Feeling a little God smacked today . . .

Getting a lot of "God is great" type posts in my Facebook feed today.  I get them from time to time and for the most part I don't care.  I'm sure my friends put up with my frequent posts about gay-rights and other pet issues of mine, but I have to admit that sometimes I get to feeling a bit fed up with God-talk, especially when I just as often come across "Christians" who think it's OK to spread lies in the name of God.  

It's funny how some people feel the need to praise God for every little thing when it seems clear to me that most of the good things in the world happen as much in spite of God (or a belief in him) as because of some belief in him.  While I understand the apologetics that God works through individuals, when I take into account all the evil done through God-motivated people the whole "works of God" concept ends up being a zero-sum to me, if not an actual negative balance.  It seems far more likely that people do what they do and some of them feel the need to put the credit and/or blame on God.  

At any rate, when I get to feeling like this, I remember having put my feelings on the matter into a poem a while back.  

gods

I've never known a god to be
Much interested in equality
Or children starving in distant lands
Or mothers beaten by father's hands
Or general suffering of any sort. 
They sit on thrones, hold heavenly court,
And watch us mortals down on Earth,
Living and dying and giving birth
And wondering why the pains and tears
Cried up to heaven fall on deaf ears.

-Karl Jennings, September 2004