Political Party Poop

Nancy Pelosi Makes Up Quotes From The Bible

(link) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is fond of quoting a particular passage of Scripture. The quote, however, does not appear in the Bible and is fictional, according to biblical scholars.

In her April 22 Earth Day news release, Pelosi said, The Bible tells us in the Old Testament, “To minister to the needs of God’s creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us.” On this Earth Day, and every day, let us pledge to our children, and our children’s children, that they will have clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and the opportunity to experience the wonders of nature.

Cybercast News Service repeatedly queried the speaker’s office for two days to determine where the alleged Bible quote is found. Thus far, no one has responded.

Claude Mariottini, a professor of Old Testament at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, told Cybercast News Service the passage not only doesn’t exist - it’s fictional.

“It is not in the Bible,” Mariottini said. There is nothing that even approximates that.

In the age of Google, the internet and blogs how dumb do you have to be as a politician to just start making up quotes from the most-published books of all time?

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Cybercast News Service has learned that Pelosi has repeatedly used the quote:– In December 2005, in a Christmas message to the U.S. House of Representatives, Pelosi said: “Mr. Speaker, as we leave for this Christmas recess, let us say, ‘God bless you’ to the American people by voting against this Republican budget and statement of injustice and immorality, and let us not let the special interest goose get fat at the expense of America’s children.“The gentleman from Washington [state], Mr. McDermott, quoted the prophet Isaiah. And as the Bible teaches us, to minister to the needs of God’s creation is an act of worship, to ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us. Let us vote no on this budget as an act of worship and for America’s children.”– On Feb. 8, 2007, in remarks before the U.S. House Science and Technology Committee, when it held hearings on global warming, she used the same quote, verbatim, as in her Earth Day release.

– On April 6, 2007, in congressional remarks before the Easter recess: “In this Holy Week, we are reminded of these words in the Old Testament: ‘To minister to the needs of God’s creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us.’ We must move quickly to honor God’s creation by reducing greenhouse gas pollution in the United States and around the world.”

– On April 25, 2007, in a speech to the League of Conservation Voters in Washington, D.C.: “We are now charging ahead to tackle one of humanity’s greatest challenges yet - global warming. We will do this because we hold our children’s future in our hands - not our grandchildren, or great-grandchildren, but our own children. “As it says in the Old Testament, ‘To minister to the needs of God’s creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us.’”

– On Oct. 22, 2007, in a television interview with PBS host Tavis Smiley, she used it in discussion of her roots, attributing the quote to the book of Isaiah: “I’m raised in a family in Baltimore, Maryland, my father was the mayor. He was in Congress when I was born. And we were devoutly Catholic, very patriotic. We love America. Devoutly Catholic, deeply patriotic, proud of our Italian American heritage, and in our case, staunchly Democratic.

“And that faith was related to our Democratic values. That is to say, the gospel of Matthew: ‘When I was hungry, you gave me to eat.’ You know, the least of our brethren. So that’s an inspiration in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, Isaiah says, ‘To minister to the needs of God’s creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the god who made us.’”

Mis-remembered? Mis-paraphrased?