We're all for the separation of church and state and freedom of religion.  Let's face it though, there is a massive swath of people in the US who claim that we're "a Christian nation."  Politicians like Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, and Rick Perry use Christianity to push an agenda that is decidedly NOT Christian.  We need to call them out.

We are not a "Christian nation" by any stretch of the imagination.

We blame the least of these for our problems and then punish and exploit them for our own greedy and power-hungry ways.  God is not at all pleased with this kind of behavior and we will pay for it.  We already are. Let's wake up and rise up Christians. Let's quit believing the lies we've been told for so long now by the right-wing.  Let us see what is going on around us.  Let us do something about it.  We don't need a state religion.  We need to act like Christ, and we don't.

Corporate America is sitting on a colossal $2 trillion in cash -- $1.4 trillion in the S&P's top 20 alone -- but that does little for the public.
Depending on whom you talk to, it's either a huge rainy-day fund if the economy heads for a double dip, or it's top executives feathering their nest in order to grab huge year-end bonuses.  Read more here.

Or is it that they're holding all their money until they get their way with more tax cuts and more deregulation?  Or is it that they want President Obama to fail so badly that they're going to hold their money and keep the unemployment rate high with the hope that it will ruin him (and thus once again usher in the good old days of Reaganomics where Republicans give them everything they want)?

Who knows?

One thing we know for sure is this: "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows." -- Galatians 6:7

Here's a little story about what God thinks of the behavior of these corporations:

Matthew 25:14-30

“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.  “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

“The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

“Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

“His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

“‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

At the end of the day these corporations are able to get away with this hoarding because our politicians refuse to write policy that would put a stop to it.  What's even more disgusting is that one way or another most of these corporations are doing well because the US taxpayer came running to the rescue of an economy that had been gutted by 30 years of Reaganomics.

We are all well advised to collectively return to the vineyard soon, and see what our servants have been up to.  If we don't, we might find ourselves buried.

Matt 18:23-35 Therefore the Kingdom of Heaven is like a certain king, who wanted to reconcile accounts with his servants. When he had begun to reconcile, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. But because he couldn’t pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, with his wife, his children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down and kneeled before him, saying, ‘Lord, have patience with me, and I will repay you all!’ The lord of that servant, being moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. "But that servant went out, and found one of his fellow servants, who owed him one hundred denarii, and he grabbed him, and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ " So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will repay you!’ He would not, but went and cast him into prison, until he should pay back that which was due. So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were exceedingly sorry, and came and told to their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him in, and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt, because you begged me. Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your fellow servant, even as I had mercy on you?’ His lord was angry, and delivered him to the tormentors, until he should pay all that was due to him. So my heavenly Father will also do to you, if you don’t each forgive your brother from your hearts for his misdeeds."

Just remember how The Prince of Peace handles revolution. K?

I continue to be beyond frustrated with the “leadership” in Congress.  Ultimately, the failure to do anything but help the rich and pat the poor on the head with programs designed to appease them much more than to provide any meaningful assistance, can be blamed on both sides.  The Democrats can be blamed for sometimes being complicit in the actions and other times simply not having enough political backbone to stand up the the Republicans.  The Republicans can be blamed for consistently favoring their rich benefactors over the majority of their supporters and constituents who fall into the working class which continues to become (thanks in part to Congress) a poorer and poorer class.

You have to admire the Republicans (in a perverse “hate what you do but admire how well you do it” sort of way) for how consistently they have pulled off their game.  They are running both the short and the long con.  For decades now, they have been working diligently to wedge the classes further apart.  At first I thought they we doing it by decreasing the size of the middle class, increasing the size of the lower class and strengthening both the resolve and power of the upper class via  rules and regulations (or lack thereof) designed to achieve said results.

More recently, I've begun to think I completely missed the boat.  While it is true that in the US the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, the most important statistic is that the gap between the top 1%, in terms of wealth, and the rest of us is as bad as it is has been in 90 years.  The top 1% of the US have almost 39% of the wealth in the US.  And a full 50% of our population own only 2.5% of the over all wealth.  (All data above and below is from The Institute on Policy Study).

Change the measurement to stocks, bonds and mutual funds and that percent shifts to a whopping 51% of the wealth being owned by the top 1%.  Expand that 1% to the top 10% and 90% (no, that is no a typo) of what I'll call the “Wall Street Wealth” is owned by them.  Anyone still wondering why there was a Wall Street bailout and not a Main Street bailout?

It's not that the Republicans are trying to decrease the size of the middle class.  They are trying to widen the gap between the wealthy and the middle class effectively reducing the middle class to a working class poor by comparison to the wealthy.  I might add that they are rather successfully doing so. 

While the top 1% have seen their share of capital income increase by nearly 20% over the last twenty years, the bottom 80% have seen theirs fall by almost 15%.  CEO's income has risen 300% in that time.  Corporate profits have increased by 106%... and worker's pay has increased a measly 4.3%.  You have to hand it to the Republicans – they are good at this.

What is surprising is how well they play the working middle class.  A surprisingly high number of that group of people are some of the stanchest supporters of Republicans.  The Republicans are playing a long con here, making promises and appearing one way while working as hard as they know how to achieve results that rip off their strongest supporters.  All the while, their actions tell the tale saying to those not in the top 10%, “get your own.”

Recent battles on the hill should be more than enough to pull the curtain back to reveal congressional Republican's real motivation, as they work hard to stop Obamacare, stop extending unemployment checks and, at the same time, extend tax cuts to the wealthiest 1%.  While they do, they wrap themselves in the flag, shout things like “down with socialism” and “no taxes,”  in an attempt to endear themselves to middle class America.  All the while, they are working to install a plutocracy operating under the false front of a democracy in America... and they are doing it in God's name.

And that's where we should ultimately see thorough their ruse most clearly.  Adopting Christian precepts to support stepping on the least of these, to intentionally marginalize part of a society, to relegate a particular segment of a population to a place where they struggle to maintain good health, shelter and food while a small percentage of the elite dine of the backs of the least of these... well, that should be a con that just won't sell.

My question is, when is the Church going to do something about it?  My question is, when are you, when am I, when are we going to do something about it?  We have the numbers, just not the money.  We still live in a democracy (for now).  When are we going to do something about it?


(Post submitted by Featured Blogger, Rev. Mark Sandlin who also blogs at The God Article).