THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, “CHRISTIANISTS” WOULD BE TRYING TO RUN MY LIFE TO SUIT THEIR TWISTED RELIGIOUS DOCTRINES: And they were right! “The Golden Rule is a fine idea, but it is not a principle of Christianity. Nor did Jesus ever say that we should be our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers; Obama apparently referred to the story of Cain and Abel.”

UPDATE: A reader emails:

The Golden Rule is certainly a principle of Christianity; the most commonly quoted form of it is from Matthew 7:12, quoting Jesus: “do to others what you would have them do to you.” Other forms of it may have preexisted Christianity, but to say that it is not a principle of Christianity is fundamentally wrong. That said, it’s also fundamentally wrong to suggest that Jesus meant “do for others with tax money what you think they need,” which seems to be Obama’s exegesis…

Fair enough.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Bill Long writes:

I respect others’ religion as much as (or more than) the next person. The thing, though, that I’ve always wondered about the Golden Rule is this.

What if “what you would have them do to you” is “Leave me the F-word alone”? Does the Golden Rule still apply? Just curious.

Nah, they’ll never go for that. Because that’s what most people would say, and then where would they be?

MORE: Reader Sara Buchanan emails from Italy:

Obama got the brother’s keeper wrong, but he also got the Golden Rule wrong.

“treating others as they would treat me” – Obama
“do to others what you would have them do to you.” – Jesus

Not quite the same thing, is it?

Obama sounds like a kid on the playground. “They started it!”

Familiar.

FINALLY: Reader Joel Mackey writes: “Errr, doesn’t he have a brother living in abject poverty in Kenya?”

Hey, it’s not like he plans to live by this Bible stuff. It’s just a talking point. . . .