美国国家公共电台 NPR How Would Jesus Vote?

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Your religious faith - it's personal. But how should your faith guide your voting? That's a question once again popping up in politics, specifically the presidential election. Mayor Pete Buttigieg provoked some conservatives recently when he suggested Christian² beliefs lead in a, quote, "progressive direction." People on the religious right have argued the opposite. NPR's Tom Gjelten says some faith leaders are troubled by the debate.

TOM GJELTEN, BYLINE³: When former governor Mike Huckabee was running for president in 2008, he said the Constitution should be changed to make it line up with, quote, "God's standards." Over the years, many Republicans have associated the Christian faith with conservative causes. Here is Senator Ted¹ Cruz from an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network in 2015, when he was running.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

TED CRUZ: If Christians⁴ will simply show up and vote our values, we'll turn this country around.

GJELTEN: What's new this year is that a Democratic candidate, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, is making basically the same argument - that by voting your values, you can turn the country around. It's just the values that are different. In an interview last week with the NowThis website, Buttigieg said protecting the poor and welcoming immigrants is a Christian obligation.

(SOUNDBITE OF INTERVIEW)

GJELTEN: It has a very clear set of moral and policy implications, none of which are things I would associate with the right wing. Christianity, to me, is about humility⁵. It's about love. And if we want to put those values into political practice, at least by my lights, they lead us in a very progressive direction.

GJELTEN: Christianity has been linked before to liberal politics. It's done every week, for example, at Riverside Church in New York City, famous for its promotion⁶ of progressive causes. Pastor⁷ Amy Butler says her Easter Sunday sermon tied the message of Christ's resurrection to what people encounter each day via the news.

AMY BUTLER: Just the constant barrage⁸ of indignities⁹ coming from the White House. And I don't think you can talk about resurrection and second chances and new life without addressing some of those things.

GJELTEN: This year, that view is likely to be echoed by Democratic candidates if the Pete Buttigieg faith-and-politics message gets picked up by others, as if to answer the religious right. Peter Wehner wrote some of President George W. Bush's best-known speeches. He's also a devout¹⁰ Christian. But he says he has never advocated tying the Christian faith too closely to a political agenda.

PETER WEHNER: Christianity, as a faith, stands in judgment¹¹ of all political ideologies¹² and all political parties. So to try and say that the Christian faith will lead you to only a set of liberal or conservative policies or only to the Republican or Democratic Party, I think, is wrong.

GJELTEN: That approach, Wehner says, reduces the Bible to a governing blueprint¹³. In times of uncertainty¹⁴ about how to act in the modern world, Christians sometimes ask, what would Jesus do? Pastor Duke Kwon, who ministers at Grace Meridian¹⁵ Hill Church in downtown Washington, says it's a good question, given that Jesus was, in his words, the truest example of love and justice.

DUKE KWON: That question can be problematic at times, though, because we don't always know exactly what Jesus would have done in X, Y, Z case study or circumstance. And so we end up speculating.

GJELTEN: Of all people, Kwon says, Christians ought to show humility in their public discourse¹⁶.

KWON: Humility, respect, patience, self-control - virtues¹⁷ that are informed by the Gospel of Christ and, all too often, the opposite of what you hear from Christians when speaking out on policy issues.

GJELTEN: Many Christian leaders would say it's good that candidates are discussing their faith publicly. Their disagreements over what their faith means may even enrich the political debate. Tom Gjelten, NPR News.

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1 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

2 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

5 humility   

n.谦逊，谦恭

参考例句：

• Humility often gains more than pride.谦逊往往比骄傲收益更多。
• His voice was still soft and filled with specious humility.他的声音还是那么温和，甚至有点谦卑。

6 promotion   

n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传

参考例句：

• The teacher conferred with the principal about Dick's promotion.教师与校长商谈了迪克的升级问题。
• The clerk was given a promotion and an increase in salary.那个职员升了级，加了薪。

7 pastor   

n.牧师，牧人

参考例句：

• He was the son of a poor pastor.他是一个穷牧师的儿子。
• We have no pastor at present:the church is run by five deacons.我们目前没有牧师：教会的事是由五位执事管理的。

8 barrage   

n.火力网，弹幕

参考例句：

• The attack jumped off under cover of a barrage.进攻在炮火的掩护下开始了。
• The fierce artillery barrage destroyed the most part of the city in a few minutes.猛烈的炮火几分钟内便毁灭了这座城市的大部分地区。

9 indignities   

n.侮辱，轻蔑( indignity的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The soldiers who were captured suffered many indignities at the hands of the enemy. 被俘的士兵在敌人手中受尽侮辱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• What sort of indignities would he be forced to endure? 他会被迫忍受什么样的侮辱呢？ 来自辞典例句

10 devout   

adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness)

参考例句：

• His devout Catholicism appeals to ordinary people.他对天主教的虔诚信仰感染了普通民众。
• The devout man prayed daily.那位虔诚的男士每天都祈祷。

11 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

12 ideologies   

n.思想（体系）( ideology的名词复数 )；思想意识；意识形态；观念形态

参考例句：

• There is no fundamental diversity between the two ideologies. 这两种思想意识之间并没有根本的分歧。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Radical ideologies require to contrast to their own goodness the wickedness of some other system. 凡是过激的意识形态，都需要有另外一个丑恶的制度作对比，才能衬托出自己的善良。 来自辞典例句

13 blueprint   

n.蓝图，设计图，计划；vt.制成蓝图，计划

参考例句：

• All the machine parts on a blueprint must answer each other.设计图上所有的机器部件都应互相配合。
• The documents contain a blueprint for a nuclear device.文件内附有一张核装置的设计蓝图。

14 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

15 meridian   

adj.子午线的；全盛期的

参考例句：

• All places on the same meridian have the same longitude.在同一子午线上的地方都有相同的经度。
• He is now at the meridian of his intellectual power.他现在正值智力全盛期。

16 discourse   

n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述

参考例句：

• We'll discourse on the subject tonight.我们今晚要谈论这个问题。
• He fell into discourse with the customers who were drinking at the counter.他和站在柜台旁的酒客谈了起来。

17 virtues   

美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处

参考例句：

• Doctors often extol the virtues of eating less fat. 医生常常宣扬少吃脂肪的好处。
• She delivered a homily on the virtues of family life. 她进行了一场家庭生活美德方面的说教。