“The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of theleast of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. - Matthew 25:40
"Screw those poor drowning Syrian kids." - Ben Carson 9/13
Having recently declared my fear of a Carson candidacy, it is worth noting his response to the Syrian refugee crisis.
He hits a nice Trumpian note about "political correctness." But to understand the perniciousness of political correctness, it's better to read Jon Chait's epic screeds on the subject. PC is about putting a trigger warning on Hamlet or shutting up a heterosexual white male who might have something to say about transgender rights.
Admitting Syrian refugees is not an issue of PC. It's a humanitarian issue. It's a crisis that has its roots in the Bush-Cheney experiment in the neighboring country of Iraq. We have some culpability here.
But mostly, think about what this says about the state of modern Christian fundamentalism - Christianism, as opposed to Islamism.
Those that would make America a "Christian Nation" - and Carson is definitely one of those - are not practicing the Christianity of Matthew. Blessed are the peacemakers? Fat chance. This about a Christian identity that unites a certain conservative, authoritarian type in America. It's about rolling back rights and stifling dissent. It's about living in Kim Davis' world, where her faith gets to determine what other people do, because she's a certain, correct type of Christian.
It's not political correctness, it's religious correctness. And it's corrosive and anathema to everything men like Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Franklin and Hamilton believed in.
A guess I can end with Sinclair Lewis:
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross."
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