Benediction as Political Tool

Especially in reference to my last post about Brian McLaren (et al.) publically endorsing Obama, you should check out this interesting report about Cameron Strang of Relevant Magazine. Asked to offer an opening prayer at the upcoming DNC convention, Strang initially accepted. But after he found out it would be the opening benedictory prayer of opening night, and upon further reflection, Strang withdrew his acceptance. Regardless of Strang or McLaren’s positions on any other number of issues, I think at this one juncture Strang shows a degree more mettle and wisdom than his elder emergent counterpart. Even if both men eventually managed to grasp at some rationale to vote for Obama (or McCain), the notion that either could serve as a mouthpiece for a political campaign (via TV ads or benedictory prayer) and still maintain a prophetic witness, well… that takes a different kind of faith than I’m comfortable with.

Strang said, initially,

They made clear they weren’t asking me to publicly endorse Sen. Obama. They also didn’t care that I was a pro-life Republican. I saw my participation as a tangible way to show that this generation of values voters doesn’t necessarily need to draw political battle lines the way previous generations have, and that we can work through areas of disagreement toward common goals–fighting systemic poverty; defending innocent lives lost to pre-emptive war, sex trafficking, torture, genocide, slavery and preventable disease; protecting the environment; and proactively working to reduce the number of abortions each year (not only through legislation, prevention and education, but by financial support for pregnant women and overhauling the adoption system–things are messed up when an abortion is $500 and an adoption is $25,000). Then I found out the benediction was to be on the main stage, opening night of the DNC. Part of the national broadcast. Most people would jump at such an exposure opportunity, but it gave me serious pause….

HT: Rod Dreher