Independent presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was Daniel in the lions’ den at Liberty University, where the student body tends to bleed conservative red.
But he quoted the Bible (and in proper context!), and received nary a chew from the lions. He quoted from Amos, and Matthew. That’s his full speech up there.
Dating Jesus 
Listened to the full half hour and thought it was a powerful and challenging speech. Love how he went straight to the heart of the core issues of justice and morality. I’m a Libertarian at heart, but I really like what this man has to say and the straightforward manner in which he says it..
I can say a lot about Bernie. And given half a chance…you know…I will. However….
There is indeed a degree of honesty in Bernie’s campaign rhetoric, (demonstrated again in his speech at Benedict College during his recent tour through South Carolina), that even I find appealing. It doesn’t last long, however, as I remember how many times Bernie has folded like a cheap suit when he should have stood his ground when confronting corporatism within the Democratic Party. Overall it amounts to a poor performance, even for a bourgeois reformist, that tempers that temptation.
If Bernie can coalesce a reformist movement, especially among younger people, and deliver that movement to the Democratic Party, he might get the nomination. He might even win the election It’s doubtful…but possible. However, without his Party of Choice controlling at least one house of Congress, the reformism he champions will stagnate and dissolve into the rising tide of disillusionment threatening what’s left of our representative democracy.
The Democratic Party electorate will not be as forgiving of Sanders as they are of Obama.
Without going into what constitutes “self-described socialism” and the misinformation such terminology represents, I think some clarification is in order.
Bernie may be, officially, an Independent, (although his record in Congress indicates otherwise), but he is running for the Democratic Party nomination. He has pledged to support that Party’s nominee, whoever that may be, and that Party’s platform, whatever that may be. That doesn’t make him an Independent candidate. That makes him a Democratic Party candidate. Or, more accurately, a self-described Independent running as a Democrat.
That said, I will toss a solitary kudo Bernie’s way, (DUCK!), for his willingness to take his self-described campaign to the heart of self-described Christianity and admit, in a rather self-described way, that some self-described solidarity was possible within a diversity of self-described ideologies. I would suggest, though, that he enlist a little help in the future when cherry-picking the New Testament. One cannot fault him for some inadequacy with that particular tool, but some skill sharpening might be in order when pilfering from the journeyman’s kit.
An Evangelical and Liberty University grad and pastoral counselor says this about Bernie:
https://clyp.it/eusxalwe
Really? Um………….
First: Is there any bona fides on this guy? Like an identity or something? Because his claim about the LU “honor code” is some serious freakin’ business that I don’t see contained in LU’s Student Code of Conduct, (The Liberty Way), [PDF]. There would obviously be social, informal, consequences within LU culture for one turning away from conservative Christian dogma on issues like abortion and marriage equality…but expulsion? That needs to be verified. Seriously. Where did you find that?
Second: Asserting an equivalence between Bernie and John the Baptist, and even, unbelievably, Jesus as Savior is straight outa Batshit Crazyville. Can Bernie’s call for social justice be aligned with New Testament scripture? Sure. The same can be said about Marx. Lenin. Dorothy Day. Cornel West. Christian preachers too numerous to list, including MLK. (For that matter, a host of Christian clerics and acolytes rationalize Prosperity Theology employing Scripture.) Bernie may be a lot of things, but he’s no prophet. And he’s no Savior. I’ve heard a good deal of crazy from Sanders supporters, but this sounds clinical. Somebody needs to confiscate this guy’s stash and any firearms he has laying around
Jesus? No. John the Baptist? No. I’d say Bernie is more in line with one of the prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures, like Amos.
“You levy a straw tax on the poor and impose a tax on their grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine.” Amos 5:11.
He did cite Amos 5:24. In the ballpark.
I wasn’t replying to you. I was replying to Cynical Susan.
Sorry
No prob.