I suppose one has to consider this kind of discussion by Democratic candidates to be refreshing, when compared to the cluelessness of Howard Dean and John Kerry on the subject of faith and politics the last time around.

John Edwards certainly came across as extremely articulate--and authentically so--but if he hit a home run, the others hardly got beyond first base. One longs for the kind of brilliant employment of theological categories that Abraham Lincoln consistently displayed. But, alas, that seems to be the kind of vision we can no longer expect in our national leaders, even from those whose church attendance far exceeded Lincoln's patterns!

And even when we get a candidate like Edwards who obviously knows what he is talking about, he is forced to respond to silly questions like the one posed by a prominent journalist about Edwards' patterns of sinning. I am not one to trash "the liberal media." I have spoken to too many well-informed folks who cover the religion beat to engage in that kind of stereotyping.

But it would be a wonderful change if one of these days we could see a match-up between theologically articulate candidates with equally articulate questioners!