A good question...

[kellinator]

I cannot take credit for this excellent question. I got it off Colin Quinn's talk show on Comedy Central.

[Poll #201568]

Comments

"I said, you know they refused Jesus, too, and they said, you're not him."

[scarcrest.livejournal.com]

The Religious Right is the modern incarnation of how the Bible's authors described the Pharisees -- self-serving, self-righteous.

I'm not so sure the Pharisees weren't unfairly slandered just because they didn't accept Jesus as the Messiah -- if that's the case, then it ironically sets a precedent for the Christian right to become what they falsely accused someone else of being, which is really ironic given the whole Newt Gingrich/Susan Smith thing.

Who they are without a doubt is, the people Jesus railed against in his "Do not pray in the town square, as the Pharisee does, seeking to be heard. He has his reward. Pray in your house, in a closet" speech. The Religious Right's in it for power, or barring that, for self-gratification.

They'd reject Jesus, because he'd preach against them. He'd preach against the war in Iraq. He'd preach against divisive policies in the Middle East. He'd preach against abortion, and he'd preach against the conservatives' tendency to say "ban abortion, but don't make me pay for any kids born out of wedlock" alike. And he'd probably tell John Ashcroft that he sounds like Hermann Goering, because he does.

And they'd shun him, just as they shun anyone who holds their lies up to the light of day. They wouldn't know him from Adam. He'd be more at home among the Unitarians than among the Trinitarians, more in accord with the Buddhists than with the Baptists.

In my humble opinion.