Customer Reviews

Jesus Rode A Donkey: Why Republicans Don't Have the Corner on Christ

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I found Dr. Seger's book to be very enlightening. Not being Christian, I was appalled and insulted by the Christian Right's stated goal to turn our democracy into their theocracy. History has been riddled with various churches' deadly attacks on personal freedoms and civil liberties, all in the name of Christ. JESUS RODE A DONKEY exposed me to a truly spiritual Christian agenda that, by understanding the compassion of the Old and New Testaments, leads to tolerance, care of the needy, environmental responsibility and respect for the religious beliefs of others. As I was reading, I kept thinking: "these are my values." Now I'm much more aware of, and grateful for, the valuable contributions that compassionate Christians make to the political process and our world

I read this book at the request of my wife, who has always had a more liberal bent than me. And as I read it, I found that almost every page had me agreeing with the beliefs and seeing those belief lead to a different conclusion than I had always championed. This book helped revolutionize my socio-political views, just as "The Bible Is History" by Ian Wilson helped revolutionize my approach to Scripture.



Let it be said over and over by all liberal Christians everywhere: It is NOT the Church's role to tell others how to live. It is the Church's role to be a light and force for improvement and change in the lives of others. One can not expect others to change their morals until they embrace the same God we do. And even then, it is primarily God's job, not ours, to work the changes in lives that He desires. The Church should be about pacifism and charity and never about nationalism, war, or any condemning flavor of evangelism.



I will admit to disagreeing with the author's stance on homosexuality, and finding her arguments a bit convoluted. Even if you extract every single verse that expressly forbids it, the entire Bible as a whole simply recognizes male-female relationships as the intended mode. But you see, this doesn't matter. Because I would rather stand with 5000 gays who love Christ and practice charity and peace, than 5 "good Christian boys" who vote for war and speak out condemningly against abortionists or whomever you choose.



And if homosexuality is wrong, that's between the homosexual and God. And it's none of my business.

No book can provide us with all the answers to the political turmoil in this world, but I found this book to be extremely helpful in sorting out all the rhetoric that the political spin-masters so easily toss at us on a daily basis. Dr. Seger reminds us that our spiritual or faith-based beliefs should never be "elistist" nor should it be a "one-size-fits-all" as some politicians would have us believe.

Dr. Linda Seger's book "Jesus Rode a Donkey" is measured, connective, well-researched, and intelligently provocative on the questions of the divisiveness of religion and politics in contemporary America.

Influenced by her own Quaker background, where consensus based on all available information is the core of decision-making, Seger offers Biblical information and theological insights about many of the issues that some religious separatists claim have only one limited interpretation -- theirs.

Always urging inclusiveness, and applying the tenets of Jesus' ministry in her call to healing the rifts between us, Dr. Seger nonetheless points out the places where fundamentalist and ultra-conservative positions are simply not what Jesus taught.

Brain science now shows us how confirmation bias works, that process of only finding and accepting evidence that confirms what we already believe. Hopefully the fair yet challenging ideas in "Jesus Rode a Donkey" can nudge all of us towards a more open-minded understanding of each other, and a more comprehensive application of the unifying and enlightening principles of Christianity.

This is an interesting and thought-provoking book. As near as I can tell, the book is motivated by the author's genuine desire to understand and to encourage Christian love, not condemnation, of those with whom she disagrees.

Seger makes the obvious point that too many conservative Christians miss--that God is neither a Republican nor a Democrat. His Word, the Bible, is not a policy manual fitting neatly within the political platform of either party, and it's not possible to reduce God's will for his followers to a series of partisan or even ideological bullet points. She also provides a needed reminder that politicians of all stripes at times use Christianity to manipulate their own agenda.

I don't agree with Seger's views on abortion or homosexuality, for example, but I do respect her attitude and her yearning for Christians to stop demonizing one another over political viewpoints.

My primary criticism of the book is that Seger uses the term "Christian" loosely, apparently content to accept at face value the faith of anyone who happens to use the label.

I found this book very affirming of feelings and beliefs that I've had for quite some time. It walks through a wide variety of policy decisions and political strategies that have not always been in line with core Biblical teachings. While the author tends toward being a bit preachy, the points are spot-on. It is a must-read for spiritual Democrats, and for seeking Republicans.

I am an ex-Democrat, but I am not a Republican, I am a third party candidate with right of center leanings and came to this book with an open mind, semi-non-religious mind. However, after reading it I came away with a rather disgusted feeling, much like that of Sam Harris has when discussing religious moderates. Let me explain.

If one claims to follow a certain religious belief and they truly believe that their holy book is the word of God. Then it only makes logical sense to follow what this word of God tells them to do. He is God isn't he? And if he is God isn't he correct and his word correct?

Sam Harris said it best in his book:

"Religious moderation is the product of secular knowledge and scriptural ignorance - and it has no bona fides, in religious terms, to put it on par with fundamentalism." (21)

"By their light, religious moderation appears to be nothing more than an unwillingness to fully submit to God's law." (21)

"All we can say, as religious moderates, is that we don't like the personal and social costs that a full embrace of scripture imposes on us." (20)

Although I disagree with Mr. Harris on many points his logic is impeccable in this area. So what are we to think of this book?

Quite clearly Ms. Seger is a diehard democratic partisan, the problem comes when she tries to manipulate her parties beliefs with what the bible teaches. I found it almost painful at times to watch the manipulation, twisting and distorting of clear sentences, commandments and proclamations of the bible. In some areas her distortions became so utterly ludicrous (Abortion, homosexuality) they were useless to any intellectually honest person.

In other cases she was able to selectively use some verses while leaving out the majority to make her case. At least this approach was playing on the ignorance of her intended audience rather than the mental rape when discussing abortion or homosexuality.


Perhaps if Ms. Seger could take off her rose colored partisan sunglasses for one minute and take a look at one of the clearest differences between democratic and republican values. She would see that they are with the question of whether we should follow what the bible says or manipulate to what we think it should say. The republicans have had a fairly consistent policy of using clear biblical morals and rules to ground their ideology. On the other hand the democrats have had a fairly consistent policy of marginalizing religious thoughts and morals, twisting and perverting them to fit their human agenda and even applauding movements such as freedom FROM religion, rather than protecting religious freedoms.

SIDEBAR: Freedom of religion as guaranteed by the first amendment is inexorably linked with freedom of speech, if you begin to whittle away either one of the freedoms the other will also fall. This is a matter of importance to every American, Christian, Atheist, Jew, Muslim, Pagan, Agnostic, Wiccan, etc. a like.

Conclusion:

What we see is a partisan political author manipulating biblical Christianity to fit her own agenda that is grounded in her feelings and desire rather a willingness to submit to God's law.

"Jesus Rode a Donkey" is a warm book written from the unique perspective of strong Christian values applied to the world we live in. The author's background in theology gives her arguments authority and weight, and even if a reader doesn't agree with all her ideas, she makes her points in a way that is both well researched and passionate. I particularly liked the chapter on War and Peace, because it summed up so many of my own thoughts on the subject. I live in Europe and have my own perspective on the Iraq war, which often seems far removed from the American mind-set. Yet I know my devoutly Catholic relatives in Missouri, one of whom did two tours of duty in Iraq, are puzzled about why we are in this war and how they should vote as Catholics. I ordered a copy for them, too, because I think it will help clarify their thinking. Even if they don't agree with everything, they'll certainly find stimulating food for thought.
Another great plus is how the book confronts so many social issues and fearlessly relates them to our moral choice of politics and the politicians who govern us. I don't think I have ever read a spiritually-oriented book or even a magazine article that was remotely this ambitious.

Dr. Seger has written an excellent, uplifitng, and very readable book that considering its subject, is surprisingly moderate and gentle in tone. Based on Dr. Seger's educated theological study and perception, this book served to broaden and deepen my understanding of important political issues.

Worth 5 stars as a very well-written expression of many Christians' frustration with the hijacking of Jesus' legacy by the Dominionists (Dobson, etc.). Granted, this administration's actions have made the previous one's look better in hindsight; however, the biggest flaw in the book would be Dr. Seger's glorification of the Clintons, who I feel are quite a flawed, corrupt pair.