Righteousness and judgment by Carol Woiman

Righteousness and judgment

by Carol Wolman

 

Psalm 33:   ⁵He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.

 

Spiritual progressives associate self-righteousness and judgmentalness with the Radical Religious Right (RRR), those who condemn women who have abortions, and their doctors, as murderers, those who believe that homosexuals are going to hell, and so are Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and the wrong brand of Christians. 

 

This association, of righteousness and judgment with bigotry and hatred, robs progressives of our strength.  We must be willing to make judgments about Bush and the people around him.  We must feel our own righteousness as we protest the unjust invasion and occupation of Iraq, the lies to Congress about costs of Medicare and Social Security "reform", the restructuring of our taxes to benefit the wealthy, the gutting of our environmental protections, the ruining of our reputation abroad, the trashing of our budget and currency- the list of our grievances is long.

 

We must protest the bullying of John Kerry during the last "election", the rigging of the voting machines, the control of the media.  If we are ignored or suppressed,  we have to shout and yell.  We cannot always be polite.  The insistence on civility is destroying our sense of righteousness and judgment.

 

Just as Jesus denounced the Pharisees of His day, calling them names like "generation of vipers" and "whitewashed tombs", so must we denounce the pious politicians of our day.  Hypocrisy is their defining feature, and must be pointed out over and over again.

 

We are dealing with sociopaths, people who don't care about decency and truth.  They take politeness as a sign of weakness; they always go for the jugular.

 

Too much is at stake to worry about civility.

 

In the name of the Prince of Peace,  Carol Wolman