Who Would Jesus Vote For?

Please note that these are just my observations and opinions. I am by no means saying that Christian Republicans are the only people with dirty little secrets. I am merely commenting on what appears to be a growing issue within the Republican ranks. In the last couple of years the list has grown and grown so I think the situation should be examined. Here are the Top 5 Reasons for Republican Sex Scandals, in my opinion, of course.

• Power. Most of us equate “Republican” with “Christian Right” they do not all fall neatly into that category but many do. That’s quite a combination of power, political influence and God. Since most sex crimes are about power and control and not sexual release, it stands to reason that the sort of people who would commit said crimes would try and place themselves in a position of power, such as Congressman, church elder, etc.

• Sexual hangups stemming from a lifetime of “sex is dirty” lectures at home, at the pulpit, and in our supposedly religion free schools. This one is pretty self explanatory, make something dirty or taboo and it becomes more wanted, yet not openly for the most part. Like Larry Craig in the stall, the desires of our religious Republican leaders are hidden, making them all the more scandalous when they are revealed.

• The Church encourages members to be closed to the outside world, creating a haven for those people who might be pedophiles or other such lowly creatures to select and prey upon their victims. We see the perfect example of this in the Catholic priest scandals. The Church wanted it all handled internally so instead of prosecution, the offenders were shuffled around receiving even more opportunities to hurt children.

• Republicans and the Religious Right do not foster amongst themselves, or anywhere else for that matter, a furtherance of civil rights. Women are subject to their husbands, minorities are not given equal treatment, and if you are gay then you are damned. This automatically leads to secrecy and shame if you are different, a desire to keep things, such as abuse, quiet and not to “rock the boat”. A common family theme from religious, conservative households is that what happens in the home stays in the home. Again this is something that is seen on a larger scale within religious communities themselves. When progress is not being made on personal rights and protections the people who need help the most are ignored and left to fend for themselves. Thus children will be molested and not feel free to say something, a woman (or man) may be pressured into an inappropriate relationship and not feel like they can report it, or a gay Congressperson or clergy member may push their identities so far down that their true selves are revealed through desperate or illegal acts. (Gay hookers and meth)

• The lack of an internal moral compass. I suspect that this will be the most controversial of my opinions on this matter. Please let me explain. Whenever I am debating anything with a zealous religious conservative I am bound to be confronted with “If we didn’t have the Bible we wouldn’t know how to act morally” or “Without God to judge our actions we would have no reason to behave ethically.”

  This argument infuriates me on several levels. The first, of course, is that I am a very nice person. I do not murder, torture, rape, pillage, or plunder and I do not have a personal relationship with any deity, I do not follow the teachings of a holy book, indeed I do not believe in the fairy tales of religion. The second reason this argument angers me is that it is not factually based. Just a little bit of research will show that secular societies are much more peaceful than religious ones, for the most part.

  This is not something that is able to be logically argued with a Christian the majority of the time. They really don’t understand how anyone could live a moral life without the bible or a god watching over them in judgment. That leads me to believe that these individuals may not have a moral compass like millions of other people do. The common sense voice inside that tells you it’s not ok to steal, lie, and kill. In fact, I believe that many are actually fairly blood thirsty and hateful people. Nothing gets to me more than the “culture of life” advocating for the death penalty, wanting to stop social services, and promoting discrimination against whatever difference is in style at the moment. These are the people from which spring the likes of the Minutemen at our borders and an administration who is killing thousands of people in the name of their god.

  Because most religious people grow up being indoctrinated into their belief system it is easy to see how this lack of a moral compass can develop. They follow a loosely tied together historical book to the letter (on some things) that was written and compiled by men with definite political, social, and personal agendas of their own. A book that promotes slavery, the oppression of women, rape as a way to celebrate victorious bloody battles, murder, incest, and the list goes on and on. Because I believe that most humans innately possess the feelings and understanding needed to behave in a moral, ethical manner, it makes sense to me that one would recoil from the vile teachings of the bible. This creates a maelstrom of confusion within the believer. They have been taught that this is the holy word of god and yet it goes against our natural feelings of what is right, this begins a struggle in which the natural feelings of revulsion lose out to the promise of eternal life and blessings. For most people this is not a conscious process or choice, they have been told over and over that the Bible is right and unerring so it follows a natural path. This then leads to the reality that these people have effectively squashed their inner voice of right and wrong and thus we see this tragic process played out in the media.

So there you have it, the Top 5 Reasons for Republican Sex Scandals, as I see it. Admittedly this is my own conjecture, I am interested in your take on the numerous sexual (and other) scandals plaguing our religious right as a whole and the Republican party specifically.