Impeachment and the hypocrisy of the Christian far-right

Christianity Today printed an op-ed calling for President Trump's removal from office following the impeachment hearings and subsequent Impeachment in the House of Representatives. Trump then called CT a far-left publication (LOLforever) and then Franklin Graham came out in support of Trump and denounced the op-ed. As such, whenever publications talk about Franklin Graham, they seem to always mention Samaritan's Purse - the organization that provides help to people in 3rd world countries as long as they are willing to listen to them proselytize.

Given that, and the direction that our country is heading - legislating Christianity into the public sphere - I though it relevant to repost this rant from 2006 from my personal blog.


Reposted from November 8, 2006 from my personal blog (deliberately unlinked)

Separation of Church and State?... or 4th grade indoctrination?

I'm feeling a need to rant. I’m hoping that I don’t offend anyone here, but my goodness. My 4th grader came home from school with a letter from his teacher (whom we adore, btw). Here’s the first paragraph of the letter, verbatim:

Dear Parents,
We need your help and support. As we enter this season of giving, our class has overwhelmingly voted to get involved and support a very worthwhile and special cause to help children. The program is called Operation Christmas Child, and is a project of Samaritan’s Purse. Mrs. XXXX, one of our kindergarten teachers visited our class upon my invitation and explained the program to the children. This project reinforces our class motto, “Treat others the way you want to be treated”, and the class theme, “I Believe, I Can Achieve, and I Will Succeed.” The children decided to help other children succeed who have very little. For more information please see the attached brochure.

The brochure is for Operation Christmas Child, and features an obviously Muslim little girl on the front clutching a gaily wrapped Christmas present. Inside, is a letter from the organization's president, Billy Graham’s son, explaining how all the needy children who receive Christmas presents from this organization will be taught "about God’s greatest gift, His son Jesus Christ. "

I went to their website, and a portion of the mission statement of this organization reads:
“Since 1970, Samaritan's Purse has helped meet needs of people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine with the purpose of sharing God's love through His Son, Jesus Christ. The organization serves the Church worldwide to promote the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ."

Pardon me, but isn’t that altruistic? Let’s help them so we can promote Jesus. How about helping them because they need help? Oops, wrong rant. This is a public school/religion rant.

And I should mention that I really don't have a problem with the organization per se, because it appears that they are out there helping the needy. My issue is with the promotion of the organization at my son's public school.

Is it me, or am I wrong in having a problem with the public schools asking my Jewish son to participate in Billy Graham’s organization? People file law suits over stuff like this. Don’t get me wrong, we have absolutely no intention of filing a law suit. We did however, write a very restrained letter explaining why our son would not be participating in an Evangelical charity and expressing our disappointment that the school would sanction such a classroom activity. We also explained that we involve our children in giving to those less fortunate than ourselves every year at the holidays and, actually all year round, and that we have explained to our son why he wouldn't be participating.

We also suggested some better choices for next time, such as collecting and wrapping presents for children at our local battered women’s shelter or for the unplaced children in the local foster care system. It was quite professional and restrained, if I do say so myself, when I really wanted to kick and scream about how fricking inappropriate it was.

I’ve often mentioned how I live in the bible belt of my county, but this is taking it a bit too far. The letter from the teacher was cc’d to the principal, and I’m shocked that she didn’t put the kibosh on the project. But I'm often shocked at her behavior. I’m also amazed that I’m the only parent that has a problem with it. But then again, the only other Jewish boy in Youngest's grade is in another class this year.

Am I wrong?

F/U: we let him participate in wrapping the gifts because he wanted to participate, but we still weren't happy about it.

Yes. I DO take joy in this impeachment. Here’s why.

All over the internet there’s discussion of whether we should take joy in the impeachment of Donald Trump. I see some friends whooping it up. I see others that say they take no joy. Well, I do take joy, and I think it’s important to talk about why.

It’s not because I don’t like him – I don’t. It’s not because I think he’s a terrible human being – I do. It’s not because his political ideology doesn’t jive with mine – it doesn’t. It’s not because he’s a narcissist – he is. It’s not because he’s a nepotist – he is. It’s not because he lets people buy their way into positions of power – he does. It’s not because he has no heart – he does (it’s just filled with hate).  It's not because he's a liar who can't tell the truth if his life depended on it – he is. It’s not because I want to reverse the outcome of the election – I do.

It’s one simple reason:
Our Constitution still works.

Our Constitution still works, and that gives me a small sliver of hope that our democratic republic is not completely dead. The House of Representatives has done its job. Impeachment is written into the Constitution for a reason. Not to get rid of presidents we don’t like. Not to reverse an election (though how I wish we could!). If Trump is removed from office, the election isn’t reversed. He was still president. If Trump is removed from office, Hillary Clinton doesn’t get to be president (dammit!). But it does mean that we still agree that a US President is not above the law. A US President is not a monarch, immune to the laws of the country over which they rule. A US President is not a dictator, alone getting to decide what happens, who lives or dies.

Impeachment is written into the Constitution because our founders believed in the separation of powers, that no one branch of government should have complete control. That nobody, including a US President, is above the law.

Donald Trump has used the presidency to consolidate money and power. All presidents do that in some way. But he has done it in a way that consistently violates the rule of law. He “urges” foreign leaders to stay in his hotels, from which he never divested his interest, even though he said he would. When the leader off the free world says you should stay in his hotel, and you rely on that leader's country for financial, social, and military support, you do it.

Donald Trump is committing crimes against humanity. He is forcing families apart, making them live in cages, separating babies from their families, refusing to let them be vaccinated, refusing medical care and basic human needs, adopting their children out to US families without consent, depriving them of dignity and human decency. Do I hope he’s held to account in a court of law for all of this? You bet your ass I do.

Donald Trump has repudiated everything our country has stood for over the last 230+ years. We are no longer a beacon of hope for the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. He gleefully sends asylum seekers back to be killed in the countries they flee. He cares nothing for people who do not look like him or live in his social sphere, refusing to accept refugees because they “don’t contribute”, which is bullshit but again, I digress. He has absolutely no humanity.

Donald Trump has hurt our standing in the world. Oh sure. You can choose to believe him when he says, “They were laughing at us before. They aren’t laughing now.” Except they are. We no longer are a moral leader. Our guidance is no longer needed – there are others to step into that role. We are no longer respected, we are only coddled because of the money we bring to the table. That is the only world that Donald Trump understands. And that is sad. Except it’s not sad, it's enraging. Because it is ruining our democracy.

Some people can’t believe that after all the emoluments clause violations; after all of the Trump foundation violations; after all the national security violations; after all the subversion of the free press; after pushing to make the US a theocracy; after all of the taxpayer paid vacations… hey, we HATED it when the black guy picked up a golf club, remember? Oh right. Golf and the country club are for rich white dudes, my bad. I digress. After all of the crimes against humanity; what caused us to impeach was a shakedown of the Ukranian president.

Frankly, I don’t care what takes him down. Al Capone was taken down by tax violations (something I’m sure would also take down trump if his henchman judges would ever make him release his taxes). I only care that he goes.

One man could have stopped all of this, but has chosen not to. Mitch McConnell, longing for the olden days of yore and slavery and Reagan, refuses to hold this president to account. He’s chosen to ignore close to 400 bills on his desk from the House of Representatives – some of which would hold this president to account by clarifying the limitations of his power. McConnell has chosen instead, to abdicate his responsibility as the Senate Majority Leader in order to use his role instead to preserve an antiquated view of society – lining the courts with lifetime appointments of judges that the American Bar Association deems unsuitable. With judges that will take any social progress of the last 60 years and throw it in the trash. Judges that refuse to say that Brown was decided correctly. That refuse to adhere to settled law that a woman is an autonomous being in her own right with 14th amendment rights. It will take us many decades to undo the damage caused in just 3 short years.

I’m pretty sure this was their agreement. I’ll let you get away with all your illegal crap if you let me choose all the judges I want to preserve our old rich white man land owner “democracy”.

Mitch McConnell deserves to rot in a prison cell at best. At the very least, he deserves to be removed from his position as Majority Leader. Somewhere in the middle lies an election, where the people of Kentucky can fix the country. (Donate to Amy McGrath here)

So do I take joy in Donald Trump's impeachment? You bet your ass I do. No, I don't like him. Yes, I wish he'd never been elected. I hate what it says about our country that he was elected in the first place. I hate what it says about my friends and family who did, and still do, support him and all his ideology. But that's not why I take joy.  It's because it still works.

Our Constitution still works.