Recently, fellow blogger NEPAConservative posted the commentary, “Why so much SHOCK over the Obama Nobel Peace Prize award?” A reader – perhaps a troll – named Ann responded by saying, “I think you are sick. God has found favor in Obama and no sick mind can change that.” (You can read the post and comments here.)

I want to respond to that in a public way because I think Ann revealed something without intending to. Note she says “God found favor in Obama,” rather than “Obama found favor in God.” In other words, she unconsciously put Obama above God. According to her words, the central point is that God has seen Obama’s light, rather than that Obama has seen (or reflects) God’s light.

She probably meant to say something like: “God found Obama favorable,” or “God has approved of Obama.” But that’s not what she actually said.

The standing question is: did she unintentionally reveal her unconscious conviction that Obama sits higher than God? That would accord with Black Liberation Theology, whose primary theologian, James Cone, said that Blacks have to reject and destroy any God who does not privilege blackness over whiteness and Blacks over Whites. That is: if God does not agree with Black Liberation ideology, God is not God. Hence, Black Liberation Theologians, and their public faces – like Obama, who imbibed Black Liberation theology at Trinity Church (UCC), Chicago – reserve the right to approve or disapprove of God. Put another way: they create God in their own image. So, indeed, from that perspective God would have to find favor in Obama, or be branded a false god. And that would logically put Obama higher than God, and reduce God’s reason for existence to serving/approving/advancing Obama and his agenda.

That’s one possibility. The other is that Ann is merely a semi-literate product of the contemporary American public education system. Sadly, that’s just as possible. And if so, we cannot expect her reasoning skills to be much better than her skill at constructing a sentence to convey her half-formed thought. Since humans think in words, the size of our vocabulary, our understanding of word nuance, and our ability to string words together into coherent sentences determines our ability to reason, and our ability to share the products of our reasoning. A literate person is able to select from among a range of words those that convey an intended meaning, and then link those words together to express a coherent and complete thought. Ann does not reveal that capacity.

I’d like to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume she meant what she literally said. But the phrase itself – “God has found favor in Obama” – suggests it’s a matter of inadequate education. It is an ambiguous and incomplete phrase that leaves doubt about her meaning.

I am engaging in snarky commentary, of course, but with a purpose. It is possible Ann just doesn’t think we’re worth the effort of a full sentence or a fully-composed rebuttal, but I think the truth is that she is both a semi-literate product of our contemporary educational system who also thinks Obama is at least on a par with God, if not better than. I think those two things go together, and constitute exactly what the Progressives who manage American public education and their compatriot Progressive politicians want: citizens who can’t think well, so that they can be fashioned into obedient followers of whatever strongman inhabits the White House. (Sadly, Progressive politicians can be found in both political parties, though they predominate in the Democrat.)

What set me off in Ann’s response was the fact that she offered no counter-argument, merely a dismissive slur that appears to be the result of an ingrained reactive impulse rather than a cultured thoughtfulness. And I would really love to hear what constitutes evidence that God has a favorable view of Obama. If it’s merely a matter of winning the election, then God must have smiled on George W, too. But I don’t think Ann would want to say that. So there must be more.

While it’s not clear to me that God smiles with favor on Obama, it is clear that many powers of the world do. But last I heard, God says the world is the walking place of Satan. And as a matter of public record, those powers smiling on Obama are thugs, bullies, dictators, statists and atheists, so the formula “powers-that-smile-on-Obama = satanic” seems to work.

God, however, stands over-against such worldly powers, calling us to higher ground. Were Obama being hailed by the nobler world leaders, I would consider the claim that God smiles on him. In fact, I would not have much argument with him because he’d be generally promoting Godly values. And I don’t expect human leaders to be perfect in their Godliness – just that they walk toward the Heavenly rather than away from it. Obama not only cozies up to the leaders who are committed to dark arts and practices, he publicly snubs those who at least strive for enlightened motives and actions.

If Obama is so favored by the darker powers of the world – and favors them, too - it is unlikely he is favored by the Power of Heaven. Not impossible, but not likely. Hence: show me the evidence, Ann. Give me the reasons you think that God looks favorably upon Obama.