On Substance at Saddleback

Last updated on: May 9, 2013 at 6:07 am by Faithful Democrats

On Substance at Saddleback 2013-05-09T06:07:31-06:00 Faithful Democrats

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

From a politically-minded, substance-as-meaningless perspective, John McCain won last night’s forum at Rick Warren’s Saddleback church. He tugged on the heart strings with stories about being a POW in Vietnam while Obama detached and intellectualized and pontificated. And, predictably, the crowd in conservative Orange County, CA, cheered a lot more for McCain’s black-and-white, decisive-sounding answers than for Obama’s gray, reality-matters answers. Obama got points for being willing to engage, and he certainly seemed more conversant on the so-called “compassion issues” (that is, the issues the Bible actually talks about). But in the short term, at least, McCain gets the gold star for posturing more effectively.

From a substance-as-actually-meaningful perspective, the biggest problem, as always, is the media won’t call out McCain’s ridiculously hypocritical claims. Few will point out that McCain’s supposed devotion to the environment belies a complete unwillingness to expend an ounce of political capital on it. Or that despite his moralizing on torture he voted to make it effectively legal. Or that his old-school bromides about honor fly in the face of the fact that he’s currently violating campaign finance law and refuses to distance himself from the most vile attacks on Barack Obama’s character. Or that his grave promise to follow Osama bin Laden “to the gates of Hell” apparently doesn’t include entering Pakistan.

Instead, what we’ll get is Chris Matthews spitting, “How will this play?”

On the broader issue of Obama’s evangelical outreach, something occurred to me regarding an issue raised by Pastor Dan (see here, e.g.) and other religious progressives. The general critique seems to be that Obama is paying a disproportionate amount of attention to white evangelicals; instead, he should be pursuing a variety of Christian groups (Catholics, mainline Protestants, etc.) with greater vigor, especially since white evangelicals remain largely Republican. But this grumbling makes me wonder: where are the mainline candidate forums? Did the National Council of Churches try to put one on but get rejected by the Obama campaign? Is the media refusing to cover extensive efforts by mainliners to insert themselves into the presidential debate? Or — as I suspect — is there just not much in the way of an organized effort by mainline Protestants to demand recognition? (Catholics are a whole different ballgame, so I’ll set that group aside for now.)

The fact is that politicians respond to organized power. That’s just an institutional reality. So until mainline liberal denominations organize and apply effective political pressure as a group, the campaigns will probably focus their efforts elsewhere.

Of course, mainline denominations may not want to play such a big role, being more likely to find it crass to mix politics and religion. Fine. But if that’s the case, there’s not much the campaigns can do about it.

Featured Writers

Previous Post

August 16, 2008

Summary of Saddleback Civil Forum

Next Post

August 21, 2008 The One Ad We Don't Need A Second Time

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category About Us About Us Action Center Advertise Ask a Theologian Ask a Theologian Blogs Books Campaign Blog Candidate Spotlights Commentary Donate Facebook Featured Writers Fellows Fellows From the Pulpit General Information Hillary Clinton Interfaith Blog Latest Media Center Media Center Media Center MyBlog MyBlog News Newsflash Newsflashes Our Team Reader Blogs RSS Sermon of the Week Shop Social Networking Static Items Support Talking Points Test blogs The Basics Theology Uncategorized YouTube

Select a Month November 2020 October 2020 February 2020 August 2019 July 2018 July 2017 March 2017 February 2017 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 June 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 January 2006 August 2004

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

On which mountain did Moses receive the Ten Commandments?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Mount Zion Mount Sinai Mount of Olives Mount Carmel