‘In God we trust’: Really? Is America living up to the challenge of equality? | Opinion

This week, our president delivered his third State of the Union address. At the end of his address, the president said, “We are Americans. We are the pioneers. We are the pathfinders. We settled the new world, we built the modern world, and we changed history forever by embracing the eternal truth that everyone is made equal by the hand of Almighty God.”

Americans traditionally believe that God is integral to our ethos as a people. We consider ourselves a religious nation. We pledge allegiance to the flag by saying, “One nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all.” Even our currency celebrates our religious convictions when President Eisenhower on July 30, 1956 signed a joint resolution of Congress that all U.S. currency would state, “In God We Trust.”

The belief in God is not only etched on our paper currency and our coinage, and included in our founding documents, but, God’s presence is part and parcel of our worship life in the churches, synagogues and mosques and so on in our nation’s religious life.

The question is do we as Americans believe and act on the belief that “everyone is made equal by the hand of Almighty God”?

As a patriotic sentiment, Americans can concur that we take pride in this statement. Surely the Torah itself gives expression to this idea when in the book of Genesis 1:27 it says, “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

The text speaks to the belief that part of our essence is divine. This goes beyond our patriotism and our pride in being American. If we are all created in the image of God how can we not be equal in the eyes of our creator? So America is supposed to be fashioned on biblical principles and that all men and women are equal because we are created in the divine image.

So when the president says we are all equal by the hand of God does that means we as a nation live by that tenet? The words are sacred. We read them in our houses of worship but do we live by them in our daily lives? Do we shape public policy to be consistent with this belief? Does this cornerstone of American ethics apply equally to health care, income inequality, climate control, the justice system and so many other institutions that support our society?

Do our elected officials who espouse this belief in their speeches actually walk the walk for the American people?

This year of 2020 we celebrate the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote. We recall the struggle for equality to rid this nation of slavery. We recall the right of LGBTQ couples to marry. All of these examples required advocacy and even war within our borders.

Yes, we have been the most enterprising nation in history. We have built an empire of opportunity for people from nations all over the world to find freedom and equality.

We have also struggled and not lived up to that ideal during our history too.

Still, the civil rights movement and race itself continue to be issues that remain unresolved. Manifest destiny worked for this nation’s growth, but where did it leave Native Americans? Have they truly benefited from this promise that we are all equal in the eyes of God?

Do the disabled receive the same respect and honor as citizens of this nation as those without physical disabilities? The month of February is disability awareness month. Hopefully, congregations throughout the land will educate themselves and their communities that these Americans are just as precious as the entrepreneurs who sit at the top of the societal hierarchy of income producers.

So when we speak about the State of the Union and we celebrate the high employment rate, or the success of the stock market, let us not forget other vital areas — and not just the infrastructure, such as roads and bridges — deserve our attention.

It is the spiritual and moral infrastructure that follows from the belief that God Almighty made everyone equal. That infrastructure of human decency and mutual respect for all Americans counts just as much as any other public policy issue.

If God created us and God made us all equal, then surely God is watching this American experiment in democracy. Let’s not forget that fact.

Rabbi Brad Bloom of Hilton Head Island writes on issues of faith.