[Superman]

Craig, first of all, if you are confusing liberals with atheists, then no wonder you sound so confused.

"Consecration" sounds like a wonderful idea, and it seems to be roughly the opposite of what I see conservatives doing. And spare me the "government should not be charitable, that is up to people' hooey. First of all, government is not "them." Government is "us." Second, removing a billion dollars in government programs is simply not going to cause tw billion in personal charitable contributions to suddenly appear. People do not want tax cuts so they can give more to poor people. They want to KEEP that money. Give me a break.

I'm real real tired of being characterized as an atheist. I am a practicing Catholic, Eucharistic minister and CCD (religious education) teacher among other things. Keep your stereotypes to yourself if they make you feel real justified. I've also lost my patience with conservatives who call themselves "Christians" but who throw out this litany of excuses why they should get to make more money, and keep more of it, and why aid to poor people should be withdrawn as some kind of favor to them. "Teach them to fish" is a cute excuse that allows greedy people to keep their money and also feel righteous.

"Tax and spend" is another cute little term that helps you pretend that charity should not be required of us. Your so-called "president" is the biggest spender in WORLD HISTORY, and his tax cuts for the wealthy are simply going to need to be paid by us anyway, some time in the future. You're giving him credit for taxing less, when really he's just taking out loans. Yes, there is scripture on point, and you probably know what it is. Christ had no problem with taxes. "Give to Ceasar what is Caesar's." His agenda was full-on charity. His little organization was non-political, and immensely socialist. All shared, all received, according to need. He hated money, except as a tool to give to others and help others.

Yeah, it'd be nice if everyone (or eve 1% of folks) would act like Christ, say, 10% of the time. But that seems to be too much to ask. And frankly, I see WAY WAY WAY WAY more Christian behavior from my pagan friends than I do from my Christian ones.