Matthew 25 Network influence: slip slidin' away

Pity the poor Matthew 25 Network.

The outfit created by Barak Obama’s presidential campaign to deceive … er, to recruit Evangelical, Pentecostals and Charismatics into backing the media’s anointed great hope for America looked like they were on a roll to take a chunk out of this bloc of voters, or at least confuse them enough to make them stay at home. With an assortment of wolves in sheep’s clothing and a smattering of other “religious figures” (mainly from liberal churches), they splashed onto the scene by ridiculing Dr. James Dobson, and the media loudly sang of its wonder and praise of this “courageous” group.

Then Obama ran into a brick wall at Rick Warren’s “proto-debate” at Saddleback church, where he gave a really flaky answer on the abortion question, while John McCain, in contrast, gave a straightforward answer defending the rights of the unborn.

Now, they have to be in a real tailspin with Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, a Spirit-filled Christian who is strongly pro-life, being picked by McCain as his running mate for vice president. The group‘s “evangelical shock value” spokesman Brian McLaren (that is, one who brandishes the title “evangelical,” then contradicts evangelical values so he can be “different”) and friends can only muster up a whining response:

“The Matthew 25 Network is extremely disappointed in Sarah Palin's address last night at the Republican National Convention. We call on her to commit herself to campaigning in good faith, with love and respect for her political opponents and a strong commitment to truth-telling …”

Maybe if McLaren and company can convince their own leading candidate to do the same (for example, Obama needs to “put away falsehood,” as Matthew 25 likes to harp, and tell the truth about his relationship with former Weather Underground terrorist group leader Bill Ayers--the same Ayers who Obama claims to know only as someone in his neighborhood, but who actually launched Obama’s political career in his living room, and served alongside Obama in his “community organizing.” See my previous post).

To paraphrase an old Paul Simon song, Matthew 25 Network sees, with Palin’s addition to McCain’s ticket, their potential influence “slip slidin’ away.” And the evangelical community will be better for it.