Four people to NOT invite over for a dinner party...

...at least, not all at the same time. Can you imagine Jerry Falwell, Al Sharpton, Richard Land, and Jim Wallis sitting in your living room each trying to tell the other that God is on their side and not the others?

This Sunday all these ministers were on Meet the Press for a discussion on morality, the constitution, and the American Presidency. You can read the transcript here. You'll need to scroll down about a quarter of the way.

The discussion began on a friendly note, some bantering back and forth to the other in a nice playful sort of way. Falwell and Sharpton seem to have an odd comraderie and perhaps a secret friendship that sends shivers up my spine. And then, Tim Russert, the commentator for Meet the Press started asking his loaded questions and everything afterwards seemed to have digressed rather rapidly. Land, the president of the Southern Baptist Ethics Commission seems to be getting more public in his self-presentation and really hammered out his religion while Wallis, the really nice and thoughtful editor from Sojourners, seemed a bit "too nice" asking over and over again amid the shouts and self-righteous indignations, "Can't we all just get along?"

You know Meet the Press did this for ratings- and, of course, that is why I stayed tuned in. It was a lively gathering but one that highlights for me the dangers of religion and why so many people are turned off to organized religion and religious leaders who think they speak for God. If I had to take my pick of a favorite, it'd prolly be Jim Wallis and I love his points about finding common ground and compromise.

To me the show was summed up early by a reference to a speech Abraham Lincoln said. Using the reference, Richard Land made a point about how God is involved in politics but it was Russert (who knew his history) that clarified Lands point (or at least, made Land clarify his point):

DR. LAND: ...it seems to me, is very much like Lincoln's posture when Lincoln said, you know, "In this war that we've been in, both sides think God's on their side. Both sides can't be right. Both sides may be wrong. This may be a judgment on the whole country because of slavery. But with malice toward none, with charity for all, we're going to go forward seeking to do the right as God gives us the light to see the right." The president believed that God wanted him to be president, but he was open to the possibility that wouldn't be true. How many people of religious faith who ever ran for president didn't think God wanted them to be president? Jimmy Carter certainly did.

MR. RUSSERT: But as Abraham Lincoln said, "The key, however, is make sure that we're on God's side, not claim that God is on our side."

I think this is the point with religion in politics, let's strive and hope we're on God's side rather than being confident because "God is on our side," in whatever we do. This difference is huge and it explains the difference between pursuing right relations and religious/political coercion.