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Beyond the Zero-Sum Game
In the arena of spirituality, not every malady can be easily understood or solved.

The typical campaign rally has an uncanny resemblance to an old-fashioned tent revival: the ceremonies and processions, the adulation of the figure behind the altar, sermons designed to inspire the flock to faithfulness, and the dogma doled out to (and consumed by) adoring disciples.

This is not a coincidence.

Politics these days is a zero-sum game, a contest where the winner takes all and the loser is absolutely vanquished. With so much at stake, it's only natural that politics invokes the trappings - and by extension, the authority - of religion, especially in a country with such a high percentage of professed "believers."

Campaigns today are the ultimate persuasive vehicle, brought to you with bright lights, patriotic music, feel-good stories, and adrenaline-inducing attack ads - all fueled by a war chest reaching the hundreds of millions of dollars. It's easy for the average reporter to be taken in by the spectacle, or to overlook the distinctly apocalyptic tone of the rhetoric. After all, who doesn't want to believe the rosy promises of better times, or side with the infallible crusader against injustice and oppression? We all want to be, in President Bush's apocalyptic language, on the side of good against evil.

But the religion-aware journalist can offer a different perspective.

In the arena of spirituality, not every question has an answer, and not every malady can be easily understood or solved. This contrasts sharply with an electorate which expects a surefire solution to each of society's problems, and a bumper-sticker response to every issue. Religion is one way for mankind to deal with the mysteries and complexities of life, while politics is mankind's way of asserting control over our earthly domain. Religion writers are arguably better equipped than their peers to point out these distinctions to their readers....