The Liberal Code of Jesus Christ

"Love thy neighbor" was the Big Bang of the Liberal tradition and the DNA of the Golden Rule. The First Liberal provides a point-by-point checklist of how Jesus' words influenced Liberal attitudes about our obligations to each other, the dangers of greed, the power of non-violence, government power, peace, taxes, fairness, civility, tolerance, the meaning of love, and equality.

1. Be a peacemaker

Nations have gone to war to soothe egos of leaders, to acquire more lands or resources, to gain access to the sea, and because of religious differences.

However resolute, self-righteous, and bursting with emotions our founding fathers were, consider this: Canada did not go to war against Britain, and today that nation is as free and independent as we and certainly more at peace with the world. War is usually not the best solution to a nation's problems.

See Chapter 7 for more on these points.

2. Forgive your enemies

After WWI, the allied governments punished Germany harshly. This produced famine, riots, and within 20 years, Adolph Hitler, and a generation seeking revenge. By the end of WWII, we were smarter, and devised re=building programs for Germany and Japan. Today, they're vibrant economies, staunch allies and shining democracies. A solution straight out of the Sermon on the Mount.

3. Turn the other cheek

Albeit for the wrong reasons, we did turn the other cheek in Vietnam. When we realized we weren't getting anywhere, we just walked away. Remarkably, the "domino effect", the fear of Asia falling to communism, never happened. Today, Vietnam is a growing, world-trading economy. It's exactly the effect we wanted. After wasting billions of dollars, millions of Asian lives and hundreds of thousands of our own young people, it turned out that Jesus was right again.

4. Renounce material gain

This is one area that confuses many people because it requires an adjustment from the world in Jesus' time to today. But it is a minor adjustment, one of personal economics.

Obviously, we can't renounce material gain entirely and still function in society. We live in an age that's vastly different from the simpler times of ancient Jerusalem. Today, one needs goods and services that were undreamed of in Jesus' time. We can't travel on an ass's back, raise our own food, weave our own cloth, or rely entirely on home schooling as adequate preparation for life in the digital world. We simply can't renounce business, trade, and the profit motive.

However, we certainly can resist being blinded by it. We can draw a line against excessive greed. We can learn to balance our lives so they don't become shallow and wanton. We can preach, practice, and preserve the idea of the Golden Rule as a standard for civility.

American society is certainly more devoted to greed than the European democracies. There's a growing trend to abandoning the regulation of social issues to merchants and market forces. If our civilization is to survive, the trend to institutionalized greed must change, If the same goals were pursued with a sense of moderation and civility, with the love and respect for human values that Jesus expressed, the results might not have been so rewarding so quickly, but they most likely would have been quite satisfactory. History shows that fair trade among free peoples can enrich all sides.

5. Give alms to the poor

Many people interpret this as a call to give a few dollars here and there, and leave it at that. But Jesus wasn't talking about casual giving or even systematic tithing. When he said, "Sell what ye have, and give alms"

.he was talking about a total commitment to sharing. Even with the most "worldly" interpretation of his statement, one can see that it's a call for a major step. We've already found that major funding programs like education, defense and public works are most efficiently coordinated when experts are assigned to the job. That's why we hire people who've been trained at universities like Columbia, MIT and West Point to do what we can't do as individuals. It only follows that the social programs that are alms to the poor, be given the same professional management. Conservatives who dismiss these efforts as "bleeding heart" programs, or "bailouts for laziness" are simply rejecting the spirit of Jesus' teaching for whatever personal motives they may have

Also of these (above and below) can be found in Chapter 7
- The Liberal Code of Jesus Christ

Jesus on peace
Jesus on non-violence and forbearance
Jesus on gentility
Jesus on taxes
Jesus on fairness and civility
Jesus on personal differences
Jesus on greed
Jesus on murder, theft, and bearing false witness
Jesus on love
Jesus on charity, sharing, and wealth
Jesus on equality

Next: The New Religious Left

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