When Brian McLaren writes stuff like this and this, I wonder if he realizes that he’s doing exactly what guys like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell were doing nearly 30 years ago.

I think that Christians in positions of prominence, like McLaren, ought to be very hesitant to support political candidates. I think this should apply to Republican candidates as well as Democratic candidates.

One of the reasons our country has found itself in the right-vs-left mentality that has dominated the political conversation for so much of the last generation is because Christians have allowed themselves to be seduced into the practice of attaching their names, churches, ministries, radio programs, publishing houses, etc. to political candidates. Instead, Christian leaders should support ideas that reflect the ideas that advance the Kingdom of God, not the candidacy of Bush, McCain, Clinton, or Obama.

Imagine what it would look like if guys like McLaren, Jim Wallis, Ron Sider, and Tony Campolo on the left got together with Jim Dobson, Pat Robertson, Richard Land, and Chuck Colson on the right and listened to each other, prayed with each other, studied the Bible together, and put together an agenda that advanced the things that Jesus cares about. Rather than worrying about conservative or liberal ideology, what if Christians got together and said, we need to talk about ways that the government and the church can co-exist in this world and take care of people as Jesus would?

Could you imagine what this conversation would sound like on issues like abortion? Maybe we could get beyond the pro-life vs. pro-choice nonsense and actually talk about caring for pregnant mothers with unwanted pregnancies. Maybe we could talk about ways to help those women and their families in ways that have nothing to do with Roe v. Wade.

Could you imagine what this conversation would sound like on the environment? Maybe we could start to talk about caring for God’s creation. Maybe we could talk about stewardship and conservation in ways that don’t demonize people or institutions needlessly. Maybe we could talk about ways of showing our love for God spill over into a love for the earth.

Could you imagine what this conversation would sound like on poverty, race, national security, marriage, justice, opportunity, taxes?

But I don’t think we’ll ever get there. Instead, Brian McLaren (and plenty of stupid people on the right, as well) will perpetuate the us-vs-them, right-vs-left stereotypes that ultimately will never lead to solutions.