“The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose,” says the wealthy Antonio to his young friend Bassanio in Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice.”
So can the politician, he might have added. And the party activist.
When the Trump administration released an outline recently of its forthcoming budget proposals, many on the left expressed dismay. The White House wants to reduce spending on the State Department, environmental programs, arts and broadcast subsidies, and housing initiatives, while significantly increasing outlays on defense, homeland security, and veterans’ health care.
Debating government spending is standard fare in Washington. Sanctimony is, too. But the posturing grows a little too pious when pundits and politicos, brandishing a line from the Bible, declare that Jesus would never reduce spending on X or that God must be in favor of budget hikes for Y — and imagine that that settles the debate.
Some of these Biblical invocations are just silly. The Tabernacle described in Exodus was not a “public art project”; it was religious infrastructure used for priestly sacrifices and to house the Ark of the Covenant.
Read more at The Boston Globe…
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