Church leaders more concerned with 'left-wing causes' than mission

http://www.chillicothegazette.com/article/20081031/OPINION03/810310315/1014/OPINION

[Chililicothe Gazette] 31 Oct 2008--Rev Ed Payne is typical of so many Episcopal priests today. He's more concerned about left-wing political causes than he is about the true mission of the church. No wonder his congregation, like the Episcopal church as a whole, is shrinking into irrelevance.

Rev Payne quotes the Ninth Commandment and calls on the McCain campaign to stop its "vicious lies" about Barack Obama. But in spite of all these personal attacks on Obama's character, Payne thinks his man has weathered the storm valiantly. "I've never seen such calm in the face of adversity," says Payne.

It would appear the sensitive reverend has no clue what true adversity is all about. Here's a suggestion: Try spending five years in a prisoner of war camp, two years of which were in solitary confinement, like John McCain did. Throw in all the beatings and torture and psychological harassment, and yes, even the vicious lies about you and your family and your comrades in arms, and you will begin to have some idea of the adversity John McCain endured. John McCain could have relented to the enemy and been granted release, but he said no. His honor was more important to him. There is probably not one in a thousand of us who could have survived even a month of such punishment, let alone five years. John McCain survived. He came through the experience battered but with his honor in tact. He went on to build a successful career serving the country he loves more than his own life.