Jesus Wants an Ethical Minimum Wage and a Serious Campaign Against Poverty

The Huffington Post ^ | May 1, 2015 | by Nancy Graham Holm

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Although his narrative never slides into an ardent polemic, it is arguable that Reza Aslan's Jesus is a bold and tireless advocate for the poor. A close read of Zealot, The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth makes this conclusion the Number One Take Away Point; a perspective not necessarily original, but nevertheless comforting and affirming if you're inclined to worry about white privilege and socio-economic inequality.

Aslan is not alone. Many scholars have postulated that Pauline Christianity - the version that eventually became imperial Christianity - was an extreme sharp right turn from the path on which both Jesus and his biological half-brother, James traveled. Aslan explores this turn to the right and offers explanations as to why the early Christian church preferred an altogether different guy, i.e., a peaceful, turn-the-other-cheek spiritual leader, seldom angry; a gentle soul who never spoke truth to power.

Aslan's Jesus, however, is a radical; a politically conscious revolutionary.

Were he alive today, this Jesus would be advocating an ethical minimum wage, a new consciousness about America's underclass and a serious campaign against global poverty.

On a global level, one billion people are still trapped in extreme poverty, which up close, means that 800 million people go to bed hungry; more than 700 million drink dirty water; and 57 million kids live without access to education.

Inevitable? Unavoidable? Evidently, Jesus didn't think so. Is there a relationship between Pauline Christianity and the excessive accumulation of wealth?

Equality. A fair distribution of a nation's wealth when it is common knowledge that no one makes a profit without somebody's labor.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Nancy Graham Holm was educated at the University of California, Berkeley and London School of Economics. She was a television journalist between 1972 and 1991 and has won many awards including three Emmys. She became a journalism educator in 1991 at the national school of journalism in Aarhus, Denmark. She retired from teaching in 2007. She is writing a book on feminism in the Abraham religions, including the "gender jihad" among Muslim women world-wide.

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Godless Communists are such a hoot.

[bmwcyle]

Matthew 26:11 For ye have the poor always with you, but Me ye have not always.

Jesus said

[jtal]

Who can forget the dramatic passage in the gospel in which Jesus marches on Rome with his supporters to demand an end to Roman privilege!

/sarc (is that really necessary? I suppose so.)

[agere_contra]

He who does not work, neither shall he eat

[arthurus]

A close read of Zealot, The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth

What religion uses this book as a basis for anything?

[I want the USA back]

He also wants people to work hard, take responsibility for their actions, respect the rights of others and not steal or burn buildings.

[sickoflibs]

Easy free solution to Baltimore's 8%+ and 37%+ unemployment rates:Increase their minimum wage( 5/1/2015 )

[boomop1]

What do these communists care about what Jesus didn’t say, He did say if you don’t work you don’t eat (paraphrase).

[hosepipe]

On the otherhand:.......

Jesus may have sent OBAMA to be PUNISHMENT to the United States.. for crimes against BABIES...

[Alex Murphy]

Here's the heretical money quote from the article:

Were he alive today, this Jesus would be advocating an ethical minimum wage, a new consciousness about America's underclass and a serious campaign against global poverty.

[agere_contra]

It was St Paul, brother.

[Olog-hai]

The USSR had the temerity to include that phrase in Article 12 of its 1936 constitution. The phrasing they used is a deliberate distortion of 2 Thessalonians 3:10.

[agere_contra]

... advocating an ethical minimum wage, a new consciousness about America's underclass and a serious campaign against global poverty.

The serious campaign against global poverty is called "Free Market Capitalism."

Nothing has lifted more people out of poverty since the industrial revolution. And before that, the dawn of agriculture.

[Olog-hai]

Isaiah 3:4.

[agere_contra]

Thank you for that cool link!

[GraceG]

Jesus was also killed by Big Roman government who let him die at the hands of a mob in order to appease the mob....

Sound Familiar?

Fergeson... Baltimore.... Bueller, Bueller....

[BigCinBigD]

The wages of sin?

[Redcitizen]

Socialists are demanding stones to be turned into bread.

[jda]

Isn't it interesting how the leftists pick and choose the parts of the Bible that suit their ideology and that they want us to live by, but ignore the rest??? And they themselves certainly have no intention of living by any of it???