The ever more demented Bryan Fischer, the public face of the homophobic American Family Association, is not happy with the recent piece of legislation that averted the so called “fiscal cliff”. (I am not sure if Fischer would have liked no deal at all better, which would gravely harm the economy.)
Hmm. Interesting. Has Fischer read Acts 10 1-11?
5:1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession,5:2 And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.5:3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?5:4 Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.5:5 And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.5:6 And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him.5:7 And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. 5:8 And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much.5:9 Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. 5:10 Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. 5:11 And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.
So you were supposed to sell everything in your possession and lay the proceeds at the feet of apostles for the benefit of the community. And if you keep any of that for yourself you’ll be killed off and made an example of. If Fischer is right on his interpretation of the commandments then the apostles of Jesus were most definitely committing a grave violation.
But of course, the legislation was not all about taxes.
It is not hard to imagine what Fischer’s reaction to the latter part of the legislation would be.
I was raised in the Islamic world. By accident of history, the plague that is entanglement of religion and government affects most Muslim majority nations a lot worse the many Christian majority (or post-Christian majority) nations. Hence, I am quite familiar with this plague. I started doubting the faith I was raised in during my teen years. After becoming familiar with the works of enlightenment philosophers, I identified myself as a deist. But it was not until a long time later, after I learned about evolutionary science, that I came to identify myself as an atheist. And only then, I came to know the religious right in the US. No need to say, that made me much more passionate about what I believe in and what I stand for. Read more...
