I just wrote a funny reply to this, but unfortunately, due to spotty internet it got lost! The gist was this: I heard rev. Dr Joel Hunter on Weekend America. He seems like a really good guy, with a good sense of humor about his brief tenure at the healm of the Christian Coalition. Earlier in the day there was a great rendition of the story of Noah and the Arc on This American Life. As you'll remember, the biblical flood was intended to blot out humans that G-d saw as one big mistake. His tears of rage rained down on to earth with unrelenting force for 40 days and 40 nights. Recently it has seemed as if he might be angry again, what with all this rain in the Pacific Northwest. I can't help but feeling like the rain should be down south where these Christian Coalition folks are, yet that part of the country seems to have been spared. Lets hope the good Rev. Dr. Hunter finds a receptive audience for his message of social justice and environmental conservation. Maybe we are seeing the beginnings of a schism in the religious right? (in fact, Hunter has a book out called "Right Wing, Wrong Bird"). This weekend also saw a conference at Rick Warren's Saddleback Mega Church in California on the AIDS epidemic featuring Barack Obama that has caused some controversy between members of that particular congregation who feel that the church shouldn't be involved in looking at issues like AIDS, which brings up the issue of birth controlling condoms, and should focus on bible thumping around abortion bans and samesex marriage bans. There is more that brings us together than sets us apart. Those who would simply call attention to the divisive issues really have no business leading.