Anti-progressive people of faith: Part 1

[trotsky]

[font size=+2]Paul Ryan[/font]

http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/paul-ryan-on-the-way-forward-and-the-catholic-faith

During a Sept. 29 interview with Register senior editor Joan Frawley Desmond, the congressman reflects on how he has responded to Pope Francis’ call for Catholics to engage the poor and others on the “fringes” of society. Ryan’s recent proposals, which mark a new GOP effort to address economic inequality, include boosting earned income tax credits, which will allow Americans in low-paying jobs to take home more pay.

People may disagree with his ideas, Ryan said, but Pope Francis has not asked for “conformity, but participation” in an urgent debate regarding solutions that will help the poor.

...

"As a lay Catholic exercising my prudential judgment, I believe that free markets — not crony capitalism — encourage more personal collaboration than any other economic system. Free enterprise is not coercive, and it does also more to help the poor and lift up people."

...

"We need to promote an inclusive society where everyone takes responsibility. We need to reintegrate the poor and not marginalize them. I am excited that Pope Francis is talking about this."

Certainly not a person we'd admire here on DU, but a person of deep faith nonetheless.

[lunasun]

1. ISIS is filled with people of deep faith . I do not admire them either

[trotsky]

3. Yup, misguided, hateful, and horrible - but deep faith nonetheless.

That's the unfortunate thing about religion - you can't really tell someone else they're doing it wrong when the "holy" text is so ridiculously open to interpretation.

[AJT]

2. Please name 1 first world country where "free markets"

have done anything but leave vast numbers of people in poverty? Where is the "greed is good" passage of the bible? How does a man of faith propose policies that leave tens of millions of hard working people not able to feed there families, get medical care and pay for a decent place to live? Who can make even $10 an hour and support themselves much less a child, and he would like to eliminate the minimum wage. His deep faith is in a selfish hateful god.

[trotsky]

4. Properly regulated and restrained, capitalism can be a good tool for progress.

The secular progressive democracies of Europe with their social safety nets work a lot better at alleviating poverty than the decidedly less restrained system of the USA.

Ryan is just one of the typical naive Republicans who never got to experience unrestrained capitalism to see its horrible failures. So he thinks "regulations" and anti-poverty programs exacerbate poverty. One might say he believes this quite religiously.

[AJT]

6. I agree. It would be great if our system allowed for

everyone the opportunity to succeed to the level of a persons desire and ability, but it doesn't. Not everyone has the brains to "make it big" but everyone should be able to live a decent life if they work a 40 hour week. Not everyone wants to make work their life, but working to live should pay enough to support yourself. A good education for every child, at what ever level they are capable of should be a right. Childcare for working parents should be subsidized. Affordable transportation systems are a necessity. Single payer healthcare is a no brainer. Of course innovation and progress depend on there being an incentive, and the people who are the risk takers and investors should get their due. The government needs to be the buffer or referee between labor and capital and that is no longer the case here, it's all about capital at the expense of labor. Globalization has really thrown a wrench in the works. Capital can move to anywhere in the world at the speed of light, labor is captive. Threats of moving jobs overseas have governments by the you-know-whats and that's where we are now.

[trotsky]

7. With you on all counts.

I hope we figure it out sooner rather than later.

[guillaumeb]

5. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

I am flattered, and glad to serve as an inspiration.

[hrmjustin]

8. Amazing how that happened.

[guillaumeb]

9. Like Saul riding to Tarsus,

inspiration can strike at anytime.

[hrmjustin]

10. Well we both know what that was about.

I have seen the pattern for years.

Some things never change.

[Lordquinton]

11. You can hold up a mirror to people

but you can't make them look.

[hrmjustin]

12. That is so true.

[beam me up scottie]

13. I don't understand how people can claim Ryan isn't a Christian.

Not only is that a logical fallacy, the No True Scotsman, it's obvious he is a man of deep faith. Unless someone actually admits they're not a believer we should take them at their word.

If a Muslim attacks a building in the name of Allah we take his word for it that he's a Muslim.

If a Christian terrorist tries to blow up a women's clinic in the name of his God we take his word for it that he's a Christian.

Why would we think that Ryan is lying about his faith?

[Meshuga]

14. Paul Ryan is definitely Catholic

Paul Ryan is definitely catholic since, according to the church, a person is catholic through the sacraments. If a Catholic priest accepted to marry him and his wife in a church then he is a Catholic. He is also a fucked up person based on his ideology and actions. In short, he is an extremely mean spirited catholic, to put it mildly.

No one can tell whether he is lying about his faith since none of us can read minds, but his faith or lack of faith does not influence whether he is a good person or not.

I believe that the Catholics and other Christians who claim he lies about his faith are merely reacting to the fear that others will make the association between themselves and Paul Ryan. It is silly to react this way even if others make the association.

Or maybe the reaction is due to some other irrational reason that leads them to subscribe to the no true Scotsman fallacy, which is also silly.