reasons why Saddam should have been left in power. They may love good people, but they don't hate evil people.
But the truly religious hate murderers because they see them as the arch-enemies of the God who created life. They despise the heartless because they are the opponents of the God who created love. He or she is who is sincerely attached to God will manifest their faith first and foremost in their loathing of cruelty and their abhorrence of mercilessness.
If you don't hate Kim Jong Il who is starving his people, if you don't loathe the Klan for killing innocent black children, if you are not filled with odium at the muttawa'a, the Saudi religious police who in March 2002 allowed 15 high-school girls to burn to death rather than be allowed to escape without their head coverings, you may still be decent, but you have a very weak relationship with God.
Thus the book of Proverbs declares, "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil," and King David declared regarding the pitiless, "I have hated them with a deep loathing; they are as enemies to me."
Whatever virtue Howard Dean may possess, a hatred of murderers is not one of them.
Dean is the man who famously referred to Hamas terrorists as "soldiers," and promised in September 2003 that if elected president he would pursue a more "even-handed" approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying that "it's not our place to take sides." A man who cannot choose between a law-abiding democracy and a murderous tyranny is both immoral and irreligious.
Dean also recently said that Osama bin Laden deserved a fair trial. This while bin Laden, with cold delight, discussed with Khaled al-Harbi the horrific aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks on that infamous video tape, and releases one audio message after another promising America "you will not see from us anything but bombs, fire, destroying homes and cutting heads."
To be fair, Dean later recanted those words and said that bin Laden ought to be assassinated. He may have meant it. Or he may have just been pandering that day to religious Southerners.
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Me, I'm goin' back to bed. :o)
Which one of these people has a better chance of getting into heaven.....??
A) An atheist who abhors evil and has "worked for the side of good" his entire life, or
B) A externally devout "believer" who has worked for evil thier entire life - then confesses all sins seconds before dying.
Just wondering....
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