Did You Know The Word Gullible Is Not In The Dictionary?

"Now we have to deal with the horrifying realities of the Bush re-election."

Whose line is it anyway? Michael Moore's? Sean Penn's? Osama bin Laden's?

No, that quote - uttered after the decisive ballots had been counted Wednesday - came from the mouth of a red-stated, Bible-belting, churchgoing saint. One of the godliest people I've ever known, as a matter of fact. Of course, it was difficult to hear this plaintive declaration because it was drowned out by the bacchanalia of fellow followers of Christ, raucously reveling in a second dose of Bush.

If such deep disagreement exists within the body of Christ, is it any surprise that our nation is politically divided? Funny, too, how each side wants its government to act morally on those issues most important to them.

The same party that wants a "kingdom economy," in which everyone has enough and all possessions are shared, a la Acts 2 and 4, is the same one that's taken the Ten Commandments out of courthouses and prayer from schools. To paraphrase Christians on this side of the aisle, "The government should set a Christlike economic agenda and let the church draw people to Christ."

The same party that fights abortion on demand and wants to make sure marriage remains...well...marriage is the same one that doesn't seem especially concerned with war, so long as we're winning, or with the fact that the gulf between haves and have nots is ever-widening. Paraphrasing Christians of this party, "The government should establish the moral tone of the nation and let the church minister to the poor."

All the while saying (or at least wondering) to brethren and sistren on the other side, "How can you be so gullible?"

C'mon, church. You can't have your Eucharist and eat it, too.