Peace on Earth, Good Will Towards Men
Today’s reading in Forward Day by Day is a difficult teaching from the prophet Amos, telling us that no, God isn’t on our side. God loves us, and he loves our allies as much as he loves us. And . . . he also loves our enemies – as much as he loves us.
THURSDAY, December 10 International Human Rights Day
Amos 9:1-10. Are you not like the Ethiopians to me, O people of Israel?
Amos is the Bible’s first universalist. Gods in ancient times, including Israel’s god, were seen as localized deities, inhabiting a certain place and exercising power on behalf of the people who lived there, whom they favored over other people. A god’s authority was rather like that of a modern sheriff–one had to pay attention to it, but its jurisdiction was limited by geography.
Then Amos, speaking on behalf of Israel’s god, said the chosen people were no different in God’s eyes than the Ethiopians. If God had done something special for Israel, he had done something special for everyone else, too, including Israel’s sworn enemies. God has no favorites and his authority extends everywhere. In his brusque, in-your-face manner, Amos says one nation is no more precious than another.
In this day of immigration controversy, ethnic suspicion, religious absolutism, xenophobic frenzy, and false patriotism, Amos speaks a sobering word: “You’re no different from anyone else. I love you, but I love your enemy, too, and if you don’t also love your enemy, you are no friend of mine.”
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Here There and Everywhere 
Peace on Earth???
Aren’t humans amazing Animals? They kill wildlife – birds, deer, all kinds of cats, coyotes, beavers, groundhogs, mice and foxes by the million in order to protect their domestic animals and their feed.
Then they kill domestic animals by the billion and eat them. This in turn kills people by the million, because eating all those animals leads to degenerative – and fatal – – health conditions like heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, and cancer.
So then humans spend billions of dollars torturing and killing millions of more animals to look for cures for these diseases.
Elsewhere, millions of other human beings are being killed by hunger and malnutrition because food they could eat is being used to fatten domestic animals.
Meanwhile, few people recognize the absurdity of humans, who kill so easily and violently, and once a year send out cards praying for “Peace on Earth.”
~Revised Preface to Old MacDonald’s Factory Farm by C. David Coates~
I happen to agree with some of your points, JC, but I am wondering – did you read the post, or just the headline? Your response is sort of a shoot-from-the-hip response, not at all responsive to the post!