The Liberal Philosophy: Do as I say…But not as I do

Working in politics sometimes overwhelms me.  Seriously, at times it absolutely drains me.

Granted, I love constantly being aware of what is happening both in Washington and in my local community, and yes, it is very exciting to work in the political world.

But to be honest, I go home every night and purposely avoid the major news networks.  I may talk to my wife about what is going on and check Twitter to get news updates, but for the most part, I turn politics off at my house.

I do my best to keep this same attitude on the weekends as well.  I work in my yard and watch sports and Sundays are for church and naps with my kids.

In fact, at my church (which I would characterize as “center-left”) I purposely avoid talking about politics if at all possible.  Fellow church members know what I do for a living, but for the most part politics is thankfully not a normal topic of conversation.

So you can imagine my surprise a few weeks ago when a guest speaker at our church said these things during his sermon*:

“The Pharisees in Jesus’ day, they were the first century Tea Party people.  On the issue of taxes they were the radical religious right and the Christian libertarians of their day.  The only system of government they cared to support was a biblical theocracy.  They were adamantly opposed to paying taxes to the Romans and their puppet government.”

And this:

“The men who wrote and approved the Declaration of Independence took it for granted that there was a god….Few of them were what fundamentalists and evangelicals and most Baptists would call ‘born again Christians’.

 The truth is Thomas Jefferson was a deist.  Most of the founding fathers were deists.  They lived in a world with a long history of Christians starting wars and killing each other trying to find a way to force everyone to believe the same things about God…

So despite all of the rhetoric from the religious right for the last 50 years, the founding fathers were not standing up against secular, atheistic humanism to announce their belief in the biblical God.  The God of the Bible is a God that intervenes in time and history.  The God of the bible is one who sent His son to die for the sins of the world and redeem us.  That is not the god of the Founding Fathers.  And it’s dishonest to pretend that it is.” (Emphasis mine)

Wait.  Did that guy just equate the Pharisees (the Jewish religious leaders that had Jesus killed) to Tea Party folks?  Did he just use the phrase “radical religious right”?  Twice?  Did he just say they founding fathers were all deists?

I always thought preachers were supposed to leave their politics at the door and not bring them behind the pulpit?  Isn’t that what liberals say about conservatives?

Well, first off, the man who delivered this sermon is neither our pastor nor a regular speaker at our church.  He is not on staff, but he is among those who started our church nearly 10 years ago. 

He is also very well known in the community and within our church as a liberal activist.  In fact, through his blog, a radio show, and as a public speaker, he is a leading advocate across the state on the issue of separation of church and state and religious liberty.

On top of that, our church also is very much in favor of the separation of church and state issue to the point that our pastor is adamant about politics and political causes not being preached from the pulpit under any circumstance.  He avoids it because he hates it when “fundamentalists” and “conservatives” do it, and thus it has no place at our church.

So it is that I cannot even begin to fathom is what the response would have been in our church if someone would have gone behind the pulpit and then proceeded to rip on war protestors or unions or pro-choice advocates or other “left wing” groups while equating them with the folks in Jesus’ day that hated him and were ultimately responsible for having him killed. 

What would have been the response if someone had labeled liberals…well, liberals?  Can you begin to imagine the outcry?

Unfortunately, then, what this story clearly illustrates once again is the prevailing liberal thought: Do as I say and not as I do.  It seems to me that this is a common attitude among those on the left. 

In fact, countless times I have seen this type of hypocritical attitude from liberal political leaders and activists.  By now that is my default expectation for those on the other side of the political spectrum. 

But to be honest, it is truly sad to me to see that this type of “do as I say and not as I do” behavior can even be seen from those on the left who make their living behind a pulpit or as an expert on separation of church and state. 

There is just no place for that as far as I am concerned.

*To listen to the entire sermon, go here.