Economic and non-spiritual matters?

In India, where the Union Budget gets saturation coverage both in the print and electronic media, perhaps the only entity to be left out of the innumerable discussions and analyses is God! In the USA, which is a very religious country, God is very much part of the national discourse on even economic and other temporal issues. "In God We Trust" is the official motto of the USA and is printed on currency notes.

The other day, US Representative Charles Rangel (Democratic) held a press conference where he asked the question "What would Jesus do about the national debt-crisis of America?" Rangel's reply was: "If you read your scriptures, you will see clearly that Jesus would have something to say about this debate. The issues are so morally clear.

We are our brothers' keepers." Rangel also wondered why American rabbis, priests, ministers and imams had not expressed their views on the ongoing political controversy over the mounting US public debt (close to the ceiling of $14.3 trillion and growing at the rate of $40,000 a second) and on the Republicans' stand that taxes for the rich should not be hiked but that the Social Security and Medicare entitlements for the poor be cut. There were over 1,200 responses to the Fox News' report, many noting that Rangel had recently been judged guilty of ethical misconduct by a House of Representatives' panel.

One respondent quoted from the Gospel according to Matthew to make the point that when Jesus was asked by someone who wanted to trap him whether taxes should be paid to Caesar, the reply was "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, and unto God what is God's." In India where TV anchors are already accused of being sanctimonious, it is perhaps just as well that God is not part of the news-hour debate panel!