It’s a great tradition in American life to cherry-pick Bible verses to shore up your political positions, and as Alan Jacobs points out, if you’re happy with those in power, you drop Romans 13:1, if you’re unhappy, you drop Acts 5:29.

In A Man Without A Country, Kurt Vonnegut observed that no politicians seem to want The Beatitudes or The Sermon on the Mount printed in public buildings. “‘Blessed are the merciful’ in a courtroom? ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’ in the Pentagon? Give me a break!”

That reminds me of this wonderful excerpt that Alan posted from Kierkegaard’s journals:

Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in this world? […] I open the New Testament and read: ‘If you want to be perfect, then sell all your goods and give to the poor and come follow me.’ Good God, if we were to actually do this, all the capitalists, the officeholders, and the entrepreneurs, the whole society in fact, would be almost beggars!