It would appear that hate groups are on the rise once again in New Jersey and in America in general, and while there are some people of religious faith who do step forward to challenge this rise, too many more of us do not.

One would think that those who believe that God, the One and Only, who created us humans in God’s image, would be pounding the pavements and streets of our American towns and cities to call upon us all to cease our acts and words of bigotry and hatred. But too few of our clergy of every religion take the time to stand up and challenge the bigots and haters.

Our American forefathers gave us an incredible gift when they created our United States Constitution. But that was only the start. Their gift to us included a responsibility for us to continue to grow into an even better nation. We still have a way to go, and those who claim a faith in God and in religion need to show by their actions that their claims are valid.

Differences in opinions between one human and another deserve a civil discourse. If God truly created us all, the differences in one’s skin color, one’s tribal heritage, one’s religion or anything else deserve our understanding and our respect, for the remaining similarities among us all, be they the structure of our bodies or the structure of our brains, far outnumber and outweigh our very few differences.

Okay, I confess. I love a great sense of humor. Which is probably why I was and remain to this day a great fan of George W. Bush. No question about it. He was funny. And satirical. My favorite of his jokes? Hmmm. I think it was the one about taking our troops in and out of Iraq with victory in hand within a year. When I ran into George to complain that the war had taken so much longer and cost us so much more, he rightfully laughed at me and asked me if I had recently lost my sense of humor. "Why do you ask?" I said to him. And that's when he started to laugh as he said, "I was only kidding back then. Couldn't you tell."

And it was then that I finally got it. President Bush did have a great sense of humor. About the war in Iraq, and about his eight year economic plan which took us from the heights of the Clinton years to the depths of the great recession year at the end of the Bush presidency. Now I got it. When he would tell us with his serious look that he had good plans for us in so many areas, he was only kidding. He was the master of dry humor. Yes, now I see it. He was really funny.

As for Obama, he's too serious. Okay, so he has improved our economy in comparison to where it was when Bush handed it to him.  And okay, so he bought into a Heritage Foundation conservative concept of health care that has made some positive differences for a portion of American citizens. Big deal. Where are the laughs?