So apparently I am supposed to be impressed. And apparently, so is God!

The economy is in the tank.  We have protesters in the streets across our country calling attention to the Wall Street greed and incompetence that has threatened  our way of life.

Foreclosures, now at an all time high, are actually being delayed because the mortgage holders don’t have original paperwork, and have resorted to fraudulent documentation.  Homeowners actively involved in loan modification processes have nonetheless been put out into the street.

Food stamps are at an all time high, and politicians want to end the food stamp program and return us to the soup line era of the Great Depression.  Presidential candidates are accusing the unemployed and the poor of bringing this on themselves, and somehow being the real culprits in this economic nightmare.

Presidential primary debates are again targeting undocumented immigrants.  Perry supported a path to education for undocumented USAmerican residents, and is therefore supposedly un-nominatable.  Romney had at least one undocumented lawn-care laborer trying to feed his family, and therefore Romney is not a true American, we are told. And of course Cain, the current front-runner likes to speak of an electrified border fence designed to kill.

The current president, in desperation,  is trying to build a federal response to our crises piecemeal without the help of a dysfunctional congress.

But still, I am supposed to be impressed because I am a Christian. A white Christian. A non-catholic Christian. An evangelical Christian. And until the last few years a Republican Christian.   Therefore I am supposed to be impressed.

Congress, apparently with nothing else to do, has just passed some kind of resolution affirming “In God We Trust” as the nation’s official motto.  So I am supposed to be impressed.  And maybe somehow, so is God.

So hundreds of Republican and Democratic Representatives have voted yes to a resolution affirming something which, well, which already is (as illustrated by the image above).

What a large number of them should have done, I believe, is to have called for a voice vote, and one by one shouted “Unnecessary!”

Nor do I believe that God is very impressed with this useless posing, as indicated by the following prophetic declaration from Amos 5.

²¹ “I hate, I despise your religious festivals;
your assemblies are a stench to me.
²² Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
I will have no regard for them.
²³ Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.

²⁴ But let justice roll on like a river,
   righteousness like a never-failing stream!

Amos 5 (New International Version)

An unnecessary vote to be sure.  God is not more God.  We are not more Christian!

See also, “One Nation Under God.