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After the battle of the presidential election came the battle over the meaning of the election. Exit polls were dissected to discern the nation’s character, especially its moral values. That a fifth of voters cited “moral values” as their key concern, and 80 percent of those voters backed George Bush, inspired talk of a values “gap” and a near-unanimous bit of advice for the Democrats: talk more about values.

When it comes to the Democratic Party’s on-again, off-again search for a message that would appeal to religious voters, any metaphor will do: asleep at the wheel, stumbling in a darkened room, a code-blue emergency.

Clergyman and ex-Congressman Bob Edgar prefers a comparison to the Israelites wandering the Sinai Desert. “Look, it took Moses 40 years to get his people out of the wilderness, and we’ve been in the wilderness for 25 years,” said Edgar, a United Methodist who heads the National Council of Churches. “And we’re not there yet, but we can see the Promised Land.”