I Guess I'm Not a Very Good Christian

After listening to Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and a host of other Evangelical Christian "leaders", I have come to the conclusion that I am not much of a Christian. I have even been called a counterfeit Christian. I guess I will finally have to admit that they are right and I ought to be ashamed of myself. I am wrong in my thinking in the following ways:

I don't want to give tax breaks to the rich while increasing the regressive taxes on the poor. I was opposed to the repeal of the estate tax. The right wingers call it the "death tax." I call it the "Paris Hilton benefit tax." I suppose a real Christian would feel sorry for her and want her to have more money, but I don't. Like I say, I'm not much of a Christian.

I don't feel like cheering and praising God every time our government executes a criminal. I actually think that through God it is possible that anyone could repent and be saved, no matter how heinous the crime he/she committed. I guess real Christians don't feel that way.

I actually care enough about people at the lower end of the economic spectrum that I believe they should be getting the tax breaks, they should be entitled to first class health care, they should have the best schools, they should be working at jobs that provide something close to a living wage, they should have a safety net of public assistance. But I guess real Christians don't care that much for the poor.

I believe that poor people should have at their disposal great public attorneys when they into trouble with the law and need legal assistance. Real Christians think that only the rich should have the best attorneys and the poor should have some poorly paid, unmotivated lawyer to represent them. I am dang near next to Satan when it comes to Christian values and the poor.

I think our prisons should be a place where law-breakers can get an education, counseling, and drug treatment. I want them to be better able to cope with life when they come out than when they went in. Prisons should not be places of torture, abuse, and depravation -- monster factories. I guess I don't have the same attitudes about punishment and revenge as real Christians.

I don't believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross in order to create a religion that is to be used as a means to control the behavior of all citizens. The Christian faith is one of spiritual regeneration, a changed personality, and a moral code reserved for believers. I think that using Christianity as a toll to manipulate the behavior of whole societies chepens it at is probably blasphemus. But real Christians have no qualms about using government to force non-believers to comply to Christian morals and practices. I must be wrong in thinking God's church is not weak and ineffective and doesn't need the support of government.

I'm not sure how I could be so far off in my thinking. I must read the Bible too much.

Whom Would Jesus Tax

Jesus never really came out in favor of one form of taxation over another. He did not oppose taxes though. In Matthew 22:15-21 we get the following story: "Then the Pharisees went and counseled together how they might trap Him in what he said. And they sent their disciples to Him, along with the Herodians, saying, 'Teacher, we know you are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and defer to no one; for you are not partial to any. Tell us therefore, what do you think? Is is lawful to give a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?' But Jesus perceived their malice, and said,'Why are you testing me, you hypoctites? Show me the coin used for the poll-tax.' And they brought Him a dearius. And he said to them,' Whose likeness and inscription is this?' They said to Him, 'Caesar's.' Then He said to them, 'Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God, the things that are God's.'

I am sure that conservatives would have preferred Jesus to go on a rant about taxation. This certainly would have been the opportune time for him to do so had he desired. But he didn't. In fact, he said to pay the tax to the government that was oppressing them, without complaint.
But even though Jesus was not opposed to taxes, a decerning reader of the Bible will have no trouble figuring out the kinds of taxes Jesus would prefer. Jesus loves poor people. And is always angry with the rich for their arranging things things to ease their burden while piling it on the poor. The Bible is consistant with this theme from beginning to end.

Jesus is never going to be disappointed with anyone who is an advocate for easing the tax burden on the poor. And I doubt he is ever going to feel sorry for the rich if they have to pay more. But I would be most uncomfortable standing before God on Judgement Day saying, "I did what you wanted, Lord. I did everything in my power to cut the taxes for the rich and shift them onto the poor. Did I do good?"

So whom would Jesus tax? The religious right has sold out to the business and investment interests that control the Republican Party. They parrot the party line that cutting taxes for the rich is the proper and even moral thing to do.

So according to the Christian moralists in the Republican Party, the progressive income tax that forces the wealthiest of us to pay a higher percentage on income has to go. They prefer regressive taxes that weigh nore heavily as a percentage of income on the poor. Regressive taxes include excise taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, fees, licenses, and tariffs.

Let's take a look at a few examples. Let's say that the excise tax on gasoline is 40 cents per gallon. A working class family who drives 25,000 miles per year burns up about 1000 gallons of gas and pays the government $400 in excise tax. If that family makes $40,000 per year, that gas tax figures out to 1% of their income.

Now let's say a CEO of a large corporation makes $400,000 per year. Let's also say that his family drives twice as much as the working class family and thus pays $800 per year in gasoline excise tax. $800 is only .2% of their income. Twice the miles driven, but only 1/5 the percentage of income paid in tax. No wonder the rich like excise taxes. They want all taxes to be so regressive. But whom would Jesus tax?

Even taxes that are proportional, that is, they weigh on rich and poor at the same percentage of income are inherently harder on the poor. If a young single mother, working a couple of jobs and earning $20,000 per year is taxed at a rate of 5%, she would be paying $1000. An executive making $200,000 per year taxed at a rate of 5% would be paying $10,000 per year. I guarantee you that $1000 is more important to the young mother than that $10,000 is to the rich CEO. Whom would Jesus tax?

The mantra of the right is "NO MORE TAXES." But what about fees and fines. They love raising them because they affect the rich very little as a percentage of income, but they really sting the poor. There is a fee attached to everything anymore. You can't turn around without having to buy a fee or license. They are nothing more than regressive taxes.

Then we come to health care insurance. One of the reasons health care has gone up so drastically in recent years is that poor people can't afford it. So when they get sick, they go to the emergency rooms. Hospitals don't like to turn them away so they often, but not always, help them. Somebody has to pay for that. Guess who? All of us who have insurance and can afford to pay our hospital bills. The cost of paying the hospital bills of the poor is spread evenly across the insurance premiums of all who have coverage. say the premiums for each family policy have to go up $1000 per policy to pay for all those who don't have insurance. For a working class family whose income is $40,000 that is 2.5% of their income. For that CEO who makes $400,000, that increase id .25% of income. Again the burden as percentage of income is borne by the lower income families. No wonder the rich don't want to have universal health care. If premiums or coverage is paid for by the government and the rich pay a higher percentage of taxes because of our progressive income tax, their contribution toward the premiums is greater that if things are left as is, and the cost is spread evenly across the population. So whom would Jesus tax?
Jesus wants believers to be advocates for the needy. That has been the mission of the church throughout history. There have been times in which the church has for political and economic reasons turned its back on the needy. I am afraid, thanks to the religious right, the Church is sliding into such a time once agin. Too bad.