When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me,I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.
Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?
The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.
They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.
It may seem odd that an atheist would even know that this was in the Christian Bible, but I used to be a believer. Though I don't remember a lot about those days, I do remember that this story, and the Sermon on the Mound, formed two of the pivotal bits of my religious identity. Oddly enough this same story highlights one of the main themes in Christianity that eventually led to me walking away, that of a hell. In this case the people who get sentenced to that hell might well be described as people who where simply going about their lives pretty much minding their own business. At worst they were a bit calloused about the injustice around them, but no where is it suggested they stole food or drink or clothes, that they drove the immigrant back across the boarders, or sentenced the innocent to jail. Though they may not have been very active in making the world a better place (and this assumes they were not good parents, able teachers, skilled craftsmen, or honest business owners), they did nothing to make it any worse. Yet they still “will go away to eternal punishment”.
Though I am not a believer in gods, this bible story (without the hell part) still captures a good bit of my political identity. One crucial item that the Christians seem to miss is that the story revolves around the judgment of nations, not individuals. This may be a criticism of how an individual reacted to one particular beggar, but it equally as much about how societies are structured. The nations that left the hungry and the homeless to fend for themselves, did not welcome the stranger, and who (note this one carefully) did nothing to look after the sick and the prisoner, were condemned.
It is hard to imagine that the United States could find itself at the Son of Man's right hand. (The Son of Man? That title hints, again, at just how far the American Christians have strayed.) Here it would be easy to go into a long diatribe about American and it poor, its prisons, its attitude toward immigrants, and its health care system. From there it would be easy to segue into the love of greed and violence, the priorities of the National Budget, and being the weapons manufacturer to the world.
But my curiosity here, this close to an election, with the Republicans and the T-Party wrapping themselves with the mantel of Religion and claiming a hold on the moral high ground, is more esoteric. They will win (if they win) because Christians voted for them. But if this story is to be believed, they are voting themselves directly into hell.
This is not to suggest the Democrats would do much better. But it can't be denied that the Republican right's politics would clearly seem to those of the goats, not the sheep. To me anyway, it appears that anyone, let alone one claiming to be a Christian, would be hard pressed to explain a vote for Republican party priorities. When shredding social safety nets, building fences and bringing guns to the boarder, deliberately denying health care to millions of citizens, and demanding that non-violent "offenders" be jailed - and often locked into solitary confinement for years, form the basics of the Party platform, claiming ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ will sound pretty lame.
Some think the country is at a crossroads and that the debate actually matters. I don't think that is the case. Long ago, if not at its very inception, the US turned to being a nation for the elite few living off the labor of the many. In a way it doesn't matter how the Christian votes, any more than it matters how anyone votes. But at least, should this bible story turn out to be true, the Christian could claim,
"But Lord, I didn't vote for those who wanted to leave you hungry, homeless, naked, sick and in jail."
Who knows, it might help.
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