Martin Bashir’s verbal takedown of the GOP candidates:
Clear the Air
It’s now time to clear the air and if there’s anything more anathema to some Republicans than having to witness a black man being president, then it is the idea that someone of another religious faith, or no faith whatsoever, might possibly be in the White House. And so, having failed disastrously in that preposterous attempt to suggest that the president is not an American, they are now reviving their effort to imply that the president is not a Christian.
But how does anyone prove that they are a Christian, beyond saying that they are? There is no birth certificate to produce, but there are some very clear signs. Sixty years ago, almost to the day, the great Oxford academic CS Lewis published a book entitled “mere Christianity.” The book was based upon some BBC radio talks that he gave during the Second World War. This is what he said:
“If conversion to Christianity makes no improvement in a man’s outward actions – if he continues to be just as snobbish or spiteful or envious or ambitious as he was before – then I think we must suspect that his conversion was largely imaginary. Fine feelings, new insights, greater interest in ‘religion’ mean nothing unless they make our actual behavior better.”
So let’s apply Lewis’ approach to three individuals – all of whole claim to be devout men of faith, all of whom want to be president.
First Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney earlier this month said this about the president:
“The newly elected President Obama told America that if Congress approved his plan to borrow nearly a trillion dollars he would hold unemployment below eight percent.”
That’s an outright lie. The president never, ever said such a thing. In fact, that was a speculative projection written by Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein about the possible impact of a stimulus package and it was written before the president was even inaugurated.
Mr. Santorum is selling himself as the most Christian of all the candidates. He says Satan is attacking the institutions of America. He talks repeatedly about the great men and women of faith who serve this country through self-sacrifice and generosity.
But when it comes to his own personal commitment to charity, Mr. Santorum is remarkably quiet. And that’s because, in 2012, Mr. Santorum earned almost a million dollars and gave just 1.7 percent to charity. During the same period, the President and the First Lady gave almost 15 percent.
So, the devout Catholic is apparently a hypocrite. And finally, Newt Gingrich. A man who believes that the Christian sacrament of marriage – lifelong monogamy – actually means sleeping with one woman at a time. So, there you have it: the liar, the hypocrite and the adulterer. And remember what CS Lewis wrote:
“If conversion to Christianity makes no improvement in a man’s outward actions, then I think we must suspect that his conversion was largely imaginary.”
(h/t to Nellcote and Rikyrah)
The President of the United States is a Christian – but as for those three – in the words of Franklin Graham – “I don’t think any of us can be categorically certain.”