Tea Party Jesus!

I think that it would be important to point out that these are not pictures of Jesus, they are paintings. He’s looking kind of pale, by the way…

I don’t think they had cameras back then–maybe they did, who knows?

I think this is highly disingenuous. Most of the quotes are from Beck, Limbaugh, and Coulter, who are certainly wacky and right-wing, but you’re wrong if you think they represent either the Tea Party movement or the right generally.

Hating the Tea Party movement is fashionable these days, except that anyone who views them as a monolithic blog of knuckle-dragging conservative Republican men is in for a surprise.

For instance, 28% of Americans support the movement, while 26% oppose it and 38% are neutral. (http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/90613-poll-28-of-americans-support-tea-party)

Polls on the composition of the movement vary, with some putting Democratic and Independent members of the group at 40% (http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/polls/90541-survey-four-in-10-tea-party-members-dem-or-indie).

The Christian Science Monitor ran a story saying that the movement has “slipped into the mainstream,” and mentions that more than half of members are women (http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2010/0403/Amid-harsh-criticisms-tea-party-slips-into-the-mainstream)

– Andrew, Republican Atheist

Edit: my point isn’t meant to suggest that Hemant is making these assumptions, so much as to provide a little more context.

AH has a good point. Who is to say what 2000 year old Jesus would think? He was fairly apolitical- I think we would have a hard enough time dividing Founding Fathers or Ancient Romans into our modern political system,* much less an illiterate Jewish man in a dress who thought the world was about to end 2000 years ago.

*We would totally be great at guessing Egyptians, though. Hatshepsut would be an awesome Democratic Senator, but she would be booted for sex scandals. Meanwhile, her brother/husband would be a one-term member of the school board.

Pretty snarky to put 21st century socio-political commentary in the mouth of a person who ‘lived’ about 20 centuries ago, who spoke aramaic (which doesn’t translate into any western language well at all), had little concept of politics as we know it, and had only his Jewish upbringing as a knowledge base. It’s like giving any credibility to the WWJD thing.

The so called ‘Tea Partyers’ spout drivel and lies, innuendo and leading statements they leeched from *ssholes like Sean Hannity (they can’t think for themselves – it’s obvious!)
The quotes attached to familiar-looking characterizations of the figure someone wants us to think about as looking like the ‘Jesus’ person are similar – they make no sense in context, and are based on made-up thoughts. Cute in a perfectly fictionalized world.

I can’t help but notice that, for a Palastinian, that Jesus has rather Anglican features…

though nobody better dare claim they are daguerreotypes!

daguerreotypes! Don’t even get me started… actually I’m certain that’s something Tea Party Jesus talked about.

The pictures here are from quotations by Rep. Westmoreland and Rush Limbaugh, neither of whom is associated with the Tea Protest movement. I haven’t looked at all of the pictures on the linked site, but, of all the ones that I did check, none were from Tea Partiers. This is really “conservative Christians saying stupid things,” not “Tea Partiers.”

This is an important distinction: most of the Tea Partiers are well-meaning individuals who have lost jobs or suffered other hardships due to the economic policies of Obama (and as such have legitimate reasons to be angry, even if they express themselves in stupid ways), and, since most of them are on the lower end of the formal education spectrum, it’s really in bad taste to make fun of them, even when they say a lot of stupid things. Limbaugh, on the other hand, is most definitely fair game.

Neon: You mean besides using the health care reform to try and ban abortion

Last I checked, neither Stupak nor any of the legions of Democrats that agreed to his Faustian bargain were either Republicans or Tea Partiers. Also, “try and” is a nonstandard usage. You mean “try to.”

“Last I checked, neither Stupak nor any of the legions of Democrats that agreed to his Faustian bargain were either Republicans or Tea Partiers. Also, “try and” is a nonstandard usage. You mean “try to.”

That doesn’t change the fact that many Tea Partiers supported the anti-abortion language and threatened Stupak with violence because he didn’t push for an anti-abortion enough bill.

“And about Obama being a Muslim: well he’s certainly lying about being a devout Christian. From his own words, I’m almost 100% convinced he’s a waffling agnostic.”

This says more about what you consider to be devout than it does Obama’s faith. The concept of moderate Christianity is obviously lost on you.\

“So the incredulity concerning his Christianity is warranted. But far more telling, he was registered as a Muslim until around age 12 in Indonesia where he was raised by his nominally Muslim step-father. He also once said that “the Muslim call to pray is one of the most beautiful sounds on Earth”.”

Please use facts and reason instead of putting faith in Republican propaganda. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/24/AR2007012400371_pf.html

lol!
silly is what silly does… or was I supposed to use a different adjective.

I never said Obama attended a Muslim school. I said he was registered as a Muslim at his Indonesian school. In Indonesia, all students are registered as a religion when they attend even secular schools.

As for what Obama is: No, he’s not a moderate Christian. See this quote. Imagine this quote outside his proclamations of Christian devoutness:

“I wondered whether I should have told [my daughter] the truth, that I wasn’t sure what happens when we die, any more than I was sure of where the soul resides or what existed before the Big Bang.”

Come on. That’s the words of an agnostic, not even a moderate Christian. A moderate Christian says: I believe that Jesus died for my sins, but occasionally my faith wavers in time of need.”

You can read more here:

http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/10/obamas_religious_ruse_ive_alwa.html

Yes it’s right-wing, but the sources are Obama’s own quotes. It also includes protestations that he’s a Marxist, but ignore those parts of the article. It includes this:

Without intent, he corroborated this in a 2007 New York Times interview: with a first-rate Arabic accent Obama recited the opening lines of the Muslim call to prayer and remarked that it is “one of the prettiest sounds on earth at sunset.”[5] These lines chant the confession of faith committing one to Islam: the declaration of Allah’s supremacy, that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad is his prophet.[6]

Also, OneSTDV, the point of the first quote went way over your head. Hint: it wasn’t the part that suggests the Obamas are elitists that’s the most questionable.

“I never said Obama attended a Muslim school. I said he was registered as a Muslim at his Indonesian school. In Indonesia, all students are registered as a religion when they attend even secular schools.”

From the article, “The document required that each student choose one of five state-sanctioned religions when registering _ Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Catholic or Protestant. Gibbs said he wasn’t sure why the document had Obama listed as a Muslim.

“Senator Obama has never been a Muslim,” Gibbs said. “As a six-year-old in Catholic school, he studied the catechism.”

“As for what Obama is: No, he’s not a moderate Christian. See this quote. Imagine this quote outside his proclamations of Christian devoutness”

You’ve obviously never heard of Bishop Spong before: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XL8LvaJ9Rc

“Yes it’s right-wing, but the sources are Obama’s own quotes. It also includes protestations that he’s a Marxist, but ignore those parts of the article. It includes this:”

So, he thinks a Muslim prayer sounds pretty? So what? There’s passages in the Koran I like too but that doesn’t make me a Muslim unless you think all non-Muslims should hate everything about Muslims and you can never say anything nice about Islam unless you’re a Muslim, which again, says more about you than Obama. I don’t get what your point is. Are you trying to argue Obama is a Muslim agnostic? That makes no logical sense.

Nice touch with his words in red.

Gibbs said he wasn’t sure why the document had Obama listed as a Muslim.

Gosh I can’t figure out why either. Nice evasion here.

I’m not arguing that Obama is a Muslim. I personally believe he’s an agnostic who uses Christianity as a political device.

Instead, I’m arguing that believing Obama is a Muslim isn’t outlandish. He has rather intimate connections to Islam, far more than the vast majority of Americans. Does this equate with actual belief? Of course not. But it does confer at least some credibility upon those that view his professed Christianity somewhat incredulously.

This is especially relevant because Islam remains the most potent threat against the West. It’s probably not in our best interest to have a leader who sympathizes with the edicts of that pernicious belief system.

Again, nice evasion.

Look, one half of his family is Muslim (and despite not knowing him, he idolized his father’s side of the family), one of his half-brothers is a devout Muslim, he was raised by a nominally Muslim stepfather in a predominantly Muslim family where he was registered as a Muslim and taught Islamic prayers.

Almost anyone who has that kind of background is either a Muslim or a nominal Muslim through adulthood.

Obama didn’t even “find Christ” until his mid 30’s, coincidentally right around the time he was starting his political career and, another coincidence, choosing a highly influential church within his constituent community.

On top of that, we have his own quotes that speak to a rather enervated formulation of Christianity.

Now knowing all that: Is it really THAT crazy to think Obama harbors some Islamic belief?

I personally think he’s an agnostic, but I’m not going to censure people who find his professed faith somewhat dubious.

These are the same kind of people who were shouting for his death at the McCain/Palin rallies.

Death threats that only one journalist heard, and the Secret Service didn’t.

If tea partiers are being linked with hateful far righters, gee, I can’t imagine why given their behavior spitting at Congressman[1] and calling out racial slurs[2] in protest of an issue that had absolutely nothing to do with race. And I don’t care how much you disagree with a Congressman, you don’t spit at him.

[1] At worst I think the guy was guilty of say it don’t spray it.

[2] No evidence of racial slurs. There’s a $10,000 reward for evidence, and there’s nothing. Even with tons of cameras around (cameras that did capture the “spitting” incident.)

What has been going on is a smear campaign against the Tea Partiers. I personally think they’re a bit nutty, but they’re not that different from previous demonstrators. I would hope that rationalists would be guided by evidence.

Well, Neon Genesis, you should try reading the article. It was a specific claim about the n-word being shouted loudly 15 times. Not that nobody has ever used the n-word during the wrangling over health care. One voice mail by some deranged person? You seriously think that’s representative of a movement of many thousands of Americans?

You’re going to find nuts attached to any movement, the main difference with the Tea Party is the media decided to make the Tea Party narrative “they’re a bunch of crazy racists”. They highlight those loons to make the movement look bad. They could’ve done the same thing with a left-leaning movement but they didn’t because of their political bias. It’s a political strategy that others have discovered independently.

Where are all these calm and rational Tea Partiers you claim that exist…

If you had read my previous comment, you’ll see that I said “I personally think they’re a bit nutty”. If you’re not willing to read either the article I linked to or even my comments, then there’s no point in continuing this conversation.

What I am saying is the media has portrayed Tea Parties as akin to a Ku Klux Klan rally, and it is a deliberate effort in order to marginize all opposition to Obama’s healthcare as the views of violent racist nuts.

It’s the same sort of thing atheists face when religious people point out such representative atheists as Ze Dong and serial killers.

Say it don’t spray? Seriously, um, I don’t see that proved. In fact, maybe he’s cupping his hands for a reason. To cover it up. Maybe. Could go either way. Probably why charges weren’t pressed. No proof. Not to mention the negative publicity it would have garnered him. And can you press charges just for name calling? Even hateful name calling?

I do have to say that given that he was cupping his mouth makes it more dubious that he accidentally sprayed it while saying it. If it was just say it, don’t spray it as you claim, his hands, not the Congressman, would have got it.

I don’t have the time or inclination to comb through all the you tubes out there on this. Mostly you just hear shouting. And see the spitting incident and the Black Caucus’ path blocked as they head in to vote. Seemed like they were trying to keep them from getting in, which is fairly racist in and of itself. They try and stop white members of Congress from entering? All in all, I think they were very wise to arrive together.

If I get some serious time to kill, I’ll hunt further. Don’t hold your breath. I’m not retired yet and even if I were, I’m certain I’d have better things to do.

Neon Genesis,

That is not how the tea party is portraying themselves. That is how the University of Washington is. If you took a survey of all the atheists on the planet you’d find that a very large majority are racists. The Chinese aren’t exactly known for being racially tolerant. How do you feel about that.
Do you feel that this guy represents you? He thinks that a good way to promote atheism would be a sign that says “Fuck your god, Nigger”. This is closer to atheists portraying themselves than a survey of one hundred anonymous people who probably never showed up at a tea party protest.

Neon Genesis,

Based on your comment about the $10,000 reward I’ve come to the conclusion that you are a moron. The reward is for a video backing up the claim that the N-word was shouted at the tea party protest that the Congressional Black Caucus made a point of parading in front of.

Also you’d think you’d at least have the brains to include a video at a tea party protest with the n-word to collect your prize. No you have a white woman saying she’d like to hang another white woman, some random hate mail, and some random hate voice mail. All unrelated to any tea party event.

You are a sham.

How about they’d sound funny coming from Jesus because, theoretically, he was for tolerance and compassion and these comments are about bigotry and hate. But then, the Right seems to think hating minorities and women is normal, so I guess they wouldn’t see anything wrong there.