4 ms·
You should read "Caesar" as "Uncle Sam." It's just that the quote is "render unto Caesar..." Like sibling said, the church and state bit is more interesting.
by dehrmann 3y ago
You should read "Caesar" as "Uncle Sam." It's just that the quote is "render unto Caesar..." Like sibling said, the church and state bit is more interesting.
- grensley 3y agoEven that is weird. Anthropomorphizing the government.
- Retric 3y agoThe freaky bit is it’s a biblical quote though he left off the god bit at the end of it.
- baggy_trough 3y agoWhy would that be “freaky”? The Bible is one of the most important and highly recognized works in Western culture.
- Retric 3y agoBoth article 6 and the first amendment make it in very poor taste. You may personally appreciate it, but suppose he had been quoting different religions texts. Say the need to nourish Mayan gods using sacrificial blood.
- usefulcat 3y agoSuch a reference might easily have been lost on his audience, in which case he would sound nonsensical at best and foolish at worst?
- Retric 3y agoI suspect most Americans hearing the quote he used didn’t understand it.
- dehrmann 3y agoYou should read Kennedy v. Bremerton School District.
- Retric 3y agoYea, that was a seriously disturbing opinion by the current court. Compare and contrast it with Lemon v. Kurtzman
- dehrmann 3y agoI agree, but I think using this saying is within reasonable bounds compared to a coach leading school-affiliated prayer. The decision even left out the religious that followed.
- Perceval 3y agoI worry that people are now so illiterate that they do not recognize that the "render unto Caesar…" quote is a historical basis for the division between church and state in the Christian world. Astonishingly, they view the Government citing the quote – the origin of separation – as a threat to separation!
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- kortex 3y ago"Render unto Caesar" has grown well beyond the bible and is firmly embedded into cultural consciousness.
- Retric 3y agoDo a Google search and count how far down the list you need to get before it isn’t used as a biblical reference.
- dehrmann 3y agohttps://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/render_unto_Caesar_the_things_which_are_Caesar%27s https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/render_unto_Caesar_the_things... While sourced from the Bible, it has a secular-enough meaning that I wouldn't stress it.
- a_e_k 3y agoAh yes. Better watch out. Anyone who uses a Biblical phrase like that might be dastardly "wolf in sheep's clothing" with ulterior motives and not simply "the salt of the earth." Besides, are you sure you've never used such a phrase without thinking about it? "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." I'm sure you'd much rather "do unto others as you would have them do unto you". So maybe just be a charitable "Good Samaritan" and "turn the other cheek", even if you don't really like it, then. After all, "an eye for an eye" policy is fairly unpleasant. Oh, who am I kidding? I'm just "casting pearls before swine" with this audience. (And being as foolish as "the prodigal son", at that.) I can see that "the writing is on the wall," and I won't get anywhere with anyone on this topic. I'll probably even get downvoted for this, but oh well. "Sow the wind" and "reap the whirlwind" as they say. (Hacker News really can be "the blind leading the blind" sometimes.)
- Retric 3y agoAmusing, but are you aware how many of those are referencing works before the Bible?
- whatshisface 3y agoSometimes you don't think that cross-checking cultural references is worth the trouble, but then the chief justice compares the united states to a military dictatorship. :-)