[J.P.’s Moment of Common Sense on Broad View, KBZZ 1270 AM and 96.1 FM in Reno. Listen live Saturdays at 2:00 PM Pacific Time.]

I could never be an atheist.  It requires too much faith.  An atheist must believe two things at once: that God doesn’t exist and that morality is possible without God.  Both propositions require leaps of faith bigger than anything required in a church.

After all, one can imagine proof that God exists but it’s hard to imagine anybody proving that God does not exist.

As for morality, atheists claim to believe in right and wrong but will talk in circles trying to explain the source.  Ask them where they come by their morals and the discussion will go something like this:

“If you don’t believe in God, then what stops you from killing me?”

“Well, I don’t kill you because killing is wrong.”

“Sure, I know it’s wrong, I believe in God.  That’s number six of the Ten Commandments.  But why do you think it’s wrong?”

“Just because I’m an atheist doesn’t mean I don’t have right and wrong.”

“But what’s the source of your right and wrong?”

“Jeepers creepers, right and wrong don’t have to come from God!”

“Well, logically, they have to come from somewhere.”

“They come from inside.  A person decides rationally what’s right and wrong, then lives accordingly.”

That’s how the discussion will go, trust me.  The philosophy of atheism is moral relativism, or moral equivalence, or secular humanism—different names for the same thing.  Unfortunately, this is the prevailing philosophy in Washington, D.C., now.  We’ve banished the notion of absolute right and wrong from the public sphere, leaving our elected representatives wallowing in a miasma of indeterminate judgment about how to behave.  It’s an ugly way to live, an ineffective way to make decisions, and a death knell for our country.

I think it’s the primary reason why Washington is so dysfunctional lately: they’ve evicted God from the discussion.

Important stuff is happening in the world: the Middle East is on the verge of war, Europe and the United States are facing bankruptcy, and government tyranny is growing faster than any time since the first half of the 20th century.  It’s downright frightening.  Without a foundation of absolute right and wrong, people are confused.  Journalists, for example, are busy assuming moral equivalence between the Hamas terrorists who shoot rockets at civilians and the Israelis who strive mightily to destroy those rockets without harming nearby civilians.

I long for a politician with the courage and clarity to stand in the deepest part of Washington’s cesspool and call those rocket launchers evil—call Hamas itself evil—and call upon God for retribution against anybody willing to kill women and children and use their own women and children as cover.  That’s a political speech I’d love to hear but nobody in Washington will use that kind of language anymore.

Not only are they unwilling to label Hamas evil, they continue to send billions of dollars to the Gaza Strip so Hamas can buy more rockets, which is borderline insane.  No wait, let me rephrase: sending money to Hamas is wrong.  Evil.

Speaking of evil, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi took control of Congress in January of 2007 and with their first budget, for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2008, they started exponentially increasing the spending of the federal government.  Harry and Nancy’s very first budget increased the size of the federal deficit by 103%.

Spending more money than you have and leaving a debt for your children to pay is wrong and we need people in Washington willing to say it.

One of the signs of evil is the way it hides from the light of day.  Although he’s controlled the Senate since January of 2007, Harry Reid stopped passing budgets in May of 2009, three and a half years ago, even though Congress is required by law to have a budget.  A budget would reveal the full extent of his evil, the full extent of what he’s doing to the nation and to our children.  In black and white, a budget would let people see his plans for the next fiscal year.  Evil hates that kind of exposure.

In January 2009, Reid and Pelosi were joined by a fellow Democrat in the White House and any semblance of fiscal restraint was immediately abandoned.  The federal deficit since Barack Obama became president has skyrocketed to levels unprecedented and unsustainable.  If you include our unfunded liabilities, we owe many multiples of annual GDP, enough to keep our descendants in debt for generations.

Until recently, the world was willing to fund our spending by buying Treasury securities but that willingness is faltering.  Did you know that?  All of our new Treasury debt is 100% funded by the Federal Reserve now.  China won’t buy it.  Japan doesn’t want it.  Nobody wants it.  We’re in deep trouble.  To continue the pretense that we’re still financially viable, we have to print money to buy our own debt.

Think about that.

In the midst of this ongoing crisis, the Republican opposition in Washington, in the person of John Boehner, is proposing that we ignore the spending problem for the moment and concentrate on raising taxes.  He’s as confused and separated from God as Harry Reid.  Everybody knows the Truth but they won’t speak it: the government has a spending problem, plain and simple.

Solving this problem, like all problems, is a question of right and wrong—good and evil—but nobody has the courage to admit it.

That’s... today’s dose of common sense.

“We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as for certain and which has as its highest goal one's own ego and one's own desires.” —Pope Benedict XVI

“There is really no right and wrong.  I recognize no right and wrong.” —Mary MacLane (early 20th century bisexual feminist)

“Once you depart from the Ten Commandments as being the foundation of right and wrong, you are in a free fall.” —Randall Terry

From Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA        Tweet

December 11, 2012 - By the way J.P., there is a politician who has stood up for decades and defended our nation's constitution. His record was consistent from start to finish. He spoke up regularly for the unborn, for a very limited federal government, to hand power back to the states. To end the fed, as well as our participation in the UN, and our irresponsible foreign aide. He retired from Congress just this year. I believe mainstream America called him too radical and I believe you called him border-line racist and crooked. It's funny how I see the media flocking to him like cattle now that we are seeing his predictions unfold before our eyes. It's also funny that all his predictions were based on simple logic and common sense. – Samantha, Michigan

J.P. replies: You’re referring to Ron Paul.  Yes, he said a lot of the right things but I couldn’t get past three things: one, he sent out newsletters in the 80s and 90s with racist content (later claiming he didn’t write them); two, he collected double reimbursements for his travel expenses for years, which is simply crooked; and three, he was too damn old (77) to be running for president which suggested to me he was more interested in his own legacy than in helping the country.

December 11, 2012 - You talk a lot about the loyalty Hollywood seems to have toward this New American vision, and I agree. In Germany before the Nazi rule it was the arts that were used to push Existentialism. Moral relativism was fed to the public by their own celebrities. Such a parallel to our culture, and the film industry over the past 30 years or so. This search for your own "authenticity" the notion that if you find your true self, there lies the source of your eternal happiness. Essentially, do what feels good. This so-called "New Age" movement is propagated through television, film, books, arts, and more recently even our churches. It is the same old lie that was told to Adam and Eve in the garden, and it so appeals to our ego to believe we can be as God. Eat this, buy this, read this, do this and you can be like God. When will we stop buying into the same old re-packaged lie. There is only one God and we are not Him. Why would we want to turn away from the God who loved us enough to die for our sins? Who gave us the gift of a free nation? It is such a shame. – Samantha, Michigan

December 10, 2012 - Morally and ethically this country is going to hell in a hand basket. For years now we have seen the atheists do away with any type of reference to God, under the premise of separation of church and state as guaranteed under the constitution. Yet religious freedom was one of the rocks on which this country was founded. Just recently the democrats tried to do away with the word God in their party platform, then tried to reinsert it due to outrage. We are a democracy in which everyone is supposed to be equal yet when it comes to religion it isn't equal anymore. In order to protect the beliefs of minority views, the majority views have been thrown out the door. I've always believed when you start governing to the minority the end result is that the majority gets ticked off. Schools can no longer have Christmas programs but rather holiday programs. There can be no reference to Christmas trees. Atheists want the word God removed from our money or pledge of allegiance. We are seeing a nation move farther and farther away from any type of religious beliefs. It is a personal choice and belief whether an individual chooses to practice or not practice a religious belief. However as individuals we have gotten farther away from values taught in churches, synagogues etc all over America. With that we have seen decline in the institution of marriage. We have seen the increase of children born out of wedlock, cheat, lie, steal and murder all acceptable based on the situation. It truly is sad! Sad for my children and the world that they are now living in, but sad for all Americans and this country. – Pam T., Virginia

December 10, 2012 - Every time I watch a lawyer show on TV I wonder what makes them think swearing on a Bible has any effect on 21st century citizens. We can't deny God while raising our children and expect them to honor God by telling the truth in court. People don't realize we still depend on the morality we learned in church, the morality that came from God, and without it the whole construct of civlization topples. – Pete W., Chicago

December 9, 2012 - Great moment of common sense, Love it!!!! You'd be a great President!!!! – Amy, Reno

December 8, 2012 - All I can say is Amen. – Mary D., Michigan