As we talk quite a bit here about the hypocrisy of the so-called “Christian” right, I wanted to be sure to at least note the fact that, a little over a week ago now, when Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan announced that U.S. House of Representatives chaplain Patrick Conroy would be stepping down, he wasn’t exactly telling the whole truth. No, Ryan, we now know, had fired the Catholic priest. And, what’s worse, according to several Washington insiders, it was political — payback for Father Conroy having the audacity, as the Republicans were passing tax cuts for the rich last November, to delivered a prayer urging lawmakers to remember the poor.
Ryan, hoping to quash the story, was scrambling yesterday to suggest that Conroy had failed to meet the “pastoral needs” of House members, but that excuse, according to many, including members of the Speaker’s own party, seems suspect. Republican Congressman Peter King, for instance, told reporters yesterday, after meeting with Ryan, that he had “never heard any of these complaints before” about Conroy, who, he went on to say, could always be seen sitting down and talking with members of Congress. [Ryan has since come out and said that it was just “time for a change.”]
As for what it was that Conroy said on November 6 of last year that might have gotten him fired, here it is. “May all Members be mindful that the institutions and structures of our great Nation guarantee the opportunities that have allowed some to achieve great success, while others continue to struggle,” said Father Conroy. “May their efforts these days guarantee that there are not winners and losers under new tax laws, but benefits balanced and shared by all Americans.”
It was shortly after that, according to Conroy, that Ryan told him, “Padre, you just got to stay out of politics.” And now he’s been fired.
The following excerpt comes by way of the New York Times.
So let this be a lesson to the next person to serve as U.S. House of Representatives chaplain (who you can be damn sure won’t be Muslim)… You can talk about Ayn Rand as much as you want, but don’t talk about Jesus, at least not as we know him through the New Testament. Don’t mention the plight of the poor. And, whatever you do, don’t make those conservative members of the House, who like to think of themselves as “good Christians,” feel the least bit guilty about supporting legislation in-line with the corporatist agenda of their largest donors.
Oh, and here’s my favorite quote about all of this. It comes from Father James Martin, a Jesuit writer and editor. If this is, in fact what happened, he said, “then a Catholic Speaker of the House fired a Catholic chaplain for praying for the poor.”
But, really, what can we expect when we live in a country where a large number of people see Donald Tump as a noble, courageous Christian warrior, in spite of the draft dodging, the porn actresses, the mocking of the disabled, and everything else?
As terrible as it is, this world we now inhabit is also kind of wonderful. All of the lies we’ve lived with for years are being stripped away. The “family values” charade is over. These people on the far right, who, for decades, have told us of their moral superiority, have, by supporting Trump, let the truth be known. Their movement, from the start, was a movement of charlatans and con men, supported by weak-minded fools who, more than anything else, wanted to feel some sense of superiority. But Trump brought it all to an end, just like he’s destroyed everything else that he’s come in contact with. By publicly supporting a self-described “pussy grabber” who urged the people of Alabama to vote for a pedophile and talked of there being “fine people” among the white supremacists of Charlottesville, America’s evangelicals have essentially been forced to admit that their movement was never about anything more than tribal warfare and power. They never wanted leaders who emulated Christ. They wanted leaders who told them that they were better than everyone else for identifying as Christian conservatives. They wanted to own the moral high ground without actually having to do the difficult work of following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. They just wanted to win. And, now, it’s all over. Their moral high ground, for all that they talked about it, never really existed, and we all know it.
When will @SpeakerRyan's attack on Christian values end?
— Mark Maynard (@MarkAMaynard) April 27, 2018