The Sad Moral State of the Union

By: American Decency Staff

By Chris Johnson Tuesday night, President Obama gave his second State of the Union Address focusing in part on returning to the prosperity that our innovations in the past have brought us. He reminisced on some of the products and ideas that America has developed which have changed lives around the world. "We are the nation that put cars in driveways and computers in offices; the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers; of Google and Facebook. In America, innovation doesn't just change our lives. It's how we make a living." He also looked back to the inspiration for innovation that Russia's Sputnik project resulted in. Sputnik was the first object launched into space from earth, a small satellite the size of a basketball. Russia's accomplishment of sending the satellite into space is what sparked the creation of NASA and resulted in the planting of the American flag on the moon."This is our generation's Sputnik moment. Two years ago, I said that we needed to reach a level of research and development we haven't seen since the height of the space race. In a few weeks, I will be sending a budget to Congress that helps us meet that goal. We'll invest in biomedical research, information technology, and especially clean-energy technology – an investment that will strengthen our security, protect our planet and create countless new jobs for our people." Those are just a few excerpts from this speech, but I have a few problems with it on a few different levels. First of all, politically, there's a time for everything – to paraphrase Ecclesiastes  – and the time for investing in new technology is not the time when we have record debts and deficits. But more importantly, from a religious standpoint – which also permeates politics – innovation and research and the economy are not the root cause of America's success over the last several centuries; they are a side effect of a nation honoring God. The recession that we are going through, the dropping popularity of the dollar, the high prices of gas and everything else, etc. are the results of a nation disregarding God. In David Barton's movie, "America's Godly Heritage," Barton shows several charts taken from various government agencies that reveal the rates of moral and social problems after religion was barred from public schools. Problems like teen pregnancy and crime skyrocketed and American SAT scores plummeted just a few years after the Supreme Court's actions to neuter religion in public education.

I believe that the social, economic, political, and international problems that our country has is a direct result of spiritual problems. Today, the Hawaii Senate has made the unprecedented decision to not open its sessions with prayer. This is the first time this has ever been done in any state, and it is due to a letter sent to the state senators by the ACLU which informed the lawmakers that the prayers were a violation of "separation of church and state" because the prayers often invoked the name of Jesus Christ as Foxnews.com reports. "The 25-member Senate changed its rules in a unanimous voice vote last Thursday to end prayers after the American Civil Liberties Union sent lawmakers a letter complaining that the invocations often referenced Jesus Christ, contravening the separation of church and state." This is the newest crack in the next rung on the ladder back to the top. Mr. Obama, if you truly want this country to succeed, ditch your "investments" in "clean-energy technology" and the first ladies obsession with feeding fat kids celery. What those kids and the rest of the nation need is some moral fiber. ——————————————————————————————————————— Your support is important to our ability to make a difference. Donate online at: https://secure4.afo.net/ada/donate.php American Decency Association is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. American Decency Association Bill Johnson, President P.O. Box 202 Fremont, MI 49412 ph: 231-924-4050 www.americandecency.org http://www.twitter.com/billwjohnson

---