A moral compass can be a tricky thing to find. Religions have their own, all of varying degrees, for followers to adhere to, ignore or rigorously apply to others. The state has its laws, and long may they remain separate from their religious counterparts – while faith is an admirable thing, it is a dangerously flexible concept to be used in judgements which have such crushing effects on people’s lives. It is for an extension of this reason that News Hour remains opposed to the death penalty. Can one really impose such an irreversible sentence, one that leaves no room for the possibility of flaws in the system? One must respect the judgements of the courts on a day-to-day basis, when it comes to libel, fraud convictions and the like – but a dead man cannot lodge an appeal based on new evidence in quite the same way a live one can. Clearing someone’s name posthumously is all well and good, but is of relatively little benefit if they remain six feet under.
On the flipper side of this, people often ask themselves what someone they admire might do – a reliable figure, one of authority and renowned unselfish judgement. The crime drama NCIS puts forward one such figure, veteran investigator Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Fans will ask themselves ‘What would Gibbs do?’ when confronted with an ethical or practical dilemma. For those with more spiritual intent, wristbands are available with the inscription, ‘What would Jesus do’ When it comes to politics, a poll revealed (somewhat surprisingly, but less so when you consider the Republican swing) that evangelical Christians believe He would vote Democrat and, taking into account the church’s traditionally less than enthusiastic view on women leaders, one suspects He would vote Obama. This would be the ultimate endorsement for an increasingly Messianic candidate, an even bigger fish than Oprah – who already insisted that ‘he is the one’, and came up with some distinctly biblically tinged lines about a tongue dipped in ‘unvarnished truth’.
If the second coming were to occur, Jesus would make a good running mate for the senator from Illinois – better even than Condoleezza Rice would make for John McCain. Few could doubt the saviour’s credentials on solving short-term starvation, although His methods of feeding the five thousand could drop the bottom out of the fish and wine markets, causing rampant deflation if employed on a broad scale – one suspects Jesus has a necessarily laissez-faire approach to market economics. Does that make Him at least one part Tory?
News hour, with Jerry Caesar 