What the gospel portraits of Jesus of Nazareth and contemporary politics have in common is that both were and are conducted during war.

Thirty years after the death of Jesus, a Jewish rebellion broke out against the Roman occupation. This became a horrible and devastating war, culminating in massacre and the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Roman legions. All the gospels were composed after the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem; the gospel of Mark perhaps in the last year or almost immediately in the wake of that devastating event, and the other gospels somewhat later. In this sense, all that we know of Jesus, his life, his teachings and his death and resurrection should be read as wartime literature—and read in that light.

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President Bush has just vetoed the bill that would have made it uniformly illegal to engage in waterboarding, the interrogation technique where a restrained prisoner has water poured over the face until they are willing to answer the interrogators' questions. This is torture.

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Geraldine Ferraro, former vice-presidential candidate in the 1980’s and a prominent fund-raiser for the Hillary Clinton campaign, last week told the Daily Breeze of Torrance, Calif.: “If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.”

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E-mail is the electronic evidence for the existence of good and evil. Furthermore, it is an accelerant, like gasoline, so that when something gets out electronically it spreads like wildfire. It also removes the personal from the ethical equation, so it is likely E-mail does more harm than good.

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On March 19, it will be five years and counting on this war in Iraq. Five years ago, just before the attack, I appeared on a special Nightline Town Meeting with John McCain (and four others) to debate whether the United States should attack Iraq, a country that had not attacked us. McCain, along with Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention and James Woolsey, a former director of the CIA, argued in favor of this pre-emptive attack. Ambassador Joe Wilson, Senator Carl Levin and I argued against.

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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?

So this is what it looks like when a political leader tells you the truth. I had forgotten. I had forgotten what it looks like when a political leader talks to the American people, as one CNN commentator said, “like we were grownups.” Obama spoke to all of us yesterday not just in complete sentences, but in complete thoughts. He did not move away from the deep and abiding conflicts of race in America. He moved toward those conflicts. His speech was more invitation than pronouncement. He didn’t say ‘Here’s how we fix this’. He performed the truth that when you tell the truth, as the Bible says, it will set you free.

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The Question: Which "ism" is more entrenched in America, sexism or racism? Which should religion address?

For many years I have taught a class called “Good and Evil.” One of the most important things I hope students take away from this class is the complete and total uselessness of dueling “isms” in considering social sins. In fact, when people square off against each other, shouting that the particular form of oppression to which they are subject, whether racism, sexism, classism or any other ism, is the most sinful, that itself is just more evidence of the interlocking ways human beings fail each other under the conditions of sin.

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A member of Trinity United Church of Christ, the church once led by Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright and where Senator Obama is a member, told me there are “spies” among them in the pews, strangers who take notes during the service and try to record the message.

Check it out for yourself. Go to the Trinity UCC website, select "Why The Black Church Won't Shut Up!", and listen to Rev. Otis Moss politely ask that there be "no recording equipment." He repeats over and over, "We are in worship. We are in worship." When visitors are asked to stand, you can see those with paper and pencil in hand. Are these folks members of the press or political operatives? Impossible to know if they don't, as Rev. Moss requests, sign in.

This is what happens when politics intrudes into the sanctuary of the church, a sacred space.

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