I am Pretty Sure Christ Never Once Said Give All Your Money to the Government and Follow Me.

I stumbled upon this atrocious article today that literally left my head aching. It tried to make the claim that the Tea Party movement is not in line with Catholic teaching. There may be many people confused by this, even a lot of Catholics. This is largely because we Catholics generally have a positive view of the world (sometimes too positive). We trust our politicians and don't doubt their integrity. We would all like to believe that we are not being lied to. However, we cannot buy into the lie that democratic 'social justice' policies like Health Care Reform, tax hikes, and other welfare initiatives are designed to help the little guy. We cannot underestimate the power and the evil of the liberal agenda. The democratic volunteers waving signs for their favorite candidates may be passionate about the poor or gay rights but the radical left strategists are not concerned with the little guy. They are more concerned with government power, money in their pockets, population control, and the shredding of any remaining moral fiber in our society.

This article goes as far as to say that 'there really is a pretty sharp tension between some of the basic teachings of the Church in regards to politics, the role of government and what we owe to the poor, and what these tea party advocates are promoting.' And what exactly is the Church teaching that is in tension with freedom? What exactly is the Church teaching demanding big government? Oh that's right, there is none. Popes have been standing on the front lines, battling against the evil of socialism. They encourage individual charity and Church based charity.

The only tension here is between liberal Catholic dissidents and Catholic Tea Party patriots. Beware: Just like the Tea Party is doing with the GOP (exposing phonies and RINOs), we will do with you. You cannot use the beautiful Catholic tradition and teachings of charity that Christ gave the Church in order to defend the evil liberal social agenda. Really, you should be ashamed of yourself.

This Schneck guy even has the nerve to stretch the truth this far: '[m]uch as we might like otherwise, the Catholic argument is that government and citizen are equally expected to be our brother’s keeper.' WOAH WOAH WOAH there, buddy...since when did any Catholic teaching demand that the government perform our acts of charity for us? ERRR WRONG AGAIN.

Let's get one thing clear, the Catholic Church has fought against the evils of socialism and communism since they reared their ugly heads. Don't let this guy fool you into believing that government has the right to spread your wealth around. Of course, we are all obligated to be charitable and help the poor as much as we can. This, however, does not mean voting for out of touch democrats who want to use your hard earned money to fund their so-called 'social justice' projects. You should have the freedom to donate to private charities of your choice. Hey, maybe if they'd quit taxing us we could start our own charities with the money we save. Don't you get it!? It is not about the poor, it is about power.

I could continue but this person who commented on the article says it all:

Sigh...When will we take responsibility for our own actions? It has been shown over and over again throughout history that government can not support the poor. Only with true Christ like compassion can we help the less fortunate in this world. The government takes my money and squanders it leaving me with barely enough to be charitable outside of my community. It takes the government $7 to get $1 to the poor. While good Christ centered charities give 90% of there contributions directly to the poor. I say give me my 7 bucks let me give 5 to the poor the get 4 and a half bucks instead of 1 and I have 3 more to give to other causes and maybe take my wife out to dinner. Health care provided by the government is a failure everywhere it has been tried. What really happens is that the poor will receive sub-par health care and the rich will receive superior as they will go to private doctors. Christ never asked us to make government equal and forgive me but I have no clue where that dogma came from. If that where the case we would have no need for a Church as the government would be dogmatic, just like it is in China. Government wants to suppress Christ because satan know we hold the way, the truth and the light. I am no tea party supporter but to say they are not in sync with social teaching is unfair. Whose social teachings? Most liberal social teachers in the Church do not even know what the Church truly teaches as they put their own agenda in place on issues of life, contraception, poverty and the like. They think they know better, sounds kind of like Luther to me. Look at the “Faithful Citizenship Document” I know many Catholics who justified their voting for a Pro Abortion candidate because of this wishy washy document that does not speak to the truth of what Christ teaches. I am pretty sure Christ never once said give all your money to the government and follow me.