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Untruths: Campaign ads that bear false witness

Barack Obama promised to practice a different kind of politics, a politics that would stick to the issues. Yet his campaign has produced an ad that shows an old photo of McCain, wearing an out-of-style suit and large glasses, in an effort to convey the message that McCain is an old, out-of-touch man, someone who doesn’t even know how to use the Internet or even send an e-mail message. That’s what is known as an ad hominem attack.

Discerning the faith factor: Pollster John Green

Described by the Los Angeles Times as thepreeminent student of the relationship between religion and American politics,”John Green has conducted surveys on religion for every presidential election since 1992. A professor of political science at the University of Akron, he is author of The Faith Factor: How Religion Influences American Elections (Praeger).

As you’ve been tracking this presidential campaign, have there been any surprises?

Mislabeled: The liberal impulse

Reflecting on the “disestablishment” of the mainline Protestant churches, Walter Brueggemann once observed that those churches and their members are for the time being living in a kind of exile. He offered the further challenging and comforting observation that though exile entails humiliation and suffering, it is not necessarily a bad place to be. In exile, God’s people can say and do remarkable things.

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McCain pastor prays for 'very special blessings' on 'prepared' nominee: Offers final prayer at Republican convention

The confetti and popping balloons had barely subsided at the end of the Republican National Convention when John McCain’s media-shy Southern Baptist pastor delivered a closing prayer bordering on a plea for God’s endorsement.

Dan Yeary, pastor of North Phoenix Baptist Church, where McCain attends but is not a member, on September 4 asked God for “very special blessings” on the presidential nominee, including “wisdom and courage,” inasmuch as “we feel that he has been prepared for such a time as this.”

Palin nomination offers peek at Pentecostals: Messages from pulpit not atypical

The blogosphere was abuzz with sermon snippets from Pentecostal and charismatic churches once attended by GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin. In them, pastors declare that people who die without Christ “have a horrible, horrible surprise” awaiting them and refer to America as a “Christian nation.”

Such views might strike some as offensive, even radical, but they’re not atypical for a Pentecostal congregation, experts say.