Frankly, I have seen even more graceless, not to say scurrilous, responses to Barack Obama from Christians. The church has allowed itself to get so swept up in political issues that it plays by the rules of adversarial power. In no other arena is the church at greater risk of losing its calling than in the public square. Somehow the paramount command to love--even to love our enemies--gets lost. Seeing this, the watching world often finds itself repelled by outspoken followers of Jesus rather than attracted to them.