Sojourners, as many of you may by now know, has undertaken a campaign to bring religious issues into the political arena that go beyond the agenda of the Religious Right. In the face of Falwell's and Pat Robertson's callings for Christians to vote for the only God-ordained candidate (George W. Bush), this group has issued a petition, which they hope to run as an ad in the New York Times, calling Christians to take back their faith and take a hard, long look at major issues other than merely abortion or gay marriage. I strongly recommend you take a look at what they have to say and think seriously about signing their petitions at their website.

As I think about politics, I am reminded that Monday morning, ACU opened its 99th academic year with the annual opening ceremony. For those unfamiliar, this ceremony involves a procession of the faculty and administration in full regalia, the ACU band, a chorus, devotional songs, Scripture readings, prayers, an address by a public figure (usually a politician), a procession of flags representing each of the States and countries from whence students have come to ACU, and finally a special musical tribute of allegiance during which the Battle Hymn of the Rebulic is performed, followed by a reading of the Preambles to the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, after which everyone recites the Pledge of Allegiance consummated by a huge American flag unfurling from the ceiling of Moody Colliseum. Yes, Christians doing obeisance to the great American Empire. If Christians are to truly take back their faith, then we're going to have to learn how to rightly relate ourselves to the state, which I think would include an understanding of God's sovereignty and work in the world that does not give the state a place of privileged authority beyond mere sword-weilding. It's one thing to punish wrong-doers and say that it's a good thing that the state does such things. It is an entirely different thing to equate any human government with the kingdom of God, or at least in some sense to turn a blind eye to the evil promulgated by a nation-state, especially the one in which you live.