One of my favorite New Testament stories can be found in John 2:13-16:
When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the Temple courts, he found men selling cattle, sheep, and doves and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords and drove all from the Temple, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves, he said: ‘Get out of here.’
Scion of a predatory lineage of parasites, George W. Bush claims to love Jesus and even went as far as proclaiming June 10, 2000, to be “Jesus Day” in Texas.
On that day, he pronounced: “I urge all Texans to answer the call to serve those in need. By volunteering their time, energy or resources to helping others, adults and youngsters follow Christ’s message of love and service in thought and deed.”
In the aftermath of 9/11, Dubya also signed into law a little something called the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA).
This totalitarian salvo is one of the many ways the whole “Jesus Day” thing came back to bite Bush the Lesser in the ass.
You see, the AETA specifically targets anyone who “intentionally damages or causes the loss of any real or personal property (including animals or records) used by animal enterprise, or any real or personal property of a person or entity having a connection to, relationship with, or transactions with an animal enterprise.”
Reminder from Matthew 21:12-13: “Jesus entered the Temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. ‘It is written,’ he said to them, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer but you are making it a den of robbers.’”
Yep, thanks to the AETA, when someone asks “What would Jesus do?” you could accurately answer: at least a year.
But a much better response is:
Reminder: The meek shall inherit the earth…