Imagine this: Suppose some eager lawmaker in Washington should introduce legislation on a pressing matter of public policy, prefacing his bill with the information that his proposed legislation is informed and guided by the Law of God. How do you suppose that would be received?

On Monday of this week President Obama held a kind of celebration at the White House, honoring the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disability Act. This was altogether appropriate for what many consider a landmark piece of legislation and one that demonstrates the real character of the American people. I would like to have been there amid all that high-fiving, glad-handing, and patting ourselves on the back for how good and wise we are.

Meanwhile, the President seems almost never to miss an opportunity to remind the public of how he convinced BP to pony up $20 billion to clean up the mess they've made in the Gulf of Mexico. He seems to sense that all Americans see the justice in this and that, of course, they should be reminded of his role in bringing it to pass.

But I wonder if the glad-handers and high-fivers in America's capital, and the President himself, would be pleased to know that their legislative acts and deal-brokering contain no original thinking, and that, in fact, they're only just catching up, in all their political acumen and wisdom, to the plain teaching of the Law of God.

Anent ADA: "You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind..." Leviticus 19.14. And BP's act of retribution and restoration: "If fire breaks out and catches in thorns so that the stacked grain or the field is consumed, he who started the fire shall make full restitution."

Imagine that the Law of God could be so far-thinking. Now, using your wild imagination, imagine that knowing this fact would make one bit of difference as to whether lawmakers will be any more open to divine wisdom in their policies and practices.

Not gonna happen.

T. M. Moore