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Biblical Scholar Howard Dean Declares People Perfect
1/10/04 | Russ Jowski

Posted on 01/10/2004 9:41:11 PM PST by Russ_Jowski

Biblical Scholar Howard Dean Declares People Perfect

By Russ Jowski

Dean didn’t actually say “people are perfect,” but Democrats rarely express their true opinions. Dean said: “From a religious point of view, if God had thought homosexuality is a sin, he would not have created gay people.”

For the moment, let’s ignore (as Dean apparently did), that the Bible calls homosexuality “detestable” or an “abomination” (depending on the translation) and that it explicitly states that homosexuals will not “inherit the kingdom of God.”

Dean argues that because God created homosexuals, homosexuality cannot be a sin. It directly follows that because God created murderers, liars, adulterers, etc., that murder, lying, adultery, etc., cannot be sins.

Therefore, because all people were created by God, it’s impossible for them to sin. People are perfect. And if people are perfect, why does Dean need God?

Maybe because Vote for me, I’m atheist, isn’t the best way to campaign in a country where 92% of the population believes in God.

Some might argue that it is unfair to compare homosexuality to other sins because homosexuality is not a “choice.”

Despite the overwhelming evidence of people quitting homosexuality, as well as the new fad among teenage girls to become bisexual, the homosexual lobby maintains that homosexuality is not a choice.

Clearly, the only context in which liberals want to use the word “choice” is as part of their Orwellian term “pro-choice” which actually describes the ruthless slaughter of innocent children.

Dean continued: “My view of Christianity . . . is that the hallmark of being a Christian is to reach out to people who have been left behind. So I think there was a religious aspect to my decision to support civil unions.”

Dean later stated that his Christianity doesn’t involve considering what Jesus would do. It seems that he has a similar view of Christianity as Bill Clinton (just substitute “support civil unions” for “adulterous sodomy with an intern”).

What else does Dean’s Christianity involve?

According to Dean it involves knowing “much about the Bible.” His spokesperson said, "He obviously has read the Bible and knows the passages fairly well.” This statement is true if Clintonian definitions of “obviously,” “knows,” and “fairly well,” are used. (Remember: “It depends on what the meaning of the word is is.”)

Dean either defines “obviously” as “not at all evident” or “knows” as “has no clue” or “fairly well” as “not at all.” How else can he explain naming Job (whose ending Dean “doesn’t like”) as his favorite New Testament book?

An hour later – ample time for someone to inform him of his error – he corrected himself, noting that Job is in the Old Testament. Again asked for his favorite New Testament book he answered, “Anything in the Gospels.” While the Gospels are in the New Testament, the last time that I checked no book in the New Testament was named “anything in the Gospels.”

Can Dean name a New Testament book? Can he even name any of the Gospels? Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are four of the most common names in America – but Dean was unable to name any of them.

Dean’s defense? He “doesn’t want to pass on the impression” that he has a “theologian's knowledge of the Bible.” As the New York Times put it, Dean “did not mean to imply he was some kind of expert,” (not that anyone considers the Times “some kind of expert”).

Another key aspect of Dean’s Christianity seems to be marrying a Jew and then having two Jewish children. Apparently Dean “doesn’t like” the verse in the Bible that says “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers” or the verse that says a marriage partner “must belong to the Lord.”

Then there are Dean’s attempts to be Muslim and Jewish. In New Hampshire, Dean both invoked the Muslim phrase “inshallah,” meaning “God willing,” and threw a Hanukkah party for his staff in which “he proudly chanted the blessing over the candles in well-accented Hebrew,” according to our “experts” at the Times.

Dean’s Christianity also has an interesting use of church. According to the Washington Post: “He rarely attends church services, unless it is for a political event.”

It goes without saying that Dean’s Christianity is nothing more than an attempt to court Southern voters who he continuously alienates. These would be the ones with “Confederate flags in their pick-up trucks” who vote on the basis of “guns, God and gays.”

Unfortunately for Dean, he seems as apt at courting Southern voters as he is at understanding anything about Christianity.


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2004; dean; deanschristianity; howarddean
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1 posted on 01/10/2004 9:41:11 PM PST by Russ_Jowski
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To: Russ_Jowski
I think Dean should do as they did in the Old Testament and "saddle his ass and depart."
2 posted on 01/10/2004 9:46:08 PM PST by Enterprise
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To: All
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3 posted on 01/10/2004 9:46:40 PM PST by Support Free Republic (Happy New Year)
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To: Russ_Jowski
This article is so offensive in so many ways, that I simply will note my dissent to most of its content. It is simply awful, so awful, that it might be included as Dean campaign literature.
4 posted on 01/10/2004 9:48:11 PM PST by Torie
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To: Russ_Jowski
Said Dean: "I think one of the most inspiring stories in the Bible was the battle to the death between David and Hercules."
5 posted on 01/10/2004 9:51:31 PM PST by Enterprise
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To: Russ_Jowski
God created Good and Evil.
Dean is proof, what a Ying Yang!!
6 posted on 01/10/2004 9:52:00 PM PST by mylife
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To: Torie
Huh?
You must have read a different article, because this essay pretty much calls Dean an ignorant and deceitful hypocrite. Somehow I don't see that in the promo pack.
7 posted on 01/10/2004 9:53:05 PM PST by visualops
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To: visualops
Well the article in an incendiary way compares gays with some other very bad types, and airily assumes none are hard wired that way, and then attacks Dean for marrying a Jew, and allegedly allowing his children to be raised as Jews. I find it all vomitous, totally. I want this wing of "conservatism" marginalized as much as possible, both for political reasons (the politics is poison), but more to the point, that I find it simply "wrong" in a moral sense, my morals, my morality, and that is what I live by, with no apologies.
8 posted on 01/10/2004 10:01:01 PM PST by Torie
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To: Russ_Jowski
"....if God had thought homosexuality is a sin, he would not have created gay people."

Yeah, and if God had thought child molesting was not a sin he wouldn't have created pedophiles.

9 posted on 01/10/2004 10:06:03 PM PST by Buffalo Head (Illigitimi non carborundum)
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To: Torie
I respectfully disagree with your take on this article.

Dean said: “From a religious point of view, if God had thought homosexuality is a sin, he would not have created gay people.”

When someone claims to speak for God, I take issue when what they speak contradicts God's own Word.

He opened himself up for this. He should be called on it, imo.

10 posted on 01/10/2004 10:07:36 PM PST by Ms. AntiFeminazi (Free Mumia!, er no, Free Padilla! wait, that's been done...FREE SADDAM! Yeah, that's the ticket!)
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To: Russ_Jowski
Let us not forget that Dean is a Godsend. He will deliver not only the WH to the GOP in '04, but more senators, reps, governors, etc.

We should therefore withhold our attacks until he is the nominee.
11 posted on 01/10/2004 10:10:43 PM PST by Buck W.
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Comment #12 Removed by Moderator

To: Ms. AntiFeminazi
I understand, but I go my own way. The article struck a nerve. Granted, I don't invoke God as to what He intends, if He exists, on such matters. That is way beyond my pay grade. I operate on a secular plane in matters of the public square, albeit through the prism of my own a priori values, which no doubt have some roots from some points illuminated by religion.
13 posted on 01/10/2004 10:15:28 PM PST by Torie
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To: Nathaniel Fischer
I don't know. It is a set of values I acquired from the example of my parents (both also atheist or agnostic, but splendid and "moral" human beings), and from life, and intellectual reflection.
14 posted on 01/10/2004 10:18:14 PM PST by Torie
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To: Russ_Jowski
INTREP - IDIOT ALERT!
15 posted on 01/10/2004 10:20:59 PM PST by LiteKeeper
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To: Russ_Jowski
Let us not forget that Dean is a Godsend. He will deliver not only the WH to the GOP in '04, but more senators, reps, governors, etc.

We should therefore withhold our attacks until he is the nominee.
16 posted on 01/10/2004 10:21:59 PM PST by Buck W.
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To: Torie
�o?��o??o§8?��o?�������(��bo§Li?ares gays with some other very bad types

Not really. It just says that if gays don't sin by homosexual activities, other types must not sin by doing what they do either. The logical implication doesn't change according to how bad the other types are, but if it makes you more comfortable you can substitute people who become unreasonably angry when they get cut off in traffic.

then attacks Dean for marrying a Jew, and allegedly allowing his children to be raised as Jews.

There's a direct injunction against marrying unbelievers in the New Testament. If Dean were a sincere Christian, wouldn't he have cared what the Bible says about one of the most important decisions of his life? And wouldn't he have been more concerned with his children's spiritual well-being? Dean himself made his religion an issue.

17 posted on 01/10/2004 10:23:08 PM PST by A.J.Armitage (http://calvinist-libertarians.blogspot.com/)
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To: Buck W.
"Let us not forget that Dean is a Godsend. He will deliver not only the WH to the GOP in '04, but more senators, reps, governors, etc."

To all democrats, Dean for president.

18 posted on 01/10/2004 10:23:41 PM PST by blackbart.223
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To: A.J.Armitage
�o?��o??o§8?��o?�������(��bo§Li?

I certainly agree.

19 posted on 01/10/2004 10:25:26 PM PST by Torie
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Comment #20 Removed by Moderator


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