This was in today's Oregonian and I found it to be right on.

For years, Democrats have been trying to shed their secular image in order to appeal to voters who think Jesus is a Republican. As the saying goes, be careful what you wish for.

Thanks to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the Democrats have got religion -- and everything that comes with it: weirdness, wrath, insult, blowhardiness, vanity, paranoia, divisiveness and trouble. When Sen. Barack Obama told the 2004 Democratic convention, "We worship an awesome God in the blue states," this probably wasn't the result he had in mind.

By repudiating Wright last Tuesday, Obama missed a chance to call on Sen. John McCain to turn away from his own problematic clerical helpers. McCain still welcomes the endorsement of televangelist John Hagee, who has famously attributed Hurricane Katrina to God's wrath at homosexuals, calls the Roman Catholic Church "the great whore," claims the Koran commands Muslims to kill Jews and Christians, condemns the Harry Potter books as witchcraft and wants a world war over Israel, whose most aggressive settlement policies he vigorously supports because it supposedly will precipitate the Second Coming of Christ.

As Sarah Posner lays out in an excellent post for The American Prospect Web site, Wright and Hagee have a lot in common. Both believe that chickens come home to roost -- in New Orleans, on 9/11 -- and that God sends them. Both think America is sinful. Both have bizarre ideas with terrible, real-world implications: Hagee wants the United States and Israel to attack Iran to bring on the end times; Wright claims the U.S. government invented HIV "as a means of genocide against people of color."

The fact is, if Wright were a white wing nut, the media and the voters would give him the pass they give Hagee, Pat Robertson and the other radical-right preachers, who say vicious, bigoted, nutty things that violate common sense and common decency.

The media portray these divines in various ways -- respectable men of the cloth, shrewd political operators or, occasionally, even as crazy old coots -- but the media don't get anywhere near as worked up about them, or about their closeness to Republican politicians, as they did about Wright.

You probably don't even know that McCain accepted the endorsement of the Ohio Pentecostal minister Rod Parsley, campaigned with him in Cincinnati and praised him as a "moral compass" and a "spiritual guide" -- Rod Parsley, who in addition to the customary anti-gay obsessions has described Allah as a "demon spirit" and Islam as a "false religion" the United States was "in part" founded in order to destroy in holy war!

McCain's defenders want the press to make much of the fact that Wright was Obama's pastor for many years, while Hagee and Parsley are not personally close to McCain. Why that is the difference that should matter is beyond me: Why isn't it more important that McCain has sought out these warmongering preachers and specifically said their position on the Middle East is what he likes about them? Pretty scary!

But here's the larger point: If we kept religion out of the election campaign, we could just debate the issues, like rational people. After all, which is less likely, that HIV came out of a government lab, or that the dead will rise from their graves? That Israel is on a course that is not likely to end well, or that God wants more West Bank settlements in order to set off a world war and bring on Christ's return?

We can discuss empirical claims and debate them like citizens; religious beliefs, by their very nature, claim immunity from rational analysis. When men whose profession is the latter weigh in on the former, why should anyone take them seriously?

As Obama has perhaps belatedly learned, the Democrats had it right the first time: Keep God out of it, and the men who claim to speak for God, too.

Katha Pollitt is a columnist for The Nation magazine. Her latest book is "Learning to Drive and Other Life Stories."

I think that the GOP gets the bad stigma of being the "party of God". The Religious Right is largely, IMHO, a rather poor representation of the Republican Party, and of American society as a whole. They are, for the most part, sheeple. They are led by their pastor, minister, etc. to vote for the guy who is most damaging to the Constitution, who oftentimes wants to enact legislation that hinders or blocks minorities from rights, that is emphatic against gay rights and believes that they are second-class humans (if human at all) and that wants to shut out all other religions from American society.

What the incident with Rev. Wright proved is that organized religion can be very dangerous to ALL sides of the aisle. What Wright said was no less dangerous than what Hagee has said, or a lot of what Pat Robertson has said in the past, or what other dangerous "men of God" have said in the past from Oral Roberts to Jim Bakker .. to even people like Richard Butler.

Whether people like Herb believe it or not, even though God is mentioned in the Constitution, the United States of America is very much a secular society and a secular Government. The ideas and principles even of our forefathers was to promote religious equality. Remember, many of these people came to the New World because they were being religiously persecuted in their native lands. Now many of our reilgious and political leaders talk of closing, rather than opening their arms to people of other faits, etc. That is a dangerous precedent that I don't want any part of as an American.

Organized religion has been used to justify millions upon millions of murders, deaths and tragedies over the years. Do we REALLY want this kind of "faith" in our government?

"Do we REALLY want this kind of "faith" in our government?"

No. That's why this article hits home.

I also like the author's description of what happens when religion is interwoven with politics: "weirdness, wrath, insult, blowhardiness, vanity, paranoia, divisiveness and trouble." Kind of sounds like a certain poster...

I do agree with much of what Katha Pollitt has to say. These days the nut jobs seem to be in the religious sect or at least it seems that way.

A politician’s religion never seemed to play the role it used too at least not to my recollection. You don't have to take religion "out" of politics completely, but certainly put it into some kind of proper perspective and move on.

These religious noisemakers are getting the headlines, which take away from the issues that need to be discussed. There is a growing movement within young evangelicals that is not staying with the old guard evangelicals on many hot button issues. They are seeing a bigger picture and not just a one or two issue political stance.

I am optimistic that these well-educated young people will be the difference in this upcoming election. I believe Bush has done more damage for those of us who call ourselves Christians than any other American leader I can think of.

I'll agree with that.

It's like they courted every body of people with an axe to grind, promised them the moon, and here we are.

Ugh...

The secular nature of our government is one of it's finest attributes. A quick trip through our history tells all there. The founders knew it and lived it, for the most part.

Most of the clowns trying to take us back there haven't. They have absolutely no idea!

Good article.

I also think the youth have had quite enough. The majority of the ones I talk to know absolutely what is at stake and they are going to say, "no thanks".

Good.

Great thread Vitalogy!

I agree with you fellows. Like the flag and patriotism, the GOP also claims to own God. I also believe that this election has brought the discussion of faith in politics to a new level -- for better or worse. It is not because the mass media is doing the job. It is because the people are doing the job. In addition to some of the sources already cited, one of those people is Brian Springer, who released Spin thirteen years ago.

There are some very thoughtful folks in these parts. Now, if you are not inclined to do a bit of reading, or step out of the box for a moment, that is cool. Just scroll on past. However, if you want to take a few minutes, I have a challenge for you. Are you up for it?

First, please open this 1885 painting by George Frederic Watts in a separate window.

Second, please open your mind a bit and read the text below:

Several years ago while I was in Richmond, the Lord allowed me to be in that city during the week of the annual convocation at Virginia Union University School of Theology. There I heard the preaching and teaching of Reverend Frederick G. Sampson of Detroit, Michigan. In one of his lectures, Dr. Sampson spoke of a painting I remembered studying in humanities courses back in the late '50s. In Dr. Sampson's powerful description of the picture, he spoke of it being a study in contradictions, because the title and the details on the canvas seem to be in direct opposition.

The painting's title is "Hope." It shows a woman sitting on top of the world, playing a harp. What more enviable position could one ever hope to achieve than being on top of the world with everyone dancing to your music?

As you look closer, the illusion of power gives way to the reality of pain. The world on which this woman sits, our world, is torn by war, destroyed by hate, decimated by despair, and devastated by distrust. The world on which she sits seems on the brink of destruction. Famine ravages millions of inhabitants in one hemisphere, while feasting and gluttony are enjoyed by inhabitants of another hemisphere. This world is a ticking time bomb, with apartheid in one hemisphere and apathy in the other. Scientists tell us there are enough nuclear warheads to wipe out all forms of life except cockroaches. That is the world on which the woman sits in Watt's painting.

Our world cares more about bombs for the enemy than about bread for the hungry. This world is still more concerned about the color of skin than it is about the content of character - a world more finicky about what's on the outside of your head than about the quality of your education or what's inside your head. That is the world on which this woman sits.

You and I think of being on top of the world as being in heaven. When you look at the woman in Watt's painting, you discover this woman is in hell. She is wearing rags. Her tattered clothes look as if the woman herself has come through Hiroshima or Nagasaki. Her head is bandaged, and blood seeps through the bandages. Scars and cuts are visible on her face, her arms, and her legs.

I. Illusion of Power vs. Reality of Pain

A closer look reveals all the harp strings but one are broken or ripped out. Even the instrument has been damaged by what she has been through, and she is the classic example of quiet despair. Yet the artist dares to entitle the painting Hope. The illusion of power - sitting on top of the world - gives way to the reality of pain.

And isn't it that way with many of us? We give the illusion of being in an enviable position on top of the world. Look closer, and our lives reveal the reality of pain too deep for the tongue to tell. For the woman in the painting, what looks like being in heaven is actually an existence in a quiet hell.

I've been a pastor for seventeen years. I've seen too many of these cases not to know what I'm talking about. I've seen married couples where the husband has a girlfriend in addition to his wife. It's something nobody talks about. The wife smiles and pretends not to hear the whispers and the gossip. She has the legal papers but knows he would rather try to buy Fort Knox than divorce her. That's a living hell.

I've seen married couples where the wife had discovered that somebody else cares for her as a person and not just as cook, maid jitney service, and call girl all wrapped into one. But there's the scandal: What would folks say? What about the children? That's a living hell.

I've seen divorcees whose dreams have been blown to bits, families broken up beyond repair, and lives somehow slipping through their fingers. They've lost control. That's a living hell.

I've seen college students who give the illusion of being on top of the world - designer clothes, all the sex that they want, all the cocaine or marijuana or drugs, all the trappings of having it all together on the outside - but empty and shallow and hurting and lonely and afraid on the inside. Many times what looks good on the outside - the illusion of being in power, of sitting on top of the world - with a closer look is actually existence in a quiet hell.

That is exactly where Hannah is in 1 Samuel 1 :1-18. Hannah is top dog in this three-way relationship between herself, Elkanah, and Peninnah. Her husband loves Hannah more than he loves his other wife and their children. Elkanah tells Hannah he loves her. A lot of husbands don't do that. He shows Hannah that he loves her, and many husbands never get around to doing that. In fact, it is his attention and devotion to Hannah that causes Peninnah to be so angry and to stay on Hannah's case constantly. Jealous! Jealousy will get hold of you, and you can't let it go because it won't let you go. Peninnah stayed on Hannah, like we say, "as white on rice." She constantly picked at Hannah, making her cry, taking her appetite away.

At first glance Hannah's position seems enviable. She had all the rights and none of the responsibilities - no diapers to change, no beds to sit beside at night, no noses to wipe, nothing else to wipe either, no babies draining you of your milk and demanding feeding. Hannah was top dog. No baby portions to fix at meal times. Her man loved her; everybody knew he loved her. He loved her more than anything or anybody. That's why Peninnah hated her so much.

Now, except for the second-wife bit, which was legal back then, Hannah was sitting on top of the world, until you look closer. When you look closer, what looked like being in heaven was actually existing in a quiet hell.

(continues in next post)

Hannah had the pain of a bitter woman to contend with, for verse 7 says that nonstop, Peninnah stayed with her. Hannah suffered the pain of living with a bitter woman. And she suffered another pain - the pain of a barren womb. You will remember the story of the widow in 2 Kings 4 who had no child. The story of a woman with no children was a story of deep pathos and despair in biblical days.

Do you remember the story of Sarah and what she did in Genesis 16 because of her barren womb - before the three heavenly visitors stopped by their tent? Do you remember the story of Elizabeth and her husband in Luke I? Back in Bible days, the story of a woman with a barren womb was a story of deep pathos. And Hannah was afflicted with the pain of a bitter woman on the one hand and the pain of a barren womb on the other.

Hannah's world was flawed, flaky. Her garments of respectability were tattered and torn, and her heart was bruised and bleeding from the constant attacks of a jealous woman. The scars and scratches on her psyche are almost visible as you look at this passage, where she cries, refusing to eat anything. Just like the woman in Watt's painting, what looks like being in heaven is actually existence in a quiet hell.

Now I want to share briefly with you about Hannah - the lady and the Lord. While I do so, I want you to be thinking about where you live and your own particular pain predicament. Think about it for a moment.

Dr. Sampson said he wanted to quarrel with the artist for having the gall to name that painting Hope when all he could see in the picture was hell - a quiet desperation. But then Dr. Sampson said he noticed that he had been looking only at the horizontal dimensions and relationships and how this woman was hooked up with that world on which she sat. He had failed to take into account her vertical relationships. He had not looked above her head. And when he looked over her head, he found some small notes of music moving joyfully and playfully toward heaven.

II. The Audacity to Hope

Then, Dr. Sampson began to understand why the artist titled the painting "Hope." In spite of being in a world torn by war, in spite of being on a world destroyed by hate and decimated by distrust, in spite of being on a world where famine and greed are uneasy bed partners, in spite of being on a world where apartheid and apathy feed the fires of racism and hatred, in spite of being on a world where nuclear nightmare draws closer with each second, in spite of being on a ticking time bomb, with her clothes in rags, her body scarred and bruised and bleeding, her harp all but destroyed and with only one string left, she had the audacity to make music and praise God. The vertical dimension balanced out what was going on in the horizontal dimension.

And that is what the audacity to hope will do for you. The apostle Paul said the same thing. "You have troubles? Glory in your trouble. We glory in tribulation." That's the horizontal dimension. We glory in tribulation because, he says, "Tribulation works patience. And patience works experience. And experience works hope. (That's the vertical dimension.) And hope makes us not ashamed." The vertical dimension balances out what is going on in the horizontal dimension. That is the real story here in the first chapter of 1 Samuel. Not the condition of Hannah's body, but the condition of Hannah's soul - her vertical dimension. She had the audacity to keep on hoping and praying when there was no visible sign on the horizontal level that what she was praying for, hoping for, and waiting for would ever be answered in the affirmative.

What Hannah wanted most out of life had been denied to her. Think about that. Yet in spite of that, she kept on hoping. The gloating of Peninnah did not make her bitter. She kept on hoping. When the family made its pilgrimage to the sanctuary at Shiloh, she renewed her petition there, pouring out her heart to God. She may have been barren, but that's a horizontal dimension. She was fertile in her spirit, her vertical dimension. She prayed and she prayed and she prayed and she kept on praying year after year. With no answer, she kept on praying. She prayed so fervently in this passage that Eli thought she had to be drunk. There was no visible sign on the horizontal level to indicate to Hannah that her praying would ever be answered. Yet, she kept on praying.

And Paul said something about that, too. No visible sign? He says, "Hope is what saves us, for we are saved by hope. But hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man sees, why does he have hope for it? But if we hope for that which we see not (no visible sign), then do we with patience wait for it."

That's almost an echo of what the prophet Isaiah said: "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength." The vertical dimension balances out what is going on in the horizontal dimension.

There may not be any visible sign of a change in your individual situation, whatever your private hell is. But that's just the horizontal level. Keep the vertical level intact, like Hannah. You may, like the African slaves, be able to sing, "Over my head I hear music in the air. Over my head I hear music in the air. Over my head I hear music in the air. There must be a God somewhere."

Keep the vertical dimension intact like Hannah. Have the audacity to hope for that child of yours. Have the audacity to hope for that home of yours. Have the audacity to hope for that church of yours. Whatever it is you've been praying for, keep on praying, and you may find, like my grandmother sings, "There's a bright side somewhere; there is a bright side somewhere. Don't you rest until you find it, for there is a bright side somewhere."

(concludes in next post)

III. Persistence of Hope

The real lesson Hannah gives us from this chapter - the most important word God would have us hear - is how to hope when the love of God is not plainly evident. It's easy to hope when there are evidences all around of how good God is. But to have the audacity to hope when that love is not evident - you don't know where that somewhere is that my grandmother sang about, or if there will ever be that brighter day - that is a true test of a Hannah-type faith. To take the one string you have left and to have the audacity to hope - make music and praise God on and with whatever it is you've got left, even though you can't see what God is going to do - that's the real word God will have us hear from this passage and from Watt's painting.

There's a true-life illustration that demonstrates the principles portrayed so powerfully in this periscope. And I close with it. My mom and my dad used to sing a song that I've not been able to find in any of the published hymnals. It's an old song out of the black religious tradition called "Thank you, Jesus." It's a very simple song. Some of you have heard it. It's simply goes, "Thank you Jesus. I thank you Jesus. I thank you Jesus. I thank you Lord." To me they always sang that song at the strangest times - when the money got low, or when the food was running out. When I was getting in trouble, they would start singing that song. And I never understood it, because as a child it seemed to me they were thanking God that we didn't have any money, or thanking God that we had no food, or thanking God that I was making a fool out of myself as a kid.

Conclusion: Hope is What Saves Us

But I was only looking at the horizontal level. I did not understand nor could I see back then the vertical hookup that my mother and my father had. I did not know then that they were thanking him in advance for all they dared to hope he would do one day to their son, in their son, and through their son. That's why they prayed. That's why they hoped. That's why they kept on praying with no visible sign on the horizon. And I thank God I had praying parents, because now some thirty-five years later, when I look at what God has done in my life, I understand clearly why Hannah had the audacity to hope. Why my parents had the audacity to hope.

And that's why I say to you, hope is what saves us. Keep on hoping; keep on praying. God does hear and answer prayer.

"The Audacity of Hope" by Reverend Jeremiah Wright as published in Preaching Today.

Congratulations, you have just dared to tread where few journalists have gone before. You have just run circles around the fourth estate.

Now, having taken a bit of time, you are familiar with an entire sermon delivered by the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. This is the message that Barack Obama admired over the years, not the Youtube snips. Now, you finally have a glimpse of the man behind the pulpit, not just a editing room caricature. In his own words, he is not always a loony or a bombastic firebrand, in fact, I believe he is quite inspirational. In his own words, he is not always an egomaniac or a smartass, in fact, I hear a dedicated compassionate preacher in a time and place of great suffering. Out of the spotlight, Wright served his congregation on Sundays with a message of hope. Without the cameras hovering, he served his community with prayer, meals and shelter every day of the week for decades.

The final step in the challenge is to ask yourself why the media would choose to ignore this sermon and thousands of others. Why they also brushed aside his distinguished military service, both as a surgeon to President Johnson and as a brave Marine medic experiencing the horrors of Vietnam. Why they ignored his well-earned high standing among men of the clergy and the three decades of work he has led in one of the toughest communities in America. Why instead of presenting a man warts and all, they parsed a few sermons to portray him as a monster. Not in any comparative fashion with other pastors, but alone and without context.

The very same spectrum that hosts the news, also shares the public airwaves with Jerry Falwell, Rod Parsley, Chuck Hagee and Pat Robertson. Like all of mass media, they are broadcast on thousands of stations every week and archives are easily available. If John McCain owns a television, he has potentially been attending some of their services for well over twenty years. A quick Google will show you that these televangelists have been clearly hateful in the screed that they preach. These bullies of the video pulpit say many more controversial things, things that ought to scare Americans right out of their skin. They reach millions around the globe, not just hundreds of people in Chicago. Try as I might, I could not find one loving sermon from any of the television evangelists that endorsed McCain. As the Senator himself might say, my friends, that is a whopping double standard.

In this election, there is an obvious bias and it is getting ugly. I strongly agree that politics and religion do not mix, but if they are going to be thrust together in the spotlight, all of the candidates should be held equally accountable. Decisions about a vote should be rooted in unity of purpose and clarity of vision, not just the echo of an out of touch media that pedals fiction and creates friction. Decisions about a vote should be based on facts and issues shared by Americans, not the small-minded fears of an imprudent and impudent few who see life through a dirty peephole. Our future does not belong just to the mass media, it belongs to all of us.

Thank you for taking my challenge.