The Trump Card

OK, I’m about to start a rant here, so you are now forewarned.

I’m sick and tired of people using the “Jesus” trump card. It’s getting stupid. It’s as if these people think that by putting “God on your side” somehow justifies what you’re doing or what you’ve done.

The who in particular is two people: President Bush and Michael Vick. Let me start with the latter.

Mr. Vick - I was once one of your biggest fans. I often went slack-jawed at your physical abilities. I believe you had what it took to win a Super-Bowl and bring the first football championship to Atlanta. And then you go and get yourself involved in some very stupid and inhumane things. I’m no fan of pit-bulls, but brutally killing any animal is a sign of deeper troubling issues. Believe it or not, I could get over and even forgive for this stupidity. But then you went and did it.

After pleading guilty, you held a press conference where you told us you were culpable for what happened. You took responsibility. But then you told us that you had “found Jesus.” Whether you did or not is of little interest to me. It was the fact that you used it as a convenient trump card that is akin to the “reset” button on a video game console. What did you think our response would be? “Oh, well, he found Jesus so we have to let him start over. We have to let him play football again because God would want it that way.” Sorry - “finding Jesus” doesn’t mean “get out of jail free.”

Dear Mr. President - where do I begin? I hear your followers plead their loyalty to you, but not for any particular policy reasons. They follow you because you’re a “Christian.” They love that you fear God and that you want to bring the US back to the days when it was a Christian nation (never mind the fact that it was NEVER a Christian nation). They love your black-and-white approach to fighting terrorism (ignoring the fact that we buddy up to Saudi Arabia, the nation of whom over 90% of 9/11 terrorists were from). They love your stance against abortion, for prayer in schools and your willingness to use government money to prop up Christian ministries.

Well, I’m sorry, but I just can’t get on board because someone says “God told them to.” I can’t justify using the Creator of everything as a political prop. Don’t get me wrong, I believe you’re sincere and frankly, the Democrats are just as dubious about this getting God on their side thing. I’m just tired of people using their faith as evidence that they are a good leader, or that their decisions are the right ones.

All of this reminds me of a question once asked of Abraham Lincoln. One of our greatest leaders ever was asked “Mr. President, do you believe that God is on your side?” In his wisdom, Lincoln responded “I’m not as much concerned with God being on my side as I am with being on God’s side.”

This entry was posted on August 30, 2007 at 9:11 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.