Billy Graham took out a full-page ad in the liberal Jew New York Times on Sunday, and urged Christianists everywhere to vote for "biblical principals."
I believe it is vitally important for candidates who base their decisions on biblical principles and support the nation of Israel. I urge you to vote for those who protect the sanctity of life and support the biblical definition of marriage between a man and a woman.
Calling for people to vote for candidates who "support biblical principles" is pure sectarianism -- an un-American sentiment. The Constitution expressly forbids religious tests for a reason. And the irony is, when Islamic clerics call for Sharia Law, people like Graham call them extremists, or worse.
That said, there are plenty of biblical principles I would personally like my candidate of choice follow, including:
The prohibition of usury. It's in the Old Testament. Can you imagine Mitt Romney calling for federal regulation of how much interest banks can charge? Or how about calling for a law that abolishes debts after seven years? Given that he wants to repeal even the modest Dodd-Frank, I can't either.
Caring for the poor. It's pretty much everywhere in the bible which is why Catholic Bishops have denounced Paul Ryan's budget calling it a "moral failing" because it "did not adequately provide for the care of the poor and the vulnerable." The Romney-Ryan approach slashes benefits for the poor and elderly to pay for tax cuts for rich people. Not very Jesus-y.
Making peace. Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers," not "Blessed are those who invade other countries." We don't hear too much about peace from Romney-Ryan, we hear a lot of complaining about why we're not bombing/invading/droning even more people.
Polygamy and incest. OK, I really don't want my candidate supporting these -- but Graham is just making it up when he claims the bible "defines marriage." Unless he wants to kick Abraham and Moses out of the bible for having more than one wife -- or Lot for sleeping with his daughters.
What Graham is doing is what right-wing Christians always do. They begin with a set of right-wing values, then they selectively interpret the bible to comport to those values.
