Something amazing happened at the Fox News Republican debate on Monday night. Ron Paul stood on stage talking about following the Golden Rule, and he was booed by the audience. The Golden Rule, for those who are not aware, is pretty simple. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This was a teaching of Jesus, and is taught in probably every Sunday school class in the country.
Now the amazing part about this is not that Ron Paul got booed. That tends to happen every other debate with one of his unpopular ideas. But to be booed for suggesting that this country should try to follow the Golden Rule? Is this the same South Carolina that has a high population of Christians in it? You would never have guessed it by the audience response to his idea.
Republicans are often the first to scream out that this country was founded on Christian principles by our founding fathers. They will tell you that this is a Christian nation and it will always be a Christian nation. Why then are so many republicans so eager to ignore the teachings of Jesus when they are not sitting in a pew on Sunday morning? We need to go after Iran they say. And Syria. And keep fighting in Afghanistan. And North Korea and China are on the horizon. There is no end to the countries that are on their list to invade and conquer with democracy.
Ron Paul got booed for stating one of the key teachings of Jesus. Would they have also booed Jesus Himself if He were to appear on the stage and say the same thing? Is it any wonder that the republican party is floundering and diminishing in size and power? Before they focus all of their energy on defeating Obama in the fall, it would be a very wise thing to do some soul searching and find out what values they really want to portray to the rest of the world. One thing is for sure. That audience did not seem to be filled with Christian republicans. And to be fair, maybe it wasn’t. But if that is the attitude of the republican party going forward, then this country is headed down a dark path.