Love Thy Neighbor

(This blog will likely be controversial, although it’s not intended to be. It is intended to make you think. Also, it is not intended to generalize or lump everyone into one bucket, but for the sake of argument, I have generalized the issues in order to make my point. Please read this with an open mind and an open heart. And, please feel free to respectfully agree or disagree.)

Love thy neighbor as thyself. 

It isn’t often you’ll find me quoting bible verses. In fact, I can’t begin to tell you the last time I’ve even thought about the bible. See, I’m what you would consider agnostic. I don’t know if there is or is not a god, and frankly, I don’t care. 

The last place you’ll find me is at church, and I like it that way. I have major issues with organized religion. 

That said, I grew up Catholic. I went to church every week, attended parochial school, even taught religious education for a few years, and happily promoted my religious views to anyone who would listen. When I was in elementary school, I started a petition to gather as many signatures as possible to send to President Reagan, pleading with him to end abortion. 

In high school, I was the girl who made it well known that I would be saving myself for marriage. Yes, I was that religious. (And, no, I didn’t fulfill that promise to myself.)

As I grew older, I started questioning my faith and particularly the Catholic religion. I started to see it in a new light - a light that no longer fit with my views - and I happily turned in my membership card over 10 years ago.

Religion isn’t for everyone.

I also used to be a Republican. A staunch Republican. I didn’t know why I was, but I knew that 99% of my family fell onto the right side of the equation, so I did as well. I used to argue Republican issues until I was blue in the face. Just because. Rarely did I truly understand the issues though.

Sometimes while I was in heated discussions with “the other side,” I would feel something in the pit of my stomach. Something didn’t feel right to me, but I had grown up to believe in a cause no matter what, so I ignored it for years. As a Catholic, I was taught that the church defines the rules and you go along with them. It wasn’t up to little old me to question the Catholic church, or the Republican party, for that matter. 

Back then, I didn’t understand what the Republican party stood for, but gosh darn it, I knew I was one. Once I did research and discovered what the party believes, I quickly turned in that membership card too. That was 4 years ago. 

I went from a conservative, Catholic Republican to a very liberal, agnostic Democrat. The gnawing sensation in the pit of my stomach has gone away. This just feels right to me. For me.

I firmly believe that everyone has a right to her own opinion. What’s right for me isn’t going to be right for everyone. And, that’s okay. 

However, I cannot accept when someone is for or against something, or labels themselves as something, without understanding why. I used to be that person and now, I feel sad for anyone who hasn’t taken the time to figure out what’s right for them. 

Not what you are because you grew up a certain way, because your entire family believes in something, or because you don’t know any other way. 

Take the time to do research. Figure out what feels right for you. If you realize that the way you started is the way you end up, that’s great. But know that you put in the effort to figure out the why.

One of my major beefs with the Republican party is that it is pro-corporation and pro-upper class. Remember the George Bush tax cuts for the rich? Did you hear President Obama’s State of the Union speech? Did you hear one mention of giving tax breaks to the rich? I didn’t.

Do you remember the last election when the right made fun of then candidate Obama for being a community organizer? Like it was something to look down upon? I firmly believe that Jesus would have been considered a community organizer in his time. He also would likely have been a Democrat - for the people, not for corporations or the rich.

What I find shocking is that, I believe, many Republican politicians hide behind religion. They get voted into office because they say they are a Christian or they are pro-life. But, do they serve the people as Jesus would? I don’t think so.

Case in point, the majority of Republicans are against the government providing health care to uninsured Americans. They don’t want a public option. Why? It mainly comes down to money. I’ve heard far too many people on the right saying that their tax dollars should not be spent insuring people who don’t have the capacity, income or otherwise to get insurance on their own. It isn’t their responsibility! To each his own!

Love thy neighbor as thyself.

I love how the large majority of Republicans are pro-life. They fight tooth-and-nail to abolish abortion. They believe that unborn babies have a right to be born. To live. Oh, but once you’re alive - sorry, we don’t care if you have health insurance or not. We fought for you to live; now, you’re on your own! It’s not my problem!

Love thy neighbor as thyself.

Or, when I read political message boards and see the anger fueled by the United States sending money and aid to Haiti. I’ve seen arguments, from the right, stating that we have Americans without jobs and how dare we send money to other countries! We should take care of Americans first, dammit!

Love thy neighbor as thyself.

Do you think when the bible said, “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” it means only American neighbors? I don’t think so. 

See, we’ve become so attached to labels that we fail to see the bigger picture. The majority of us reading this blog are Americans, yes. But, we are also world citizens. We live on planet earth. We are earth citizens.

That brings me to my next beef. For the life of me, I cannot understand how the majority of Republicans do not believe in global warming. As if it’s a matter of believing or not. 

Think about this for a moment. Christians believe that god created the earth. From the earth, he created Adam and Eve. We come from the earth and when we die, we return to the earth. During our lives, we cannot live without the earth - without the air we breathe, the water we drink or the food we eat. All beautiful gifts from the earth.

Yet, the large majority of Republicans don’t care about environmental issues. They think global warming is a farce. They openly laugh at environmentalists, ridicule any efforts to be green and bash scientists who are pleading with us to change our abuses of the earth. How can this be?

How can you believe that god created the earth, but yet, you don’t do your part to protect it? To honor it? To sustain it?

It is beyond comprehension to me. 

Actually, it’s just plain sad. I think this Republican stance is founded in ignorance. In hypocrisy, like so many other issues the party stands behind. How can you say you’re a Christian, but yet, you value money before people? How can you love god, but not love the earth and all the people he created? 

When your fellow world citizens experience a devastating natural disaster, how can you say that it’s not our responsibility to help them because they aren’t Americans? Who the hell said Americans are more important than everyone else?

Love thy neighbor as thyself.

I don’t hate Republicans. I do hate what the Republican party stands for. I do hate that it uses religion as fuel to win elections, when overall, the issues and initiatives it supports are not religious, Christian or otherwise. When you peel back the layers, you’ll see that the Republican party believes in making the rich richer, making corporations bigger, and ultimately, taking care of oneself above all else.

So I ask, do you think Jesus would agree? I don’t think so.

Love thy neighbor as thyself.