Religion

The "religious right" takes isolated sentences from the Bible to "prove" their political ideology. For example, Luke 19:26 states that Jesus of Nazareth said: "I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but from those that have not, even what they have will be taken away."

The Reaganite "Relious Right" focuses on that and on the statement that Jesus came to give us "life more abundantly." They think that justifies their claim that their wealth is a reward from God, and that the poor deserve their lot because they are just lazy. However, they simply ignore everything else Jesus said about the rich and poor, and they misinterpret the context and meaning of Luke 19:26.

In Luke 19:8-26 Jesus was talking partly about the fact that we generally reap what we sow, and he was specifically talking about the rewards of earning an honest and fair profit from an honest investment. However, Jesus qualified such statements and he also said that it is wrong to reap what you did not sow, or profit unjustly because you were tempted by greed and lust for money. Moreover, he said that you should do unto others as you would have others do unto you, and treat all others as you would want to be treated if you were them -- and be fair, just, kind, and generous.

Moreover, in another sense, what Jesus said about the “haves and have nots” was also a kind of prophecy. He said that during the age he ushered in, and especially now at its end, a corrupt, wealthy, powerful few would take more and more so that the majority and the poor would have less and less.

That has been the case during the passing age, and it's gotten so bad that now 20 percent of the American population owns 95 percent of the nation's wealth, while 80 percent of us are expected to get by on the remaining five percent. And it's getting worse in that regard.

And by the way, Jesus also rebuked the commercial profiteers who were profiting unjustly and had turned the temple into a "den of thieves." He hated greedy profiteers, and he even said it would be "easier for a rich man to try to fit through the eye of a needle than to enter heaven."