David Kuo on Dobson/McCain: "it is Jesus that is being bartered and sold here"

Earlier today I posted on my feelings of cynicism about Bush "taking a stand" against the way the Saddam (and subsequent) executions were handled (inane Bush quote I hadn't included: the new Iraqi govt "has still got some maturation to do") .

I linked to a writer named David Kuo, an evangelical Christian who used to work for the Bush Administration in their, more or less, "Faith Outreach" department. He left and then wrote a book strongly criticizing the administration of mocking and manipulating evangelicals, and just pretending to care about them.

Now, I'm no Christian, let alone an Evangelical, but I can respect one who speaks with honesty and integrity, and I find David's blog fascinating. This is a man who believes that Jesus is the highest of the high, higher than issues of sex on tv, higher than the fight against homosexual marriage, higher than "abstinence-only" programs - generally, he believes that all the trappings of the American Evangelical scene have nothing to do with his religion, and that is a wonderful and refreshing thing to here.

Well, today David is writing on the whole McCain-Dobson nonsense (Dobson, super-big-wig of American Evangelicals and the power they wield, says he doesn't like John McCain, and John says "hey, let's talk, let's work this out"), and it sickens him in many ways. Watch how he nails them both to the wall from a perspective different from my own, but one which I love to see. The highest sin is hypocrisy and falsehood.

This whole thing does nothing more than hurt the name of Jesus because it is Jesus that is being bartered and sold here. McCain wants Jesus so he can get votes. He thinks Jesus is found with the religious conservative vote. Dobson wants to give the illusion he controls Jesus so that he can achieve his political ends. All of this sends a single message to the world - Jesus' main significanc these days is to serve people's political ends.

Republicans have been taking Christians for granted by dangling minor panderings in front of them, and Christians are starting to realize they've been had. I may not agree with everything David writes (in fact, I'm sure of it), but in this case, and many others, David looks at the world with eyes unclouded by what he wants to believe is in front of him -- a top ethical position in my book.

Hey, isn't that sometimes referred to as Science?