On Campaign Trail, Democrats Put Their Faith in Book of James

[MrsSmith]

DeepModem Mom  (1000+ posts)       Sat Jul-12-08 12:15 PM
Original message

On Campaign Trail, Democrats Put Their Faith in Book of James 

 
By Benedicta Cipolla
Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly
Saturday, July 12, 2008; B09

When Sen. Barack Obama talks about faith, he sometimes invokes the New Testament Book of James and its admonition that "faith without works is dead." As she competed for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York frequently did the same, often more regularly than Obama (D-Ill.), though what she called her "personal theology" sometimes took a different tack, saying that "works without faith is too hard."

Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) also called upon James in the 2004 election, saying, "There's a great passage in the Bible that says, 'What does it mean, my brother, to say you have faith if there are no deeds?' " Even back in 2000, in trying to characterize George W. Bush's outreach to African Americans as shallow, Al Gore invoked James in a speech to the NAACP: "Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works."

The repeated references to James highlight an often overlooked and sometimes criticized book of the Bible. For centuries, its supposed conflict with St. Paul and the Protestant doctrine of justification by faith alone relegated it to the sidelines of biblical scholarship. Yet the book is finding new life in American politics, with James emerging as the Democrats' go-to theologian, and his epistle as their favorite passage of Scripture.

"'Faith without works is dead' translates politically into 'rhetoric without action is dead,'" said Kevin Coe, co-author of "The God Strategy: How Religion Became a Political Weapon in America."...

{there is a link to an article, can't get it to work...}
 

Faith without works is dead...

For Obama, charity really began in the U.S. Senate
By Bob Secter | Tribune staff reporter
April 25, 2007

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Public attention to charitable gifts has led to uncomfortable moments for prominent political figures. Then-Vice President Al Gore came in for withering ridicule in 1998 when his tax return showed he had contributed just $353 to charity. So did then-President Bill Clinton, after a review of old tax returns revealed that he had once claimed a $75 deduction for donating a suit with ripped pants to the Salvation Army, as well as $2 for a pair of used underwear and $9 for six pairs of used socks.

Obama's household income has been inflated the last two years from the proceeds of lucrative book deals he signed shortly before entering the Senate in 2005. He pledged to turn over $200,000 of the book money to charity.

On their just-filed 2006 tax return, Obama and his wife, a hospital administrator, reported taxable income of $983,626 and claimed deductions for $60,307 in charitable donations. In 2005 they earned a combined $1.65 million and gave away about $77,300.

In 2002, the year before Obama launched his campaign for U.S. Senate, the Obamas reported income of $259,394, ranking them in the top 2 percent of U.S. households, according to Census Bureau statistics. That year the Obamas claimed $1,050 in deductions for gifts to charity, or 0.4 percent of their income. The average U.S. household totaled $1,872 in gifts to charity in 2002, according to the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

The national average for charitable giving has long hovered at 2.2 percent of household income, according to the Glenview-based Giving USA Foundation, which tracks trends in philanthropy. Obama tax returns dating to 1997 show he fell well below that benchmark until 2005, the year he arrived in Washington.

Both Obama and his wife, Michelle, declined to respond to questions about their charitable donations.
>>>

No where in the book of James does it say that works should be accomplished by taxing your neighbor. 

[Carl]

No where does the Bible say that it is good works to establish a socialist government.
Compassion and care for the poor was an individual charge and could be administered through the relgious establishments of that day or this.

I know they have no choice but to lie and make things up but nothing gets under my skin quite as much as when they corrupt the Scriptures for their politics and then throw the Bible on the floor in every other way.

[Chris_]

I am not a Christian. But how dare this man use the Bible when he stands against everything the Bible is for.

[Zeus]

"Faith without works is dead" is just another handy soundbite. Through true faith Good works abound. In other words good works can not and does not exist without faith.

Believers are called to bring glory to God. In 1 Corinthians 10:31, the Apostle Paul exhorts, "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." Believers are called to give glory to God by what we say and do. It does not mean that we are adding to the glory God already has. It means we are revealing the glory of God to the world through our words, lifestyle, and behavior. It also means that we are giving God our praise and adoration.