At the outset of the 2011 election campaigns, here’s another plea that Christians become aware of the ways we are divided by the waves of moral manipulation in the mouths of candidates of both parties. Will we find the paths of righteousness in campaign speeches? Methinks not. Nor does my fellow Episcopalian and Patheos columnist, Frederick Schmidt — professor at Perkins School of Theology — who writes:
“…it saddens me to listen to my Christian friends talk about politics. It’s rare to find anything that is distinctively Christian, mindful of the complexities, and rooted in anything more than the campaign speeches of their political favorites. The tiresome, sad thing about our political discourse is that we are the ideal targets of a political campaign: We join the bandwagons left and right, we parrot the wisdom of our politicians, and then we offer up our God as a bonus. Talk about taking the name of God in vain.”
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