govern point

President Barack Obama quoted the Bible and provided the biggest jab at the former administration during his inauguration — when he said, to put away childish things. Most people probably didn’t even understand it was biblical, but it is.

The childish things could be anything, since he didn’t let it out. Let’s guess:

• The thought that one could generate wealth by continuously exchanging paper of company 1 to company 2
• The concept that one really does need an interest only load for a 6000 sq. ft. house
• The hubris that the US should just go anywhere on the planet and impose our will
• That two wars can simultaneously be waged successfully

We can break down the financial mess to a failure of personal decision making and accountability, a lack of transparency and the desire for easy profits. Don’t need to be religious to think these things are childish, but isn’t that what religion has historically provided?  A moral compass.

That being said, what have churches done to challenge a culture that honors free-market ideology and consumerism, a secular concepts that challenge many religious insights into flawed humanity. Think the seven deadly sins.

Shouldn’t churches be a moral counter weight that calls on its own traditions to push back against greed? Seems like times they are changing, churches are being a little less aggressive on these warnings. Perhaps it is un-American to push back. At this point, religious voices are now virtually absent from ethical debates about bailouts, deficits and war.

I guess it makes sense that a new Gallup Poll says religion’s social influence is waning. 2/3’s of Americans say religion is losing influence on life. Just a couple of years ago it as 1/2 – mmm….

Maybe we are all looking to the government to provide the moral guides and influence, maybe we need to look somewhere else, but maybe not.

Swearing on the bible has been a long held tradition for the Innauguration, if Mike Newdow has his way, it won’t be for long.  From a MSNBC news article:

A California atheist who sued to remove religion from the past two presidential inaugurations and lost will try yet again before Barack Obama’s swearing-in ceremony.

Michael Newdow, of Sacramento, Calif., said he and others will file suit Tuesday in a D.C. court in an attempt to remove all references to God and religion from the ceremony…

Not sure where it will fall, but it might best be Barack’s decision and no one else’s.  Just a concept.

Related articles:

• Minnesota Atheists Join Michael Newdow to Seek Injunction
• Lawsuit wants ’so help me God’ out of inaugural
• Michael Newdow Fights To Eliminate Prayer From Inauguration
• -Atheists Sue to Remove God From Inaugural

The Religion Newswriters Association announces the Top 10 News items for religion in 2008.  The majority of them for 2008 related to politics and the presidential election according to the survey participants.  Here is the religious Top 10 for 2008:

• Controversial sermons delivered in recent years by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright surface, resulting in pressure on Barack Obama, who eventually withdraws his membership in his church, Trinity UCC, Chicago. Meanwhile, John McCain rejects the endorsements of evangelists John Hagee, a critic of Catholicism, and Rod Parsley.
• Democrats, especially Barack Obama, make a conscious effort to woo faith-based voters. Obama participates in a faith-based debate with John McCain moderated by California mega-church pastor Rick Warren. Unusual attention is paid to evangelicals at the Democratic National Convention.
• Sarah Palin’s nomination as Republican vice president leads many evangelicals, who had planned to sit out the election, to support the GOP ticket. The choice causes a dilemma for some religious conservatives who oppose women in leadership roles.
• The California Supreme Court rules gay marriage is legal, but voters in November approve a constitutional amendment overturning the decision. Gay marriage also fails at the polls in Arizona and Florida.
• In his first U.S. visit, Pope Benedict XVI brings a message of hope during stops in Washington and New York. During the trip, he meets with victims of clergy misconduct.
• U.S. conservatives alienated from the Episcopal Church say they will ask Anglican Communion leaders for permission to create the Anglican Church in North America, allowing dioceses unhappy in the Episcopal Church to operate under the authority of a North American bishop instead of Anglican bishops in Africa and Latin America, as is now done. The move is considered the most significant threat to the Episcopal Church’s unity since a gay clergyman was ordained bishop five years ago.
• Terrorism believed motivated at least in part by religious fervor results in the deaths of almost 200 people in a three-day siege in Mumbai, India; one of the major targets is a Jewish center, where an American rabbi and his wife are killed. Meanwhile, attacks on Christians in the eastern India state of Orissa and its neighbors, which began in late 2007, continue during 2008.
• China cracks down on Buddhists seeking Tibetan independence in a prelude to producing a peaceful Olympics games; demonstrations mar some of the torch passages.
• The crumbling economy and subsequent drop in contributions force many faith-based organizations to cut back on expenses, at the same time as the need for social services increases.
• Violence continues in Iraq as Sunnis and Shiites attack each other and Christians are also targeted; Chaledean Archbishop Paulos Rahho is kidnapped and murdered in Mosul. However, some progress toward peace is apparently made.

Other Articles of Interest

• Pope Appeals For “Authentic Solidarity” To Stop Global Ruin
• Donna Brazile & Sarah Palin: The Truth Is Black & White
• From Obama-mania to Palin power: 2008’s top political stories
• Palin goofs, Clinton loss, wrong Wright end ‘08