You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to conclude that the present Iraq War is folly. But to form a principled judgment you need a moral framework.

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In Star Trek, the televised allegorical morality play about our human future, the mysterious character Q puts humanity on trial for its past sins. A dramatic rescue from the indictment of human history comes when Captain Picard proclaims: “Our species has evolved!”

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The Jesuits at St. Joe’s Prep taught me that the worst sin in religion is hypocrisy. So it is not an attack on religion to question if the politicians invoking God’s name to bless the United States of America are doing anything more than seeking votes.

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When it is the earth that created you, care of the environment becomes a central religious tenet. But believers who use the Hebrew Bible and Christian Scriptures as the basis for their concern about the environment have a bigger mountain to climb than witches.

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“If I had served my God as diligently as I did my king, He would not have given me over in my grey hairs." I cannot help but think of this death bed declaration of the Renaissance English Cardinal Wolsey in searching for a comment on the passing of Reverend Jerry Falwell. I wonder if the famous televangelist asked the same of his dedication to the Republican Party when going to meet his Maker.

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Senator Hillary Clinton struck just the right note for the Democratic Party this week by saying she was a believer who did not “wear her religion on her sleeve.” That seems to be the principle difference between most Democrats and most Republicans these days. It is also a chief distinguishing trait between most Christian believers and most Evangelicals.

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Another way of formulating this question is to ask, “Is an atheistic doctor better than a religious one -- just because he or she is an atheist?” My answer is: “No.” Two issues need to be resolved about obligations to patients, and neither of them is dependent on whether the doctor believes in religion or atheism.

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I am willing to abstain from casting too harsh a light on the lives of the founders of the Church of Latter-day Saints (Joseph Smith) or either of the two warring leaders of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Charles Taze Russell and Joseph Franklin Rutherford. But I will state categorically that Francis of Assisi had more potential to be a cult leader than any of them, yet he refused that path.

The sociological explanation of cults includes the notion that it is “organized around a personality.” Religion is a much wider category. It includes some cults, but is more focused on communitarian practices and faith. While it is easy for an academic to pretend that just stating such categories settles all issues, the reality of human experience makes few such clear distinctions about the differences between a cult and religion.

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One of the pleasures about being a Catholic is the treasure of theology. It enables people of faith to know that the understanding of Jesus Christ handed down in an unbroken line from the Apostles precludes reincarnation. Jesus died once and for all: no second life is necessary. If, as Dostoevsky mused, much has gone awry since the first Ascension Thursday, it is the fault of we who follow him.

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It is tempting to believe that the U.S. political system of two parties is an immutable standard for democracy. It is not. Were the historical Jesus in our midst, he would oppose the notion that running within the system would produce a president to change the system. By examining his stance towards the political parties of his day – the Pharisees and the Sadducees – Jesus’ renunciation of both is unmistakable.

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The Question: How should Barack Obama have responded to inflammatory remarks made by his former pastor, Dr. Jeremiah Wright? Are you responsible for what your spiritual leader says from the pulpit?

A mature faith puts trust in God, not in clergy. If Senator Barack Obama distinguishes between the message – which is Christianity – and the messenger – who is all too human – then he has a better grasp of the faith than the talking heads who criticize him. Indeed, his speech on race in Philadelphia was also a speech on faith and patriotism that is not cowed by cowardice.

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