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God Does Not Play Soccer in Short Pants!

Representative Steve King, from Iowa, says that President Obama has a little software switch in him that causes him to support Black people automatically.  And worse, that the President is undermining religion in America--"lowering American values"--by supporting the first openly gay male basketball player.  

 Look, Mr. King said, when people got a little antsy by Tim Tebow's on-field football prayers, and Bible verses painted on his face, Obama did not reach out to him.  Silence.  Not a Bible verse, not a little hymn:  nothing!  But when Jason Collins announced he was gay, Obama phoned him.

 There you are:  the Undermining of American Values! Our President openly supported Jason Collins' right to say he was gay, but would not openly support the injection of a little religion into a football game.  Everyone knows that it was those Bible verses that made Tim Tebow the quarterback he is, and that without a faceful of Bible verses, Tim Tebow would be cut by the New York Jets.  

 Now, of course, in all fairness, Jason Collins did not propose to demonstrate on the court that he is gay:  he just said so, somewhere.  Maybe that was the issue.

 The separation of church and state is an American value, too, I guess, although Mr. King did not say much about that.  To be honest, the separation of church and football is a murkier area, especially in Texas, where it is impossible.  And it is true that baseball players often look up toward the scoreboard, where the heavenly host are seated, to thank God for taking sides during the game.  Lots of wide receivers fall to the turf, making a kind of cross, when they score.  

 I think I am an outlier here, concerning religion and politics, because it bothers me when the President--the same one whom Representative King castigates for Undermining American Values--ends almost every public speech with a hearty Hiho, Silver!, and a God Bless America, Each and Every One!  Everyone says God is on their side, in Afghanistan and Pakistan and on the football field.  (I am speaking, here, only of American football, not International Socialistic Soccer, which has round balls and lots of suspicious touching.)

 Congress has had an official pray-er for centuries, and you can see where that got us!  The arrangement has not done much good for God's reputation, either.  So, just personally, I think someone ought to rewrite our Constitution and say that we do not want an official State-sponsored religion; that we can be religious at home, or in church, or in the end zone, if we want to, but don't baptize everybody Catholic, or Baptist, or Muslim, or anything.  


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