The Matthew 25 Network has run its first ad on Focus on the Family radio. It's not acceptable:*

Narrator: You know it's an election year when certain people start grabbing headlines by attacking the faith of Presidential candidates. With all these stones being cast at Senator Obama, it can be hard to know what to believe. But in Luke, Jesus taught us that we must listen to what a man says because "out of the overflow of his heart, his mouth speaks." So here are words from Senator Obama's heart:

See John 8:7 - "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

See Luke 6:45 - "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks."

Obama: "I think we make a mistake when we fail to acknowledge the power of faith in people's lives"

Call To Renewal, time 8:30-8:36

"kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side, I felt that I heard God's spirit beckoning me. I submitted myself to His will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth."

Call To Renewal, time and 14:53-15:05

Narrator: Paid for by Matthew 25 Network, Matthew 25.org, not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. Matthew 25 Network is responsible for the content of this ad because we think it's time for a better Christian witness in politics.

I like Barack Obama. I like his faith.** Up until recently, we shared that faith pretty much exactly. Time and again, I have defended his right to talk about his faith. Hell, for all I care, candidates can talk about their love of pooties if it helps voters get to know them. And yes, Obama has to overplay this hand in a sense to defeat the Bad-Christian-Muslim-Secularist-Infidel rumors that swirl around him.

But all that being said, do we really need a presidential campaign based on out-Jesusing the other side?

At what point do we stop speaking in the language of conservative Evangelicals and actually become them?

And what happened to the Matthew 25 network that was going to reach out to moderate Evangelicals, Catholics, and mainline Protestants? This is not outreach. This is playing to Dobson's base and trying to convince them that Obama's just like them. This is running to the right of the party on faith issues.

I'm not down on that.

I agree that "it's time for a better Christian witness in politics." But the way to do that is to allow Christians to be progressives, not to squeeze them into the square holes of Dobsonite Evangelicaldom.

What's next? An ad proclaiming that Obama is in favor of whipping weiner dogs, just like Doctor Daddy?

I could go into all the ways this is wrong at some length. As it happens, the inimitable Bill in Portland Maine quotes the inimitable Lewis Black this morning. It seems like an appropriate rejoinder:

I have never given a shit what religion the president is. He could worship a can of peas for all I care. I just want him to be good at what we elected him to do, which is to lead the United States of America. ...

Of course, if the president is going to be really religious, it would be nice to know that up front, before we elect him. For instance, it would have been helpful to know that Bush the Younger was going to view himself as God's hammer. That's the kind of information I consider important.

I guess the lesson we learned with this administration---or at least that some of us have learned---is to watch when the son of a bitch keeps blowing the religious horn. Maybe we could have convinced him he would have been happier as a preacher instead of the leader of the free world.

I know I would have been.

Amen. Preach it, Brother Lewis.