A new HuffPost/YouGov poll, asked Democrats and Republicans about their opinions
on a range of political proposals (universal healthcare, the Iran nuclear deal,
affirmative action, etc.). Half of the
time the researchers said that the proposals came from Democrats (President
Obama, Hillary Clinton, and/or John Kerry).
The other half they said the same ideas came from Republican Donald
Trump. The poll found that people’s
positions on important political issues were more influenced by whom they
thought the idea came from than by what the idea actually was. (Read more here on the Huffington Post website.)
One of the poll items asked
people if they supported or wanted to repeal the 1975 Public Affairs Act. Republicans
were more likely to support the 1975 Public Affairs Act when they were told
that President Obama wanted to repeal it.
Democrats were more like to support keeping the 1975 Public Affairs Act
when they were told Republicans wanted to repeal it.
P.S. There is no 1975 Public Affairs Act.
In other words, for Democrats
and for Republicans, for liberals and for conservatives, the party mattered
more than the truth.
In John 3: 20, Jesus said “everyone
practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light.” In verse 21, Jesus said, “he who does the
truth comes to the light.”
Truth comes to light. Evil doesn’t come to the light.
Jesus said that the opposite
of truth is evil.
Political parties are not
inherently evil. But, absolute loyalty
to a political party, or to any human institution, does and always has led to
all kinds of EVIL. Most Nazis during
WWII never saw a concentration camp, but they supported their party. Most White Southerners ,ca. 1781 – 1955,
never murdered a Black person, but they revered the Klan and supported
segregation. Most of the ugliest
episodes in human history have been carried out by people who personally knew
little to nothing about the people they raped, murdered, and displaced. They didn’t know the truth. They only knew what their party told them.
Kill the Savages.
Hang the Niggers.
Death to America.
F*** the Police.
When historians arrive in the
aftermath of party instituted atrocities, they pick through the rubble, and
ask, “How could people have done such terrible things?”
Because the people didn’t
know the truth. And without truth, all
you have is evil.
More and more, each of
receives news tailored to our socio-political digital profile. More and more, we see, hear, and read only what
our party says. We are increasingly isolated
from the truth. We are progressively conditioned
for evil.
My side’s position isn’t true
because it came from my side. Your
side’s either. You and I have to put in
the extra work to read the other side’s opinion, to dig into the mechanisms
behind the study, to go 3 and 4, and 5 and 6 sources back to figure out how two
equally qualified experts can reach such different conclusions. We have to
discipline ourselves to stop immediately believing the expert who’s on “our
side.”
We must pursue the truth, or
we’ll end up serving truth’s opposite. According
to Jesus, the opposite of truth is evil.
Jesus
said “ And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
They
answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to
anyone. How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?”
Jesus
answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of
sin.
(John 8: 32-34)
So you can either be a slave
to your party’s sins (John 8: 34), or you can know the truth and counter the
impetus to evil.
Only THE truth can make
Americans free.
---Anderson T. Graves
II is a writer,
community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural
leadership development.
Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is
pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama; executive director
of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO); and director of rural leadership development
for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
#Awordtothewise
You can help support Rev.
Graves’ work by visiting his personal
blog and clicking the DONATE button
on the right-hand sidebar.
Support by check or money
order may be mailed to
Miles Chapel CME Church
P O Box 132
Fairfield, Al 35064
