When the Attorney General of the US Quotes the Bible

[MineralMan]

to justify something, the separation of church and state required by the First Amendment is violated in a serious way. Even though he misused the verse he quoted, the fact that he quoted the Bible at all is shocking to me.

[Lars39]

1. It was a three-fer...floating a theocracy,

a salve to the base to make sure they’re along for the ride, and they couldn’t justify it any other way.

[pazzyanne]

10. Right on the money, Lars39.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

15. Definitely. That's what psychopaths and other corrupted people do

The test you to see how far you’ll let them go. And then push for more once the prior boundary is shot.

Dems need some basic boundary setting trainings and interventions!

[olegramps]

23. They can find better justification in Number 31 in which God Commanded:

1 The LORD said to Moses,
2 “Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites. After that, you will be gathered to your people.”
3 So Moses said to the people, “Arm some of your men to go to war against the Midianites so that they may carry out the LORD’s vengeance on them...

9 The Israelites captured the Midianite women and children and took all the Midianite herds, flocks and goods as plunder.
10 They burned all the towns where the Midianites had settled, as well as all their camps.
11 They took all the plunder and spoils, including the people and animals,
12 and brought the captives, spoils and plunder to Moses and Eleazar the priest and the Israelite assembly at their camp on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan across from Jericho.
13 Moses, Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp.
14 Moses was angry with the officers of the army—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—who returned from the battle.
15 “Have you allowed all the women to live?” he asked them.
16 “They were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice and enticed the Israelites to be unfaithful to the LORD in the Peor incident, so that a plague struck the LORD’s people.
17 Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man,
18 but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.
es every girl who has never slept with a man.

If you look to the Bible for moral guidance and justification you will find it rather confusing at best. I am not surprised that an avowed racist would look took it for justification just has those who came before him attempted to use it to justify slavery.

[Raster]

2. Shocking for me also.

[Pluvious]

27. Will the next shock be when he calls for stoning adulteresses ?!!

And for slaves to obey their masters ?

He really is one sick piece of work.

[Raster]

42. Let me tell ya... watching Hulu's "The Handmaid's Tale" was almost too much...

...seriously. There are persons in this country that would HAPPILY regress to a society based on such a misogynist, hateful, coercive mindset.

[Raster]

3. And isn't it amazing that the Bible is used to justify this downright HATEFUL course of action...

...

[pazzyanne]

12. It doesn't justify anything.

J B Sessions had to dig back into his past to come up with that verse. He isolated it from the preceding verse which changed the meaning of what was said. There are also over 100 passages in the Bible that condemn what he said, including the punishment for what Sessions' policy changed what is happening on our border. If Jeff Sessions actually believes in God and the Bible, he needs to go down on his knees and ask for forgiveness from his Lord.

[Raster]

18. I complete agree with you...

...hence

What I find amazing, and NOT IN A GOOD WAY, is how many, many persons that profess their profound beliefs in a Christian God and are allowing themselves to be led by one of the most un-Christian persons ever to occupy the White House.

[pazzyanne]

22. Sad isn't it.

[3catwoman3]

4. Horrifying and...

...completely inappropriate. I am heartsick.

[RKP5637]

5. It was absolutely incredible!!! Also, the endorsement by him of one religion as the

authority. IMO went against every rule/law. ... especially as AG. It shows where his head is.

[Takket]

6. Where are the religious leaders to denounce these comments?

[MineralMan]

7. Oh, Christianity doesn't judge its own, see.

[pazzyanne]

13. They are out there, including the president of the Southern Baptist Convention

where Pence delivered a "campaign type" speech that was not well received by many attending the conference.

https://www.bing.com/news/search?q=Vp+Pence+Today&qpvt=vp+pence+today&FORM=EWRE
(sorry, I don't know how to post videos - yet)

[Brother Buzz]

20. An oblate from a modestly obscure Episcopal Church monastery spoke up

Link to tweet

frsimmons is Episcopal Priest, Oblate of the Order of Julian of Norwich, but one can assume he's made a study of the Barmen Declaration and the Confessing Church.

[Gothmog]

8. From AG Holder

Link to tweet

[MineralMan]

9. From Jesus. as he supposedly said:

Matthew 18

1At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? 2And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, 3And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. 4Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. 6But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

[Dave Starsky]

39. That was the very first Bible quote I thought of...

When that little goblin said what he did.

It's amazing how these "Christian" assholes have complete amnesia regarding the first four books of the New Testament.

[MineralMan]

41. Most Christian Denominations focus more on Paul's letters

than on the supposed words of the man for whom the religion is named. They're Paulists, not Christians. And that is the rock solid truth of the matter.

[dalton99a]

11. +1

[bigbrother05]

14. American Sharia

Guess the White Wing is still blinded on the road to Damascus or was it Moscow/Mar-A-Lago/Pyongyang?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

16. That verse quoted twice in US history: 1) justifying slavery & 2) by Loyalists against US Revolution

[MrScorpio]

17. Someone should as him, what section us the US Code applies to that Biblical passage?

[BlueJac]

19. Shocked...

right from their playbook. The phony religious right eats that shit up like candy!

[lpbk2713]

21. He clearly demonstrates he has no idea of his legal obligations.

He has no idea what his job is all about. Typical for a Trump political appointee.
He shows no regard for other non-protestant religions, atheists and agnostics.

[marieo1]

24. minngal

Mineral-man: It is shocking to me, too, apparently no one is going to stop these idiots. They will even quote the Bible to get their way, shameful!!

[ancianita]

25. AG Sessions may not pit the christian bible against international law or even the US Constitution.

One need not be christian for this act to "shock the conscience" of citizens.

Blackstone's Law, upon which US law is based, is itself not based on the bible.

[elleng]

26. Lock him up!

(He's literally abusing his authority.)

[sandensea]

28. These southern-fried Republicans have wanted to impose a theocracy for decades.

Now that Cheeto, who ironically looks down on religion as much as any European intellectual (another irony!), is in power, they see their big chance - just as the authoritarian wing of the GOP saw its chance after Bush gave them 911 to rescind the 4th and 6th Amendments (Patriot Act).

Rethugs play for keeps.

[BSdetect]

29. Religion and slavery. The USA's greatest problems linger on.

[catbyte]

30. The only wall we really need to build--or repair, I guess:

[IMG][/IMG]

[calimary]

31. I'd just tell this jerk I have a better quote.

Said to be from Jesus Himself, rather than some scribe who came later and who never met the Man (the apostle Paul, a New Testament convert and Johnny-come-lately, writing letters to the Romans among others - like the Corinthians, the Ephesians, Thessalonians, Galatians, Philippians, Hebrews, Colossians, Timothy, Titus, and others).

Try Matthew 25: 35-45.

That's the one about "the least of these." As in - "whatever you do to the least of these/the least of My brethren, you do to Me." As in - the poor. The hungry. The homeless. The sick. The incarcerated.

What about THAT Bible passage, Jefferson Beauregard?

[progree]

32. Americans United Criticizes Attorney General For Use Of Bible Passage To Defend Border Detention

Policy

https://www.au.org/media/press-releases/americans-united-criticizes-attorney-general-for-use-of-bible-passage-to

Jun 15, 2018

Americans United for Separation of Church and State today sharply criticized U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions for citing the Bible to defend the Trump administration’s policy of separating families at the border with Mexico.

“Sessions’ statement is profoundly disturbing,” said Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United. “The separation of church and state means that we don’t base public policy on the Bible or any religious book. Our nation’s top law enforcement official, however, is using his interpretation of the Bible to defend the Trump administration’s policy of separating children and their immigrant parents.”

Addressing law enforcement officers in Fort Wayne, Ind., yesterday, Sessions defended the controversial policy.

“I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13, to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained the government for his purposes,” Sessions said. “Orderly and lawful processes are good in themselves. Consistent and fair application of the law is in itself a good and moral thing, and that protects the weak and protects the lawful.”

Added Laser, “The American people are free to debate whether our immigration policies are wise, humane or effective, but our government should never be justifying them on their personal interpretations of the Bible.”

[MineralMan]

33. Yes. Of course they did.

However, they have zero authority over Sessions.

We need lawsuits filed in federal courts over this unlawful, unconstitutional nonsense.

[progree]

35. A.U. files many many lawsuits. I've been a member and read their "Church and State" magazine

for many years. And supporting the lawsuits of other such organizations like Freedom From Religion Foundation and ACLU.

I have no idea if they are going to file a lawsuit over this, though... kinda doubt it. Unfortunately, we have people in government quoting the Bible all the time. And then we have all these damn prayer breakfasts

[Initech]

34. The Trump administration has been violating separation of church and state from day 1.

I saw an article a while ago where it said that on any given day there are at least 100 or more Christian lobbyists inside the White House vying for Trump's attention every day. They need to be kicked out now. This is so fucking disgusting.

[MineralMan]

36. 100? Extremely doubtful.

I can't imagine letting 100 people into the White House for any lobbying reason. It simply wouldn't happen. That's not how the White House works.

[Initech]

37. It was a crazy high number.

I'll have to go find that article but it is crazy that Trump is letting these assholes inside the White House.

[MineralMan]

38. Again, I'm sure that's not true.

[hunter]

40. Sessions is one sick fuck...

..well into the red zone of my creep-o-meter.

He seems to get a little tingle down there when he's thinking about Bibles and children in cages.