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An open letter to Dobson and Falwell

An arrangement dedicated to the promoters of Justice Sunday, borrowed from the Hebrew prophet Amos. Amos had much to say concerning his own generation's version of 'compassionate conservatism':

This is what the LORD says:

For three sins, even for four, I will not turn back. They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed.

Burn leavened bread as a thank offering and brag about your freewill offerings—boast about them, for this is what you love to do, declares the Sovereign LORD.

You who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground, you hate the one who reproves in court and despise him who tells the truth.

You trample on the poor and force him to give you grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine.

For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins. You oppress the righteous and take bribes and you deprive the poor of justice in the courts.

Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is.

Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy on you.

Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them.

Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.

But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!

You have lifted up the shrine of your king, the pedestal of your idols, the star of your god—which you made for yourselves.

Therefore I will send you into exile, says the LORD, whose name is God Almighty.

Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land, saying, “When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?”— skimping the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales, buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat.

The LORD has sworn: “I will never forget anything they have done.”

(From Amos 2:6-8, 4:5, 5:7,10-12,14-15,22-24,26-27, 8:4-7, NIV)

Posted by Mark Poole at 10:38 PM in Religious Right
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Comments

Outstanding.

Posted by: Rick Mathis | January 11, 2006 10:08 AM

Are you aware of this comment, made by Reverend Herbert Lusk, at the Justice Sunday III event? I wonder if you have any comment on it. "I want to say, first of all, be careful how you fool with the church. You mess around with the church, something stirs up inside of me! You be careful because the church has surviving power. My friends, you know this and know this well. Don’t fool with the church because the church has buried many a critic, and all the critics that we have not buried, we’re making funeral arrangements for them!"

Posted by: J. Clifford | January 13, 2006 7:21 AM

I wonder if by 'critics' the church has 'buried', Rev. Lusk is referring to all the heretics, witches, gays and infidels the church has massacred over the centuries? To him I would respond with the following scripture: Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy on us, for we have endured much contempt. We have endured much ridicule from the proud, much contempt from the arrogant. The arrogant are attacking us, O God; a band of ruthless men seeks our lives—men without regard for you. But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. (Psalm 123:3-4, 86:14-15, 1 John 4:16, 1 Corinthians 13:4-5)

Posted by: Mark Poole Author Profile Page | January 14, 2006 12:48 PM