Politics in the The Bible
Since it's an election year (2012), I thought I'd start a new SAB category: Politics.
Here's the first verse, used by Senator James Inhofe
to prove that human-caused climate change does not exist.
While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. Genesis 8:22
I'll be adding more verses as I come across them, so you'll start to see them now and then in the SAB.
- "Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over ... every living thing that moveth upon the earth."
This verse is used to justify Christian opposition to birth control, concern for the environment, and animal rights. The earth was made for humans, and they can do as they damn well please with it.
Ann Coulter says, presumably using this verse as for justification, "God gave us the earth.
We have dominion over the plants, the animals, the trees. God said, 'Earth is yours. Take it. Rape it. It's yours.'" 1:28
- "To dress and keep it"
Some believers claim that this verse
requires them to be environmentalists. 2:15
- "Am I my brother's keeper?"
Quoted by President Obama at the 2012 National Prayer Breakfast, implying that
the answer is, "Yes, we are our brother's keeper," although Cain probably meant something more like, "I don't know, it's not my day to watch him." 4:9
- "While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."
Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) claims that this verse proves that human influenced climate change is impossible.
8:22
- "I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."
According to David Barton, this verse requires the US to support Israel. 12:3
- God gave Abraham and his descendants all
of the land of Canaan "forever". This promise is still used to justify the
unending battles over the land in the Middle East. 13:14-15, 15:18, 17:8, 22:17-18,
26:4
- "Thou shalt provide out of all the people able men,
such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers."
Only Christian men should be rulers. 18:21
- In his November 20, 2014 speech on immigration,
President Obama quoted this commandment,
saying, "Scripture tells us that we shall not oppress a stranger, for we know the heart of a stranger -- we were strangers once, too."
22:21, 23:9
- "The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel."
The Christian Right uses this verse
to justify an absolute flat tax, where everyone, rich or poor, pays the same dollar amount in taxes. 30:15
-
Moses wiped blood on the tip of Aaron's right ear, thumb, and big toe.
Some of Donald Trump's supporters claim that this verse shows God has chosen him to be president of the United States. Just as Moses wiped blood on Aaron's right ear, God wiped blood on Trump's right ear during the 13 July 2024 assassination attempt - or something like that.Leviticus 8:23
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"Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof."
This verse is inscribed on the Liberty Bell and was used by
abolitionists in their fight against slavery. Leviticus 25:10
- Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, the first freethought/democracy martyrs, refused to follow Moses blindly, saying
that everyone is holy and should be free to think for him or herself. God killed them and their
families for daring to challenge Moses. 16:1-35
- God will choose the king (and he won't be a foreigner). 17:15
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Do unto false witnesses as the criminals intended to do to their victims.
Joel Webbon uses this verse to advocate the death penalty for women who accuse men of rape.
- The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low. 28:43
(See here
for an example of how this verse is used to justify the mistreatment of immigrants by bible-believers.)
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Choose life (!) 30:19
- Scott Pruit, Trump's former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator,
quoted
this verse to justify preventing EPA scientists from serving as scientific advisors if they have previously
obtained EPA funding for their research. 24:15
- "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and
pray ... then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."
The Christian Right uses this verse to argue for a Christian Nation.
But it can also be interpreted to mean that Christians should pray, not vote.
7:14
- "Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the LORD."
Hate the sinner and vote for Christians
-- or God will pour his wrath out on you. 19:2
-
David
Barton at Glenn Beck's "University" says that this verse is the basis for the American Founding Fathers' decision not to
tax churches. 7:24
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So the wall was finished ... in fifty and two days. And ...when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes: for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God.
These verses are used by the supporters of Donald Trump to show that he is God's new Nehemiah.
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This verse is often used by Bible believers to argue against the separation of church and state.
- "Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. Let his days be few; and let another take his office."
A prayer for Christian terrorists.
109:8-9
- "A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just."
The Religious Right uses this verse to oppose estate taxes.
13:22
- "He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to
the rich, shall surely come to want."
A verse for the 47%. 22:16
- "The righteous considereth the cause of the poor: but the wicked regardeth not to know it." 29:7
- "Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction.
Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy."
President Obama quoted these verses
at the 2012 National Prayer Breakfast to show why Christians (unlike Mitt Romney) should care about the poor. 31:8-9
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Donald Trump is the new King Cyrus to his evangelical supporters. In fact, God spoke directly to one of his favorites (Lance Wallnau), saying "Isaiah 45 will be the next US President."
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Christians often cite this verse
as biblical proof that a fetus is a person. Their rationale is if God knows us in the womb, then fetuses are people, too. Of course,
they overlook the verses that show God's willingness to kill both the born and unborn. 1:5,
22:3
- "The prince shall not take of the people's inheritance by oppression, to thrust them out of their possession;
but he shall give his sons inheritance out of his own possession: that my people be not scattered every man from his possession."
This verse is sometimes used to justify protecting the rich from taxation. 46:18
- "In that day ... all the people of the earth be gathered together against it."
According to Michele Bachmann, this prophecy was fulfulled on July 20th, 2015, with
the signing of the Iran nuclear agreement.
(So soon, no doubt, we'll see the astonished blind horses and mad riders that God promises to send in the next verse.) 12:3
- "For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not,
from him shall be taken away even that he hath." Isn't this from the Republican Party platform? 13:12
- "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."
Quoted by Elizabeth Warren in
her 2012 Democratic National Convention speech.
25:40
- "For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath."
-- The US Republican Party motto 4:25
- From his comments on the widow's mites, it appears that Jesus favored progressive taxation. 12:41-43
- "Whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not,
from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have." Jesus was the first Republican. 8:18
- "Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be
much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the
more."
Quoted by President Obama at the 2012 National Prayer Breakfast,
in support of increased taxes on the wealthy. 12:48
- "Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds. (And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.)
For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him."
These verses are used by Republicans to justify protecting the rich from taxation. 19:24-26
- "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's."
Pay your taxes. Keep state and church separate. 20:25
- From his comments on the widow's mites, it appears that Jesus favored progressive taxation. 21:1-3
- The early Christians were the first communists, living a life that was the exact opposite of George
Bush's "ownership
society." 2:44-45
- Imagine no possessions: The early Christians were communists. (See 5:1-11 for the dark side of
Christian communism.) 4:32-35
- The Religious Right often uses Romans 1:21-25 to condemn environmentalists. 1:21-25
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David Barton says
there will never be an AIDS vaccine because AIDS is God's punishment for AIDS. 1:27
- "Rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil."
Robert Jeffress, one of President Trump's advisors, uses this verse
to say that "God has given Trump authority to take out Kim Jong Un." 13:3
- Paul says you should pay your taxes and honor the government. 13:6-7
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"I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase."
This verse is used by Doug Wilson when "planting" his Protestant fundamentalist churches throughout the United States.
- Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 3:17
One of the most-quoted verses in the Bible. It is also one of the most absurd.
Donald Trump cited it at Liberty University, saying, "Two Corinthians 3:17, that's the whole ballgame. ... Is that the one you like?"
- "For your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men ... Thanks be to God."
God loves liberals! 9:13-15
- "The trump of God" 4:16
Donald Trump is the trump of God -- or so says WND, anyway. Donald Trump is God's final warning to America.
- "The law is not made for a righteous man, but ... for them that defile themselves with mankind."
The religious
right says that these verses require that homosexuality be illegal.
1:9-10
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Buffet Rule Bible verse
"Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be ... ready to distribute." 6:17-18
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God gives power to kings.
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Those who are in power should love wisdom.
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God has chosen me to be king, and told me to build a temple.