I once interviewed a beautiful Houston actress about her involvement in multi-housing ministry. When I learned she had just left a relationship that had been abusive for years and continued even after she had a baby, I asked her to explain something that has always bothered me: Why do women stay with abusive men?

She answered simply that huddling in a closet with her child, knowing that the footfalls she heard coming up the steps meant she was going to be beaten—if not today, then tomorrow—was less frightening than running with her child through the door into the unknown.

Our presidential campaign is coming to a close Tuesday. This is an era, especially the past two months, when angry voters are hollering “Throw the bums out.” Yet, time after time when voters step behind the curtain it seems we are less afraid of the bums we know than the bums we don’t. 

This campaign has certainly pounded the fear button in their efforts to appeal to our self interests. John McCain’s team has insidiously blown on the embers of fear, casting Barack Obama as sympathetic to terrorists, inexperienced, socialist, abortionist and soft on acne. Obama has worked the levers of fear to say our economic crisis is the fault of failed policies that McCain will continue.

We know the president is the most influential person in the world and we all want a hand in putting him or her on that seat. Yet the candidates you elect for the city hall or state representatives will affect your life more than the presidential elections.

I am pleased to have voted last week and Kay Hagan, candidate for the U.S. Senate, was campaigning outside the voting site. I visited with her and when she learned I worked for North Carolina Baptists, she said her pastor had just recorded an endorsement for her. She has taught Sunday School at a Presbyterian church in Greensboro for years.

So imagine my surprise when a couple days later I saw an Elizabeth Dole ad claiming that Hagan was an atheist. In North Carolina, calling a public figure an atheist is more pejorative than claiming he is a Muslim, which some say about Obama. Of course he is not a Muslim and he articulates his Christian faith clearly in his books and speeches. Hagan has actually sued Dole’s campaign for the slander.
 
If the polls are correct as I write this, Obama is about 24 hours away from delivering his acceptance speech as president of the United States. If the polls are wrong, John McCain will have the honor, instead.

All candidates make claims to stroke our self interest and play to our fears. We want lower taxes, secure jobs and a victory parade. They cannot create jobs, stop abortions or end the heartbreak of psoriasis. But that’s what we want to hear. We can’t digest the big issues through sound bites and news articles. So candidates manipulate our views with news bits pulled out of context and splashed on billboard as if they represented their opponent’s real views and values.

Churches and church members fall into this because we want our government and its leaders to reflect us. We want them to look like us, think like us, believe like us and write our values into law. That’s fair enough. Every other special interest group wants the same thing. But America is not a theocracy, nor is it ruled by the religious elite. You can thank God for that.

Obama has been the target of more tripe and trash claims and more end-of-the-world catastrophe warnings than I would have imagined possible. If he wins I will be very interested to see what other parts of the Bible those same Christians will cut out who say America is about to make a horrible mistake and that it cannot be God’s will to elect Obama. I do not make the same statement about McCain because for some reason he has not endured the same charges.

It is almost over—for this round. What if on Nov. 5 we woke to a nation that welcomed newcomers; offered universal access to medical care; educated our children; valued life both unborn and aged; refused to invade sovereign nations unprovoked; actually addressed issues that an entire generation has said we must face; treated people equally without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, income level or marital status; found ways to include rather than exclude and offered hope rather than hate?

What if we found such an atmosphere in our churches?