Whose values? Jesus as a Republican-mediated reality

I went to Catholic school as a kid. We learned about Jesus. Bible stories. Humility. Which made me think about how Jesus disappeared and has been transformed by "Christians" in 2004. Supposedly, the US election was decided along "values" issues, which is a proxy for "Christian" issues. But the hypocrisy and manipulation knows no bounds. Rick Mercier wrote in If you read the Gospels, the Religious Right is mostly wrong:

The truth is, if you depend on the Christian right for your theological sustenance, you probably won't recognize the Jesus of the Gospels.

That "moral values" argument is so weak and overmediated by the "Christians" as to render Jesus and the lessons of the Bible unrecognizable. The "Christian" moralists worry about gay marriage and tax cuts. But they don't seem concerned about real moral values. Mercier continues:

Where in America is the Jesus who sides with the poor and the outcasts? Where in America is the Jesus who disdains those who wear their piousness on their sleeves? Where in America is the the Jesus with the prophetic voice, the radical who dares to tell the powerful what they don't want to hear?

The hypocrisy of this false Jesus shows in behaviors of the Red State Moralists. As Andrews Sullivan writes:

Many of America’s biggest “sinners” are those most intent on upholding virtue. It may be partly because they know sin close up that they want to prevent its occurrence among others.

In Where the Bible bashers are sinful and the liberals pure, Sullivan writes about the disparity between what the Bible-thumpers say they do and what they do. Highest divorce rates? In Southern, Bible-thumping states. Where's the highest abortion rate, liberal Holland or conservative America? Shockingly, it's higher in the US by a factor of three. Highest teen birth rates? Twice as high in Texas as in Massachusetts.

And the icons of Republican "values" are highly suspect. Sullivan continues:

Even a cursory look at the leading members of the forces of social conservatism in America reveals the same pattern. Rush Limbaugh, the top conservative talk-radio host, has had three divorces and an addiction to painkillers. Bill O’Reilly, the most popular conservative television personality, just settled a sex harassment suit that indicated a highly active adulterous sex life. Bill Bennett, guru of the social right, was for many years a gambling addict. Bob Barr, the conservative Georgian congressman who wrote the Defense of Marriage Act, has had three wives. The states that register the highest ratings for Desperate Housewives, the hot new television show, are Bush states.

So, we are told we have a "values" split in the US. And the Red States Hypocrites and "Christians" are exploiting that "fact" as if there's been a shift in morality. It's always funny, methinks the "Christians" doth protest too much is something we should work on. Let's keep working to expose the hypocrisy. And moving to an authentic moral core.