The flock that gathers as Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago is apparently suffering from a spiritual famine. The pulpit seems to have been commandeered by yet another political pundit in priest's garb. The latest diatribe, clipped to a sound-bite and broadcast on the evening news, looked like a Saturday Night Live routine gone terribly bad. People who gather to worship God deserve better.

Loud is the cry from the overtly religious when they feel the state is impinging upon their liberties and prerogatives, and well it should be. The doctrine of "separation of church and state" is sometimes wielded as a razor that scrapes clean all things public from every appearance of devotion. But the church only invites greater scrutiny and interference by allowing its pulpit to become a partisan political sounding board.

Ours is not a theocratic state, and we should not wish it to be so. Those tend to go to the bad when evil men bend the words of sacred text to their will and in the guise of divine servants claim absolute authority. Again, the state deserves better. A nation of liberty and democracy functions best when its citizens are individually governed by a moral standard that values integrity, industry and charity. If the church wants better politics, it should foster better citizens.

If the church would bring its greatest transforming power to bear on the nation and the world, it ought to reserve its sanctuary for the worship of God and the preaching of His gospel. Today's politicians, a century from now, will be a footnote in history, but those who are awakened by the word of God will savor it still. Noted 20th Century theologian Karl Barth was once asked to sum up the gospel. Upon a moment's reflection he said, "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so." That's a good place to start.

Pressly